Could You SURVIVE in Super Mario 64?

Welcome to Survive or Thrive, a new series in which we see what would happen if you were permanently transported into a video game. We'll look at 8 different aspects of the game world and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5. In the end, we'll add them all up to determine whether you'll

survive

or truly thrive. So. You've just been magically placed in Super Mario 64's Mushroom Kingdom with no way to escape. How screwed are you? Let's start with the important things. Perhaps the most important thing is   water. You won't

survive

more than a week without water, or probably not even half that in a survival situation.

And before you die from dehydration, you will definitely become weak. So you want to find a water source as soon as possible. Fortunately, we have a lot of water in this game.  There are lots of different fountains throughout the different stages, as well as in the castle itself. The waterfall in front of the castle might be the most useful, considering it always flows from an unknown source. However, since it is unknown, you will want to do everything you can to make it as safe as possible. Which means boil it. I was about to talk about how difficult it would be to light a fire in this world.

It's not impossible to start one without a man-made lighter, but it would be difficult. And although there are enemies that breathe fire, it would be very dangerous to have to do so on a regular basis. I was going to delve into all of that until I remembered that there are some fires in the basement of the castle. You

could

grab a stick, light it, and take it outside to boil water. It is not a good idea to have a fire inside without a chimney. There you go. Safe water to drink.  You will not die of dehydration.

I'll give the water availability a 4 out of 5. It's very easy to get water and you can clean it without putting yourself in danger. Although in the grand scheme of game worlds you might find yourself in, it might have been easier. I think a 4 out of 5 is fair. Next is the food. While you probably won't be able to survive a week without water, you can survive much longer without food. It varies greatly from person to person depending on how much body fat you have accumulated. And just like water, you'd be struggling long before you starved to death.

So what food sources are available to you? Now, I'm not a marine biologist, so I don't know what type of fish this is, but I have a feeling you won't get much sustenance from them. You would probably need a lot of these to get enough calories for the day. Fortunately, there's something a little... bigger out there. On Tiny Huge Island, you can catch a Bubba. Well, you can TRY. He's several times bigger than Mario and you don't have a fishing rod. Maybe you

could

create one with sticks and some vines from this wall on Tall Tall Mountain, but this guy won't get caught with a Minecraft-esque fishing rod.

Here you have another option. Mario normally can't kill this thing. But Mario doesn't know how to use tools. I say prepare a bunch of sharp sticks and start throwing them at Bubba. It may cost you a lot, but when you finally kill it, it'll last you a while, I bet. Cut it into portions and store them in Cool Cool Mountain. They will last longer frozen. And if Bubba is too much trouble, get yourself some Koopas. According to this BBC article, in 1971 a family survived for 38 days at sea thanks to turtles and some fish.  If they can do it, why can't you?

However, one thing that will be a problem is vitamin deficiency. I'm really racking my brain and I can't think of a single vegetable or fruit in this game. The only thing that might help you is Pokeys, because it seems that some cacti contain vitamin C.   Vitamin C is useful in protecting against scurvy and is definitely not something you want. Overall, I'll give food availability a 2 out of 5. You'll be able to get meat fairly easily, but you'll definitely be deficient in some nutrients to the point where it will probably become a problem later on. . Shelter is the last necessity and I don't have to spend much time on it.

You have a whole castle to live in. Although it doesn't really have any living space, so you'd have to make your own bed somewhere. Personally, I'd put one here. It's nice and cozy. Five out of five. Let's talk about security. In some game worlds, it will be a fight for your life every day just to get to the next one. Fortunately, Super Mario 64 is not like that. While there are some stages that will definitely be dangerous for a normal human with normal human abilities, you can avoid them. There's no reason to follow the Rainbow Ride and fall to Earth from the clouds above.

You could spend most of your time in the castle if you wanted, the only enemy outside of the main stages are these Boos.  And you don't have to come back here either. Although, as we mentioned, you will have to travel in search of food. Koopas and the big Bubbas are only found in stages. There's a Koopa Troopa in Bob-Omb Battlefield, and the only enemies between you and him are some Goombas. The goombas should be fairly easy to take out with a spear. Maybe you could jump over them, considering Mario is just over 5 feet tall. However, keep in mind that you won't be able to jump as high as him.  Although we'll talk more about that later.

And like I said before, killing a Bubba would be a struggle. Maybe you can think of something, but being wrong wouldn't be good. Also, if you get injured, there is no hospital to help you. The only intelligent creatures around here are toads, and I don't think any of them ever went to school to be a doctor. I'll give this world a safety rating of 4 out of 5. Everyday life can be a little more dangerous in Super Mario 64 compared to real life depending on your situation, but there are much worse worlds to be in. This is good. Traversability.

This is a big problem for this game. Super Mario 64's Mushroom Kingdom wasn't built to be a realistic, believable world. It was created to jump. After all, this is a platform game. It's fun to jump around levels and make death-defying jumps. But what does that mean for the average human being? For the sake of simplicity, let's say that Mario is exactly 5 feet tall minus his hat. This is five feet right here. When he jumps, he also gains approximately 5 feet. He can jump to his own height. And that's without starting to run. And THAT without counting the double and triple jump.

Mario is truly a beast when it comes to verticality. How high can you jump? When was the last time you thought about jumping? It seems that the average height of a human jump is about 16 to 20 inches.   The average height for an adult man is 5'7 and for adult women is 5'3. Either way, you may have noticed that 16 to 20 inches is not exactly the same as 5 feet. Fortunately, the average adult is a bit taller than Mario, so you can potentially grab ledges while standing that he couldn't before. However, you will need to do some pull-ups to develop arm strength if you want to go through many of these levels.

But if you want to stay in Bob-Omb's castle and battlefield, you don't need any complicated moves to survive. I'll give the world a 3 out of 5 for walkability. Yes, you can get through the simplest stages without problems, but if you need to get to the top of Whomp's Fortress for something, or climb the High Mountain, you will have difficulties. This world was not built for people like us. It was built for the Italians. The next aspect is socialization.  It may sound strange, but hear me out. If you're going to stay here until your last breath, you'll probably want to be in the company of others.

I know some people can live alone in a cabin in the mountains their entire lives, but most aren't cut out for that.   Socializing is human nature. Without it, you would certainly go crazy after a while. The intelligent creatures that inhabit the castle here are toads. I don't know what a human being would have in common with a Toad, but I'm sure you could find something to chat about. You can probably even assimilate into his culture after enough time. Become an honorary Toad. This is what it would be like to truly thrive in this world. But you're still stuck in a place with the same handful of beings.

Maybe you would get bored of them after a while. Angry with them. I'm sure infighting would arise at some point. With such a small group, something is bound to go wrong after a long enough time. And yes, Princess Peach exists, but I don't think you can save her. No offense to you personally, but no human could get through Bowser in the Sky here. Not even an Olympic level athlete. I'm sorry princess. While socialization could be worse, it could definitely be better. I think it rounds out a 3 out of 5 all things considered. Sustainability. I mentioned before that you could probably be assimilated into Toad culture after a while of surviving here... but how long could you survive?

There is only one koopa troop in Bob-Omb Battlefield. Could you get a day's worth of calories from that turtle? And yes, there are all these trees, but what happens when you cut them all down?   It would take a LONG time for them to grow back.  Potentially more time than you might have. Considering you can exit a stage and enemies respawn, I'm tempted to say that everything you pick up will respawn once you re-enter. So you could cut down all the trees you wanted, get a star or leave a stage, come back and everyone would be exactly where they were.

But then the Castle also restarts... That's not good. If everything resets, then you won't be able to build a base of any kind and return to it after passing a stage. Any bed or shelter you build will disappear the moment you abandon it. This seriously hampers its sustainability. Each day will consistently be like the first in terms of how many supplies you have. The most you could accumulate is what you can carry with you. So you would have to light a torch and take it with you to the Bob-Omb Battlefield to cook a Koopa Troopa, or take the koopa to the castle fire and cook it there.

I didn't really think about that until this section, but yeah, that's a major problem. I'll give sustainability a 2 out of 5. It would be a 1 out of 5 if the enemies didn't respawn, but even then, things wouldn't be good for you in the long run. And the final aspect, the X factor.  It's about the vibrations of the world.   The je ne sais quoi. Is this a comfortable place I would like to spend the rest of my life? Or am I feeling discouraged for some unspeakable reason? I... I think it would be very nice to hang out in this world.

There is something about the colors and overall design that is very welcoming. It is cheerful and bright. At least the castle and the earlier stages of the game are. Lethal Lava Land is a setting you probably wouldn't spend much time in, but you wouldn't need to. I would never set foot in the Tick Tock Clock, that's just asking for trouble. I find the low polygon models and tiny textures of this era comforting. Although it's strange to think about what that would do to your brain after a while. We're used to such intensely detailed objects and places in our world, what would it be like to live in a Nintendo 64 game and see these textures for the rest of your life?

I'm not sure, but I'll give it a 4 out of 5. I can't explain it, but there is something that prevents me from giving it a 5 out of 5. I guess that's the nature of this aspect, there is some indescribable part of this world that prevents you from having the perfect vibe. And those are the eight aspects. All in all, we gave it a 4/5 in the water department. 2/5 on food. 5/5 in shelter. 4/5 for safety. 3/5 for walkability. 3/5 socialization. 2/5 sustainability. And a 4/5 on the X factor. Giving us a total score of... 27 out of 40. Not bad. Although I guess it's hard to judge how good it really is considering this is the first game we've seen.

If you have any changes you would have made to punctuation or would like to comment on a statement or assumption I made, please leave it below. I'm curious about your perspective. While there are some problems you could run into during your new life in Super Mario 64, I think there are definitely some worse games you could run into. This one wouldn't be so bad. Let me know what you think about the video in the comments. I'm trying something new here and want feedback. Like the video if you liked it, so you'll let me know. Thanks for watching and until next time.