Super Mario 64: Super Mario 64 Land

Super Mario 64 Land is a Super Mario 64 romhack by Kaze Emanuar which has linear levels and game progression similar to Super Mario 3D Land or Super Mario 3D World instead of the traditional sandbox style of the Nintendo 64 classic and most of its romhacks.

As unappealing as that may sound to many considering how much less popular linear Mario games usually are, Super Mario 64 Land turns linear Mario into what it should be, blowing the level design of the official linear Mario games out of the water.

Unlike the official linear Mario games, Super Mario 64 Land has extremely creative level design, taking players from everywhere from a giant house, to a vapor wave-themed world, and even to a world based off legacy Mario content.

The gameplay is also highly varied by comparison to the often dull nature of the official linear Mario games. Many levels in Super Mario 64 Land have unique gimmicks to make them feel completely fresh. For example, one level will have you racing a Mario Kart within the Super Mario 64 engine instead of platforming, and another will have you flying the Sandbird from Super Mario Sunshine through an entire level, rather than just a few standalone red coins.

The soundtrack is also amazing, even if it is mostly just songs taken from other games in the Super Mario 64 soundfont.

The only downside is it does not work on real hardware. Other than that, it is a perfect game and one of the best non-sandbox 3D-platerformers in the world. Even for those who were not fans of Kaze Emanuar's other major work, Super Mario 64 Last Impact, you will be delighted to know the custom code and missions in this mod are a lot more technically sound and polished than in Super Mario 64 Last Impact.

Database match: Super Mario 64 (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo 64 (v. 20210220-053642)
File/ROM SHA-1: 9BEF1128717F958171A4AFAC3ED78EE2BB4E86CE
File/ROM CRC32: 3CE60709