I really can't give this game 5 stars because of how many issues I have with it, but in my heart it's a 5/5.

For being one of the first 3D platformers ever, it aged extremely well. The movement system is still really fun to mess around with, and just running around with Mario is a lot of fun.

The foyer and the basement is where this game really shines, with the levels in the former being my favorites. The downfall of the level design (at least for enjoyability) happens in the second and third floors.

Tiny Huge Island, while a cool concept, feels gimmicky and annoying to traverse in both areas. Wet-Dry World has the oddest atmosphere of any level, but the design of it feels like a bunch of geometry slapped together. The same can be said for Rainbow Ride, and I honestly had more fun playing that level than I thought I would based off of previous experiences. Tall Tall Mountain was fun but climbing the mountain got a little bland after a while. Snowman's Land doesn't really feel similar to how the rest of the game designed its levels, which is somewhat for the worse. It feels like the dev team designed the cool snowman structure, then tried to build a level around it, and the end result isn't too interesting to me. Tick Tock Clock is annoying but manageable, and the gimmick of the speed of the level changing with when you enter it is cool.

My main complaint is how getting all 120 stars feels. At first I was enjoying myself, but the basement then felt a little more annoying than usual, and the second and third floors felt even more annoying. Despite that, the sense of accomplishment I felt grabbing the final Bowser star was incredible.

Great game, one of my favorites, but it lacks the level of polish and consistency future installments would eventually have.