Published by Nintendo for its “Nintendo 64” and released on June 23, 1996, “Super Mario 64” sold over 11 million copies worldwide. The third-person, free roaming, 3D platform was the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto, who had spent years trying to build a fully-3D platform for the SNES before he quit the idea altogether.
However, when the company shifted to the development of N64, he played a big role in helping the company veer away from same thumb-destroying crossroads the company had been employing for over a decade.
