Rainbow Ride: The WORST 3D Mario Stage | Level By Level

Super Mario 64 is one of my favorite games of all time, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. In fact, I think Mario 64 might just contain the absolute worst 3D Mario stage, Rainbow Ride. In today’s episode of Level by Level I’m going to review rainbow ride and see what makes it so bad? Additionally I’ll be ranking all 7 of its stars into a tier list! So join me as I discuss why Rainbow Ride is the Worst 3D Mario Level!
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[@IcyDiamond]

Mario be looking like a cartoon reviewer avatar with his arms crossed like that 💀

[@Odyssey_Central]

When the Mario is NOT realistic…..

[@IcyDiamond]

@@Odyssey_Central When Mario finds out the same people who directed his movie made Teen Titans Go

[@BrianCannan-em1nk]

Blud is boutta make a 40 minute long vulgar analysis on how the original Mario bros movie is not a faithful adaptation

[@spacesoccercowboy6091]

LS Mario

[@Chaotic_Overlord]

The Devil shivers when the italian plumber crosses his arms.

[@weird751]

It's criminal how the stage doesn't even give you the option to use the wing cap in the stage!

[@Zyborggian]

YO I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT

[@Fancylvania]

Isn't there one on the ship? Maybe that's just a canon I'm thinking of.. weird

[@TaylorTCarlson]

What boggles my mind is why did they create a sky level… and not include a single wing cap?!

[@hclink7315]

“Luckily the shot is easy because there’s a circular rainbow…” I was following the star name as a kid. I shot over it. That was the day I stopped playing mario 64 for a long time.

[@iluvchess14736]

Dang nintendo with their stupid references

[@superdude11235]

😢

[@autismandgaming4532]

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE

[@derekrequiem4359]

...I mean it's a famous song, it's not like it's some obscure reference lol

[@iluvchess14736]

@@derekrequiem4359 something tells me kid them didn't know that

[@Bryce_the_Woomy_Boi]

It's basically just random blocks everywhere.

[@Bryce_the_Woomy_Boi]

And that big house. Who made this level, Nathaniel Bandy?

[@pikminologueraisin2139]

lethal lava land is random but it's great

[@Stas-pvz]

robloxobby.png

[@Omeg1]

That's what I said

[@bigotis9042]

​@@Bryce_the_Woomy_Boi Lol

[@azurewarrior2000]

Rainbow Ride was originally going to be a fire themed stage, since in the code contained within the 2020 gigaleak internally refers to it as "fire bubble 2," which implies it's related to Lethal Lava land as In the Japanese version LLL is referred to as "Fire Bubble Land." the "star" file (which contains the data for Star placements in each course) refers to the course as "Fire Building," to me this explains alot about the level design and the amount of fire in it, and there likely would've been a pool of lava underneath the level instead of a bottomless pit which would've made the course much less punishing and frustrating to play.

[@Daansstuff-alt]

We were robbed of that tbh. Wouldda been more interesting than what we got.

[@Daansstuff-alt]

Also. Since the level was rushed and theres so much emptyness. Maybe the level wasn’t edited aside from removing the lava pool at the bottom?

[@AnimatedTerror]

@@Daansstuff-altnah cause the ship exists. Also the level is very lateral. Stuff doesn’t exist on the same plane. So likely a normal ship that would have been atop the sea of lava was changed into the flying one, and then everything was moved around to be in different spots in the sky. Then I’ll bet the rainbow carpets were the moving platforms found inside lethal lava lands volcano at one point before also being changed. It’s clearly a change but not a sudden one. I can tell they still put time into trying to polish it.

[@egon3705]

so _two_ levels would've been random bullshit floating in lava

[@fuhbox]

If Little Timmy Made a Super Mario Maker 3D Level

[@rconmaster]

Tf You Talking Like This For

[@micahheyward5342]

That is a stretch to make

[@evanseifert8858]

100% accurate. It's just random garbage.

[@user-cq7lx8xu9g]

Nathan

[@fuhbox]

@@user-cq7lx8xu9g Nathan

[@MishKoz]

It says a lot that finding a way to skip the long carpet ride to get the Big House star was THE white whale of the 120 star run for the better part of 25 years. A consistent setup was only found _last year_ which is just insane to me. Wing Mario Over Rainbow is still worse though imo

[@Boltthe410]

Level was definitely rushed and probably the last one they had to make before release.

[@MishKoz]

@@Boltthe410Very likely. TCRF's development timeline says that Rainbow Ride only began development in March of 1996, while the game ended up releasing in June of 1996.

[@solidzack]

Wing Mario Over the Rainbow is decent actually if you get a good understanding of the Wing Cap flying mechanic (pulling up slows you down, causing you to descend, while pulling down speeds you up, allowing you to somewhat maintain altitude)

[@redyyz4489]

I disagree because at least Wing Mario's only have 1 star (2 in 64 DS) and it's a lot more interesting considering this is a Castle Secret Star)

[@jasons9812]

This level is the worst

[@freakishtech2310]

If you're playing the DS version of Super Mario 64. There is an additional main star. Making it 8 stars per level. 7 main stars and the 100 coin star. The additional star added to Rainbow ride is called "Switch star of the manor" this adds another trip to the manor having to press a star switch and making your way to the roof again to grab its star. Normally you wouldn't be able to get the roof since stepping off the carpet makes it disappear after a few seconds which would have been an issue since you have to do this to press the star switch and even if your able to get back on the carpet is too slow to make it up there in time since the switch star is on a timer when you press the switch. However the DS version adds a block inside the manor and if your playing as Mario it gives you a power flower that turns Mario into balloon mario allowing him to float up to the roof to grab the star in time. You can also use the power up to grab the big house in the sky star as well. So that basically cuts the trip to the roof a bit shorter than the original route up there.

[@Robbie_Haruna]

It is also worth noting that Rainbow Ride in DS does allow you to get away with more shortcuts. The Power Flower inside the house helps for the two stars you mentioned, but you can also take a number of other shortcuts with Luigi's floaty backflip. Still the worst level in the game by far, but hey it's a bit better at least?

[@EmNoid]

According to Gigaleak, internally Rainbow Ride was a fire stage (similar to Lethal Lava Land) which really fits a lot more with the slow moving platforms, which also show up in the volcano.

[@Glory2Snowstar]

Yo, that’s pretty neat actually! Makes me want a Volcano/Sky hybrid level. You platform on solar flares and toxic fumes, I guess…?

[@GraniteStateVictoria]

@@Glory2Snowstar That would be cool. I love hybrid levels (like the haunted forest levels in New Super Mario Bros and the chocolate themed levels in Super Mario World like the fortress with boiling chocolate instead of lava).

[@PeachyShowtime]

Sad how Rainbow Road was cut but Rainbow Ride in Smash Ultimate Im still frustrated by that, an actual good rainbow stage was removed

[@Odyssey_Central]

I don’t even hate rainbow cruise in smash (AS LONG AS ITS HAZARDLESS) but rainbow road 100% should’ve gotten priority

[@PeachyShowtime]

@@Odyssey_Central Rainbow Road is my favorite stage ever in Smash Smash 6 better kill Ride and give us Road back

[@tibby4503]

How could they refuse to keep something based on one of Mario Kart's greatest courses?

[@gbx4858]

They may have cut rainbow road, but at least they brought back everyone’s favorite stage pac land

[@PeachyShowtime]

@@gbx4858 And 75M and New Pork City are also beloved fan favorites

[@varietychan]

Imagine you accidentally take the wrong carpet and go to a star you already collected

[@HumanThing-fm6xt]

That’s happened too many times to me.

[@ArcanePower1]

@@HumanThing-fm6xtSame. I had a day where i went to the same star 5 times in a row 😂

[@Novum228]

1:37 As a longtime roblox player, I can confirm this is what obbies look like

[@henke37]

Star 6 can be mitigated by the fact that most people will spot the pink bobbomb while doing the red coins.

[@MusuemBucket]

I can imagine one of Nintendo’s employees designing this level had a bad day. So they decided to make us suffer too by giving us a plate of nothing.

[@palpatinerocks3260]

Changes in Super Mario 64 DS The blue flame was removed from the rotating platform section There is only 1 glass container on the ride to the house The house added a power up block, and a 1-up in the flames for Luigi to use the Invisibilty cap. (This also means if you play as Mario, you can get to star 2 without having to use the carpet to go back outside) The number of blocks on the way to the airship are reduced There is a power up added to the airship. (Mario can fly to the ship up to the Chuckya platform). DS Bonus Star: Switch Star of the Manor. There is a switch outside the house that you need to activate. Either hit the switch on the way out of the house or hit the switch as Mario, then get the power up to go to the top and claim your prize if made fast enough. Tweaked Star: Cruiser Crossing the Rainbow. The 1-up and Star on the airship have swapped places. N64 the 1-up was on the tip while the star is in the hull while vice versia in DS

[@nowifate]

These made the stage a little more bearable but just slightly 😅

[@palpatinerocks3260]

@@nowifate i feel like the stage did become more bearable, but accidently makes it more dull too.

[@nowifate]

@palpatinerocks3260 Yeah, that too...

[@rosythewildflower]

The blue flame is still there

[@palpatinerocks3260]

@@rosythewildflower it was removed from the cone platform near the airship. I haven't seen it in the ds version.

[@nowifate]

Yesterday, I started playing the game again after 6 years, and as someone with a fresh look, I can say you didn't mention one thing, which, for me, is absolutely huge. Every hazard and enemy are designed to push you off the tiny platforms, meaning if you fall once, you have to do everything all over again...

[@Sqwivig]

Horrible game design. Truly jerkish.

[@monedooo]

how the hell they expected kids to beat this

[@Pyro03333]

To be fair, it's the final main stage of the game so it's pretty hard to expect kids to even make it here in the first place. Plus it's entirely optional.

[@Yoshigamingchannel]

@@Pyro03333you think kids are just stupid they could get this far your underestimating them

[@GraniteStateVictoria]

I beat it when I was a kid. Took some time, but still.

[@Pyro03333]

@@Yoshigamingchannel I don't think kids are stupid. I'm just saying that it is very hard to get this far if you don't know what you're doing. I definitely never got to this stage when I was younger.

[@CallofFreaky]

Idk but we did anyway

[@fuecOHKO]

Player: I'm so excited for this crazy-looking level! Nintendo: I hope you like random garbage everywhere!

[@sobblegaming350]

​@@Trump2024catbro did a 16 star run to record footage easier

[@bodie5383]

Basically just a Roblox Obby level

[@micahheyward5342]

At least you don't have to play the stage to beat the main game

[@3eve0n]

@@bodie5383 idk it's been a while since I played an obby but idr having to sit and do nothing for 2 minutes.

[@gsjohn25]

I think the best way they could have solved the carpet problem is by replacing them with koopa shells that can slide on the rainbows. That way on those long stretches of nothing you would still at least have to worry about steering at a high speed

[@Torturephile]

I could see that as difficult unless they made the rainbows wider, as koopa shells move fast.

[@MajoraLuigi1987]

Skill issue

[@Celeste-ty5pb]

honestly watching this kinda gave me a BETTER appreciation for rainbow ride. i think its interesting how they tried to implement branching paths in an auto scroller, regardless of how well it worked. i think it could work as a concept better if the carpets were more like a branching bus system, with multiple rainbow paths taking you to and from each obstacle and looping around the level

[@DAWGIESZ64]

The worst part of the stage is the lack of bat man

[@GDColon]

Honestly a really good breakdown, I feel like a lot of people just look at the weird decisions in this level and go "oh it's the last level, it's supposed to be hard so it's fine". But in reality yeah this is 50% autoscroller 50% roblox obby mess and there isn't even a wing cap

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Still not the worst main 3D Mario stage considering Corona Mountain from Super Mario Sunshine, Bubble Blast Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy, and Stone Cyclone Galaxy and Rolling Coaster Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2 exist.

[@notplaceerrorlol]

As a constant ROBLOX player, I can confirm that rainbow road looks like a roblox obby from 2008

[@EAGLEOL9]

ayy its mr gd punchuation furry guy! but fr this was a good breakdown 80% carpets and 20% roblox obby

[@dietwater850]

gd cologne supra mayro 6-ty4 review real

[@creativeandoriginalhandle]

the thing about this level is that most of it isn’t even difficult, it’s just really boring

[@zotesans5676]

Rainbow Ride is the Mario level equivalent of a KZbin video that stretches itself out to 8:01 for ad revenue with no real interesting content to warrant the filler

[@zotesans5676]

not excuse how long and boring the intended method here is

[@pikminologueraisin2139]

stretched out 8min videos that got 1min of sponsor and end on 30sec of wanting you to share, like and comment on the video and thanking the patreon members

[@BrianCannan-em1nk]

Even the Smash stage sucks. Can we just appreciate how Rainbow Road is pretty much the only good thing in Mario with the word “rainbow” in front of it?

[@pikminologueraisin2139]

unless it's n64 rainbow road

[@BrianCannan-em1nk]

@@pikminologueraisin2139 or GBA Rainbow Road

[@nicholasmitchell6025]

​@@BrianCannan-em1nkor rainbow run from Super Mario 3D World

[@animorphs128]

Criminal that you have not reached 200k yet. I feel like you have improved so much over the last year in particular

[@rdmn2001]

Recently replayed Super Mario 64 DS and acquired a new, burning hate in my heart for this stage, so thank you for validating my feelings. >:) (Sidenote: Your editing style's really funny, lol. Keep it up!)

[@ArcanePower1]

Oh my god the same happened to me. I loved this stage initially (probably bc of child me somehow enjoying it) but when I replayed it it was the worst level in the game for me by far

[@Sadeness99]

Pretty sure it's fine on ds

[@joshslater2426]

Rainbow Ride is by far the most illogical stage in Mario 64. It’s just a mesh of random and somewhat surreal content, such as a massive empty house and a load of irrelevant platforms. Every other stage in the game has a distinct theme, with the missions and obstacles being based around the level’s theme. Rainbow Ride just threw a bunch of random stuff together and called it a day.

[@ayayayastar]

I never really understood the "it's just random stuff" argument, I think there's at least some elements that make sense for a whimsical fantasy inspired sky stage (the floating airship with wings, Lakitu, the floating carpets, and the giant Jack and the Beanstalk inspired house Mario 64 stages don't really have to make cohesive realistic sense in order to make for a good level, Lethal Lava Land, Wet-Dry World and especially the Bowser levels can be considered "random stuff together" but just like Rainbow Ride they all have a design and paths to take I think a real uninspired Super Mario 64 level is Dire Dire Docks. It has very little level design to offer, it doesn't shake up what was introduced in Jolly Roger Bay by much (it's the only level in the whole game that reuses a star title, Through The Jet Stream, and the method of getting that star is the same across both levels), and the only interesting landmark in the whole level (Bowser's sub) gets wiped away the moment you collect the first star

[@tablesttable1865]

The main problem I have with the stage is that some stars feel like a chore instead of a challenge. It's kind of crazy that doing speedrun tricks make the stage funnier to play than taking the intended paths

[@jaretco6423]

That's basically my issue with the later halve of the games. The missions gets really repetitive and the levels keeps getting worst for me.

[@GrubbusHubbus]

"I guess you can combine bombs and puppies." They actually did that before, and it was one of the worst things you could combine. It was supposed to be an anti-tank weapon. Dog goes under the tank wearing a bomb vest, blows up the tank from underneath. Only problem? The training tanks used diesel, not the gasoline of the enemy tanks.

[@Glory2Snowstar]

The best part (not sure if this is true), is that due to using their own resources as training dummies the dogs would rush towards THOSE. They blew their own infantry to smithereens.

[@GrubbusHubbus]

@@Glory2Snowstar Yeah. Plus the diesel-gasoline discrepancy, meaning they saw their friends as the target.

[@Max.Paprika]

Here's how I would have made this one a lot more interesting: make the flying ship the centerpiece of the level. Give it two levels, with a below deck area split into four chambers. Start Mario off on the ship, and have a carpet you can jump on any time at one end. When you do, it starts off on a path that weaves through each of the four chambers below deck, letting you get off and do all sorts of things while it's passing through to the other side. Lots of blocks and crates and bombs and stuff. Every time the carpet exits one side of the ship, it goes out just far enough to a coin or something that's barely too far to jump on your own, then turns back to pass through another chamber. This way, you always have stuff to do while you wait for the carpet inside the ship, there's very little waiting outside the ship, and at the end of the four chambers, it's brings you back up to the deck and drops you off. And there should be four cannons to launch you to islands that are really far away. No long, boring carpet rides.

[@NQProductions]

If someone took a shot every time you said "carpet" they would die. This level is now hazardous to your health.. 💀

[@roundninja]

I like this level's aesthetics a lot. The wide open sky is beautiful, rainbows and bright colors are all over place, and the design of many elements like the carpets, ship, and house are appealing. There is sort of a lack of aesthetic/thematic cohesion, but that's part of what I love about it, since I find that levels which stick too closely to a single clear concept can get a little bland and predictable. If you look at a classic level like Whomp's Fortress, it also has some elements that look randomly cobbled together, and I think that actually makes it better. Why are there long boards of wood everywhere you have to use as bridges? Why is there a random section of inch-deep water? What is that area with the blue coins and pole supposed to be? Why are there floating islands and a cage way up in the sky? Why does a tower appear after you beat the boss? None of these questions have entirely logical answers. The developers just added stuff they thought might be fun, and in many cases, they were right. Mario games have always been like that. Why is a plumber fighting evil turtles and mushrooms, breaking blocks, teleporting with pipes, jumping on floating platforms, and sometimes riding a dinosaur? No reason, except that it's just wacky fun stuff that happened to be possible with the technology at that time. Now, I need to be absolutely clear about one thing, which is that I'm NOT saying aesthetics or logic are irrelevant to Mario games, I'm just saying that a bit of wacky random stuff has always been a core part of Mario game design, and I don't think it looks, plays, or feels quite like Mario if you take too much of the weirdness away. Mario levels are always best when there's at least one ingredient that doesn't seem to belong in the recipe, like those weird flower enemies in the snow levels, the chuck-yas and heave-hoes in Wet Dry World, the secret white slide in Tall Tall Mountain, and so on. There are a few legitimate issues with Rainbow Ride, especially the carpets, but I don't think it's fair to drag the overall aesthetics and design so much.

[@WannabeMarysue]

Everyone figured out jumping to the pole. Its so obvious, even to babies.

[@Pyro03333]

What's sad is that they had so much potential on making a sky level on this game. Just look at the sky levels from the various rom hacks.

[@bumblebee8903]

I agree on the music being unfitting. I’d say that the wing cap theme would work better.

[@breadstacka]

First video ive seen of yours and really enjoyed it. I always thought something was up with this level as a kid, but could never place it. You really nailed it

[@awesomeboydexter4592]

To be honest The stage is so weird I can’t help but love it. And if it weren’t for the clunky, N64 controls and camera, the stage might’ve been tolerable

[@esotericVideos]

I don't know how many times I've played mario 64, and it wasn't until this video that I learned you could rotate the camera and skip the first carpet.

[@TJ-Henry-Yoshi]

Very unrelated but i always cite this level whenever people ask me why i dont like 3ds rainbow road. To me they both represent especially scattered ideas/layouts that involve placing a lot of obstacles that seem interesting in concept but don't feel like they have a lot of substance that add enough value. There's a reason i call this level "the Junkyard of SM64"

[@monadoboy1887]

If you dont mind me asking what do you mean by 3ds rainbow road? Is that referring to mario kart 7 or something else?

[@TJ-Henry-Yoshi]

@@monadoboy1887 yes

[@Oceane1803]

I personally love the giant house. It does make you wonder who lives there and I like that. It makes me want to write a story about it.

[@____David]

It’s been too long since the last Mario 64 video, glad to see them return and hopefully we can see more in the future!

[@FangzwithaZ]

I just realized I have to speedrun beating Mario Wonder so I can watch your 2D Mario stages ranking

[@henrywittstatt1289]

I dont know if you edit your vids yourself but the editing always cracks me up.

[@SuperPlacido1]

*videos not vids. I do not understand the concept of wanting to shorten a word that is already short enough as it is. I find it ridiculous. However, I do understand wanting to shorten long words.

[@henrywittstatt1289]

@@SuperPlacido1 🤓

[@SUPRIzEi]

​@@SuperPlacido1 but vids sounds cooler

[@egg_ox]

The fact that you didn't say the entirety of Galaxy was worse than Rainbow Ride is character growth. I'm proud of you.

[@midnightcoffee6463]

Well, at least Rainbow Ride lives up to its name Also, nice touch, adding the Melee Hyrule Temple theme to the Maze segment ^_^ only this time it's Overground

[@gsjohn25]

I think the best way to fix it at least visually is to make the stage at night, replace the grey blocks with rainbow wire frame and gold ones, and replace the slide theme with something more like Rainbow road from Mario Kart 64

[@djinnspalace2119]

also, the wingcap cloud level has a much better aesthetic than this so i wonder why they didnt combine the two since all in all, theres 3 sky levels: rainbow ride, wingcap switch level, and the red coin cloud wingcap level.

[@StarSpire72]

What annoys me the most about Rainbow Road is that it's not even really hard like you would expect a final main stage to be. Instead it's overly tedious to the point of sleep inducing. Plus, I think this stage could have been decent enough if you had to platform on the rainbows instead of riding a carpet on them.

[@castform7]

I've always wondered why platformer developers make auto scrollers. Like what's their thought process? "You know what our players want to do more than anything? Wait extended amounts of time to move for 6 seconds and wait again!"

[@blueyosh43]

A good auto scroller limits the player's play space while still being engaging. That's the thought process, you are testing the player's ability to survive in a more claustrophobic and linear environment. This level does not do that. It limits your place space and then throws nothing at you.

[@merluzacongelada5361]

I have an ADHD diagnosis and autoscrollers never bothered me. Which means you guys hating on them have less attention span than a literal moron (me).

[@castform7]

@@merluzacongelada5361 Just because I like choosing my own pace during a platformer or because they can't actually make auto scrollers interesting doesn't inherently mean I have a low attention span.

[@Funky_Mode]

I love this series! Keep up the good work! ❤

[@learningwithlp7033]

I ❤ this series. Can't wait for the 200k special!

[@rj8877]

M64 - "For the last level let's just stick random crap in the air" Banjo Tooie - (takes notes)

[@Ciguato]

11:19 I remember feeling like a god when I figured that out as a kid

[@mrmuffins951]

Yanno what would be great once you finish ranking all the 2d courses? A ranking of every single Mario kart course. I’ve only really played 8dx, so idk what i’ve been missing out on from the earlier games

[@kylewm]

"If you want to get to [location], take a carpet" Speedrunners: 💀

[@TheBigSmqch]

🚨🗣️Finally a new Mario 64 vid WOOOOO🗣️🚨

[@camithebrick]

I never hear many people talk about shifting sand land. I hate that level. Rainbow Ride is worse but SSL is definitely my second least favorite

[@Bredkid96]

oh my gosh yeah it’s impossible to go anywhere without falling into quicksand and dying

[@creativeandoriginalhandle]

There is essentially NOWHERE to walk on in that level, I hate it

[@creepercraftice665]

Almost at 200K subs! You have such a great channel.

[@TeknoThom]

Rainbow Ride would’ve been so much cooler if it was an actual Airship level and the magic carpets were how you traversed between some of them and clouds with different star challenges on them

[@BlazePlayzGames62]

you just so happened to combine my favorite wolf vatient with bombs...

[@Taceria]

I love how Odyssey takes the line of Squidward saying,, nothing? We can't just sit here and do nothing! " way too seriously

[@techformsmaster930]

The stage design around the carpets almost makes me think that the devs wanted the carpets to move faster.

[@blooper2088]

That specific render of Mario 64 Mario is so funny to me in particular

[@DWN037]

Snowman's Land - _specifically the DS version_ - is a close second for me. IMO it has two good stars, the first star and Whirl From the Freezing Pond. The others are either repeats (Boil the Big Bully but it's cold this time, two stars back to back where you just enter the igloo) or deliberately trying to waste as much of the player's time as possible. Silver stars I can deal with, but putting one under the bully platform and forcing the player to go all the way across the map for the koopa shell is just tedious (especially because grabbing that silver star with the metal cap right next to the bully platform just KILLS YOU), and the replacement for the ice maze star frustrated me because of how far away the ?-box is and the time limit on Yoshi's fire breath. It's pretty much a running theme with floor-3 levels where a level gets built around one core path, and then other stars just get thrown in the blank spaces to make it a full course - Rainbow Ride (ride the magic carpet), Snowman's Land (climb the snowman), Tall Tall Mountain (climb the mountain), and Tick Tock Clock (climb the clock), but to me only the latter two of those really do that design philosophy justice.

[@vinegar4556]

Funnily enough, it was this level that really kickstarted my distaste for video game levels that are clearly just a blatant obstacle course/battle arena, it's why I can't stand Ultrakill. As you said yourself, the best things these types of games can do is immerse the player in a world or as Melo from Running Shine said in his THUG review, "feeling like you're in an actual city and not a skateboarding level that looks kind of like a city." This level's aesthetics were always just off-putting to me and that's without even bringing up everything else wrong with it.

[@TuffBuffguy23]

what's funny about the roblox obby analogy is that the background is the same in the level as the sample video you showed of the roblox obby

[@concordjuniper33]

The devs spent a lot of time making Mario's moveset work perfectly and in the end had to slap a bunch of levels together, rendering Shigeru Miyamoto's planned 32 courses down to just 15. Therefore, it makes sense that this one is a bunch of random junk thrown together, because obviously, as the last level, they quickly threw together a bunch of final ideas that they wanted to use in the end but didn't have time to implement into their own stages. So, in that context, this level is forgivable, especially since it's the last one you visit anyway, making for a test of endurance and, especially, patience. Definitely needed some work, though, and is definitely not a well liked level overall. I will say, though, that the pink bob-omb is actually not all that bad, because some players, like myself, are likely to find him while looking for the red coins in the maze, which does help a huge deal. But, yeah, after seeing this new perspective on that star, that star definitely is poorly designed. A cool concept on paper with a nice homage, but really could've been implemented better.

[@torvus249]

I think instead of all the random junk, they should've had the stage take place on a galleon-like airship, with plenty of nooks and crannies below deck to explore. Key thing, have all the holds have windows so you can see outside, and have a good number of stars above-deck so you can see the scenery. Maybe even have a single rainbow road with a carpet that takes you to a floating fortress, maybe one built on top of some kind of giant bird.

[@bigotis9042]

Good video. i used to rage so hard at this stage as a kid

[@darkdrake0389]

Rainbow Ride feels like a remnant from the phase in development where Super Mario 64 was structured more like the 2D games with more linear stages. It clashes so strongly with the design philosophy of Super Mario 64 that I can’t think of another reason for it to be designed the way it is

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

The earliest stages being worked on were Whomp's Fortress, Cool Cool Mountain, Dire Dire Docks, and Lethal Lava Land. There's also a scrapped castle area that seems to have been made with a flag pole at the end in mind. Rainbow Ride may have been possibly one of the last stages they worked on. Also; unlike the other main stages, they may have wanted this to be not a floating landmass, an area full of water, or an underground maze, but to be an open air location more reminiscent of 2D Mario. Swingin' in the Breeze and Tricky Triangles feel like pure platforming challenges and are among the best stars in the game. Personally I find Rainbow Ride alright. If we can include the smaller secret stages, I find Wing Mario Over the Rainbow to be much worse. Either way, Rainbow Ride is not the worst main 3D Mario stage in existence. Especially not when we have Sunshine's Corona Mountain, Galaxy's Bubble Blast Galaxy, and Galaxy 2's Stone Cyclone Galaxy (a less forgiving version of a Galaxy 1 location) and Rolling Coaster Galaxy. Not to mention I prefer Rainbow Ride's stars over the Battlestation purple coins (a shame that secret mission takes place in a stage I otherwise like).

[@darkdrake0389]

@@tidepoolclipper8657 I don’t think I would consider the outright worst either, but it’s one of the weaker 64 stages. I really like the aesthetic of the ship and the rainbows in the sky, but the carpets definitely need an overhaul and the layout feels more disjointed than most stages

[@theking8347]

It was fire-themed earlier in development, so maybe it's an earlier version of Bowser in the Sky?

[@Sqwivig]

15:23 Lmao Mario's like "peace ✌ I'm outta here!" 😂

[@rottencabbage2021]

5:24 at least 7 times

[@user-zw3on4bx2t]

Ok, im actually in the camp that likes autoscrollers and moving platforms, but even im gonna have to draw the line at those carpets.

[@GameCatastrophe]

What if this level's theme was instead that it had no theme at all? Throw away the sky background and make it a mix of all previous levels. Replace the slider theme with a mashup of all previous music tracks. Have you travel through portions of all previous challenges, moving through them on a magic carpet. Also, are you including the Mario Maker sample / story mode / ninji levels in your 2D ranking? I think they count.

[@somerobloxdude3699]

It was originally gonna be another lava level

[@AwesomeMooseSmile]

At least with this level it has some stars that actually are a decent challenge and are fun with tricky triangles, the maze, and even the 100 coin challenge. Hell I even enjoyed doing a carpetless cruiser crossing the rainbow and somewhere over the rainbow as a pretty difficult challenge, which also illustrates that you can play rainbow ride in different ways and not just the one. Still not a good level, but that's way more than what I can say about dire dire docks, which is all nothing but boring swimming and the one platforming challenge being super annoying and revolves around waiting. The only passable star is one that isn't even fun, it's just a cool idea with collect the caps.

[@Rainok]

Every SM64 video I watch, the more levels I learn the existence of

[@Chaoszwaihander3434]

As an adult: ugh the devious little carpet up to mischief, random assets, literally getting over it As a child: woah sky, ship, castle and flying carpets, so coooool

[@aceash5.065]

My least favourite 2D Mario level has got to be 6-2 from Mario Bros 2 (The Lost Levels). Because it’s literally “Hold right and hope you don’t die: the level.”

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

That's a very good contender for worst 2D Mario level. That said, my personal least favorite is 'Poochy Ain't Stupid'. Almost the entire floor is covered in lava and Poochy not only is too fast for his own good, but his AI programming is not the best in regards to trying to come back to Yoshi and Baby Mario. A rather difficult level though not as bad is 'Don't Touch Anything' from New Super Mario Bros U. Trying to get the gold medal there is a hurdle.

[@aceash5.065]

@@tidepoolclipper8657 Well probably see a lot of Luigi U levels at the bottom lol

[@RyanStansberry]

@ 0:48 that bob-omb is *_devious_* 😂

[@transcendicalamity2543]

You didn’t mention this about casual players, but due to the random layout of everything in the level and no real theme, you can get confused and lost very easily. If you accidentally take the wrong carpet ride to get the star you’re screwed.

[@blueyosh43]

You'd have to be incredibly dumb or young to get lost in this level.

[@Baconator2558]

Also, it took what should've been Bowser's Castle's stage slot in Melee.

[@MaximumMalo2319]

When I got to 12:08 I couldn’t watch anymore! I got super scared by that monster and I just couldn’t get through the rest of your video. I told my little brother and he’s curled up crying in the corner of his room. My mom is calling the police and my dad is getting ready to fly all of us to Canada.

[@velvetbutterfly]

I would put Star 6 above Star 1 since you interact with the ship a bit more and you do have the neat set piece of getting shot through the rainbow. I also would have put stars that are on the same path, like the two left path ones, as similar. Sure they may come in a certain list, but I believe most players would have a 50/50 chance of choosing to go up the slope vs continuing straight and finding the triangles

[@A_Ali173]

Rainbow ride feels like a circuit without wires. It’s like a Minecraft machine without redstone, not functional at all

[@countbleck4026]

9:04 do you think that would be enough time to get some water? lets say someone was parched, and they sprinted to the kitchen to refill their cup, do you think they could make it?

[@VenusFeuerFalle]

Tbh one big destination is rather a negative point for level design to me because it means you usually have to complete the same parts of the level over and over again.

[@spacesoccercowboy6091]

I find it ironic that Super Mario 63, one of the best Mario fan games, made Rainbow Ride more fun despite the whole game is 2D. I think why is they replaced wall-jumping with Sunshine's FLUDDs which made the entire level tons more fun! (Also they don't have 100 coin stars)

[@SmashCrafter321]

Mario 64 has amazing platforming movement and control. So what makes a stage in this game worse than any other? Removing said control with a large bottomless pit, slow moving carpets, and NO WING CAP!!!! This stage was a disaster. How it got approved for final release, we may never know.

[@3eve0n]

you did NOT just diss JRB and DDD. those stages are such a vibe

[@salmonkindalikeme9316]

I was gonna say I think Dire Dire Docks was worse, but you might’ve convinced me otherwise. Great video

[@zackc5973]

Rainbow Ride feels like one of those beta testing levels got repurposed into an actual level. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a secret star level with 2 or 3 stars. I wish they gave us a second ghost level over this.

[@meburritoloco7475]

I don't mind the platforming that much, but unless you're a godlike speedrunner, which 99.99% of us aren't, you have to take the same slow, tedious carpet ride 3 times to a branching path you can't return to that you have to redo if you fall. The progress lost feels terrible because there's no way to speed it up and most of the time you have to restart since Rainbow Ride has no solid ground to begin with, only platforms. The slide theme isn't bad, but it works for the slides, because it's high energy, Mario is going fast all the time and it's short. After the 5th loop, it become genuinely grating to hear. I'm sure I could find more wrong with it, but the major issues wrong with it, are really major.

[@ThatOneGuy-np7sz]

The worst stage? Hear me out, the pachinko machine, super mario sunshine, 2002.

[@Monsuco]

If they had given you the Wing Cap at the start of forcing you to ride those carpets this stage would go from F tier to A tier.

[@YoshiGamer28]

Another great video, interesting to hear you thoughts about this awful level :D

[@SpinelForever]

I love your videos and sorry if I write something wrong, my English is not perfect I relly like the 2d auto scrolls levels and water levels... But... Even I agree that those elements in 3D Mario suck, maybe it's because it's less natural for me with Mario's movements or simply because it's more complicated to move in a three-dimensional environment with those characteristics. I don't know...

[@19Szabolcs91]

I liked this as a kid because the idea of stuff floating in the sky and me being able to make crazy jumps was exciting, especially discovering that shortcut at the very start. However, yeah, half of the stars are really annoying to get, and there is really no fun intersection between the different routes. This stage should have had a Wing cap probably at some semi-hidden location, like in the maze where the Bob-omb is, maybe? Still way better than Dire Dire Docks if you ask me.

[@3eve0n]

DDD is a vibe wtf is your problem?

[@19Szabolcs91]

@@3eve0n DDD is slow, boring, has the worst star in the game (100 coins there), has an unconventional trigger that depends on another stage (i.e. you can't do stars 3 and 7 without clearing Bowser in the Fire Sea first, which you may not realize at first), and has that evil hole in the wall that sucks you out of the stage,

[@3eve0n]

@@19Szabolcs91 DDD isn't as slow as you think. I play sm64 in archipelago randomizers pretty frequently, DDD is kinda just average in terms of clear time. A lot of the stars are very straightforward and quick to get down. 100 coins is far from the worst. I definitely prefer it over some of the more tedious 100 coin stars like BoB, SSL, or even THI. Having to clear BitFS to remove the sub is actually a really cool feature that strengthens the connection between the 2 stages and makes the game world feel more dynamic.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

There's also the extra star added in the DS version, which is literally the same as the star on top of the house except you have to press a timed switch before floating up to it with a Power Flower. Slightly more creative, slightly more tedious, just as slow and uninteresting.