I started playing Donkey Kong ‘94 — a game I haven’t played since ‘96-‘97 and I’m actually enjoying my time with it a lot more than I thought.
Controls are tight, puzzle aspect is fun, and sounds bring back lots of memories.
So the game predates Mario 64. DK ‘94 is the first time, I believe, where we see Mario do a handstand jump, timed jump (handstand jump then you jump again just as you land for a higher jump), a left to right or right to left jump, and fall damage (or in this case depending on height you either land into a roll, fall and appear to be hurt, or just straight up lose a life).