Even 30 years later, Super Mario 64 casts a long and impressive shadow over the series, not to mention speedrunning, challenge running, modding, meme culture, creepypasta, and even computer science communication. There is a lot to learn from what it did right, what aged less gracefully, and what sacrifices had to be made.
Personally, i don't like the actual game very much. The large-scale structure is compelling and elaborates on Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island in many ways. There's strong incentivization to jump back in, find and do everything. A number of memorable setpieces and landmarks. But the moment-to-moment gameplay throws out most of what i like about the series, and filters the remainder through a movement system far more clunky, buggy, and inconsistent than i'd expect from a Super Mario game. If Ocarina of Time can get two remakes, i hope Nintendo eventually figures out a way to release this game with controls for the first time. I can't deny there's an idea for a fun videogame somewhere in here, i just can't play it through any official means. And that's pointedly overlooking how many objectives are spackled with counterintuitive hidden conditions and accusatory dialogue that defy obvious solutions—putting up a fence around Big Bob-omb; closing the cannons during footraces; making a slide not loop over itself; decaling a breakable wall…
These days, there's a lot of cool art inspired by niche, unintended aspects of Super Mario 64, like how the hub world is strangely frightening. Some of the best game programming deep dives i've watched are about critical memory safety oversights, or why Mario constantly bonks off of thin air and slides into the nearest abyss. Then what really is, has ever been, the consensus on the game itself? Is it an untouchable masterpiece, or a fragile, shambling mess? I hope, for its own sake, that it will finally get to shed its impossible reputation soon, so players can like it without pressure or bitterness, and dislike it without alienation or reproach. There are a million genuinely fascinating qualities to 64, and i've enjoyed cultivating the kinds of thoughts and observations that are too esoteric for a general opinion. I hope to be better at articulating that kind of appreciation for the game in time for the next big anniversary!