The first time I got to 120 stars was after playing nonstop with my best friend's brother every chance we got 17 days after the Nintendo 64s launch 24 years ago. Once I figured out how to emulate Nintendo 64 on a PC, I cleared it again. I picked up a hacked original Xbox in Korea back in 2006 which emulated Nintendo 64 well and cleared it for the third time. Super Mario 64 emulated fast enough on a hacked PSP and I cleared it on that more than once, but this is the first time I've gone for the 120 using a phone and touchscreen controls.
I've spent a lot of time downloading, trying, and deleting Nintendo 64 games on my phone. Here are the games I found were still fun and could be controlled well with the touch screen controls using Mupen64 from the Google Play store. If you're using an iPhone, is it possible to emulate Nintendo 64 without a jailbroke phone?
If I couldn't complete any of the slide levels, then there wasn't any point in even attempting this road to 120 again. Going from Nintendo's NES and Super Nintendo 2D + up, down, left, right + controls to the N64's 3D analog stick took some getting used to. Getting Mario to move and jump right using touchscreen controls felt like being a rookie N64 player all over again.
OK Mr. Penguin. Let's do this!
Made it to ten stars quickly and easily. Let's get airborne!
This is where I missed the using the actual Nintendo 64 analog controller the most. It just doesn't feel right without it. It took me over twenty tries to get all 8 red coins this time.
If I couldn't beat the first Bowser level, then this is where I was definitely was going to give up.
You ready for me Bowser?
Thanks for reliving this old game with me today. I've made it to 24 stars so far. I'll make another two posts on my road to 120. What other Nintendo 64 games could you get to play well on your phone?
Image Sources:
I used the screenshot option in the Mupen64 menu and the Samsung's power + volume down. The images came out larger using the Mupen64 menu. I cropped some of the shots on my iPad after getting them from Google photos. All of the images in this post came from gameplay on my phone.