In the game, Bowser, the primary antagonist of the Super Mario franchise, invades Princess Peach's castle and hides the castle's sources of protection, the Power Stars, in many different worlds inside magical paintings. It is the first Super Mario game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional Super Mario gameplay, visual style, and characters in a large open world. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64.