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[melos]

Wanted to make a list. What are some super mario 64-likes of the past 5 years (roughly)
 
Hat in Time sort of falls under this, but is more towards Sunshine.


Things like Skylanders, Ratchet & Clank, etc doesn't fall into this.

[s0]

epic mickey

[s0]

on second thought im not sure there are any super mario 64 likes at all, pretty much all the collectathon platformers out there copy banjo kazooie more than sm64.

[melos]

ya epic mickey looks collect-y and also has like shooting elements? i think it may make sense though, BK has collecting which fits n a lot more with culture nowadays...huh...

[s0]

epic mickey is basically what would have happened if rare hired warren spector as lead designer on a new banjo kazooie game (gameplay-wise)

but really im trying to think of any game, not just from the past 5 years, thats really like mario 64 (other than sunshine) and im drawing a total blank. the way i see it, BK and similar collectathon games are barely even platformers. actual platforming mechanics and challenges tend to be secondary to exploration and environment puzzles in those games. no one really ripped off the freeform 3d platforming of sm64.

[ThemsAllTook]

no one really ripped off the freeform 3d platforming of sm64.

Such a shame. I wish there were more.

[rj]

epic mickey is basically what would have happened if rare hired warren spector as lead designer on a new banjo kazooie game (gameplay-wise)

but really im trying to think of any game, not just from the past 5 years, thats really like mario 64 (other than sunshine) and im drawing a total blank. the way i see it, BK and similar collectathon games are barely even platformers. actual platforming mechanics and challenges tend to be secondary to exploration and environment puzzles in those games. no one really ripped off the freeform 3d platforming of sm64.

sidebar: was epic mickey good? my friend tells me she hates it and thinks it's awful but i'm not sure i trust her though. i haven't played it.

unsidebar: super mario 64 DS

actual unsidebar: sonic adventure 1.

no, i'm serious.

sonic adventure 1 is a mario 64 clone. it's an unbearably shitty game, and its sequel (which is actually good, mind) fixed a lot of its issues actually -by- stripping out what makes it largely a mario 64 clone, but it checks all the boxes and then ads a bunch of overwrought cutscenes and a small amount of metroidy shit that could have been used way better.

take the rpg-lite and metroidy shit out, and you have a 3D platformer that sticks to platforming. there are gimmicks, sure (snowboarding, shooting levels (ironically the best part of the game) frustrating fucking fishing levels (wtf)) but the fucker is built on levels with multiple challenges largely built on running, jumping, and then solving rudimentary hub world puzzles to get to the next thing. the only difference is that sm64 largely doesn't have its bosses separated from the levels.

now are there any good super mario 64 clones? that's harder. i'm drawing a blank on that but i really feel like there has to be at least one

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

if sm64 means tactile/physical approach to the world and highly vertical/momentum based platforming, then no

tbh I get the impression that ~mario physics~ are just phenomenally hard to tune/design - nobody ever pulled it off even at AAA except nintendo. all the cool level design in sm64 spun off of the cool core mechanics

[s0]

sidebar: was epic mickey good? my friend tells me she hates it and thinks it's awful but i'm not sure i trust her though. i haven't played it.

what are her reasons for hating it? iirc a lot of ppl hated it because the final game wasn't GRIMDARK like the concept art. i went in with next to no expectations (my reasons for buying it were literally "oh warren spector made a mickey mouse game, let's see if it's good") and liked it.

ON TOPIC: sonic adventure is a good point, i never played that. there are several late 90s/early 00s 3d games that i would say share a similar *design philosophy* with sm64 (mainly in terms of verticality and freeform approach), such as jet set radio, thief and deus ex.

[quisseh]

Agree with Sonic Adventure.

First game that came to mind was Psychonauts. (And Schafer has stated that the game was inspired by Super Mario 64.) But that was not in the past 5 years.

In the past 5 years, the only game that kinda sorta felt like Super Mario 64 to me was LEGO City: Undercover (which is surprisingly good).

A Hat in Time seems promising. Hopefully collect-a-thons make a comeback.

[rj]

i was just going to say 'super mario galaxy actually pretty much counts' but it was released seven years ago. i'm fucking old, apparently

[melos]

Yeah it's good there are some out there, but it's just ODD that there hasn't been a big effort by any small studio recently (Hat in time doesn't exactly count since it's focus is a lot more on combat/collection, putting it more into a banjo-kazooie / sunshine-like )

[Sik]

Just reading this... Are you seriously suggesting that Sonic Adventure plays even remotely like Super Mario 64? The gameplay is not even remotely similar and that's ignoring the obvious differences between Sonic and Mario. Sonic Adventure has linear levels that are basically like old 2D platformers with an extra axis, while Super Mario 64 is the polar opposite of linear. They're essentially two opposite extremes.

[SirNiko]

Many of the levels in Mario 64 had linear paths to progress, particularly late in the game (eg, Tick Tock Clock, Rainbow Ride). Different stars followed different paths sometimes, but other times you just kept following the same path to stop at different points (eg, Tall, Tall Mountain's first two stars had you climb to the peak).

Sonic Adventure did have open levels for Knuckles and Big the Cat that had even less linearity than Mario 64. It also had a large hub world to explore with some secrets to find, like permanent passive character upgrades.

I agree that Sonic Adventure isn't a game that I'd personally compare to Mario 64, but depending on what you liked about Mario 64 it can tickle many of the same interests.

Aren't the Grand Theft Auto games somewhat similar to this design? They offer collect-a-thon tendencies like hidden packages to find, and the missions aren't terribly different than selecting the next star to collect.

I feel like each of the 3d Mario games to come out since 64 (including Sunshine) satisfied the same interests that made me like 64. 3D Land and 3D World may not be as fun thanks to the inclusion of the timers and fewer open levels to explore (though they exist), but they vary from the formula by small enough margins to still be fun to me.

[saturdaymorning]

I wouldn't group them with Mario 64, but the Skate games scratch the same tactile, freeform platforming itch. It's got a bunch of collecting going on too. Just imagine kinda being on the koopa shell all the time.

[Alevice]

Its not quite the same, but dragons dogma reminded me of mario with its load of secret areas and loads of jumping and climbing

[s0]

I wouldn't group them with Mario 64, but the Skate games scratch the same tactile, freeform platforming itch. It's got a bunch of collecting going on too. Just imagine kinda being on the koopa shell all the time.

ive never played the skate games, but the tony hawk games (which i guess are p similar) definitely have the freeform platforming element to them.

it's weird tho, super mario 64 seems to be actually "unique" judging from this thread. some games have the exploration/collection aspect (banjo kazooie), some have the platforming physics (mario galaxy), some have the same type of nonlinearity (deus ex, thief), others have the freeform platforming (skating games). but the complete package hasn't been replicated as far as i know.

(p.s. ive only played very little of sunshine so idk how close it is to sm64)

[rj]

sunshine's way better imo but it's vastly different in some ways, mostly re: how the addition of FLUUD changes basically everything (you're literally giving mario a jetpack) but there's all the freedom of movement, hub-worldy level-missiony shit 64 does, just done better in basically every conceivable way, plus way more (and way better) bonus stages

sunshine is my favorite mario, if you couldn't tell, so i'm biased, but

[Jondog]

There's a lack of 3D platformers in general really.

I know there's a bunch of titles in development, but since I prefer the more combat focused ones like Ratchet & Clank, they don't really interest me.
Unfortunately those games are expensive to make and require a lot of work and weren't massively popular, so you don't see many of them.

[Sik]

it's weird tho, super mario 64 seems to be actually "unique" judging from this thread. some games have the exploration/collection aspect (banjo kazooie), some have the platforming physics (mario galaxy), some have the same type of nonlinearity (deus ex, thief), others have the freeform platforming (skating games). but the complete package hasn't been replicated as far as i know.

The same happened to the original Super Mario Bros, for the record. I mean, after it platformers exploded, but in how many platformers you can destroy blocks from jumping under them, go inside pipes (or something equivalent) or is your size directly tied to your amount of health left? Even Giana Sisters deviates quite noticeably from the formula.