nintendo salvaging the american gaming market with the release of the NES was the modern inflection point for our industry, in some ways that are less obvious than others. the console enshrined gaming as a medium with legitimacy beyond the original fad-like relevance of the atari VCS, but the centralization of this success around nintendo gave the company an uncomfortable amount of leverage. this immediately portended poorly with the simultaneous release of the console's killer app: super mario bros., which gestured to a sinister rejection of the console's original intent. look to the japanese launch line-up and you'll see arcade staples such as donkey kong and popeye; games that lauded precise, restricted play with definitive rules and short runtimes. super mario bros. was a refutation of this design philosophy in favor of the loosey-goosey variable jump heights, frequent health restoration items, and long hallways of copy-paste content replacing the tightly paced experiences that defined the era before. the NES still featured arguably the greatest console expressions of the rigorous arcade action experiences that defined the '80s - castlevania, ninja gaiden, and the early mega mans all come to mind - but the seeds super mario bros. planted would presage a shift into more and more experiences that coddled the player rather than testing their fortitude. in some ways, super mario bros. lit the match that would leave our gaming landscape in the smoldering ruins of the AAA design philosophy.
the '90s only deepened nintendo's exploration of trends that would further attempt to curb the arcade philosophy, which still floated on thanks to the valiant efforts of their competitors at sega, capcom, konami, and others. super mario world kicked off nintendo's 16-bit era with an explicitly non-linear world map that favored the illusion of charting unknown lands over the concrete reality of learning play fundamentals, and its pseudo-sequel yoshi's island would further de-emphasize actual platforming chops by giving the player a generous hover and grading them on their ability to pixel hunt for collectables rather than play well, but the most stunning example of nintendo's decadence in this era is undoubtedly donkey kong '94. the original donkey kong had four levels tightly wound around a fixed jump arc and limited ability for mario to deal with obstacles; its ostensible "remake" shat all over its legacy by infusing mario's toolkit with such ridiculous pablum such as exaggerated flip jumps, handstands, and other such acrobatics. by this point nintendo was engaging in blatant historical revisionism, turning this cornerstone of the genre into a bug-eyed circus romp, stuffed with dozens of new puzzle-centric levels that completely jettisoned any semblance of toolkit-oriented level design from the original game. and yet, this was the final fissure before the dam fully burst in 1996.
with the release of the nintendo 64 came the death knell of the industry: the analog stick. nintendo's most cunning engineers and depraved designers had cooked up a new way to hand unprecedented control to the player and tear down all obstacles standing in the way of the paternalistic head-pat of a "job well done" that came with finishing a game. with it also came this demonic interloper's physical vessel, super mario 64; the refined, sneering coalescence of all of nintendo's design tendencies up to this point. see here a game with enormous, previously unfathomable player expression, with virtually every objective solvable in myriad different ways to accommodate those who refuse to engage with the essential challenges the game offers. too lazy to even attempt some challenges at all? feel free to skip over a third of the game's "star" objectives on your way to the final boss; you can almost see the designers snickering as they copy-pasted objectives left and right, knowing that the majority of their player base would never even catch them in the act due to their zombie-like waddle to the atrociously easy finish line. even as arcade games stood proud at the apex of the early 3D era, super mario 64 pulled the ground out underneath them, leaving millions of gamers flocking to similar experiences bereft of the true game design fundamentals that had existed since the origination of the medium.
this context is long but hopefully sobering to you, the reader, likely a gamer so inoculated by the drip-feed of modern AAA slop that you likely have regarded super mario 64 as a milestone in 3D design up to now. yet, it also serves as a stark contrast to super mario 64 ds, a revelation and admission of guilt by nintendo a decade after their donkey kong remake plunged modern platformers into oblivion.
the d-pad alone is cool water against the brow of one in the throes of a desert of permissive design techniques. tightening up the input space from the shallow dazzle of an analog surface to the limitations of eight directions instantly reframes the way one looks at the open environments of the original super mario 64. sure, there's a touch screen option, but the awkward translation of a stick to the literal flat surface of the screen seems to be intentionally hobbled in order to encourage use of the d-pad. while moving in a straight line may still be simple, any sort of other action now begets a pause for reflection over the exact way one should proceed. is the sharp 45 or 90 degree turn to one side "good enough", or will I need to make a camera adjustment in-place? for this bridge, what combination of angles should I concoct in order to work through this section? the removal of analog control also forces the addition of an extra button to differentiate between running and walking, slapping the player on the wrist if they try to gently segue between the two states as in the original. the precision rewards those who aim to learn their way around the rapid shifts in speed while punishing those who hope they can squeak by with the same sloppy handling that the original game allowed.
on its own this change is crucial, but it still doesn't cure the ills of the original's permissive objective structure. however, the remake wisely adds a new character selection system that subtly injects routing fundamentals into the game's core. for starters: each of the characters has a separate moveset, and while some characters such as yoshi and luigi regrettably have the floaty hover and scuttle that I disdained in yoshi's island, it's at least balanced here by removing other key aspects of their kit such as wall jumps and punches. the addition of wario gives the game a proper "hard mode," with wario's lumbering speed and poor jump characteristics putting much-needed limiters on the game's handling. for objectives that now explicitly require wario to complete, the game is effectively barring you from abusing the superior movement of the original game by forcing you into a much more limited toolkit with rigid d-pad controls, the kind of limitations this game absolutely needed in order to shine.
that last point about objectives that specifically require a given character is key: the remake segments its objectives based on which characters are viable to use to complete them. however, while in some cases the game may telegraph which specific characters are required for a particular task, in many cases the "correct" solution is actually to bounce between the characters in real time. this is done by strategically placing hats for each of the characters throughout the map - some attached to enemies and some free-floating - which allow the player to switch on the fly. this adds new detours to the otherwise simple objectives that vastly increases their complexity: which toolkit is best suited for which part of each mission? how should my route be planned around the level to accommodate hats I need to pick up? will I be able to defeat an enemy that's guarding the hat if I had to? this decision-making fleshes out what was previously a mindless experience.
there's one additional element to this system that truly elevates it to something resembling the arcade experiences of yore. while you can enter a level as any character, entering as yoshi allows you to preemptively don the cap of any other character as you spawn in, preventing the player from having to back-track to switch characters. on the surface this seems like another ill-advised QoL feature, but some subtle features reveal something more fascinating. yoshi has no cap associated with him, so to play as him, one must enter the level with him. however, you often need to switch to another character in the middle of a level. how do you switch back? by taking damage. to solve the ridiculously overstuffed eight piece health bar of the original, this remake transforms it into a resource you expend in order to undergo transformation. sure, one could theoretically collect coins in order to replenish this resource, but this adds a new layer onto the routing that simply didn't exist in the original game, where there were so many ways to circumvent obstacles with the permissive controls that getting hit in the first place was often harder than completing the objective. by reframing the way that the player looks at their heath gauge, the game is calling to mind classic beat 'em ups, where the health gauge often doubled as a resource to expend for powerful AoE supers.
the game still suffers from much of the rotten design at the core of its forebear; these above changes are phenomenal additions, but they're grafted onto a framework that's crumbling as you delve into it. regardless, the effort is admirable. for a brief moment, nintendo offered an apology to all of those hurt by their curbstomping of the design philosophies that springboarded them into juggernaut status in the first place, and they revitalized classic design perspectives for many millions more who first entered the world of gaming after it had already been tainted by nintendo's misdeeds. the galaxy duology, released a few years after this game, attempted to rework the series from the ground up with a new appreciation for arcade design by limiting the bloated toolkit of previous games and linearizing levels, but the damage had already been done. the modern switch era has magnified nintendo's worst tendencies, putting proper execution and mechanical comprehension to the wayside as they accelerate the disturbing "the player is always right" principles that have infested their games since that original super mario bros. by looking at super mario 64 ds in this context, we at least get a glimpse of what a better world could have looked like had nintendo listened to their elders all along.
the '90s only deepened nintendo's exploration of trends that would further attempt to curb the arcade philosophy, which still floated on thanks to the valiant efforts of their competitors at sega, capcom, konami, and others. super mario world kicked off nintendo's 16-bit era with an explicitly non-linear world map that favored the illusion of charting unknown lands over the concrete reality of learning play fundamentals, and its pseudo-sequel yoshi's island would further de-emphasize actual platforming chops by giving the player a generous hover and grading them on their ability to pixel hunt for collectables rather than play well, but the most stunning example of nintendo's decadence in this era is undoubtedly donkey kong '94. the original donkey kong had four levels tightly wound around a fixed jump arc and limited ability for mario to deal with obstacles; its ostensible "remake" shat all over its legacy by infusing mario's toolkit with such ridiculous pablum such as exaggerated flip jumps, handstands, and other such acrobatics. by this point nintendo was engaging in blatant historical revisionism, turning this cornerstone of the genre into a bug-eyed circus romp, stuffed with dozens of new puzzle-centric levels that completely jettisoned any semblance of toolkit-oriented level design from the original game. and yet, this was the final fissure before the dam fully burst in 1996.
with the release of the nintendo 64 came the death knell of the industry: the analog stick. nintendo's most cunning engineers and depraved designers had cooked up a new way to hand unprecedented control to the player and tear down all obstacles standing in the way of the paternalistic head-pat of a "job well done" that came with finishing a game. with it also came this demonic interloper's physical vessel, super mario 64; the refined, sneering coalescence of all of nintendo's design tendencies up to this point. see here a game with enormous, previously unfathomable player expression, with virtually every objective solvable in myriad different ways to accommodate those who refuse to engage with the essential challenges the game offers. too lazy to even attempt some challenges at all? feel free to skip over a third of the game's "star" objectives on your way to the final boss; you can almost see the designers snickering as they copy-pasted objectives left and right, knowing that the majority of their player base would never even catch them in the act due to their zombie-like waddle to the atrociously easy finish line. even as arcade games stood proud at the apex of the early 3D era, super mario 64 pulled the ground out underneath them, leaving millions of gamers flocking to similar experiences bereft of the true game design fundamentals that had existed since the origination of the medium.
this context is long but hopefully sobering to you, the reader, likely a gamer so inoculated by the drip-feed of modern AAA slop that you likely have regarded super mario 64 as a milestone in 3D design up to now. yet, it also serves as a stark contrast to super mario 64 ds, a revelation and admission of guilt by nintendo a decade after their donkey kong remake plunged modern platformers into oblivion.
the d-pad alone is cool water against the brow of one in the throes of a desert of permissive design techniques. tightening up the input space from the shallow dazzle of an analog surface to the limitations of eight directions instantly reframes the way one looks at the open environments of the original super mario 64. sure, there's a touch screen option, but the awkward translation of a stick to the literal flat surface of the screen seems to be intentionally hobbled in order to encourage use of the d-pad. while moving in a straight line may still be simple, any sort of other action now begets a pause for reflection over the exact way one should proceed. is the sharp 45 or 90 degree turn to one side "good enough", or will I need to make a camera adjustment in-place? for this bridge, what combination of angles should I concoct in order to work through this section? the removal of analog control also forces the addition of an extra button to differentiate between running and walking, slapping the player on the wrist if they try to gently segue between the two states as in the original. the precision rewards those who aim to learn their way around the rapid shifts in speed while punishing those who hope they can squeak by with the same sloppy handling that the original game allowed.
on its own this change is crucial, but it still doesn't cure the ills of the original's permissive objective structure. however, the remake wisely adds a new character selection system that subtly injects routing fundamentals into the game's core. for starters: each of the characters has a separate moveset, and while some characters such as yoshi and luigi regrettably have the floaty hover and scuttle that I disdained in yoshi's island, it's at least balanced here by removing other key aspects of their kit such as wall jumps and punches. the addition of wario gives the game a proper "hard mode," with wario's lumbering speed and poor jump characteristics putting much-needed limiters on the game's handling. for objectives that now explicitly require wario to complete, the game is effectively barring you from abusing the superior movement of the original game by forcing you into a much more limited toolkit with rigid d-pad controls, the kind of limitations this game absolutely needed in order to shine.
that last point about objectives that specifically require a given character is key: the remake segments its objectives based on which characters are viable to use to complete them. however, while in some cases the game may telegraph which specific characters are required for a particular task, in many cases the "correct" solution is actually to bounce between the characters in real time. this is done by strategically placing hats for each of the characters throughout the map - some attached to enemies and some free-floating - which allow the player to switch on the fly. this adds new detours to the otherwise simple objectives that vastly increases their complexity: which toolkit is best suited for which part of each mission? how should my route be planned around the level to accommodate hats I need to pick up? will I be able to defeat an enemy that's guarding the hat if I had to? this decision-making fleshes out what was previously a mindless experience.
there's one additional element to this system that truly elevates it to something resembling the arcade experiences of yore. while you can enter a level as any character, entering as yoshi allows you to preemptively don the cap of any other character as you spawn in, preventing the player from having to back-track to switch characters. on the surface this seems like another ill-advised QoL feature, but some subtle features reveal something more fascinating. yoshi has no cap associated with him, so to play as him, one must enter the level with him. however, you often need to switch to another character in the middle of a level. how do you switch back? by taking damage. to solve the ridiculously overstuffed eight piece health bar of the original, this remake transforms it into a resource you expend in order to undergo transformation. sure, one could theoretically collect coins in order to replenish this resource, but this adds a new layer onto the routing that simply didn't exist in the original game, where there were so many ways to circumvent obstacles with the permissive controls that getting hit in the first place was often harder than completing the objective. by reframing the way that the player looks at their heath gauge, the game is calling to mind classic beat 'em ups, where the health gauge often doubled as a resource to expend for powerful AoE supers.
the game still suffers from much of the rotten design at the core of its forebear; these above changes are phenomenal additions, but they're grafted onto a framework that's crumbling as you delve into it. regardless, the effort is admirable. for a brief moment, nintendo offered an apology to all of those hurt by their curbstomping of the design philosophies that springboarded them into juggernaut status in the first place, and they revitalized classic design perspectives for many millions more who first entered the world of gaming after it had already been tainted by nintendo's misdeeds. the galaxy duology, released a few years after this game, attempted to rework the series from the ground up with a new appreciation for arcade design by limiting the bloated toolkit of previous games and linearizing levels, but the damage had already been done. the modern switch era has magnified nintendo's worst tendencies, putting proper execution and mechanical comprehension to the wayside as they accelerate the disturbing "the player is always right" principles that have infested their games since that original super mario bros. by looking at super mario 64 ds in this context, we at least get a glimpse of what a better world could have looked like had nintendo listened to their elders all along.
They who consider this the superior version possess eyes and little else.
ah, so you've given me mario 64 but with substantially worse controls, i see...
oh - you've also included a plethora of minigames that i've inexplicably spent more time playing than the actual game itself? well alright, i guess you get a higher score than the original then
oh - you've also included a plethora of minigames that i've inexplicably spent more time playing than the actual game itself? well alright, i guess you get a higher score than the original then
I got about 55 stars and decided I got my fill. I've beaten the N64 version and I may come back to this and finish it sometime but for now I wanna focus on other games.
Anyways, dare I say, better than the original? I mean, obviously we have a ton of extra content here, so that's a plus. But the controls honestly aren't THAT big of a downgrade if you're playing with some sort of analog stick or the circle pad on the 3DS. It's not 1-to-1, moving around is still designed around the d-pad, but it's not bad! I also grew up with this version so there's heavy bias, but overall I love this version of the game.
Anyways, dare I say, better than the original? I mean, obviously we have a ton of extra content here, so that's a plus. But the controls honestly aren't THAT big of a downgrade if you're playing with some sort of analog stick or the circle pad on the 3DS. It's not 1-to-1, moving around is still designed around the d-pad, but it's not bad! I also grew up with this version so there's heavy bias, but overall I love this version of the game.
Im heavily on nostalgia but its only good with toxinput
Don't care about the D-Pad, this is better than the original
3 of these stars were from being able to play as luigi
fuck you this is an actual improvement to the original "wah but the d-pad hurts my hand" boo hoo luigi's in the game
Mario 64 with bad controls isn't Mario 64, sorry.
the better version you guys are big babies
I am a 64DS defender. Additional stars, characters, and areas are all cool, and I am able to enjoy them because I spent years since childhood knowing the ins and outs of how to best approach things in this game with the controls provided.
Desperately waiting for an an actual home console/switch remake. With the levels from 64 DS. Maybe at a content, I don’t care, But not a half assed mario 3d all stars.
I like the new content and characters but the controls are unfortunately worse than the original. Still Mario 64 at it's heart so it's still pretty solid.
Better with circle pad but still obnoxious, from the controls which still blatantly suck to all the convoluted additions/alterations, all piled on top of the very things that made Mario 64 kind of an anachronistic mess to begin with. (like having to choose your goal up front in a free roam game and being spit out of the level each time you accomplish something) Game is further bogged down with regular tutorial dialogues about the stylus controls when one would obviously have no intention of using them ever.
In any game with powerups/abilities gained over the course of the playthrough it obviously would have been much more elegant to have a single character. Like imagine if there was a Metroid game with multiple characters and you constantly acquired new abilities for characters you aren't playing as currently, and had to remember what the ability is and who can/can't do what. This is more or less analogous to Mario 64 DS. Yoshi can't wall jump, Mario can, presumably everyone else cannot. Why? Don't ask, just roll with it.
Added a star because the game manages to be a surprisingly complete experience completely in spite of the DS's limitations and the bar set by pretty much the rest of the DS's library. The jankiness and new additions in a way somewhat make the insufferableness oddly compelling, if you don't go in expecting a 3D platformer romp but rather a sort of puzzle box you gotta figure out that never seems quite hopeless or too insufferable. Although just barely.
In any game with powerups/abilities gained over the course of the playthrough it obviously would have been much more elegant to have a single character. Like imagine if there was a Metroid game with multiple characters and you constantly acquired new abilities for characters you aren't playing as currently, and had to remember what the ability is and who can/can't do what. This is more or less analogous to Mario 64 DS. Yoshi can't wall jump, Mario can, presumably everyone else cannot. Why? Don't ask, just roll with it.
Added a star because the game manages to be a surprisingly complete experience completely in spite of the DS's limitations and the bar set by pretty much the rest of the DS's library. The jankiness and new additions in a way somewhat make the insufferableness oddly compelling, if you don't go in expecting a 3D platformer romp but rather a sort of puzzle box you gotta figure out that never seems quite hopeless or too insufferable. Although just barely.
I played the game with the toxinput analog control mod for the game, and while it definitely feels like a handicap has been lifted from the 64DS's controls, problems still persist: Long Jumps, Triple Jumps, Dives, Somersaults, and Backflips feel stiff and no longer carry that swaying free-form momentum the original had. It doesn't feel satisfying to play whether its with the analog mod or dpad controls the game shipped with.
As for the game itself I genuinely can't agree on it being better than the original. The new content it adds/modifies is cool but some of the content comes at the cost of ruining the nice flow & pacing the original had when designed for one character. I wish the new playable characters were supplementary instead of being forced into certain missions that were changed. Yeah, the cap system exists, but it just adds a layer of busywork & backtracking that messes with the pace of the game. You can't fully complete certain levels anymore because "oh look you need Wario to punch a black brick in Shifting Sand Land" or "You need Luigi to Vanish Cap to do the Mr. I mission"
These things probably won't matter to people that grew up on 64DS but as someone that played the OG and a bit of this one growing up, I always just preferred the original with it's satisfying feel and progression.
This is my second time beating 64DS since 2020 and I think I hate it more than I did 3 years ago. As a game on it's own, it's a fine time, but as a remake of SM64? I personally don't see how its better than it.
As for the game itself I genuinely can't agree on it being better than the original. The new content it adds/modifies is cool but some of the content comes at the cost of ruining the nice flow & pacing the original had when designed for one character. I wish the new playable characters were supplementary instead of being forced into certain missions that were changed. Yeah, the cap system exists, but it just adds a layer of busywork & backtracking that messes with the pace of the game. You can't fully complete certain levels anymore because "oh look you need Wario to punch a black brick in Shifting Sand Land" or "You need Luigi to Vanish Cap to do the Mr. I mission"
These things probably won't matter to people that grew up on 64DS but as someone that played the OG and a bit of this one growing up, I always just preferred the original with it's satisfying feel and progression.
This is my second time beating 64DS since 2020 and I think I hate it more than I did 3 years ago. As a game on it's own, it's a fine time, but as a remake of SM64? I personally don't see how its better than it.
Guys how do I unlock Waluigi, I know he's in the game I watched a video on youtube but it didn't work for me.
Ah yes, this brings back memories, back when I was a dumb kid that never even got past unlocking Mario and that genuinely thought that the 64 was because there were other 63 games before it... good times.
Nintendo is no stranger to remastering and porting their games, hell, the last generation and with the Wii U to Switch transition we probably got the most amount of ports we've ever gotten; but they are far more stingy when it comes to fully remaking their previous work. When it happens it’s this unexpected event, and with the exception of maybe the Pokémon franchise, most of their series have so little full-blown re-imaginations of older titles that most can be counted with only the fingers on one hand. So yeah, it’s a big deal when it happens if only to see how it ends up turning up, so I guess it’s kinda obvious to say that when they announced a remake of Super Motherfucking Mario the 64th, for their brand new handheld at the time and as a launch title, it was indeed a pretty huge deal. Even with the original being far from a favorite for me, I’ve said in numerous occasions that Super Mario 64 is an absolute monument of a game; while saying it alone revolutionized the 3D gaming industry is a bit of an exaggeration, it was for sure the most important game for the platforming genre, one that experimented with movement like few other games had done, and to this day it holds up surprisingly well and many play it rigorously to this very day, so it’s only natural to thing that a remake of it would still be talked about to this da- you know where I’m getting at don’t you?
Everytime the SM64 or even the 3D Mario sphere is in a conversation, 64DS is almost always left aside, and results into the almost meme worthy statement that is ‘’3D Land was the first 3D Mario in a handheld (64DS doesn’t count)!’’, like, poor game needs a hug, man… But to be completely honest, for the longest time I didn’t blame anybody if it just forgot about it; just the memories of those years back when I first played it were enough to put me in a bad mood: constant falls, terrible feeling controls, almost headache inducing camera, this was not just a mere case of me sucking at games yet again, this time… this time the game was ass. And so, I really dreaded returning to it, but it was just a matter of time; it is the only remaining 3D Mario game that I had yet to beat, and with the original game behind me, it was time to, yet again, finish what I started… and right off the bat, I think by far the best compliment I give this game is that it doesn’t suck even half of what I expected.
64DS is as much a original game as it is a remake of the original Super Mario 64, and right off the bat I can say it’s a pretty faithful remake; it doesn’t have as many changes as it does additions, and so practically all the levels were completely untouched, with only some sections to accommodate new missions within the levels or simply to make platforming not such a chore as it could be in the original game, like some changes in Whomp Fortress or a ground floor being added to Tick Tock Clock, which is like encountering an oasis admist the desert. Aside from those minor alterations, all of the World Portraits and Peach’s Castle are a carbon copy of their N64 counterparts, and that translates into all the positives I said about them mostly hold up: inspired ‘’toy box’’ design, a wonderful main hub area, fantastic ambience and even pretty funny dialogue, super creative missions, and pretty simple but fun boss fights; these latter two being even greater than before thanks to the new additions made in the remake. A whooping 30 new stars were added to the game, that, plus THREE brand new characters (this game is in fact the first instance of Luigi being playable in a 3D Platformer, so it gets points on that alone), prompted the addition of new small phases and even bosses, and these new content is honestly fantastic! The new mini levels are super fun obstacle courses, and fighting King Goomba and King Boo was a really unexpected surprise, but a welcomed one that references other parts of the series I really wasn’t expecting. So yeah, this game does have a ton of stuff that is pretty good, well that’s fantastic! Maybe this was hidden gem all alon- Yeah I should stop doing this bit, but anyway, the game still blows in many, MANY areas.
First, let’s address the elephant in the room, and no, not that one; the controls. Look, 64 DS was born as a way to showcase what the DS could achieve graphically first, there’s no denying that, but saying that the team simply slapped the game into the system without consideration is also a gross misjudgment. There tried, like, REALLY tried, they made the camera far more responsive and useful than it ever was in the original, they added the whole touch screen support thing to give the 360 movement, there really was attempt, but that’s what it was, an attempt. The D-Pad and the eight directions it can provide just don’t adapt to the complex and 3-Dimensional environments of Super Mario 64, they make the once so fluid action of just moving and jumping so much complicated and unreliable, and coupled with the fact that every action and button feels so cramped considering this a fairly complex game, it results in never truly feeling like you are in total control of ANY of the characters, and even if some sections were changed or made easier to accommodate that, that’s the equivalent of shooting the game with a shotgun and putting a band aid over the wound; that’s just trying to make less painful something that it didn’t have to happen in the first place. Controls are not the only thing that is problematic tho, the squad is here to also be kinda mid! I… do not really understand why there are more characters here, like, the idea IS really cool, but considering that the original game only had Mario to begin with and how it’s implemented, it’s once again a case of solving a problem that wasn’t there on thee first place. The Power-Ups are now grouped together in the singular Flower-Power-Up, which has an different effect on each different character and that, plus the fact that stars are made exclusive to character’s specific capabilities, like Wario’s super strength or Mario’s wall jumping, it does the total opposite of stream lining, it complicates once so simple and fun missions and turns them into a slog that in some cases you have to wait to even beat! Now granted, the fact that there are the hats that let you turn into another character does prevent this from becoming a DK64 situation, but it still can be a pain to get to were the hats are before getting the start itself, and if it just so happens that the start requires Yoshi, the you gotta exit the level and change into him, and oh, what’s that, there are black bricks outside Peach’s Castle? Welp, time to change into Wario! Oh? There are bars you cannot get through? Well, you better change into Luigi to grab the invisibility power-up you scoundrel! And would you look at that, you need to wall jump in this specific area! Time to change into Mario and get over it! Oh wow! Black bricks! Time to head back and- you get the aggravating picture…
And you know, this wouldn’t be half a problem if at least playing as all the characters felt unique and fun in distinct ways, and yes, in a way they do, so you’d think tha- WELL THINK AGAIN BUCKO. Yoshi feels fine enough, the flutter jump is pretty useful but overall he’s severely limited compared to the rest of the cast; Mario is as he was in the original, only worse because of how everyone controls now, and actions before super cool are now borderline impossible; Wario is a gross parody of its own character, it makes sense for him to be the strong one that has the shortest jump, but for him to be so goddam slow and barely acrobatic make him a slog to control, especially when swimming, and just giving him a couple of bonuses instead of a moves like the shoulder-bash and the dash so to make him faster in exchange of being harder to control and making him similar to his Wario Land self is a huge missed opportunity; and then there’s Luigi who is… who is just fucking insane. His backflip makes many of the challenges completely inconsequential, that and other abilities like his run and floaty jump make him by far the best character to play as and makes the rest completely obsolete. Is this terrible balancing and turns the game into essentially Super Luigi 64 but not in a fun or charming way? Absolutely! Do I found this hilarious as hell and love that is Luigi the one that’s so broken? Absolutely!
But the worst part, even if it’s not the worst thing with the game itself, it’s how hellbent it is to just refuse to make changes to the base game. As I said, there are some very minor changes to the levels and stars turned into character specific missions, but that’s it. All the problems I has with the original game are still present here, mainly having to repeat entire sections for different missions, something that was not only left unchanged, but it even plagues the new levels as well… and in spite all of that… it’s still fun.
How. How does the plumber fucking do it. Super Mario 64 DS is by far my least favorite 3D Mario, is the one plagued with the most design flaws, and doesn’t quite reach the same highs as other games in this particular sub series… but it was still fun. It has bad stuff, but nothing I’ve said I would qualify it as terrible; there is still a fantastic game here, with flaws on top of it as well as new good stuff. As absurd as it sounds, maybe it’s a game that with a true remake it could be even greater that the game it remade in the first place, but right now it has too much stuff holding it back. Nevertheless, it’s a great time, and it’s attempt that does succeed in a bunch of things, and for that only it deserves my outmost respect.
Thank you so much for playing my game…
Nintendo is no stranger to remastering and porting their games, hell, the last generation and with the Wii U to Switch transition we probably got the most amount of ports we've ever gotten; but they are far more stingy when it comes to fully remaking their previous work. When it happens it’s this unexpected event, and with the exception of maybe the Pokémon franchise, most of their series have so little full-blown re-imaginations of older titles that most can be counted with only the fingers on one hand. So yeah, it’s a big deal when it happens if only to see how it ends up turning up, so I guess it’s kinda obvious to say that when they announced a remake of Super Motherfucking Mario the 64th, for their brand new handheld at the time and as a launch title, it was indeed a pretty huge deal. Even with the original being far from a favorite for me, I’ve said in numerous occasions that Super Mario 64 is an absolute monument of a game; while saying it alone revolutionized the 3D gaming industry is a bit of an exaggeration, it was for sure the most important game for the platforming genre, one that experimented with movement like few other games had done, and to this day it holds up surprisingly well and many play it rigorously to this very day, so it’s only natural to thing that a remake of it would still be talked about to this da- you know where I’m getting at don’t you?
Everytime the SM64 or even the 3D Mario sphere is in a conversation, 64DS is almost always left aside, and results into the almost meme worthy statement that is ‘’3D Land was the first 3D Mario in a handheld (64DS doesn’t count)!’’, like, poor game needs a hug, man… But to be completely honest, for the longest time I didn’t blame anybody if it just forgot about it; just the memories of those years back when I first played it were enough to put me in a bad mood: constant falls, terrible feeling controls, almost headache inducing camera, this was not just a mere case of me sucking at games yet again, this time… this time the game was ass. And so, I really dreaded returning to it, but it was just a matter of time; it is the only remaining 3D Mario game that I had yet to beat, and with the original game behind me, it was time to, yet again, finish what I started… and right off the bat, I think by far the best compliment I give this game is that it doesn’t suck even half of what I expected.
64DS is as much a original game as it is a remake of the original Super Mario 64, and right off the bat I can say it’s a pretty faithful remake; it doesn’t have as many changes as it does additions, and so practically all the levels were completely untouched, with only some sections to accommodate new missions within the levels or simply to make platforming not such a chore as it could be in the original game, like some changes in Whomp Fortress or a ground floor being added to Tick Tock Clock, which is like encountering an oasis admist the desert. Aside from those minor alterations, all of the World Portraits and Peach’s Castle are a carbon copy of their N64 counterparts, and that translates into all the positives I said about them mostly hold up: inspired ‘’toy box’’ design, a wonderful main hub area, fantastic ambience and even pretty funny dialogue, super creative missions, and pretty simple but fun boss fights; these latter two being even greater than before thanks to the new additions made in the remake. A whooping 30 new stars were added to the game, that, plus THREE brand new characters (this game is in fact the first instance of Luigi being playable in a 3D Platformer, so it gets points on that alone), prompted the addition of new small phases and even bosses, and these new content is honestly fantastic! The new mini levels are super fun obstacle courses, and fighting King Goomba and King Boo was a really unexpected surprise, but a welcomed one that references other parts of the series I really wasn’t expecting. So yeah, this game does have a ton of stuff that is pretty good, well that’s fantastic! Maybe this was hidden gem all alon- Yeah I should stop doing this bit, but anyway, the game still blows in many, MANY areas.
First, let’s address the elephant in the room, and no, not that one; the controls. Look, 64 DS was born as a way to showcase what the DS could achieve graphically first, there’s no denying that, but saying that the team simply slapped the game into the system without consideration is also a gross misjudgment. There tried, like, REALLY tried, they made the camera far more responsive and useful than it ever was in the original, they added the whole touch screen support thing to give the 360 movement, there really was attempt, but that’s what it was, an attempt. The D-Pad and the eight directions it can provide just don’t adapt to the complex and 3-Dimensional environments of Super Mario 64, they make the once so fluid action of just moving and jumping so much complicated and unreliable, and coupled with the fact that every action and button feels so cramped considering this a fairly complex game, it results in never truly feeling like you are in total control of ANY of the characters, and even if some sections were changed or made easier to accommodate that, that’s the equivalent of shooting the game with a shotgun and putting a band aid over the wound; that’s just trying to make less painful something that it didn’t have to happen in the first place. Controls are not the only thing that is problematic tho, the squad is here to also be kinda mid! I… do not really understand why there are more characters here, like, the idea IS really cool, but considering that the original game only had Mario to begin with and how it’s implemented, it’s once again a case of solving a problem that wasn’t there on thee first place. The Power-Ups are now grouped together in the singular Flower-Power-Up, which has an different effect on each different character and that, plus the fact that stars are made exclusive to character’s specific capabilities, like Wario’s super strength or Mario’s wall jumping, it does the total opposite of stream lining, it complicates once so simple and fun missions and turns them into a slog that in some cases you have to wait to even beat! Now granted, the fact that there are the hats that let you turn into another character does prevent this from becoming a DK64 situation, but it still can be a pain to get to were the hats are before getting the start itself, and if it just so happens that the start requires Yoshi, the you gotta exit the level and change into him, and oh, what’s that, there are black bricks outside Peach’s Castle? Welp, time to change into Wario! Oh? There are bars you cannot get through? Well, you better change into Luigi to grab the invisibility power-up you scoundrel! And would you look at that, you need to wall jump in this specific area! Time to change into Mario and get over it! Oh wow! Black bricks! Time to head back and- you get the aggravating picture…
And you know, this wouldn’t be half a problem if at least playing as all the characters felt unique and fun in distinct ways, and yes, in a way they do, so you’d think tha- WELL THINK AGAIN BUCKO. Yoshi feels fine enough, the flutter jump is pretty useful but overall he’s severely limited compared to the rest of the cast; Mario is as he was in the original, only worse because of how everyone controls now, and actions before super cool are now borderline impossible; Wario is a gross parody of its own character, it makes sense for him to be the strong one that has the shortest jump, but for him to be so goddam slow and barely acrobatic make him a slog to control, especially when swimming, and just giving him a couple of bonuses instead of a moves like the shoulder-bash and the dash so to make him faster in exchange of being harder to control and making him similar to his Wario Land self is a huge missed opportunity; and then there’s Luigi who is… who is just fucking insane. His backflip makes many of the challenges completely inconsequential, that and other abilities like his run and floaty jump make him by far the best character to play as and makes the rest completely obsolete. Is this terrible balancing and turns the game into essentially Super Luigi 64 but not in a fun or charming way? Absolutely! Do I found this hilarious as hell and love that is Luigi the one that’s so broken? Absolutely!
But the worst part, even if it’s not the worst thing with the game itself, it’s how hellbent it is to just refuse to make changes to the base game. As I said, there are some very minor changes to the levels and stars turned into character specific missions, but that’s it. All the problems I has with the original game are still present here, mainly having to repeat entire sections for different missions, something that was not only left unchanged, but it even plagues the new levels as well… and in spite all of that… it’s still fun.
How. How does the plumber fucking do it. Super Mario 64 DS is by far my least favorite 3D Mario, is the one plagued with the most design flaws, and doesn’t quite reach the same highs as other games in this particular sub series… but it was still fun. It has bad stuff, but nothing I’ve said I would qualify it as terrible; there is still a fantastic game here, with flaws on top of it as well as new good stuff. As absurd as it sounds, maybe it’s a game that with a true remake it could be even greater that the game it remade in the first place, but right now it has too much stuff holding it back. Nevertheless, it’s a great time, and it’s attempt that does succeed in a bunch of things, and for that only it deserves my outmost respect.
Thank you so much for playing my game…
one time i made a kid on the summer camp playground so mad by constantly picking him up and throwing him as wario while playing this game over ds download play that he threw his ds on the ground and broke it
A fantastic game that's incredibly frustrating to control. The first thing you realize is how VITAL the analog stick is for Mario 64. It's a shame that this upgraded version of SM64 has more content but is less accessible.
9/10 when played on an emulator with the analog mod.
9/10 when played on an emulator with the analog mod.
Excellent way to experience the original and the controls fell great on Wii U. The only problems I have is that some of 64's levels could've been redesigned to not be as repetitive as they are, but even going through those levels still feels fun.
Luigi GOAT
Luigi GOAT
d-pad + needing to press a button to run really kills this game
Mario 64 DS feels like a fan hack, and I mean that in the best way possible.
It's so neat to see a game I like recontextualized in such a novel way. It's got new levels, some really cool new bosses, and it lets you play as three entirely new characters.
The only real issue I have with it is the fact that it's still Mario 64, so everything I said in my review of the original still applies.
Still, a valiant effort.
It's so neat to see a game I like recontextualized in such a novel way. It's got new levels, some really cool new bosses, and it lets you play as three entirely new characters.
The only real issue I have with it is the fact that it's still Mario 64, so everything I said in my review of the original still applies.
Still, a valiant effort.
My preferred version of Mario 64. The new content isn't amazing or anything (except the peak fiction that is Luigi's casino) but it helps add to the existing Mario 64 package very nicely. The biggest controversy surrounding this game are the controls but they aren't bad and you can get used to them. Though spinning bowser around with the d-pad feels terrible and some stages like Rainbow Ride and Tiny Huge Island are a bit annoying without an analog stick, but for 80% of the game it controls well. I guess my main complaint with 64 DS is that it doesn't really fix a lot of issues that the original game had. It doesn't exist to be the definitive Mario 64 experience because it's different in so many ways that it doesn't invalidate playing the original. it's still a very cool version of the game despite of that
I used to prefer the original more but I decided I'd replay this and I think I now prefer this version. I didn't appreciate all the changes the 1st time I played. Here's a list of everything I prefer about each version.
64 Pros:
• Glitches: Invincible ground pounding and BLJing lead to good fun jank like going through King Thwomp or speedrunning up stairs you shouldn't be able to get. You can also get a star in Thwomp's fortress without using the cannon.
• Controls: Movement and button lay out feel a lot better. You're not locked to 8 directions. Slopes feel less janky and you can go up some using a certain jump kick trick.
• Characters: Mario is playable from the start. You don't have to run to a room every time you want to make progression. Bowser's design looks more unique rather than super generic.
• Power Ups: You don't need to switch characters to complete the game. Mario can do anything and everything including using power ups. Has the metal and invisible power ups.
• Outside Peach's Castle: As soon as you drain the water you'll have access to the invisible power up unlocking level rather than needing to unlock Wario to do so.
• Cool Cool Mountain: The bridge doesn't make you slide.
• Jolly Roger Bay: The mist gives it a much cooler atmosphere.
• Lethal Lava Land: Slopes aren't as janky with the shell. It's easier to kill the bullies with ground pounds
• Tall Tall Mountain: Has a secret 4 corner 1 up. You can skip the slide by doing a precise jump off a ledge. Don't need Wario to get a star at the waterfall.
• Snowman's Land: The ice "sculpture" is easier. It's also easier to kill the bully with a ground pound. Red coins are an easy star.
DS Pros:
• QoL: Map on the bottom screen and visually looks better. Red Bobombs were placed around the map that'll show U where red coins are at if U talk to them. You can fast climb poles now.
• Characters: Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario have new unique movesets which spice things up. I find Yoshi and Luigi fun to play.
• Power Ups: New floating flower power ups lets Mario float around which is very helpful in some levels.
• Outside Peach's Castle: Added details like a garden gives the castle a better vibe. Also after draining the water there's now a new slope to help U get back up rather than needing to run all the way to one side to get up.
• Bobomb Battlefield: The star in the island is replaced with find multiple silver stars around the map star and a 2nd King Bobomb fight. The new fighter actually makes more sense than the original did.
• Whomp's Fortress: New land area that doesn't get in the way of the old layout at all, makes 1 jump more forgiving, and adds a new gotta go fast star. King Whomp's redesign looks good.
• Cool Cool Mountain: The baby penguin won't walk up slopes Mario can't climb so it's less annoying and a gust of wind can save you from dying at the bridge if U fall off.
• Jolly Roger Bay: New float power up makes getting the star on the cliffsides easier and less jank. You only need to open 1 chest in the ship so less risk of dying to a random guessing game after trying to get the eal out of the ship which is seemingly easier now. The eal's tail doesn't hurt you so it's easier to get the come out and play star. The cave feels more cavey and has a new star.
• Peach's room: Looks more interesting than other rooms which makes the castle feel more liveky. Also it contains a new 1 star world that plays Sunshine music. It feels like a great addition that doesn't take away from anything. It also contains a cool new spooky poison forest world with a few new stars and a completely new unique boss which you can beat to unlock Mario (who I do feel should be the default character but whatever).
• Mini Games: These are all really fun and are great collectable rewards.
• Bowser Dark World: The new power up is a alternate way to get the 2 earliest red coins but they can still be gotten the normal way. It also let's U skip a large portion of the world however not the hardest part which in my experience is the final stretch especially now that there's a new star here which involves quickly going backwards.
• Garden: There's a new 1 star world in the corner which feels like a nice extra. Also the Boo won't hit U every time U get out of Big Boo's Haunt.
• Big Boo's Haunt: 1 red coins is in a new area that requires using the new power up which makes it more diverse. The new power up can also help U get up to the 3rd floor easier which was annoying before. There's a entire new segment where you have to follow the sound of Big Boo's laugh to find a mirror where you fight him using Luigi who is stuck as your reflection. This is a super cool way to unlock Luigi. The new power up once again helps you get to the top of the roof.
• Lethal Lava Land: New power up can help traverse the map. It adds yet another way to cheese the rolling log star if you want to. The camera and platforms work much better in the volcano. The new silver star locations give U a real reason to use the shell which feels less likely to break now.
• Shifting Sand Land: The outside ledges of the pyramid are wider making them more forgiving.
• Hazy Maze Cave: You no longer need to jump off the lock ness monster's head to get to the center island. It was lowered so U can just get there by swimming through the water.
• Dire Dire Docks: The 1st segment has a small beach area and new enemies making it just slightly more interesting. The whirlpool is less annoying. There's bullet bills in the 2nd half which kinda add to the idea that it's a base for Bowser's ship.
• Wet Dry World: The new power up helps get around the top and over gate to the city area. It's easier to tell the sky box is a city.
• Tall Tall Mountain: New wind that'll help you get up faster and also a new wood path to help U get to the waterfall star area more easily.
• Tiny Huge Island: Wind is less jank. The tiny version of the island has new platforms and a tree that helps you get around a lot faster. Wiggler is 3D now and the roof of the boss room reminds me of Maple Tree way.
• Snowman's Land: Part of the map was altered slightly which I think makes it more interesting. The snowman's wind is less jank. Luigi makes getting past the water area way easier.
• Tick Tock Clock: The new platforms make it sooo much more forgiving and actually fun to play. It also feels a little more aesthetically pleasing.
• Mini Games: These are all really fun and are great collectable rewards.
64 Pros:
• Glitches: Invincible ground pounding and BLJing lead to good fun jank like going through King Thwomp or speedrunning up stairs you shouldn't be able to get. You can also get a star in Thwomp's fortress without using the cannon.
• Controls: Movement and button lay out feel a lot better. You're not locked to 8 directions. Slopes feel less janky and you can go up some using a certain jump kick trick.
• Characters: Mario is playable from the start. You don't have to run to a room every time you want to make progression. Bowser's design looks more unique rather than super generic.
• Power Ups: You don't need to switch characters to complete the game. Mario can do anything and everything including using power ups. Has the metal and invisible power ups.
• Outside Peach's Castle: As soon as you drain the water you'll have access to the invisible power up unlocking level rather than needing to unlock Wario to do so.
• Cool Cool Mountain: The bridge doesn't make you slide.
• Jolly Roger Bay: The mist gives it a much cooler atmosphere.
• Lethal Lava Land: Slopes aren't as janky with the shell. It's easier to kill the bullies with ground pounds
• Tall Tall Mountain: Has a secret 4 corner 1 up. You can skip the slide by doing a precise jump off a ledge. Don't need Wario to get a star at the waterfall.
• Snowman's Land: The ice "sculpture" is easier. It's also easier to kill the bully with a ground pound. Red coins are an easy star.
DS Pros:
• QoL: Map on the bottom screen and visually looks better. Red Bobombs were placed around the map that'll show U where red coins are at if U talk to them. You can fast climb poles now.
• Characters: Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario have new unique movesets which spice things up. I find Yoshi and Luigi fun to play.
• Power Ups: New floating flower power ups lets Mario float around which is very helpful in some levels.
• Outside Peach's Castle: Added details like a garden gives the castle a better vibe. Also after draining the water there's now a new slope to help U get back up rather than needing to run all the way to one side to get up.
• Bobomb Battlefield: The star in the island is replaced with find multiple silver stars around the map star and a 2nd King Bobomb fight. The new fighter actually makes more sense than the original did.
• Whomp's Fortress: New land area that doesn't get in the way of the old layout at all, makes 1 jump more forgiving, and adds a new gotta go fast star. King Whomp's redesign looks good.
• Cool Cool Mountain: The baby penguin won't walk up slopes Mario can't climb so it's less annoying and a gust of wind can save you from dying at the bridge if U fall off.
• Jolly Roger Bay: New float power up makes getting the star on the cliffsides easier and less jank. You only need to open 1 chest in the ship so less risk of dying to a random guessing game after trying to get the eal out of the ship which is seemingly easier now. The eal's tail doesn't hurt you so it's easier to get the come out and play star. The cave feels more cavey and has a new star.
• Peach's room: Looks more interesting than other rooms which makes the castle feel more liveky. Also it contains a new 1 star world that plays Sunshine music. It feels like a great addition that doesn't take away from anything. It also contains a cool new spooky poison forest world with a few new stars and a completely new unique boss which you can beat to unlock Mario (who I do feel should be the default character but whatever).
• Mini Games: These are all really fun and are great collectable rewards.
• Bowser Dark World: The new power up is a alternate way to get the 2 earliest red coins but they can still be gotten the normal way. It also let's U skip a large portion of the world however not the hardest part which in my experience is the final stretch especially now that there's a new star here which involves quickly going backwards.
• Garden: There's a new 1 star world in the corner which feels like a nice extra. Also the Boo won't hit U every time U get out of Big Boo's Haunt.
• Big Boo's Haunt: 1 red coins is in a new area that requires using the new power up which makes it more diverse. The new power up can also help U get up to the 3rd floor easier which was annoying before. There's a entire new segment where you have to follow the sound of Big Boo's laugh to find a mirror where you fight him using Luigi who is stuck as your reflection. This is a super cool way to unlock Luigi. The new power up once again helps you get to the top of the roof.
• Lethal Lava Land: New power up can help traverse the map. It adds yet another way to cheese the rolling log star if you want to. The camera and platforms work much better in the volcano. The new silver star locations give U a real reason to use the shell which feels less likely to break now.
• Shifting Sand Land: The outside ledges of the pyramid are wider making them more forgiving.
• Hazy Maze Cave: You no longer need to jump off the lock ness monster's head to get to the center island. It was lowered so U can just get there by swimming through the water.
• Dire Dire Docks: The 1st segment has a small beach area and new enemies making it just slightly more interesting. The whirlpool is less annoying. There's bullet bills in the 2nd half which kinda add to the idea that it's a base for Bowser's ship.
• Wet Dry World: The new power up helps get around the top and over gate to the city area. It's easier to tell the sky box is a city.
• Tall Tall Mountain: New wind that'll help you get up faster and also a new wood path to help U get to the waterfall star area more easily.
• Tiny Huge Island: Wind is less jank. The tiny version of the island has new platforms and a tree that helps you get around a lot faster. Wiggler is 3D now and the roof of the boss room reminds me of Maple Tree way.
• Snowman's Land: Part of the map was altered slightly which I think makes it more interesting. The snowman's wind is less jank. Luigi makes getting past the water area way easier.
• Tick Tock Clock: The new platforms make it sooo much more forgiving and actually fun to play. It also feels a little more aesthetically pleasing.
• Mini Games: These are all really fun and are great collectable rewards.
A great game due to the fact that it is Mario 64. the new aspects that the game brings are actually all pretty awesome, but brought down by the fact that you can only move in 8 directions. the original Mario 64 is still the superior version.
There is an oft repeated anecdote that the movement in Super Mario 64 was meticulously tuned before any levels were designed, to ensure that simply controlling Mario would be fun. Super Mario 64 DS is like a version of the game from a parallel universe where they did not do that.
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Would be the greatest video game of all time if it wasn't on the DS
Super Mario 64 is one of my favorite Mario games ever. It's one of those games you can come back to and still have a great time despite its age. With that being said, what if I told you I didn't grow up with Super Mario 64, and never got to officially play it until years later? Yes, my introduction to the game came through this remake made 8 years after the original game came out, Super Mario 64 for Nintendo DS. This game boasts new stars, updated graphics, and 3 brand new playable characters. With all those quirks, this game should be great! Should.
For the most part, the game is unchanged. There's still the castle, you still collect power stars to unlock new areas and there are the same 15 courses you know and love. Although, things immediately start off different. First of all, you don't start the game as Mario, you start it as Yoshi. In an admittedly fun cutscene, Mario hops out of the pipe akin to the original opening following Peach's invitation for cake at the castle. Luigi and Wario also hop out of pipes adjacent to his, racing him to the castle to get to him first, all while Yoshi sleeps on top of the castle, referencing his appearance at the end of the game in the original Mario 64. Lakitu wakes up Yoshi saying Mario and co. have been in the castle for a while and haven't left yet, so it's up to him Yoshi to see what's going on. You unlock the other 3 characters by fighting specific bosses, but of course you need Mario to access most of the game normally.
So now, let me bring forth the biggest problem with this game: The controls. The original SM64 controls near perfectly, how did they mess it up? Simple, a run button. That might not sound like much but it definitely screws up the flow of gameplay more than you'd expect. You have to constantly be holding down the run button if you want to get anywhere, and you're going to be holding the run button when you jump. So what if you want to dive jump or jump kick too? That's 3 buttons you have to hold down, and it is not comfortable. Not to mention since this is on a DS there's no control stick, but a D-Pad. Yeah, play a 3D Platformer with a D-Pad. I'm playing this game on a 3DS admittedly, and the Circle Pad does help a tiny bit but it'll still have you wishing you had a regular controller. You can also use the Touch Pad for movement, which they REALLY want you to use for some reason. On the topic of control, let's talk about each character individually.
First is Yoshi I suppose, since you play as him first. Honestly, though? He controls great. He flicks his tongue out in classic Yoshi fashion, flutter jumps, he can eat enemies and spit them back out, and even lay an egg for a temporary projectile. It's clear he wasn't made for this game very much though, as they give the option of playing the game with the cap of a character from the get-go after unlocking one of them, starting the level in a transformed state as Mario/Luigi/Wario. Isn't it weird this is the only game where you control just Yoshi in 3D? If he were to get his own 3D Platformer they definitely need to use this control scheme as the basis.
Mario is mostly unchanged, he has pretty much all the moves you know. One thing I like is his wall kick is updated into a wall jump. One thing I hate though, and I guess they do this to give him a sense of uniqueness from the other characters, he's the ONLY one that can wall jump.
Luigi is lighter than Mario, and sports a mini flutter jump of his own. His backwards somersault also has a float descent, which can come in handy.
Wario is probably the worst out of the 4, he's the slowest and his jump is the weakest. He is, however, the strongest, and he's the only one that can break the special black bricks.
In addition to every character having their own playstyle tweaks, they have their own unique power up ability. Remember in the original game where Mario had to unlock a new cap and it would show up in the level where he needed to use it? Here, things are a little bit different. Each ability is locked to a specific character, Mario has the Wing Cap, Luigi vanishes, and Wario becomes metal. This means for specific Power Stars you have to switch to that character if you want to collect it. It's a novel idea in making each character important, but it's a lot more tedious than it sounds. Plus, the character caps I mentioned earlier? You can find them in levels to do what you need to do, but there's no way to remove the caps without taking damage, which is also annoying.
The style is fine. All the characters and enemies are upgraded to their current designs. Some look better like Skeeters and Bullies, but rest in peace to the original bug-eyed, psychedelic patterned Scuttlebug. In another interesting change, MIPS does not appear in this version, but instead regular rabbits. In the beginning of the game you have to collect a rabbit with Yoshi to unlock the castle key. Which, just seems like padding, but it's to introduce the new concept of catching rabbits to unlock minigames. Some of them are actually pretty fun, admittedly, but to unlock new ones you have to catch rabbits as each character which is more trouble than its worth.
The ideas this remake present aren't bad on a base level, but you'll be begging to play the original Mario 64. It's just more freeing and less restrictive to play, and there aren't too many improvements in this version over the original.
For the most part, the game is unchanged. There's still the castle, you still collect power stars to unlock new areas and there are the same 15 courses you know and love. Although, things immediately start off different. First of all, you don't start the game as Mario, you start it as Yoshi. In an admittedly fun cutscene, Mario hops out of the pipe akin to the original opening following Peach's invitation for cake at the castle. Luigi and Wario also hop out of pipes adjacent to his, racing him to the castle to get to him first, all while Yoshi sleeps on top of the castle, referencing his appearance at the end of the game in the original Mario 64. Lakitu wakes up Yoshi saying Mario and co. have been in the castle for a while and haven't left yet, so it's up to him Yoshi to see what's going on. You unlock the other 3 characters by fighting specific bosses, but of course you need Mario to access most of the game normally.
So now, let me bring forth the biggest problem with this game: The controls. The original SM64 controls near perfectly, how did they mess it up? Simple, a run button. That might not sound like much but it definitely screws up the flow of gameplay more than you'd expect. You have to constantly be holding down the run button if you want to get anywhere, and you're going to be holding the run button when you jump. So what if you want to dive jump or jump kick too? That's 3 buttons you have to hold down, and it is not comfortable. Not to mention since this is on a DS there's no control stick, but a D-Pad. Yeah, play a 3D Platformer with a D-Pad. I'm playing this game on a 3DS admittedly, and the Circle Pad does help a tiny bit but it'll still have you wishing you had a regular controller. You can also use the Touch Pad for movement, which they REALLY want you to use for some reason. On the topic of control, let's talk about each character individually.
First is Yoshi I suppose, since you play as him first. Honestly, though? He controls great. He flicks his tongue out in classic Yoshi fashion, flutter jumps, he can eat enemies and spit them back out, and even lay an egg for a temporary projectile. It's clear he wasn't made for this game very much though, as they give the option of playing the game with the cap of a character from the get-go after unlocking one of them, starting the level in a transformed state as Mario/Luigi/Wario. Isn't it weird this is the only game where you control just Yoshi in 3D? If he were to get his own 3D Platformer they definitely need to use this control scheme as the basis.
Mario is mostly unchanged, he has pretty much all the moves you know. One thing I like is his wall kick is updated into a wall jump. One thing I hate though, and I guess they do this to give him a sense of uniqueness from the other characters, he's the ONLY one that can wall jump.
Luigi is lighter than Mario, and sports a mini flutter jump of his own. His backwards somersault also has a float descent, which can come in handy.
Wario is probably the worst out of the 4, he's the slowest and his jump is the weakest. He is, however, the strongest, and he's the only one that can break the special black bricks.
In addition to every character having their own playstyle tweaks, they have their own unique power up ability. Remember in the original game where Mario had to unlock a new cap and it would show up in the level where he needed to use it? Here, things are a little bit different. Each ability is locked to a specific character, Mario has the Wing Cap, Luigi vanishes, and Wario becomes metal. This means for specific Power Stars you have to switch to that character if you want to collect it. It's a novel idea in making each character important, but it's a lot more tedious than it sounds. Plus, the character caps I mentioned earlier? You can find them in levels to do what you need to do, but there's no way to remove the caps without taking damage, which is also annoying.
The style is fine. All the characters and enemies are upgraded to their current designs. Some look better like Skeeters and Bullies, but rest in peace to the original bug-eyed, psychedelic patterned Scuttlebug. In another interesting change, MIPS does not appear in this version, but instead regular rabbits. In the beginning of the game you have to collect a rabbit with Yoshi to unlock the castle key. Which, just seems like padding, but it's to introduce the new concept of catching rabbits to unlock minigames. Some of them are actually pretty fun, admittedly, but to unlock new ones you have to catch rabbits as each character which is more trouble than its worth.
The ideas this remake present aren't bad on a base level, but you'll be begging to play the original Mario 64. It's just more freeing and less restrictive to play, and there aren't too many improvements in this version over the original.
Everyone wins by having Luigi do absolutely everything