A Brief Moment of Meaning in Mario 64 

holy shit you can go in the paintings?

Like Mr. Plinkett says "you didn't notice, but your brain did"

Mario 64 might be the most “magical” game in the series. I love it

really good analysis, it's remarkable how much forethought was put into SM64 for such an early entry in a genre

I noticed that Mario still does the somersault in Super Mario Sunshine. Same with Galaxy on landing.

Art and video games are my two favorite things! A series where you looked at how art history can contribute to the meaning of mario 64 would be amazing!

Nintendo’s reason for adding the summersault: we thought it looked cool 👍

Great video, I loved that you noticed the meaning behind the level intros. As soon as you illustrated that it became obvious, my subconscious has always noticed it but I’ve never been overtly aware that there was any meaning to those different entrances. there’s one prevailing reason that the game holds up so well after all these years, and despite the game having countless fantastic design elements, it’s the movement-physics and sense of kinetics that the game just f’n nailed so hard. That’s really what blew our minds back then, Mario 64’s controls and physics were a big leap forward. Nintendo is always innovating and always making the most of their substantial talent.

yea this game is so amazing, its just genius. Cant get over how quickly nintendo nailed the 3d platformer. many modern renditions dont even come close to this and this was back in the late 90s.

Bro, I'm like 4 minutes into this video, i just wanna say you talk abt an elegant dance like quality w/mario 64's gameplay, you got an elegant dance like quality with words. It's really refreshing to see a video essayist not try do a bunch of essayisms to 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 smart, and instead just do well with using brevity/not overcomplicating shit, but yet keep an intellectually stimulating the manner of speech in tact, i fwt. It's ballsy to let a script speak for itself and not bombard with adhd style editing nowadays too, keep going. Subbed.

This is my absolute favorite video of yours, Malrose! Absolutely genius the both of you, you and Nintendo. I first watched it while drinking water, and then proceeded to go to bed very early; a wonderful evening of decisive peace. Super Mario 64, or as I call it, Soup 64, is our forever-game, and it's like the Tower of London; every inch is rich in significance. And its battling the darkness of nihilism while in the liminal.

This was super powerful! Sometimes limitations spark creativity, like the devs and the level intros. Wet Dry world was very deep.

i've kept getting recommended this by the alg and finally bit. way different and more interesting video than i expected by the title

Pretty sure it might also be a safeguard so that Mario never clips through the ground while spawning into a level. (Something even modern game engines still struggle with.)

Great! That contrast in level entrances between the paintings and Bowser's worlds was very compelling.

Biiiiig stretch, but I'm happy you're writing and publishing things you care about!

Japanese devs 20 years ago: "We should have Mario do a flip when he goes into a level, that'd be cool." The average RU-vid video now:

That's such an unusual thing to think about and analyze, but I kinda dig it

mario also falls when he drops into the vanish cap switch course, does a somersault as he phases into the fly cap stage, and does a somersault when he drops into hazy maze cave. this doesnt really connect to the themes of the vid, i just got curious and had to find out

You can simplify this whole video like this: >You see a painting >Painting seems to have a certain thing >jump onto painting >teleport into a world inside a painting >you see in the world the said thing that you saw it drawn in the painting

I shit myself at 1:02, but I didn’t change my diapie until it was over. Great video.

Can you look at the meaning in Mirrors Edge?

I also like the silly ‘fwoosh’ sound it makes as Mario spins

Great video, love Mario 64 and how much people still get out of the game is crazy. From one videoman to another, a quick tip: whatever you're using to record, be it a mic or your phone, wrap a sock or two around it. Easy pop filter that'll cut out unsightly pops and air hitting the mic.

this shit is fire

nice video

any music soon?

This could easily be a TikTok or YT reel

Great video! I never even thought about the somersaults at all :P Btw, if you are alright with my asking, what are your pronouns?

I never realized the importance of the somersaults but as a kid I did notice how the Bowswer levels and the secret stages dropped you in with a different animation. Great video and great analysis.