Just shows how far Japan was ahead of us.

How about today?

Japan actually doesn't "really" exist anymore. What we think of as Japan is actually a physically present and collideable holographic projection that they project on the world.

Completely different. In Call of Dookie, the fish are moving away from the camera. In Mario, they are moving away from Mario.

http://youtu.be/PhHxPJSrPOw YES THIS IS PROOF

Mario 64 was also the first game that used Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound effectively. I would always spin the camera around and around to hear the waterfall through different speakers.

EDIT: Apparently even some SNES games had surround: http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,136/p,15/

That's not really any different though. It's just a matter of camera placement. In Mario 64, like any 3D game, the camera could have been positioned in Mario's head to make it first-person rather than third-person with the camera above him.

(Tangent: I've always wondered what it would be like to play a second-person game.)

I think that's technically watching cutscenes...

Come over to my place and watch ME play games. THAT's second person

(from your point of view)

I think it'd be more like if playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out if your perspective is from Bald Bull and you're looking at and controlling your own character. That'd be infinitely confusing/difficult.

That's a great idea! you'd have to hold the controller upside down though (easier for NES than newer ergonomically designed controllers)