Replaying Mario 64, I realized how genius the subtle difficulty scaling is. The game ramps of the difficulty so subtly, that it gives you time to perfect the skills needed to move onto the next level/area.
Starting with Bomb-Omb Battlefield, this level has no places where you can fall to your death. Being that this was a lot of people’s first 3D platforming experience, the developers knew they had to ween players into this new environment, so they made a super safe level where the biggest threat are bubble cannons (BUBBLES!). Because there is no place for the players to flat out die, you really have the opportunity to hone in on the fundamentals of the game and prepare you for the next level, Whomp’s Fortress.
Whomp’s Fortress starts to introduce minor platforming elements, but the danger is still incredibly low. There are still a few places where you might fall to your death, but they are scarce. Think of that little rotating path thing that teaches you to tree carefully. If you fall, you just safely slide down and get to try again. And even the enemies in this level are slightly harder by inflicting more damage, but they are all either really slow and totally stationary. Once you get this basics down, you can head over to Cool Cool Mountain where the risk of falling to your death is even higher.
But the developers take this new risk into consideration and place you at the top of the mountain. That means all you have to do is slide down it as opposed to scaling it like in Tall Tall Mountain. Sliding down is much less dangerous than going up, even if there are less safety nets to catch you.
And then there is Jolly Rodgers Bay… but who actually likes water levels?
All these skills gets you ready for the first Bowser fight. Here the risk of falling is even greater, but new players should’ve enough of a grasp of the mechanics to overcome these challenges.
And this expertly crafted difficulty spike continues throughout the rest of the game. Whether it’s Lethal Lava Lands smaller map, but hot lava that punishes you for bad platforming to Hazy Maze Cave which makes navigating the level a much bigger challenge.
There’s a reason why some games withstand the test of time and others don’t. While Mario 64 does suffer from a lot of common problems from early 3D games like weird cameras, it makes up for it with this thoughtful level design.
If you want to hear my TED Talk on this topic, check out this video