You wake up in Peachâs castle but something feels wrong The light flickers slightly The paintings look melted in the corners The music is the same melody you know but twisted Like itâs been reversed slowed down stretched Then you take your first jump and fall up instead of forward
Portal Mario 64 doesnât ask you whatâs real It demands you unlearn what you thought was obvious Doors donât always lead where you expect Coins hover inside walls Stars hide behind logic And gravity Itâs not your friend Itâs a tool waiting to be bent
You start as Mario sure Red cap overalls a bounce in your step But youâre not here just to jump Youâre here to solve Something invisible pulses through the air Something bending the castle room by room Your first puzzle isnât hard Itâs disorienting You walk through a hallway loop that takes you back to where you started even though youâre sure you moved forward
Then you find the first portal It hovers silent transparent just off the wall Step through and the world folds Youâre above where you started but upside down The game has begun
Every room becomes a question Do you fall here to rise there Do you build momentum to jump through and land three stories higher The classic Mario mechanics are still here Wall jumps long jumps triple hops But now you use them in ways that make your brain sweat
The puzzles escalate Platforms rotate when you move A switch opens a door but only if youâre looking away Paintings only reveal stars when reflected in mirrors and sometimes what you see isnât even real You try to grab a floating star and fall into a space that wasnât visible a second ago
Then the castle changes You begin to notice itâs alive Rooms shift when you return Portals appear where there were none before Some paintings whisper Youâre not sure what language But it sounds familiar And yet alien
Enemies exist but they arenât the point A Goomba walks on the ceiling A Koopa Troopa loops endlessly around a room unless you interfere Your real enemy is the architecture The logic itself The way you forget where the floor ends and the ceiling begins
Controls are the same as classic Mario 64 Arrow keys or joystick to move Jump buttons Camera controls But here precision matters not just in timing but in perspective You turn a camera slightly and a platform aligns perfectly You miss that angle and fall into a trap loop that resets the level
On mobile touch and swipe controls work but require focus You have to think with your eyes not just your hands Every tap becomes a calculation Every jump a question of physics and memory
Visually the game leans into the uncanny Familiar textures from Mario 64 are warped and stretched Doors are taller than they should be Some windows show landscapes that do not exist The sky changes color mid level without explanation And in one room the shadows fall in the wrong direction
Sound is subtle Often ambient Echoes replace music in deep zones Footsteps click on metal even when youâre walking on carpet And sometimes you hear something following you Nothing appears But the feeling stays
What makes this game unforgettable isnât difficulty Itâs atmosphere You feel like youâre exploring Marioâs dreams or maybe his glitches Itâs the kind of game you donât rush because rushing gets you lost Instead you walk slowly turn corners twice Check the same hallway again
Some puzzles are brilliant A portal at the top of a tower that drops you to the start unless you jump through it while upside down A level thatâs shaped like a cube but loops endlessly unless you walk in a figure eight A star you can only see in your reflection and have to reach without ever turning around
And yet itâs not just clever Itâs beautiful There are moments of awe Standing on a pillar above a skybox that shimmers with static Finding a hidden piano room that plays itself backwards as you approach Opening a door that leads to another version of the castle entirely
This is not a game that explains itself You learn by trying You fail often Sometimes intentionally But when you succeed it feels earned not gifted
For fans of Mario 64 this is a twisted remix For fans of puzzle platformers itâs a masterclass in perspective And for anyone who loves getting lost in impossible places Portal Mario 64 offers a journey through imagination logic and nostalgia broken open
You may not understand everything that happens in this castle But thatâs fine Some worlds arenât meant to be explained Only explored