Super Mario 64 - Progress Report II

Song of the Day

Bowser's Road

Progress Report II

(all level images taken from (www.mariowiki.com)

Cool, Cool Mountain

Stars - 7/7

I thought this would be the first level I'd have trouble with, being the first level I had not played much, but for the most part I managed okay. Except for one star...

THIS GOD DAMMED PENGUIN CAN GO TO HELL. Seriously, I'm terrible at these slides the last thing I want to do is have a race on them. Especially with this bastard. No matter how good you are at this, you will fall behind at some point because Nintendo decided to give him rubber banding. This means that no matter how well you do, he will always catch up. This penguin also on two occasions managed to knock me off the damn the stage. I no longer likes penguins (as evident of my notes reading "F**K PENGUINS" and nothing else).

Bowser in the Dark World

Star - 1/1

Bowser gave me no trouble, predictably since he tells you how to defeat him. But collecting the red coins seemed to really get me for some reason. Mainly the last one, I was long jumping when I didn't need to and then using normal jumps when I shoulda long jumped. Basically, playing it at 5 in the morning makes me stupid. More so than usual. After a sleep I managed to get it in one shot.

Big Boo's Haunt

Stars - 7/7

Star #5. after defeating Big Boo (for the third time), they decide to put the star on the roof. Honestly, it's as simple as long-jumping to the side and then crawling to the star, but dumb-me just could not figure it out. For ten minutes. Which is a long time to be doing the same exact thing in a Mario game. Other than that, easy enough level. Thus completes the ground floor of the castle!

Hazy Maze Cave

Stars - 7/7

I HATE this level. It's, to me, the dullest thus far and I just didn't enjoy most of the stars. The one that gave me the most trouble was Star #2 (the red coin one), mainly because of that stupid elevator and the barrier before the third red coin that kept knocking me off because I couldn't tell how far it was away. The camera is the worst enemy of this level, which is something I'll be talking about later. I may have complained about each level before this one, but I still enjoyed the majority of them, but this level is largely forgettable. Except Dorrie, he's a cool dude...

Everyone knows dinosaurs are a man's best friend...

Secret Stars

Vanish Cap Under the Moat

I have no idea why but this gave me real trouble. My tired brain (it was another "5ish in the morning" deal) just would not comprehend the moving platforms. When they reach the top, they flip over and go back down, the idea is simple, move to the next one before it does that. Twice I managed to do it correctly only to panic and fall off. There is three 1-up mushrooms at the beginning of the level, by the time I finished I had nearly 30 lives (I entered with 2...). That was after I started ignoring them. Not my proudest moment...

Cavern of the Metal Cap

Now this one was easy! Just hit the big green switch and get the red coins. The swerve is that some of them are underwater, and to make things easier you can use the Metal Cap to turn into Metal Mario, who can walk underwater with ease. Metal Mario is the best Mario.

Star From the Toad in the Basement (he's in the same room as the entrance to Hazy Maze Cave, if I remember correctly)

Catch the Rabbit #1 (I didn't have too much trouble catching him, but I did notice there will be a second time. I envision it being much harder and more annoying...)

Star Total
50/120

Tomorrow: A look at the Birth of 3D Platformers...