My dad used to tell me that when he was young, the world was black and white. For a long time I didn’t think to question it – after all, every bit of historical evidence we had was from the 1950s and before that, too. Sadly, I grew up and realized that my dad – as all dads are used to – was pulling my leg. Still, I could never again imagine the past as anything but sepia, even when I immersed myself in colored photos and videos from a bygone era.
I think if I ever have kids I’ll try to tell them that the third dimension was invented in 1996 by Shigeru Miyamoto. Super Mario 64 was one of my first games, and it blew my little mind: Mario could walk in almost any direction and you could even swing the camera around him like some sort of video game Spielberg. Sure, Mario’s first 3D adventure wasn’t the first 3D game – although exactly which game has that title is debated, so I’ll just say it was some time early 90s – but it was the first time many people experienced the all-new Z-axis in a video game.
At the time, 3D was so new that even the developers weren’t sure what to do with it. The idea of a camera that can control the player is so ubiquitous today that we barely register it, but in Super Mario 64 it wasn’t just any passive player view – it was Lakitu, the villain turned cameraman (and the occasional holder of starting lights) of the Mario series. It was a charming little addition to help players with the new idea of a camera that follows the character nearby, but – I’ll be honest – I’m glad we got rid of it so soon. There was always something creepy about being followed everywhere by a turtle with a camera.
But Super Mario 64’s best moment, for my money, was made possible only by the addition of a new axis: the secret sky level that existed could only be accessed by looking at the ceiling.
For most of the 1990s, when gaming news was spread by the twofold forces of magazines and rumors, the playground was the place to be. A kid would promise his uncle-who-works-for-Nintendo had heard about a new Zelda game in which you could play as Epona; another would swear he read in a magazine that if you press START three hundred and fifty-two times, you can unlock Luigi in Pokémon Red and Blue.
It was difficult to separate fact and fiction, and even more difficult when the only way to confirm these rumors was to own the game and replicate the exact terms – maybe you only pressed START two hundred and fifty times? You lost count in the middle.
The Super Mario 64 trick of standing at the entrance to Peach’s Castle and looking up was easy to try and worked right away, making it one of those great secrets of all time. In fact, it was so timeless and memorable that it made its way into both Super Mario Sunshine – where the trick is used to access Noki Bay – and Super Mario Odyssey, where entering Peach’s Castle and looking at the sky gives you a Power Moon yields. . The last example is one of those things everyone Tried right away, as soon as they discovered Peach’s Castle in the game – and the fact that it works is like a shock of nostalgia that also takes us right back to the first time it worked.
That secret sky level itself isn’t particularly memorable, other than Mario’s flying around in full 3D, but there’s no time that shows the new dimension as well as the brilliant realization that you can see for the first time. upNintendo has always been good at the unexpected – I’ll almost certainly be writing about that one bit in Phantom Hourglass with the card at some point (if you know, you know) and there’s a reason there were so many rumors surrounding their games.
We knew, even as kids, that Nintendo’s games were full of secrets, surprises and hidden tricks. From Warp Whistles and the mean Wave Race commentator to Chris Houlihan’s Zelda room, many of these tricks were either accidentally found by us as kids, or were the result of experimentation, and the answer to the question ‘I’m asking myself wondering what happens if I do this …? “
The fact that Nintendo has always encouraged that question shows that at heart they are still kids, in the absolute best way. Rewarding curiosity is one of the ways their games bring us so much joy, and why, four years after its release, people are still finding little details in Breath of the Wild.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna stare at the sun in case it opens up a new level where I can fly.