It's-a Me, Again!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Not only fits Super Mario 64 gameplay onto DS, but adds new Stars and minigames.

Cons: Touch controls and D-Pad are a poor replacement for the N64 controller's joystick.

The Bottom Line: 
Super Mario 64 fans will enjoy the changes. New players should try to find a copy of the original first, but if that isn't possible, this makes a good substitute.

Author's Review
Overview:
 
Directed by Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario 64 was the one of the first titles to take the platforming games into 3-D and has become arguably the most influential game in the genre. Several years later, the DS became the first Nintendo handheld capable of handling 3-D environments that were comparable to the N64. For this reason, it seems fitting that a remake of that landmark title, Super Mario 64 DS was one of the system’s launch titles.

Story:

Not much going on here.  Like the original, the red-capped, blue overall-wearing Mario gets invited to Princess Peach’s palace for a cake, only this time the similarly-clothed Wario and Luigi come along for the warp pipe ride.

In comes Bowser to ruin the day, capturing the princess and imprisoning the three mustachioed heroes (Wario is on the good guy’s side this time around).

The task of saving everyone now falls on Yoshi, Mario’s green dinosaur companion with a long tongue. To advance through the castle where Bowser has hidden all his kidnappees, the player must collect Power Stars, which have been hidden inside paintings that come to life when you jump into them. Will Yoshi succeed in rescuing his companions and saving Peach from Bowser’s clutches with the help of the Power Stars? (SPOILERS: Yes, if you play long enough).

Like previous Mario games, the story is simply a vehicle for the gameplay. The only difference now is that “Thank you, Mario. But our princess is in another castle!” has been swapped with “Thank you, Mario. But our princess is somewhere else in this castle!”

Gameplay:
 
One of the things that made the first Super Mario 64 so original was its use of the analog control stick to move. The DS remake tries to mimic this effect with the touch screen, but the end result is a poor substitute. Returning players will have to get used to the more restricted movement with the D-Pad, which works far better than the touch controls.

After getting past this minor hiccup, though, fans of the first game will be in for some pleasant surprises. Unlike most remakes, which tweak the graphics, throw in an extra boss, add a worthless multiplayer mode, and call it a day, Super Mario 64 DS manages to provide a significantly different experience from the original game by including three more playable characters and adding an additional 30 Stars to collect (bringing the total to 150).

For gamers new to Super Mario 64, here’s the basic concept: Peach’s castle serves as the overworld. It houses a few Stars and other secrets, but the most important items in it are the paintings. Each painting is a gateway to a self-contained world with its own theme, like ice or lava or water. Before entering a world, you are given the name of a Star hidden in the world as a hint. After that, you’re ready to begin your search.

Stars are hidden in a variety of ways. Some require you to reach a certain point in the level by jumping gaps and dodging traps while others might require you to grab coins or face a boss. Collecting Stars opens up more rooms in the castle, and more levels to play.


In the original, Mario was highly agile, being able to triple-jump, long-jump, back-flip, and even wall-jump. The new characters add even more moves to your arsenal, and the levels have been changed to take advantage of these new skills. Rotund Wario is the heavy hitter, while Luigi can temporarily float through the air like a propeller. Unfortunately, Luigi’s special ability might be too useful, allowing the player to float across chasms and bypass intermediate platforms and obstacles that Mario would have had to negotiate in the first game. At least this makes up for the restricted movement without a control stick.

One completely new addition is the touch-screen minigames, which are unlocked by finding rabbits in the levels of the main game.  While such hardware-showcasing novelties feel obligatory on a launch title, Super Mario 64 DS manages to keep these diversions simple yet fun enough to deserve multiple plays. My personal favorite is a deceptively challenging game where you race to score points by dragging red Bob-Bombs and black Bob-bombs to a matching color platform.

Graphics:

The DS not only handles the 3-D graphics of the N64 game—it improves upon them. Gone are the blocky edges on Mario’s hat. Maybe it’s just the smaller size of the screen, but for some reason, everything looks sharper than before. The graphics still look like something from an N64, but instead of being launch title quality they’re circa Mario Party 3-era.

The environments are rendered in bright, bold colors, with lots of greens, yellows, reds, and blues. Obstacles and enemies are designed around simple three-dimensional shapes to keep a cartoonish visual style.

Emphasis is placed on nostalgia, something that newer players might miss. Yes, there are plenty of new graphical elements, but they all look like they could have been cut from the old game.

Sound:
 
Virtually the same as the first Super Mario 64 in most places, and that isn’t a bad thing.

You still hear the famous “It’s-a me, Mario!” every time you star the game up. Also preserved is the fantastic music, which may not be as immediately recognizable as Mario’s famous 8-bit theme, but which veteran players will recall fondly. And of course, there’s still that bizarre “BAH-dah-dah-DUH-dah-duh-DAH!” every time you first enter a painting. Even first time players will probably recognize some of the famous Mario series sound effects, like the short jangling noise that goes off every time you pick up a coin. The developers went for the nostalgia factor again, and they managed to pull it off well.

Conclusion:
 
The only things that really keep this from being the “definitive” edition of the game are the DS’s stiffer controls and Luigi’s overpowered backflip. I’d recommend playing the original first (I think it’s available on the Wii’s Virtual Console), but overall, Super Mario 64 DS is a good buy for fans of the N64 title and newcomers alike.