96flashbacks is a ROM hack created by a small team that is an interpretation of one of the pre-release versions of Super Mario 64, with this hack being based off of the version(s) associated with late February to early March, in 1996.
Aside from gameplay (see below), this hack features a number of cosmetic changes that use assets from the gigaleak to make it resemble the beta versions of SM64.
Credits[]
These have been sourced from the text file included in the .zip available on RHDC, titled credits.txt.
CREDITS
Crustian: programming, research, model importing, and a lot of other stuff
K-Dubs: level models and music sequences
1up Guy: research, programming, textures and making the trailer
Sleekflash-16: playtesting, sound effects
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Couch: giving me a basis on how to import gigaleak models
godly: cheese
iProgramInCpp: castle inside collision
Gameplay[]
This hack slightly changes Mario's moveset and physics in order to emulate the movements and physics from the beta versions of SM64, although it does not make any large changes, such as nerfing Mario's sideflip, or making him more slippery.
This hack bears a lot of similarities to vanilla Super Mario 64 as it is known today. All of the main courses are present in this hack, but with a few key differences, particularly with the final course. Secret courses such as Wing Mario Over the Rainbow can still be accessed, but there are no Stars to be collected in them. The Bowser levels, Cap Switch levels, and Princess's Secret Slide are the only secret courses that are required to play through to complete this hack.
Each course now has only five Stars to collect; the red coin Star and 100 coin Star have been removed from each level. Of the 77 Stars available, 75 of them are found in the main courses, and the extra 2 belong to Princess's Secret Slide. There are no overworld Stars, and no Toad's to be found anywhere. For all courses, cannons are automatically open.
Many Stars are now also in slightly different positions, usually in places that are both easier to reach and/or minimise the number of custom mechanics used to obtain them. For example, course 13's fifth Act, Wiggler's Red Coins, no longer requires Mario to enter the sub-area containing the red coins. Instead, the Star is placed where the warp to the sub-area would be, where the narrow pathway meets the entrance to the cliff cave. Although interestingly, it is possible to enter this sub-area by swimming down through the hole at the top of the large world's mountain; notably, Wiggler is absent, and so are the red coins.
The fifteenth and final course, Rainbow Ride, is technically not a course. Pausing the game while in this level will show that Mario is considered to still be inside a hub area, hence the odd labelling of Stars on this hack's custom Star layout.
While it is possible to play through the final level in the game, Bowser in the Sky, attempting to complete it will crash the game. Despite using the correct model for Bowser's final form, the music is still set to Bowser 1 and 2, and defeating him will make him drop a key, rather than the final Star that starts the ending cutscene. The game will crash shortly after collecting this key.