Let's Play Super Mario 64!

This is my very first Let's Play video!

I sound somewhat awkward however, so I welcome any suggestions on improving my commentary.

It's really amazing to look back at this game and realize how much Nintendo got right this early. 3D platforming games were an unknown entity at the time, and right off the bat they created an instant classic that still holds up as an extremely fun game.

One cool thing I found out is that it's possible to beat the game without getting any caps. You don't even need to sequence break; just get all the stars in a world until you reach one that requires a cap, and move on to the next world, and you'll have gotten 70 in plenty of time to head up to the third Bowser stage.

I'd suggest trying to cut down on the empty space, though if you really can't think of anything to say it may be better just to wait until there's something to talk about. Also, it's pronounced LAK-i-tu.

As I am typing this, the next video is being produced.

I have included a continuous commentary track so that there will be less gaps this time and hopefully it will be smooth and sound natural.

A side effect of this is that I probably added to the "um" count a bit. I hope that will not be too much of a problem and I will try to cut it down in the upcoming videos.

Thank you for your suggestion, Eegah! Also, I have pronounced Lakitu that way for many years. I haven't heard anyone at Nintendo pronounce his name, so I don't know of any "official" pronunciation.

Anyway, Thank you for watching!

edited 17th Nov '10 10:49:45 AM by Fuzy2K

The next video is here!

Damn, I've gotten 120 stars several times, and that 20 second star on the slide is always the one that gives me the most trouble. Pretty impressive to see you get it twice in a row. I have a superstition that Mario goes slightly faster on his belly, but I'm still not really sure about that. Can't argue with results, though.

I never change the camera angle in the Bowser worlds, so I was a bit freaked out seeing it at those different angles, knowing I'd be dead if I did that.

The third video, fresh from the oven!

Basically, the main thing to is to practice making very tight turns without falling off the track, and hugging the inner walls as tight as you can. (by inner walls, I am referring to the wall closest to the direction of the curve, such as the left wall of a left curve and vice-versa.)

I don't know if Mario goes faster on his stomach, but I think that diving into the track as far as you can in the beginning will help reduce the time it takes to reach the end.

edited 17th Nov '10 10:17:12 PM by Fuzy2K

My favored tactic with the bullies is to lure them to the edge, then jump as they charge and do a hip drop on the other side. It requires pretty precise timing, but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. And this was another time I was a bit weirded out, as I always take the other route to the bullies over the sliding puzzle.

If you hit the exact right spot shooting off that island, the air current will take you right through all the coins naturally. Aim just slightly above that first center coin, IIRC.

The fourth video has arrived!

Oh. My. God. I've played through this game quite a few times (I still dust it off to get the full 120 stars every couple years or so) and never noticed the hammer thing until now.

Hazy Maze Cave is the one level that I really dislike. To this day I haven't quite memorized the layout, and the two stars in the actual hazy maze are just hell, plus for some reason I find the "a-maze-ing emergency exit" one to be a lot easier to find than the first one you're sent down there to get. I'm also still confused about the sign that warns you about the sea creature eating you; I can only assume this was removed late enough in production that the sign slipped through. Unfortunately, this also makes Mario look like quite the jackass for hip dropping this innocent, harmless animal which even makes a pained scream when he does it.

Cool, Cool Mountain has a warp near the end of the broken bridge to the right of the start point, which makes returning the penguin a lot easier. Plus, there's a neat little glitch behind that painting on the left: stand next to the wall with your back to the center painting, enter "look around" view, and look to the right, and there's a sideways large "F" floating in the black. No idea what's up with that, but it's a neat bit of trivia.

I knew about the warp in Cool, Cool Mountain, but I never thought to use it for the penguin. Go figure.

Anyway, There is a good explanation for the mysterious "F" in the wall here under Super Mario 64.

Am I the only one that didn't like the DS version? That game is ass without analog control.

No you aren't. The controls were too awkward for me to play it correctly.

edited 18th Nov '10 8:37:32 PM by Fuzy2K

And now I present some audio commentary screwups from the first episode of this Let's Play.
Stay tuned for the fifth episode coming later today...

edited 19th Nov '10 3:00:01 AM by Fuzy2K

Okay, so it's a bit late, but here it is... The fifth episode!

That piano scared the living piss out of me the first time it happened.

I love the layout of Big Boo's Haunt, with the two story house on top of the merry go round, in which the entire floor plan is actually internally consistent. Way to go above and beyond, designers. Also a great touch that you can hear the music from outside the merry go round, and it gets slightly louder inside. Never done the looking up trick; I'll have to check that out.

The volume spikes a bit in the last few seconds of these videos; anything you can do about that?

I'll see what I can do about the volume at the end of the videos. When I record the voiceover, iMovie lowers the volume of the background audio, which then rises in level when the voiceover ends.

Also, looking up is not really a trick per se; I just thought that it was kind of amazing to see how big the world outside the mansion is, considering how small Mario becomes when he shrinks to fit inside the cage.

I also think it's kind of cool how the sky becomes dark and the Moon shines outside as if the cage has its own atmosphere...

Anyway, thanks for watching!

The Sixth Video is Here!

It is kind of unique to the series. See for yourself!

One time I managed to glitch the game a bit and be standing ahead of the penguin when he started talking. Though it really doesn't give you any kind of head start.

That rabbit is so annoying. My first time through, I actually snarled out loud when he came back after I got the first star from him.

So far, I'm really liking this, dood. You've got a clear voice, you're covering some of the finer details about the game, and the amount of content per video is rather astounding, in my humble opinion. I do hope that this good streak of yours continues.

Oh, and out of curiosity, do you have a plan for what Stars to cover in each video? Or is it a semi-random, 'fit-as-much-as-we-can-in-a-short-time' thing? Because if you're fine with suggestions, I think you should do a few more things in Hazy Maze Cave. And if it's not too much of a bother, I'd like to see what those Toads you've been passing by have to say about this mess...

Thank you for your feedback! I'm pretty much choosing the stars as I go on, but I figure that that might change. I think that it might be beneficial to plan ahead in later episodes so that I don't look like I'm stumbling around wasting time and looking confused.

I'll try to do more Hazy Maze Cave stars in the next episode. I only need 3 more stars to open Dire, Dire Docks and Bowser in the Fire Sea, which I will probably have to complete in the eighth episode due to time constraints, but we'll see. I really like Youtube's new 15-minute limit which I really wasn't expecting, so it's nice to be able take advantage of that.

As I get further into the game, I will have to choose the stars more carefully, because there are only so many stars that I am sure that I can collect semi-efficiently so that I don't die several times or make other mistakes.

Your post also just reminded me that some of the toads (such as the one outside the Hazy Maze Cave entrance) actually provide stars, so that could make things a little bit easier for me.

Anyway, Thank you very much for watching, and Happy Holidays!

And every level also has a star if you get a hundred coins, and it doesn't kick you out of the level so you can still go after another one. Not sure if you realized that given the reference in one video to a level's "last star".

I'm just starting this LP. Looks fun! You play well, especially if you're on a keyboard.

Thank you! I actually used a real console and a capture device to record these videos.

I was very nervous when I was recording the commentary for the first video! I had to re-record it several times before I was happy with the results, and I still think that I could have done better if I wasn't so nervous.

In the second video, I decided to try to commentate (?) throughout the video so that the commentary would just flow and I wouldn't have to put several sound clips into the video (which was quite tedious to do...)

I seem to have a problem mumbling after a while into the commentary. I start out okay, and somewhat enthusiastic, but then it kind of degenerates into a sort of "mffblmlblahblah" and no amount of boosting the volume seems to compensate for that.

By the way, are you still working on your Pilotwings LP? I am looking forward to seeing it!

Thank you for watching!

Sorry for the delay, guys. I've been a bit lazy! I haven't given up, I still plan to continue with this sometime soon.

Thank you all for watching! I hope to create a new video sometime within the next 7 days.

~Fuzy2k~