It may be a shock to some inexperienced gamers out there, but there was a time that Mario was a side-scrolling 2D platform game. Yes, everyone's favourite plummer could only be viewed in two dimensions until the release of Super Mario 64 in June 1996. To gamers today this may not seem like too much of a big deal, after all almost every platformer today has 3D graphics with a dynamic camera but back in 1996, Super Mario 64 completely revolutionized the platform genre and the games industry with these features. Super Mario 64 was not the first 3D game as it sometimes claimed to be: both the action-adventure and First-Person Shooter were already popularizing the use of 3D polygons, however Mario 64 was the first platform game to use the technology successfully. Both Sony and Sega attempted to make 3D platformers with mixed success: Sega's Sonic X-Treme was cancelled and contributed to the company's eventual fall from grace whilst Sony's Crash Bandicoot helped them to launch a new icon. Even compared with the success of Crash Bandicoot, Mario 64 was on a completely different level. More importantly, Nintendo were not afraid to show their superiority as demonstrated with the opening screen, which allowed players to interact with Mario's newly rendered 3D features. Super Mario 64 also had a brilliant variety of missions in a world that seemed endless and was filled with atmosphere which far surpassed all of its rivals but overall there is something extremely satisfying in seeing all of Mario's friends and enemies rendered in beautiful 3D graphics. Platform games have never been the same since... What can learned: Continuing to innovate is key if the franchise is to continue over generations of consoles. Honourable Mention: Mario Kart (any) The Mario Kart games are extremely addictive but have done little to change or innovate the industry, they have continued to remain successful without really testing the patience of gamers or the power or Nintendo's console.