Super Mario 64/Version Differences

General Differences

 * In the European version, the options menu has three different languages, but the American version doesn't have a language selection. Because of this, the American version has "Sound" instead of "Options" like in the European version.


 * The intro screen says PRESS START in the NTSC version, but just START in the PAL version.


 * The unused "key" HUD icon was removed from the non-Japanese versions, with a silver-blue Ü taking its place in the European version and...nothing...in the US version.


 * In the European version, the "German Umlauts" (Ä, Ö and Ü) were added. However the Ü isn't used anywhere in the game.


 * The V and Z alphabet tiles were readded in the PAL release of Super Mario 64.

Mario
Mario doesn't say a few lines in the Japanese version:
 * "Hello!" when his disembodied head greets you.
 * "Okey-dokey!" when you choose a save file.
 * "Let's-a go!" when you choose a star.
 * "Game over." when you run out of lives.
 * "Press START to play." when you are watching the demo.
 * His dreams about pasta are missing.

Peach
Princess Peach doesn't have any voice acting in the original Japanese release during the beginning and final cutscenes. This was added for all other versions.

Jolly Roger Bay
In the Japanese version, the painting of Jolly Roger Bay is essentially water with some bubbles added in. It also was unique in that it did not have a gold frame (sported by almost every other painting in the game, excluding the Wet-Dry World painting). In the American version, the painting has been changed and the frame was made golden. For some reason, Super Mario 64 DS uses the Japanese picture.

In the level itself, the Star on the stone pillar is out in the open in the Japanese version, but contained inside a ! box in the American version, probably to make the Star's position not too obvious. Again, all versions of the DS remake leave the star out like in the Japanese release.

Cool Cool Mountain
When you take the baby penguin to its mother, the Power Star is placed right above the mother in the Japanese version. This was probably a bit hard to collect, so the Star was moved next to the pool in the American version.

Glitches
Some glitches which were present in the Japanese version have been fixed for the American release.


 * When you step on one of the cap switches in the Japanese version, the surroundings stop moving, which they don't do in the American version. This was done to fix a visual bug where if you stepped on the switch and collected the Power Star right away before the message box can appear, the star would not disappear upon collection.
 * It's possible to collect more than 999 coins (for instance, grabbing the coins generated by Bowser's fire), at which point the coin counter gets forced back to 999. A bug in the Japanese version causes it to instead try to set the life counter to 999. Since the life counter is only 8 bits, this becomes -25, which is displayed as M25 in the game. (M is used in the place of a minus sign. This is also seen in the Classic Debug Display described above, when Mario moves at a negative speed.) This is likely a copy-and-paste error in the source code:
 * In the Japanese version, when Bowser is defeated and leaves behind the key, run to where the key will land and press C-Up and look somewhere. Mario will keep looking that way during the key collection cutscene, which looks absolutely hilarious.
 * Further, the key collection cutscene shows a Star instead of a key; early footage (see right) of the first Bowser fight shows him leaving behind a Star upon defeat, suggesting that this is a very old leftover.

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Sound Effect Changes
Japanese to US
 * The Chain Chomp makes a totally different barking sound in the Japanese version.
 * The Red Coins use a different sound that doesn't increase in pitch for each collected coin in the Japanese version.
 * Certain sound effects are missing in the game's opening.

US to European
 * In the intro, when Mario jumps out of the pipe and the pipe goes back into the ground, a sound is heard in the US version. This sound has been made a lot quieter in the European version, almost down to where you can't hear it.
 * Bowser's doors have completely different sounds for opening and closing in the US version. In the European version, they sound pretty much the same.
 * The yellow coin collecting sound is slightly different in the European version.
 * When letting go of Mario's face when playing around with it, the European version's sound is off.

Shindō Pak Taiō Version
A Japanese re-release that could be primarily considered an "International Edition", as it includes all the changes to the US version, fixes the "backwards long jump" glitch, and adds Rumble Pak support. The only other difference (besides text) that was retained from the original Japanese release was Mario's taunt when swinging Bowser far away ("Buh-bye!", rather than "So long, King Bowser!"), as Bowser is normally called Koopa in Japan.

The "Buh-bye!" clip was reused for Sleep Mode in Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros.