_When The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released, it was pretty much what everybody wanted and asked for. Zelda…just in 3D. Aside from being in 3D, it was pretty much your typical Zelda fare: Numerous dungeons, each with a new sub-weapon to find, each with a boss at the end who would be totally unbeatable without the very tool found minutes earlier in the same dungeon, triple forces, fishing, rupees, heart pieces, bottles, all of that jazz. It’s pretty much Zelda in 3D. Cool.
_Now let’s go back and look at Super Mario 64, Mario’s first foray into the Z-axis. The princess invites you over to her castle for some delicious cake…only she gets kidnapped by Bowser. Kay, all of the main players are here. To save the princess, you go through a multitude of worlds…ok, still sounds similar. Well, how about the castle serving as a hub world? That’s a little different from previous Mario games…how about Mario having a life bar? …that’s also different. How about needing to breathe underwater? Or collecting stars to unlock different parts of the castle? No 2 player mode? The ability to punch, kick and dive into enemies? Interacting with NPC’s in stages? Mario remaining one size all game long?
...and one head can never die 