Super Mario 64 is, as far as I can tell, the first video game I ever played.
While I really appreciate this game, it's on this site because I don't really have anything new to say about it.
It's a game that has been talked to death, overfellated, overberated, the only reason this article is here is to make my side of things clear without making a video about it.
Especially compared to later 3D entries, SM64 has a lot of player freedom.
Movement abilities are powerful, numerous, and varied, meaning that pretty much any task will have multiple "correct" ways through it.
I consider this incredibly important, because I heavily value player freedom in most genres.
I feel that having more control over how you experience a game inherently makes the process of playing a game more interesting, more personal.
Contrast that to a game like Super Mario 3D World, where you're pretty much forced through whatever the developers intend the experience of a level to be, and you'll see where I'm coming from.
The freedom is not limited to the moment-to-moment gameplay either, it's also present in the progression structure.
Rather than having linear levels that open up 1-2 other levels upon completion, as was standard for the series by that point, SM64 levels have seven obtainable stars, and opening new levels is done by getting set amounts of these.
The game basically opens up in waves, with four main stages available very early, an additional three once you get 8 stars, five once you hit 30, and two more when you hit 50.
Since the game only requires you to get 70 of its 120 stars, you get to ignore entire levels provided you grab more in other stages.
While the levels are numbered in-game, there's nothing forcing you to do most of them in order.
Stars are also ordered within levels, and are also frequently able to be gotten out of order.
It's occasionally said that 3D Land and 3D World are in some way truer adaptations of the series to 3D than 64 was, but I personally think this is only in superficial regards.
On the whole, I consider mainline Mario games to be very unremarkable, they rarely take risks and most aspects of them are done better elsewhere.
Sonic 3 and Knuckles has better movement than any 2D Mario game, and Rockman games regularly have more challenging precision-platforming.
I think most people would then say that Mario games are just sorta okay at everything, rather than having a specific mechanical focus.
However, I'd argue there is one thing that the best Mario games do better than most platformers, and it's their malleable pace.
In every 2D Mario game there's a run button, and most players end up either holding it for 99% of the game, or they never press it.
I think this is an important part of the level design in these games, because it means every obstacle has to work on some level at both top speed, and at a leisurely stroll.
And since running is in the player's control, the overall pace of the game is in their control, letting everyone get what they want out of the game.
This kind of freedom is what I consider unique to Mario.
Sonic games force you to be fast to an extent, Rockman games don't let you move very fast at all, but Mario games let you control the pace.
I see SM64 as a logical extreme of this, it's a game that prioritizes the player's freedom over nearly anything else.
Later 3D Mario games really tried to reel this back, even Odyssey doesn't quite hit the same mark.
One criticism that sm64 occasionally gets is that it's very easy to finish, and there's nothing there for people who want more difficult linear platforming.
I'd agree it's the game's biggest problem, in particular I actually think sm64 would have benefitted really well from a level like grandmaster galaxy or champion's road.
I will say that if you want that sort of thing, the romhacking community has you covered.
Check out Romhacking.com and the Parallel Launcher.
Romhacking.com is a website dedicated to sm64 hacks, its special integration with the Parallel Launcher makes getting into these games easier than ever before.