Super Mario 64/YMMV


 * Best Level Ever: Bowser's levels, or any of the slides.
 * Breather Level: While the world is difficult as a whole thanks to the slow carpet rides and the fact that you tend to go very high up in the stage for stars, two of Rainbow Ride's later stars are obtainable near the level's start and can be grabbed quite quickly thanks to them being at the end of relatively easy obstacle courses as opposed to said monotonous carpet rides.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: The boss fights against Bowser.
 * Also, probably any time you get the Koopa Shell. Mario is practically surfing with it.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: A bit minor, but there's something hilarious about how damned far tiny enemies from Tiny-Huge island fly if you punch them.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The theme tune for the "Bowser in the..." levels, with their guitar riffs.
 * And let's not forget the epic organ music that is played during the final battle with Bowser.
 * Heck, most of the game had this!
 * Dire, Dire Docks. If nothing else, the most beautifully magical music of the game.
 * Demonic Spiders: The aforementioned small enemies from Tiny Huge Island, who tend to show up on the small landmasses you walk across. They're hard to hit due to their diminutive size, move incredibly fast, and hit you with a deceptively large amount of knockback, which can lead to you falling to your death more often than not.
 * Fake Difficulty: We have the horrible camera controls to thank for that.
 * Also, we have fake easiness, since the air meter and life meter are combined in one, surfacing in a deep enough body of water instantly refills your health.
 * Fridge Horror: In the submarine harbor in Dire, Dire Docks, directly in front of Bowser's Sub is a huge underwater hole in the wall serving as the harbor's exit. If you go through the hole, you come out in the lake right outside the castle. Bowser's Sub would've exited through that hole. RIGHT OUTSIDE THE CASTLE. Thank GOD Mario destroyed the Sub in time.
 * Game Breaker: Luigi's backward somersault in SM64DS will get you practically anywhere.
 * Good Bad Bugs: Go to any body of water that's more than knee-deep. Tread water. Recover all your health.
 * Hell Is That Noise: The piano is Big Boo's Haunt.
 * Bowser's laugh has also sent many a chill down a young player's spine.
 * There's also the creepy-ass, repetitive music that plays when you try to run up the "Endless Stairs" before you have enough stars to fight Bowser for the last time.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: "The cake is a lie!"
 * Memetic Mutation: So long, gay Bowser!
 * "It's a-me, Mario!"
 * Nightmare Fuel: Countless kids have been scared by Unagi, the eel hanging around Jolly Roger Bay. To add insult to injury, one of the Stars is attached to his tail.
 * The endless staircase, especially with the music.
 * The Killer Piano.
 * There's also that creepy calliope music that plays in the basement of that level. The first time falling into the basement can be a fright because of it. It turns into Nightmare Retardant when you find its source, though.
 * The...music... to Big Boo's Haunt is rather disconcerting.
 * Have any of you even seen the Grindels, with their constant Slasher Smiles? Thankfully, they're only found in one level (within a level), but still.
 * Nothing Is Scarier: The endless staircase prior to the final level; the darkness of the staircase beyond combined with the music gives an unsettling feeling.
 * So Cool Its Awesome: Super Mario 64 is viewed as the first truly good 3D game, is in the top ten on Game Rankings, and is widely considered one of the great classics among video games.
 * Special Effect Failure: The trees.
 * Peach's castle having no back to it wouldn't matter so much if you couldn't easily just turn the camera around and have a clear view right through the back of the hollow castle.
 * That One Level: Rainbow Ride - the ENTIRE area!
 * Mario Over the Rainbow across from it is pretty bad too, though you don't lose lives for dying in it.
 * The giant penguin slide race in Cool Cool Mountain is very difficult considering how early it can be attempted, since The Penguin is a Cheating Bastard and will disqualify you if you attempt to cheat yourself.
 * Tick Tock Clock is a nightmare. The level is long and painfully linear, and it's one continuous tricky jump after another after another, made worse by the fact that most of the level takes place on very thin platforms which are really easy to fall from.
 * Plus if you don't know the "trick" for entering the level, the whole level can end up requiring insane timing. Additionally, randomly-appearing invisible walls can turn making long jumps into a Luck-Based Mission, and the game's Camera Screw becomes even worse in the cramped, cylindrical confines of the clock.
 * Some of the 100-coin stars. Especially Dire, Dire Docks in which you must scour every single nook and cranny to find all the coins you need. Hazy Maze Cave and Jolly Rodger Bay are almost as bad.
 * Tiny Huge Island isn't fun either. The landscape is a nightmare because you're either too big for it or too small for it. There is no middle ground.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Naturally, Nintendo fans jeered for Mario switching to 3D. This will sadly be the beginning of a cycle where the fans will claim the next Mario platformer will not measure up to the last one.
 * Sadly not even the beginning of the cycle: Just see how many people think Mario Bros. 2, the "odd one out", sucks.
 * Mario 2 was originally not a Mario game, though. And Mario 3 was pretty universally acclaimed.
 * Actually Mario 2 was originally a Mario game. And then it wasn't anymore. And then it was once again.
 * Arguably, it's not really a cycle. The main point of contention many people have with the game is the decreased emphasis on platforming due to incorporating Action Adventure elements. Nintendo seemed to realize this and made the successive games steadily more linear to win back these fans. In fact, Super Mario 3D Land was made explicitly with this in mind.
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: Dorrie the sea monster. Despite having a feminine-sounding name and a cutesy-looking appearance, Dorrie is officialy a male.