Celeste is my favorite indie game of all time, and I absolutely adore early 3D platformers, so imagine my surprise when I found out that Extremely OK Games made a free spinoff of Celeste inspired by the first two 3D Mario games, and in a single week to boot. Celeste 64: Fragments Of The Mountain is an absolute joy, both a loving tribute to the 3D platformers of old and an impressive transition to 3D in its own right, and it's easily my favorite game of 2024 so far.
The setup of Celeste 64 is simple. You enter a full 3D version of the Forsaken City and are tasked with collecting 30 Strawberries scattered around, plain and simple. As far as narrative goes, Celeste 64 is nowhere near as involved as the original game, but you can meet up with characters like Theo and Badeleine and catch up a bit. Like Farewell, Celeste 64 does a good job at updating you on how the cast is doing after the events of Celeste's main campaign, but it's a lot more optimistic about it. The overall presentation of Celeste 64 is also very cute, feeling like a perfect 3D transition of the original's distinct pixel style. The character models in particular are absolutely adorable, and the soundtrack heavily uses the soundfont of Super Mario 64 to really give the game a nostalgic feel.
I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on Celeste 64's controls, but honestly, I think it feels pretty great to play. That being said, I did use a controller, I absolutely wouldn't recommend using a keyboard for C64 or any 3D platformer ever. Once again, Madeleine can jump, dash, and climb exactly like in the original. Climbing is made more forgiving as you don't have an energy meter this time, which I think was a good call since climbing in 3D is a lot harder than in 2D. But what really impressed me about Celeste 64's movement is how it keeps the first game's philosophy of adding depth through button combinations. Eventually, you start to realize that you can dash on the ground to gain speed, and carry that speed into a jump that lets you soar farther. You can do a side flip ala Mario, and the momentum-based platforms, golden feathers, and extra dash powerups from the original game are here too. Movement in Celeste 64 reminds me a lot of the movement in Super Mario Sunshine in how freeform and purely skill-focused it is, and slowly learning the nuances of the control felt really satisfying.
As a matter of fact, despite being called Celeste 64, this game reminded me a lot more of Super Mario Sunshine. Not only does the movement feel similar, but the camera works almost identically. You have full unrestricted camera movement with the right stick, and can zoom out for a wide angle or right up to Madeleine's back. You even get a clear shadow of Madeleine whenever she's behind a wall. And like in Mario Sunshine, it's not the best camera out there, but it's not awful. The camera never bugs out, and it rarely feels like you don't have a full view of your surroundings, but there are a few issues where the camera does hold the game back. For starters, there's zero automation in the camera controls, so if you don't have your thumb on the right joystick at all times, it's very easy to have your camera in an awkward position in the middle of a tough platforming sequence. This is at its worst when you're climbing, which feels off unless the camera is right at Madeleine's back. In addition, the depth perception can unfortunately be a bit tough to gauge, even with the addition of a drop shadow and faded line showing where Madeleine is going to land.
As far as level design goes, Celeste 64 is once again fantastic, making full use of every single one of your abilities. The overworld is a joy to explore and most of the strawberries are pretty well hidden. However, there's also a bunch of cassette tapes that take you to a secret platforming challenge, all of which test at least one of your skills. This is another aspect of the game that feels inspired by Sunshine, as they even boast a cute acapella remix of the game's main theme. These cassette rooms can be absolutely brutal at times, but they rarely ever feel unfair and always gave me a strong feeling of accomplishment whenever I managed to complete them. I 100%'d Celeste 64 in about an hour, and I was glued to the screen the entire time.
Overall, Celeste 64 is just a really charming game. For a free game made in only a week, it manages to nail 3D platformer movement and capture a lot of the appeal of the original Celeste incredibly well, and despite a middling camera system, was an absolute joy to complete.
4.5/5 Stars
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