Super Mario 64 got a PC port last year – a very unofficial one, of course – that brought the Nintendo 64 classic natively to home computers, with no emulation required. That opens the door for all kinds of robust mods, including the recently-released Super Mario 64 Plus, which adds a ream of features, ranging from improved controls to, er, permadeath.
Super Mario 64 Plus, created by Mors, basically adds a massive options menu to the game’s PC port with a giant pile of quality-of-life options. Some of them – like higher resolutions, widescreen support, and 60fps frame rates – have made it into previous versions of the port, but others are brand new, and include some wild stuff.
You can get analog camera controls, and additional moves, from the modern-style wall slide to the dive hop from Mario Sunshine. You can play levels continuously, without having to drop back to the hub world every time you collect a star. You can even turn on permadeath mode for the most white-knuckle of Mario challenges.
The mod is available over at Mario Fan Games Galaxy. Naturally, you will need to provide your own SM64 ROM to get it running, because hey, copyright infringement, Nintendo lawyers, et cetera.
Either way, this is a fantastic example of all the excellent mod work we’ve been missing out on just because these classic platform games have never been officially brought to PC.