Games Like Super Mario 64
Quick Answer
The closest games to Super Mario 64 are Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Galaxy, Banjo-Kazooie, A Hat in Time and Spyro the Dragon. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Super Mario 64, and what does not.
What Made Super Mario 64 Work
Super Mario 64 invented the vocabulary — the analogue run, the camera you steer yourself, and a hub world with paintings instead of a level select. What makes it hold up is that the moveset is complete on the first star: everything after is level design, not upgrades.
Super Mario 64 was a Nintendo 64 launch title in 1996, made by Nintendo EAD under Shigeru Miyamoto. Mario explores Princess Peach's castle and jumps into paintings that lead to open 3D courses, each with several stars to find. The long jump, wall kick, triple jump and a player-controlled camera were all there from the first minute. People looking for similar games usually want a 3D platformer with the same freedom to explore a level in any order.
Also written as Mario 64 — same game, same list.
9 Games Like Super Mario 64
1.Super Mario Odyssey(2017)
The direct descendant, and the moveset is even deeper.
Why it fits: Nintendo EPD's 2017 Switch game revives the open-kingdom structure of Mario 64 and adds Cappy, a hat that lets Mario capture enemies and borrow their abilities.
What is different: Moons are far more plentiful and far easier than Stars; the challenge is spread thinner.
Where to play it: Switch.
Games like this →2.Super Mario Galaxy(2007)
The best-designed 3D Mario, if you can live with less freedom.
Why it fits: Nintendo EAD Tokyo's 2007 Wii game swaps open courses for small planets with their own gravity. It is more linear than Mario 64 but shares its star-collecting hub structure.
What is different: Linear planetoid levels rather than open courses to explore.
Where to play it: Wii; also re-released on Switch.
Games like this →3.Banjo-Kazooie(1998)
Rare's answer, built on the same engine ideas and denser with things to find.
Why it fits: Rare's 1998 Nintendo 64 platformer uses the same hub-and-worlds design as Mario 64, with more collectables per world and a bear-and-bird double act with separate moves.
What is different: More collecting, more jokes, and a slower, bigger moveset to unlock.
Where to play it: N64; Xbox 360 and Rare Replay on Xbox One; Nintendo Switch Online with the Expansion Pack.
Games like this →4.A Hat in Time(2017)
The best modern game built on the Mario 64 template.
Why it fits: Gears for Breakfast funded this 3D platformer on Kickstarter and released it in 2017. Its chapter-and-act structure, hub ship and collectables are an open tribute to Nintendo 64 platformers.
What is different: Chapter-based missions with more story and humour.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →5.Spyro the Dragon(1998)
The PlayStation take, gentler and with better worlds than it gets credit for.
Why it fits: Insomniac Games' 1998 PlayStation game has open worlds reached from homeworld portals, with gliding and charging instead of jumping tricks.
What is different: Gliding and charging rather than jumping precision; very easy.
Where to play it: PS1; remade in the Reignited Trilogy on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
Games like this →6.Psychonauts(2005)
Hub-and-levels platforming where every level is a different idea.
Why it fits: Double Fine's 2005 platformer uses a summer-camp hub from which you enter people's minds, each mind a separate level with its own rules and look.
What is different: Looser platforming and far more dialogue.
Where to play it: PC, PS2 and Xbox; the sequel on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Games like this →7.Astro Bot(2024)
The current best-feeling 3D platformer, full stop.
Why it fits: Team Asobi's 2024 PS5 platformer won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024. Levels are shorter than Mario 64's courses but built around the same idea of a new mechanic in almost every stage.
What is different: Linear levels rather than open courses with several objectives.
Where to play it: PS5.
Games like this →8.Jak and Daxter(2001)
Seamless open platforming, no loading between areas.
Why it fits: Naughty Dog's 2001 PS2 game joins its levels into one continuous world with no loading screens, and has a Mario 64-style mix of platforming and orb collecting.
What is different: One seamless world and a story; less acrobatic.
Where to play it: PS2; collected on PS3 and PS Vita, and re-released on PS4.
Games like this →9.Pseudoregalia(2023)
A small indie game about movement that captures the N64 feel exactly.
Why it fits: A 2023 indie 3D platformer for PC built around a movement kit of wall kicks, slides and a crouch-jump, with a low-poly look that deliberately recalls the Nintendo 64 era.
What is different: Short and dark in tone; a castle rather than painted worlds.
Where to play it: PC.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Super Mario Odyssey is the direct descendant and the best starting point. If you want the N64 era itself, Banjo-Kazooie is the other essential; for a modern indie that feels exactly like 1996, Pseudoregalia.
How We Picked These Games
Every pick is a 3D platformer with a strong moveset and levels you explore rather than run through in a line. We included Nintendo's own successors, the late-1990s games that followed its template, and modern games that clearly learned from it. Linear corridor platformers were left out.
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Games Like Super Mario 64 Compared
Year is each game's first release anywhere, on the platform in the next column. "Play it now" is where it can be bought or played today.
| Game | Year | First released on | Play it now | Closest to Super Mario 64 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario Odyssey | 2017 | Switch | Switch. | Open kingdoms, Mario's moveset |
| Super Mario Galaxy | 2007 | Wii | Wii; also re-released on Switch. | Star-collecting hub structure |
| Banjo-Kazooie | 1998 | Nintendo 64 | N64; Xbox 360 and Rare Replay on Xbox One; Nintendo Switch Online with the Expansion Pack. | Hub-and-worlds design on the same console |
| A Hat in Time | 2017 | PC | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. | Open tribute to N64 platformers |
| Spyro the Dragon | 1998 | PlayStation | PS1; remade in the Reignited Trilogy on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. | Open worlds from homeworld portals |
| Psychonauts | 2005 | Xbox, PC | PC, PS2 and Xbox; the sequel on PS4, Xbox One and PC. | A hub you enter worlds from |
| Astro Bot | 2024 | PS5 | PS5. | A new mechanic in almost every stage |
| Jak and Daxter | 2001 | PS2 | PS2; collected on PS3 and PS Vita, and re-released on PS4. | Platforming plus orb collecting |
| Pseudoregalia | 2023 | PC | PC. | N64-style look and movement kit |
Which One to Play, by What You Liked
If you liked Super Mario 64 for jumping into paintings from the castle, try Psychonauts, A Hat in Time and Banjo-Kazooie. Three games with a hub you step out of into self-contained worlds.
If you liked Super Mario 64 for triple jumps, long jumps and wall kicks, try Super Mario Odyssey and Pseudoregalia. Movement you can keep getting better at.
If you liked Super Mario 64 for open courses with several goals each, try Spyro the Dragon and Jak and Daxter. The PlayStation's answers to Mario 64's open levels.
If you liked Super Mario 64 for feeling the magic of something new, try Astro Bot and Super Mario Galaxy. The two games since that most feel like a first look at 3D platforming.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Related Lists
- Games like Super Mario Odyssey — Mario's two open-course 3D platformers, twenty-one years apart.
- Games like Banjo-Kazooie — Nintendo 64 platformers built on a hub and worlds full of things to collect.
- Games like A Link to the Past — Nintendo's genre-defining adventures from the 16-bit and 64-bit eras.
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