While this remake is pretty rough, it's actually really impressive for its time. It's much harder to appreciate for what it accomplished now though considering we can play the original on basically any device these days, M64 is basically the new Doom in that regard. But, I do still find value in this version. It's just cool to be able to play a somewhat unfamiliar version of one of the most iconic games ever made.
The best of the new content featured here, are the moments that take an existing star or concept from the original game and put a twist on it. Like being able to use the invisibility power up to phase through the mirror room and enter the reflection of the real door to enter a white G-mod lookin' room with a star in it. Or having to break the rocks in watch for rolling rocks instead of the star just being a wall kick away.
Unfortunately though I think a lot of the new stars added to the game don't really add much and only serve to bloat the game. Of course, not helped by the game already feeling more tiring to play than the original as it is due to the controls limited by the hardware. Adding an extra Find 5 of the silver stars mission to these stages really just felt like filler. The few original stages made specifically for these missions ranged from meh to decent, but otherwise the game would be (And actually...IS) better without them. They're never remotely difficult to find and mechanically they're ripped from the multiplayer mode, where the idea of dropping a star when you take damage makes a LOT more sense. And what's up with that Tick Tock Clock silver star mission? They all spawn high up but bounce around and all end up just falling down to the bottom floor where you spawn..?
There's just a handful of things like that that feel weirdly unpolished or not fully realized. Biggest example is the multiple characters. Again this is something that for the time was so cool. So many people have memories trying to unlock luigi, or thinking you could play as yoshi once you got all the stars only for him to give you a bunch of lives and jump away. So finally being able to play as them is kind of a dream come true. Especially interesting is that the game starts off with you playing as Yoshi and you have to unlock Mario. The implementation of all the characters though is like a less graceful version of DK64, and I really don't understand why. To actually change your character you have to go all the way back to the peach's slide entrance room to swap. Otherwise you have to utilize character hats goombas are usually wearing to swap within a level.
Since nobody can turn into Yoshi, as he doesn't have a hat, you're basically forced to play as him for most of the game. Especially since when you play as Yoshi, you actually get a hat select when picking a level. Not sure why nobody else gets this. And when Yoshi's wearing a character hat, you'll be hearing Yoshi's voice coming out of them. Which, is absolutely a minor thing but it's one of the many things making the multiple characters feel kinda sloppy and less fun than it really should have been. Mario 64 isn't made better by splitting all the caps from the original game into character specific power ups. Special shoutout to Wario having the most abysmally slow swim speed in the entire gaming industry. Mario arbitraily is the only one who can wall jump 'cuz he needed to have SOMETHING over the others I guess.
I imagine the game would be a lot more fun just picking Luigi and getting as much as you can. You can already beat the game without unlocking Luigi and Wario without too much trouble. Without going for 100% the game's pretty smooth honestly. But going for 150 stars reveals some cracks in the structure. Doesn't help that now the reward for 150 stars somehow manages to feel even less substantial than the original's, which was already a joke for a 120 reward. You get a second slot machine in the minigames...? The first slot machine only requiring 15 stars to get.
As for the controls which often get criticized with this game, they're mangeable, you can get used to them. They're satisfying enough to weave through levels with if you get good. I had more of a problem with the physics though. So many small actions you do all the time in the original for repositioning, now have this fake momentum shoving you forward a tiny bit. You definitely had a lot more control over the finer details of your momentum in the original, leading to you falling off a cliff 'cuz the game wants to push you forward when in the original you could have held back and survived.
The minigames are seemingly more iconic than the game itself at times. And while I have my fair share of memories and love for them, I actually know the minigames from New Super Mario Bros. Both games share quite a few and 64DS actually has more if I'm not mistaken. But I think NSMB has more of a curated list of games that are generally better than what's seen in this game. They can be a fun distraction though and some are deceptively challenging.
But yeah I think it's definitely worth playing at least once if you're a fan of the original, and plenty of people do actually say the extra content makes it just a better version entirely. I see it as more of an interesting oddity. They really just made this to prove the DS CAN do 3D gaming, and proceeded to almost never use the DS for 3D gaming afterwards. This game serves as both a proof of concept, and a proof against that concept at the same time. I like that it exists more than I actually like playing it. Because personally, I'd rather not just enter and re-enter the castle repeatedly, waiting for RNG white rabbits to spawn until I get 10 of them for a single star. Had a good enough time with it, but I'll take my Mario 64 with less bloat please.
The best of the new content featured here, are the moments that take an existing star or concept from the original game and put a twist on it. Like being able to use the invisibility power up to phase through the mirror room and enter the reflection of the real door to enter a white G-mod lookin' room with a star in it. Or having to break the rocks in watch for rolling rocks instead of the star just being a wall kick away.
Unfortunately though I think a lot of the new stars added to the game don't really add much and only serve to bloat the game. Of course, not helped by the game already feeling more tiring to play than the original as it is due to the controls limited by the hardware. Adding an extra Find 5 of the silver stars mission to these stages really just felt like filler. The few original stages made specifically for these missions ranged from meh to decent, but otherwise the game would be (And actually...IS) better without them. They're never remotely difficult to find and mechanically they're ripped from the multiplayer mode, where the idea of dropping a star when you take damage makes a LOT more sense. And what's up with that Tick Tock Clock silver star mission? They all spawn high up but bounce around and all end up just falling down to the bottom floor where you spawn..?
There's just a handful of things like that that feel weirdly unpolished or not fully realized. Biggest example is the multiple characters. Again this is something that for the time was so cool. So many people have memories trying to unlock luigi, or thinking you could play as yoshi once you got all the stars only for him to give you a bunch of lives and jump away. So finally being able to play as them is kind of a dream come true. Especially interesting is that the game starts off with you playing as Yoshi and you have to unlock Mario. The implementation of all the characters though is like a less graceful version of DK64, and I really don't understand why. To actually change your character you have to go all the way back to the peach's slide entrance room to swap. Otherwise you have to utilize character hats goombas are usually wearing to swap within a level.
Since nobody can turn into Yoshi, as he doesn't have a hat, you're basically forced to play as him for most of the game. Especially since when you play as Yoshi, you actually get a hat select when picking a level. Not sure why nobody else gets this. And when Yoshi's wearing a character hat, you'll be hearing Yoshi's voice coming out of them. Which, is absolutely a minor thing but it's one of the many things making the multiple characters feel kinda sloppy and less fun than it really should have been. Mario 64 isn't made better by splitting all the caps from the original game into character specific power ups. Special shoutout to Wario having the most abysmally slow swim speed in the entire gaming industry. Mario arbitraily is the only one who can wall jump 'cuz he needed to have SOMETHING over the others I guess.
I imagine the game would be a lot more fun just picking Luigi and getting as much as you can. You can already beat the game without unlocking Luigi and Wario without too much trouble. Without going for 100% the game's pretty smooth honestly. But going for 150 stars reveals some cracks in the structure. Doesn't help that now the reward for 150 stars somehow manages to feel even less substantial than the original's, which was already a joke for a 120 reward. You get a second slot machine in the minigames...? The first slot machine only requiring 15 stars to get.
As for the controls which often get criticized with this game, they're mangeable, you can get used to them. They're satisfying enough to weave through levels with if you get good. I had more of a problem with the physics though. So many small actions you do all the time in the original for repositioning, now have this fake momentum shoving you forward a tiny bit. You definitely had a lot more control over the finer details of your momentum in the original, leading to you falling off a cliff 'cuz the game wants to push you forward when in the original you could have held back and survived.
The minigames are seemingly more iconic than the game itself at times. And while I have my fair share of memories and love for them, I actually know the minigames from New Super Mario Bros. Both games share quite a few and 64DS actually has more if I'm not mistaken. But I think NSMB has more of a curated list of games that are generally better than what's seen in this game. They can be a fun distraction though and some are deceptively challenging.
But yeah I think it's definitely worth playing at least once if you're a fan of the original, and plenty of people do actually say the extra content makes it just a better version entirely. I see it as more of an interesting oddity. They really just made this to prove the DS CAN do 3D gaming, and proceeded to almost never use the DS for 3D gaming afterwards. This game serves as both a proof of concept, and a proof against that concept at the same time. I like that it exists more than I actually like playing it. Because personally, I'd rather not just enter and re-enter the castle repeatedly, waiting for RNG white rabbits to spawn until I get 10 of them for a single star. Had a good enough time with it, but I'll take my Mario 64 with less bloat please.