Super Mario 64is an iconic game in Nintendo’s catalogue. The game introduced Nintendo fans to a 3D world that Mario could explore almost every inch of. In 1996, it was paving new ground. In 2021,Super Mario 64is starting to show its age. Which is why a group of modders have tinkered away with a PC port that features touched up graphics, and now includes ray-tracing.
Fans have modifiedSuper Mario 64in all sorts of ways over the years, including havingPeach’s Castle included inGoldenEye 007. The game has been remixed numerous times by fans, and speedrunners have unlocked almost every time save making it a blazing fast run to watch. The game has started to show its age though, which is why this PC port of the game looks amazing.
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The addition of ray-tracing toSuper Mario 64drastically changes how the game looks. The water effects are perhaps the first thing the player notices as YouTuber Dario dives into Wet-Dry World. The shimmer of the water looks impressive compared to the very flat blue of the originalSuper Mario 64. Ray tracing is one of the big advancement in recent years, with more powerful graphics cards able toproduce impressive lighting effects in games like Control. When applied toSuper Mario 64, it looks like a completely different game compared to the original 1996 version.
Whilefans were very excited whenSuper Mario 3D All-Starswas announced, theSuper Mario 64included in that official bundle is a pretty straightforward port without ray-tracing included. In this version, the reflections on the water, the light produced by the fireballs, and the buzz of electricity from the Amps (the floating metal orbs) all look so impressive.
Sometimes aSuper Mario 64mod chooses to deviate from the original in a more substantial way, liketheDoom Mario 64mod. Adopting the HUD fromDoom,while overhauling other aspects of the visuals to turnMario 64into aDoom-variant must have taken a lot of time. That is something that can’t be said enough about these fan communities, is the amount of time spent on these projects is truly something to behold.
Even whenNintendo clamps down with a copyright complaintagainst the creators of the PC port, it might slow fans down, but it doesn’t stop them. New fanmade projects are always popping up, to see ray tracing inSuper Mario 64doesn’t even come as a surprise given how much love for this game the mod community has.
Super Mario 64is available now as part ofSuper Mario 3D All-Starson Nintendo Switch.
