Ah memories. Super Mario 64 was one of those first games that I ever fully beat, and I remember every single one of these stars, including what level they took place on and what the challenge was.
I remember this weird feeling too, like my kid brain trying to piece a narrative together for why some of these places existed inside the painting world and I think it was me starting to grasp this whole “no narrative” thing. I just remember always feeling a little anxious or scared going to a new world and trying out a new challenge because there’s no foreshadowing, no real context for why it is the next world, it just was.
