If you were to ask me my favorite-ever Mario game, I would instantly, without the slightest bit of hesitation, without having to think about it and all, answer that it easily and by far has to be Mario 64. The way it made me feel when I played it was nothing short of a religious experience.

Of course, to someone without the nostalgia, someone who didn't grow up with it, someone who was evaluating it as a brand new product by today's standards, there are better Mario games. Mario Odyssey has better graphics, more worlds, more content, a larger scope, and generally is everything Mario 64 was but *improved* through several generations of consoles and game design refinement. (The only part of 64 I would argue holds up even today without being obsoleted is the music, which, to be fair, is pretty major. Still, other than that, it's basically prototype of the games that came later.)

Objectively, I know this. Subjectively, though, those games never hit me the same way. I tried playing Mario Galaxy and it didn't feel like Mario 64. I tried playing Mario Odyssey and it didn't feel like Mario 64. I eventually came to accept that what I was chasing this whole time wasn't a particular game, but the overall experience of being that age, playing it in that context. I've grown up, now, and that whole saying about "you can't go home again" has set in. Not even *Mario 64* feels like Mario 64 anymore. *I'm* different now. It's sad, but that's just life, right?

Or so I thought.

Corn Kidz 64 feels like Mario 64.

I don't mean that in the sense of "it's a retro-inspired aesthetically similar blah blah" no no no, I'm not saying that playing Corn Kidz 64 right now feels like how playing Mario 64 would feel right now. It doesn't. I don't know how this happened. I don't know how they did this. I didn't think such a thing was even possible. But somehow, *somehow,* what I'm saying is that playing Corn Kidz 64 now feels like how playing Mario 64 *felt* the first time I played it. This is that game that I've been chasing ever since I had that experience. This is the game that I wanted Galaxy, Odyssey, all the others to be. Bogo--the creator of Lyle in Cube Sector, another fantastic memory of a bygone era, I might add--took everything I'd ever come to reflect on and realize and understand and accept about adulthood and proved it all wrong. You *can* go home again. I just did.

This may sound like hyperbole. These are some strong words for some $7 indie game on Steam from a dev that only people my age would even still remember, right? They are. Trust me, I know the weight of what I'm saying here. I am saying it fully aware of that weight. Mario 64 was *sacred* to me--not just my favorite Mario game, but one of my favorite games ever made, period. And now, Corn Kidz 64 is, too.

If you were to ask me my favorite-ever Mario game, I would instantly, without the slightest bit of hesitation, without having to think about it and all, answer that it easily and by far has to be Mario 64. The way it made me feel when I played it was nothing short of a religious experience. Of course, to someone without the nostalgia, someone who didn't grow up with it, someone who was evaluating it as a brand new product by today's standards, there are better Mario games. Mario Odyssey has better graphics, more worlds, more content, a larger scope, and generally is everything Mario 64 was but *improved* through several generations of consoles and game design refinement. (The only part of 64 I would argue holds up even today without being obsoleted is the music, which, to be fair, is pretty major. Still, other than that, it's basically prototype of the games that came later.) Objectively, I know this. Subjectively, though, those games never hit me the same way. I tried playing Mario Galaxy and it didn't feel like Mario 64. I tried playing Mario Odyssey and it didn't feel like Mario 64. I eventually came to accept that what I was chasing this whole time wasn't a particular game, but the overall experience of being that age, playing it in that context. I've grown up, now, and that whole saying about "you can't go home again" has set in. Not even *Mario 64* feels like Mario 64 anymore. *I'm* different now. It's sad, but that's just life, right? Or so I thought. Corn Kidz 64 feels like Mario 64. I don't mean that in the sense of "it's a retro-inspired aesthetically similar blah blah" no no no, I'm not saying that playing Corn Kidz 64 right now feels like how playing Mario 64 would feel right now. It doesn't. I don't know how this happened. I don't know how they did this. I didn't think such a thing was even possible. But somehow, *somehow,* what I'm saying is that playing Corn Kidz 64 now feels like how playing Mario 64 *felt* the first time I played it. This is that game that I've been chasing ever since I had that experience. This is the game that I wanted Galaxy, Odyssey, all the others to be. Bogo--the creator of Lyle in Cube Sector, another fantastic memory of a bygone era, I might add--took everything I'd ever come to reflect on and realize and understand and accept about adulthood and proved it all wrong. You *can* go home again. I just did. This may sound like hyperbole. These are some strong words for some $7 indie game on Steam from a dev that only people my age would even still remember, right? They are. Trust me, I know the weight of what I'm saying here. I am saying it fully aware of that weight. Mario 64 was *sacred* to me--not just my favorite Mario game, but one of my favorite games ever made, period. And now, Corn Kidz 64 is, too.