The Best Super Mario 64 Stars
Hello friends it’s Tim here again from Super Mayhem.com awhooo and I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today. I was thinking about growing up when times were good, hanging out with friends during those long summer holidays, eating chips and playing some good old Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64.
I guess this game now falls under the retro title as it was released way back in 1996 along with the console itself, but heck, I’m a bit older and refined now so it’s time to take a look back at what got me to where I am today! Also I know for a fact that Super Mario 64 is still relevant because people are streaming it for fun, speed running it, glitching it out, making remakes or doing something with it for some reason.
But what about the main aim of the game? I’m talking about collecting stars, baby! But not all stars are equal, and I’m not talking about Mario all stars, I’m talking about power stars! So which ones were the funnest to collect? Which were the best? Well that’s what I’m going to be exploring today. So join with me if you will in smashing that thumbs up button and whacking on a subscribe with notifications on as we explore a few of the best and most fun Super Mario 64 stars to collect!
Castle Secret Stars Star 1: The Princess's Secret Slide: When I’m not doing the Mayhem crawl, which for those of you that don’t know involves you crawling over tedious beams or platforms, I do enjoy a bit of sliding. So much so that here as the first best star I have to talk about the Castle Secret Star’s 1 and 2, known as The Princess’s Secret Slide and the Princess’s Secret Slide Revisited.
So what’s so fun about this dubious secret slide? Well for a start it’s hidden in this weird room which seems to be some kind of shrine to Princess Peach with its stained glass windows, so that’s something. Once you find the right window to jump in the music is awesome and really matches the fast paced serious sliding you are about to do. And then there is the sliding itself, damn it is fun. Whether you are a butt man or a tummy woman, sliding down this coin filled path is just satisfying. And then to get a beautiful shining power star at the end, mwah, wonderful.
I think the developers like it too because the revisited version of this star is exactly the same except you have to pass the slide in under 21 seconds. This one can be a bit tricky but with a few tries you should be able to nail it.
Cool, Cool Mountain - Course 4 Star 3: Big Penguin Race: Did I mention I like sliding in Mario 64? And also giant Penguins? Yeah the penguins are the best. Well in this star you get to combine these 2 amazing things in 1! Not only do you get a polygon shaped Penguin who dares you to race him down a hill you also get to race and slide after, or hopefully in front of, him. It’s kind of similar to the Princess’s secret slide, but somehow more is at stake because that giant penguin has thrown down a gauntlet and challenged you. Also it’s icey and easy to fall off…yeah, that doesn’t help.
But anyway, this star is super fun to collect for many of the same reasons as the previous star mentioned! You slide down the hill, collect some coins, maybe get a sneaky 1 up down the hidden pathway and then try your hardest not to fall off the dodgey ice blocks at the end. It’s a rewarding star because it usually takes a couple of tries and also you get to show that Pengu who is boss.
Jolly Roger Bay - Course 3 Star 1: Plunder in the Sunken Ship: When I was a kid I loved the idea of being an archaeologist or a treasure hunter in one form or another. I think I was just exposed to a lot of Indiana Jones movies when I was young because I also wanted a horse and even got myself a whip. That was a lot of fun and for some reason I was once on the roof of my house trying to get the whip to crack. You do strange stuff when you are a kid.
Anyway, with that back story told it may show some insight as to why I think plundering a sunken ship as a general idea is pretty cool, and I was glad to see it implemented in one of my favourite games.
It’s a bit more of a tense star than some of the others on this list, but that also makes it memorable. You only have so much air before you die as you are trying to open the chests in the right order and not get zapped. You do get some Sonic styled air bubbles from picking the right chests, but it gets the blood flowing that’s for sure.
Whomp's Fortress - Course 2 Star 5: Fall onto the Caged Island: I’m in two minds whether this is a fun star or an Infuriating one. Whomp’s fortress is a great level and there are many great stars in it, but getting that damned owl lined up to the star basket has just been stuck in my head since I first fell off to my doom in the wrong place.
The idea behind this power star is a pretty good one, and sounds simple on paper. Some Owl annoys you with some speech and then it’s your job to get under his shadow and hold on for grim death till you are above the star. Sounds easy right? Well I don’t know if it’s just me but controlling that friggin owl seems to be totally random! I’m sure there is a method in the madness and you somehow eventually do end up in the star basket but boy howdy, what a ride this star is.
Is it one of the best? Well I’ll leave you to decide. But I wanted to add it to this list regardless as I think it’s pretty cool catching a ride from an owl in a Super Mario game.
Castle Secret Stars - Star 11: Mip’s First Power Star: So you finally have enough power stars to get to the bottom rooms of the castle. You're not quite sure why there is a rabbit in the basement but you know he is there for a reason, especially because the little bugger runs away from you like you would run away from an Invite to Toad’s BBQ. You try to chase him, you dive into walls, you miss him by inches and then finally, finally you catch this little bag of Myxomatosis. This castle secret star is fun but also super frustrating, especially because there are 2 of them much like the Princess’ Secret Slide revisited but the second star the little bugger is even harder to catch! What you might not know is that this rabbit’s name is Mip’s. Mip's is actually an abbreviation standing for "Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages" which is the type of processor used in the Nintendo 64. Along with Mario himself, MIPS was the first character created for Super Mario 64 for testing reasons. In fact, MIPS was used extensively in early Nintendo 64 test simulations and ultimately made it into the final Mario game because the development team liked him so much. I guess he is kind of cute even if he is hard to catch.
Anyway that’s it for today friends! Naturally these aren’t all of the best stars and are just a few of my opinions to get your juices flowing on the subject! Don’t forget to smash that like button like you are catching MIPs in a furious rage, subscribe with notifications on if you are new and also leave a comment about your favourite Super Mario 64 star or something! And enjoy the video below!
