In 1996 a book was released in Japan called Super Mario 64 Complete Clear Guide Bookwhich was not only a guide that helped you create strategies to pass each of its levels, but also a collection of comments from the developers and photos of custom-made 3D dioramas, created especially for that book and aimed to help you get the maximum protector of the video game.
Aesthetically it was quite satisfactory and although the book in question is currently only a lost relic, on eBay, you can find some of its copies at a cost between $200/$300 dollarscost that will be worth it, only if you really want to read it live, but in most cases, the followers of the franchise opt for easier options, so in general, few have seen it physically, or even, if they did, there are usually few pages that they looked at.
Therefore, as a guide it could not have served them in any way, that is why now that someone has dared to scan the 3D dioremas that appeared in the book, it is a revelation for the followers with more years in the franchise, that someone, is Dave Shevlin of CFCs, and has taken the time to scan and upload the entire book at a very useful 600 dpi resolution.
The book is entirely in Japanese, but translations of certain parts of it have been made, but according to an interview with Shigeru Miyamotowhere he talks about the fact that during the tests his son had the opportunity to play the game in his development, something that they had not done before, but “We had a line of about 10 high school students and had them play on the King Bob-omb stage for half a day, while we watched from behind.”
“My son was one of them, actually…but watching him try dozens of times, over and over again, to climb this unclimbable hill, as a parent I couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, does this kid have a brain?’ (Laughter) Then we asked the kids what they thought of the game, and they said it was fun and they wanted to play it again.”
“Until now, I think there’s been this image with gaming that if you can’t beat it, it’s not a fun or good game, right? That’s a philosophy we’ve followed at Nintendo as well, but I thought if a game was that much fun to play, even if you didn’t get anywhere, well, it must be fine. Until this game, I was very skeptical that something like this would be fun.”
All that work Miyamoto and his team made at that time, it became a work appreciated by all the fans of the franchise who from their childhood formed a strong bond with the company and even for the new generations who are also interested in the beloved franchise.