Courtesy of Nintendo Power:

Featuring some of the finest 3-D graphics and game play ever developed for a video game, Super Mario 64 set a new standard for interactive entertainment when it was launched with the Nintendo 64. Super Mario 64's vast worlds teem with daunting obstacle courses, hidden items, puzzles and more than 30 enemies!

The action begins when Mario goes to visit the Princess, but finds her castle eerily empty. Leaping through pictures hanging from the walls, he enters 15 magical worlds to search for 120 Power Stars. Mario has more than a dozen moves, including running, jumping, swimming, stomping and punching, and even performing a backward somersault! When troublemakers swipe Mario's cap, he'll have to grab it back! Special caps give him short-lived powers, including the ability to fly. Super Mario 64 features unmatched camera control that make adventuring in its 3-D world a snap even for newcomers.

Mario runs freely in a grassy meadow, tiptoes through a gloomy dungeon, climbs to the top of a snow-covered mountain, hot-foots it over lava lakes and swims in the castle moat. He can explore an ancient pyramid and even race Koopas for fabulous prizes. And he must fight his archnemesis Bowser, King of the Koopas, not once, but three times!