The problem is that a lot of the accepted wisdom about the making of Mario 64 turns out to be either exaggerated or untrue, and even the things we can be sure of are pretty vague. The game seems like a pioneer because it became the template for true 3D design - and so is now something of a legendary creation. Super Mario 64 was not the first 3D game by a long shot, and not even the first 3D platformer. A pioneering work like Super Mario 64, on the other hand, is impossible to divorce from its context because those same factors made it more than a great game.
Hindsight is often ahistorical, free of the day-to-day chatter and contemporary context. But there's something about the idea of a retrospective that doesn't quite fit this game. The Wii U re-release of Super Mario 64 seems like the perfect time for a retrospective, especially when you realise it's been nearly 20 years since its release in 1996.
