First off, while this review score is quite lower than others, let me start off by saying that I do think it’s very good. This game is a historic masterpiece loved today by many for a reason and I totally understand that. However, as someone who grew up with the DS version of this game, there’s always been something off about this version. Is it a fun game? Hell yeah, it is. Super Mario 64 is a fun game no matter how you slice it, but I feel like it’s flaws are more apparent to me than others. And yes, I am aware that it’s one of the first games of it’s kind, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. First off, the controls of this game are fine. It’s tight, responsive, and pulling off most of Mario’s moves is a breeze and is satisfying to do when trying to get a Power Star faster. But the wall jump here is nothing short of primitive, with the lack of a slide when going down a wall making the move far less useful than what is expected nowadays from it. The graphics, while blocky and outdated, have a certain charm to them. Do I think they’re ugly in some ways, totally. But something about Mario’s model is charming in a way that makes it hard to describe. While many complain about the camera, and while again, it’s primitive, the game was built with that camera in mind so it didn’t feel as intrusive as I thought it would. In fact, playing the PC port with the Puppycam was a nightmare at first because the camera just felt so slow, laggy, and floaty that quick camera changes felt like a pain to wait for and lead to some lost lives. The music, while iconic, is a bit underwhelming in my opinion outside of Bomb-Om Battlefield and the Slide music. Not bad, but the series has seen better. My only real issue, besides the game feeling so much smaller than the DS port in terms of extra content, are the bosses. Man, some of these aren’t much to write home about. Some of them, like King Thowmp, are downright broken and are laughably easy. If it weren’t for some of the charming intros they have with their dialog, they would be instantly forgettable and boring. But I think what keeps me coming back to this game is the charm. Mario moves so fluently around that sometimes, I just like to boot up the game to run around for a bit and experiment. This game has been researched inside and out by its speed running community and that’s the reason why. This game, as primitive as it may be, is always fun to go back to for me for a few minutes. Even if I have a few gripes with it, I still hold so much respect for what it did for gaming as a whole that will not make me think less of this game.