Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64 console was and still is an awesome game, moving our favorite plumber from the 2D side-scrolling world of old to an (at the time) immersive 3D environment gamers could freely explore. It set the stage for Mario games to come and is now the launchpad for a completely new (yet) old Mario adventure.
Called Super Mario 64 2D, the game is the product of Dave Pickett of the “Brick 101” Lego-themed YouTube channel and Super Mario Maker for the Wii U console. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Super Mario 64 launching in North America (September 29, 1996), Pickett set out to recreate the now-classic game in its entirety within Nintendo’s too — but in the old-school 2D format. Why? Well, why not?
“Back in March when they released the update for Super Mario Maker that introduced pink coins and keys, I knew that I had to use them to create something awesome,” Pickett said in the first video installment explaining how he created the 2D remake. “So the first thing I decided to do was to remake the opening section of Super Mario 64 using coins as stand-ins for stars, and the locked doors as a way to bar progress like the star doors in Super Mario 64.”
The first video explaining how he designed the game covers Bob-omb Battlefield, Whomp’s Fortress, Cool Cool Mountain, and Bowser in the Dark World once the eight coins are obtained from those three worlds. It’s the first of five that crams three or four Super Mario 64 worlds into one huge Super Mario Maker level. That said, anyone can grab all five levels by hitting the following links:
| Video Episode | Level | Level ID |
| Part 1 | Ground Floor | BF38-0000-0202-E825 |
| Part 2 | Lower Stairs | 786B-0000-0216-69D6 |
| Part 3 | Basement | 6D5F-0000-026B-CC1A |
| Part 4 | Second Floor | CFE1-0000-02A6-6244 |
| Part 5 | Third Floor | 95E3-0000-02B6-C6C1 |
Now here is a breakdown of each level:
| Ground Floor: | Bob-omb Battlefield Whomp’s Fortress Cool Cool Mountain Bowser In The Dark World |
| Lower Stairs: | Jolly Rodger Bay Big Boo’s Haunt Dire, Dire Docks |
| Basement: | Hazy Maze Cave Lethal Lava Land Shifting Sand Land Bowser In The Fire Sea |
| Second Floor: | Snowman’s Land Wet-Dry World Tall, Tall Mountain Tiny-Huge Island |
| Third Floor: | Tick Tock Clock Rainbow Ride Wing Mario Over The Rainbow Bowser In The Sky |
Because of the way Peach’s castle is split up and because Pickett could only compress three worlds worth of content into each Super Mario Maker level, he had to cram one world from the ground floor, one world from the basement, and Big Boo’s Haunt (which he says is “kinda in-between the former two”) to make the Lower Stairs level.
Overall, what is amazing here is that Pickett flattened Super Mario 64 into a classic side-scrolling platformer without sacrificing what made the game great to begin with. His interpretation of a 3D world in 2D is simply perfect and a retail version of Super Mario 64 2D would have undoubtedly sold well had it appeared on the original NES console so many decades ago.
