Super Mario 64: How Nintendo Created a Revolution in Gaming or Why It’s Great to Be Fashionably Late

in 1996, Nintendo finally released the N64 and Super Mario 64. Was it worth the long wait? (Chapter Markers and more below…) Episode Information GTV 210 “When I'm 64" Season 11 Episode 8 Original Airdate: September 26, 2026 Produced: Aug. 26- Sept. 26, 2026 Recorded at Butsudan Studios (while on summer vacation) and edited on my new 15” M5 MacBook Air! (purchased just 2 days before Apple raised the price... by a lot!) Edited and produced with Final Cut Pro and Photopea, which is just like Photoshop but FREE! All paid for with Gainful Employment™ which around this time of the year, I don't have to be at... 0:00 GTV ID: Changing the System Where Available 0:03 Prologue: Mario Wings to the Sky 1:06 Act 1: Shoot Into the Wild Blue 9:12 CM 1: “The Game is Changing” (Japan, 1996) 9:44 Act 2: Tricky Triangles 19:57 CM 2: “Change the System” (U.S., 1996) 20:29 Act 3: Blast to the Lonely Mushroom 34:56 CM 3: “Someone Special is 64” (U.K., 1997) 35:38 Act 4: Plunder in the Sunken Ship 42:35 CM 4: “Shake Up Your Summer” (Japan, 1997) 43:08 Epilogue: Somewhere Over the Rainbow This video is part of the 1996 Trilogy! Watch the others here! Crash Bandicoot Crash Bandicoot: How Naughty Dog Changed t... NiGHTS into dreams... NiGHTS into dreams... Sega's Last Chance ... Here are other GTV episodes set in the Mario Universe What Was Yume Kojo? Of Course Super Mario Bros. 2 was Doki Dok... Super Mario Bros Wii Coin World Arcade New Super Mario Bros Wii Coin World Slot M... 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Super Mario Land 3 Manga (Part Two) The Manga Adventures of Super Mario Land 3... Super Mario Pixel Remasters Why Aren't There Super Mario Bros. Pixel R... Mario & Wario Manga Adventures The Manga Adventures Mario and Wario! Peac... The Story of Super Mario Bros. The Story of Super Mario Bros. 40th Annive... Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island The Story of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's ... Super Mario RPG Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars:... The Story of Super Mario Bros. 2 We Know Super Mario Bros. 2 is Doki Doki P... Partial Transcript On June 23rd, 1996, the Nintendo 64 along with Super Mario 64 debuted in Japan to a receptive audience. At the end of September, Mario 64 made its way to the U.S. and everywhere around the world by 1997. Though it took a very long time for the game to reach completion, the effort was worth the wait. With critics, fans, and the non-believers all in agreement that Mario 64 was an amazing, groundbreaking game, the start of a new era in gaming and one of, if not the greatest game of all time. Originally, the release was planned for the fall of 1995, only to be pushed back into 1996 with the goalposts constantly shifting. Along the way, Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the new hardware with his friend Shigesato Itoi, who was interested in bringing Mother 3 there. When the conversation steered towards the final name of this machine, Itoi rejected the use of the word Ultra. It was a leap over the Super Famicom. But what would come next? Hyper, Mega, Giga. Itoi noticed that most gamers just called the Super Famicom or Game Boy simply the Nintendo anyway. He proposed a very simple name, Nintendo 64. It was more than just highlighting the bit count of the CPU inside. 64 has a special meaning in ancient Japanese numerology. 10 to the 64th power is known as Fukashigi and carries the meaning of something mysterious and inexplicable and the highest number possible before reaching infinity. Video game Nirvana. By August 1995, the new official name had been mentioned by the big N and the media. Yet still, the N64 and a new Mario game had yet to be seen. But that would change as the company invited the public to see the N64 in action for the first time at Shoshinkai 1995. On November 24th, Shigeru Miyamoto took the stage to announce a few things. The N64 would use cartridges, not CD-ROMs. Maybe the long wait was worth what it delivered when the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 reached their destination of millions of homes around the world in 1996. Clips furnished by: Chris Aaron RGTV, Digital Neohuman, Game Preservationist, Grooveraider (I think... maybe it was left on the cutting room floor.), ITV, KCCI, KOCO, Kukun Kun, Oji Channel, Raven XP, Video Game Archive. Other sources include: Famitsu, Nintendo Power, EGM, Game Fan, Game Pro, Edge and CVG Magazines. All infinite fountains of information!