Great game, but has it's fair share of flaws.
I'd like to save the good part of the review for the end. First, here is the bad part. First of all, I think the game was made way to challenging, and it could've had much simpler controls, and it could have had much more areas. Sure, there was plenty of levels in each area, but the areas were pretty small, and there wasn't much to discover in any of the areas. Now, this game is not bad. Trust me. It's quite good, it just needs work. Personally, I think you can get your money's worth out of just playing in the courtyard in front of the castle. Also, if we didn't have this game, we probably wouldn't have Galaxy, for if you study the gameplay of Mario 64 and Galaxy, the gameplay is very similar. The story is pretty good, and the graphics are fine. The early areas in the game also have fairly exciting gameplay. Overall, Super Mario 64 is a great game, but no more than you can expect from a Mario game on the 64.