Nintendo DS NintendoSpin.com / Reviews / Super Mario 64 DS

Posted on December 27th, 2004 - 5664 Reads

Rated Everyone Super Mario 64 DS Nintendo DS Review Bronze Award

-- Written by Marc-André Sarrazin



 Back in 1996, the main reason to buy a Nintendo 64 was, of course, Super Mario 64. Sure, there might have been only 2 games at launch, but the one everyone wanted was Mario 64. This game offered new gameplay mecanics not found in previous platform games and it truely defined what 3D platform gaming is today. We've seen countless Mario clones over the years, and even though some were able to make it better, most were never able to achieve what Miyamoto and friends did with this game.

The concept of this game is very simple: the princess has been kidnapped and it's up to Mario to save her. You walk around a castle, jump into paintings which are levels and have to find stars in order to advance and beat Bowser. Storywise there's nothing spectacular, but who cares anyway as Mario games have never been about compelling stories. What made people come back to this game was the amazing gameplay. Mario moved so smoothly and all of his movements were easily performed with the control stick, and there were so many he could perform it was incredible! The first time people saw this game they were amazed as they never thought something like that was possible in a videogame, especialy in a Mario game.

I have to say that the jump to 3D really helped, but still, it's all those innovations they made and even though we had only been used to 2D gameplay since the first time we had played videogames, (Star Fox on SNES doesn't count!) the fact that it all felt natural on our first try was a true achievement, one that only Nintendo could have made.

Now, 8 years later, Nintendo launches a new portable system, one that is as powerful as the Nitendo 64 in almost every aspect, sometimes being even better, and to launch it they bring back Mario and friends in a remake of the best selling N64 game of all times. Some people are impressed with it, some are not. The real question is: should you be or is it only another port we are used to see from Nintendo? Some people have bought the same games over and over again on so many platforms from Nintendo that they are wondering if they still should buy this one considering they've finished the orginal countless time. I'm here to help you decide if you should get it or not, but chances are you probably don't need me for that as you are a Nintendo fanboy and will buy anything they make, right?

So let's start with the story of the game. It has been changed a little since this time, not only has peach disapeared, but Mario too. In fact, while looking for Peach, Mario, Luigi and Wario were captured and only poor Yoshi is left. His mission will be to save those 3 that have lost themselves in the castle and then collect enough stars to advance through the castle's floors and save Princess Peach from the evil Bowser as, again, he has kidnapped her even though it's clear that he's gonna lose one more time!

Adding 3 new characters really changes the gameplay of the game considerably as each of them can perform a special move. In the original, Mario could fly, turn into metal or become invisible. This time around, Mario flies, Wario turns into metal and Luigi becomes invisible, and Yoshi can breathe fire. All of these abilities need to be used in order to collect all of the stars so that means that you will have to change characters from time to time to complete certain objectives. All of this is done in the room where there was Peach's secret slide in the original. They've added doors where you enter to change characters, but there are colored caps in levels that you can pick up to become that character instantly. For example, if you're Mario and you see a yellow cap and pick it up, you'll become Wario. The drawback to this is that if you get hit, you lose the cap and after a few seconds it disapears. The other problem is that you will lose the cap everytime you exit a level.

A new level was added to this game as well as a few new bosses. There are new paintings added to the castle which are levels where you save Mario, Luigi and Wario. The new levels aren't really a levels as they,re pretty small and dosn't look as good as the rest of the game, but it's cool to see they've taken the time to add some new stuff. There are also new castle secret stars and, in fact there are 30 new stars to this game that were added here and there in levels and around the castle. Some of the star objectives were changed, some just a little while others are completely different. Some level designs were also a bit different than in Mario 64. And for those who liked them, the rabbits are back in full force!

About the rabbits... in this version of Mario 64, they've added minigames that you can play using the touchscreen. When you start you only have a few of them unlocked, but by catching rabbits in the castle you unlock new ones. Each character has a set of minigames and you have to catch all of the rabbits with each character to unlock everything.

The minigames themselves are really fun and make good use of the touchsceen. Some of them were a little bit repetitive and sometimes you'd get the same game twice except it was another version of it. Most of the games I found myself playing just a little while others are really addictive. My favorite has to be the one where you draw lines that become trampolines that make Mario rebound and you have to get him to doors to exit and save as many Marios as possible. Luigi's card games were simple but fun, but overall that's not where I spent most of my time even though I've heard stories of people who just coudn't stop playing the minigames. I guess it's a love it or hate it situation.

Now, the most important aspect of this game: the controls! The DS's lack of a control stick really makes this game more difficult. The analog stick on the N64 offered full 360 degrees of control while this time around you only have 8 directions with the D-Pad. I really found myself playing around with the camera angles, which are all controlled with the touchscreen by the way, to get a straight line each and everytime I was walking down a narrow path and I walked as slowly as I could. On the N64 version I could run everywhere without any problems, but this time around I had to be extra careful as the D-Pad doesn't give the same precision. You also have to hold down the run button in order to run and it can become a little bit annoying.

And now, what you've probably all been waiting for! Does this game look as good as it's predecessor or if the DS sucks? You probably all know the answer to this, but I'm gonna tell you one more time! The environments are a lot more detailed than they used to, and by that I mean that there is a lot more geometry and everything looks less cubic then before. There are a few elements added here and there to fill empty spots in the game and the game never slows down while I thought there were huge slowdown problems found in Mario 64. The DS really seems like it's better than the N64 as it can push more polygons and keep a more stable framerate. The only drawkback are the textures. The DS doesn't have any texture filtering, resulting in Playstation pixelated textures which don't always look good. Sometimes since the view is far from you you won't notice them, but the pixels on some of those textures are really big. It doesn't really make the game ugly, in fact you will get used to it really quickly, but the textures don't look as nice as on the N64. Some colors were also changed for some reason and it doesn't look as colorful or cartoony as the N64 version which is something I really liked about it. Still, this game looks amazing even by today's standards and is one of the most graphically impressive games on the DS.

The music and sound effects are nearly all intact. Some were changed and don't sound as good as they used to, but I think it's all because the N64 had a better soundchip. Most of the music is ok though, but the sound effects sound heavily compressed for some reason. I'm not saying the game sounds bad, but it's a little bit dissapointing. The tunes are still as catchy as ever as they've been playing in my head ever since Mario 64 was released in 1996.

Something new to this version of the game is a multiplayer mode. In it, you'll be playng with up to 3 friends and you have to run around catching stars. The goal is to get as many stars as you can but your friends can punch and make you lose stars to then steal them from you. It's not the biggest multiplayer mode I've seen in a game but it's fun while it lasts.

So, the big question is: should you buy it? If you can't get enough of Mario then go ahead and buy it right now. It offers more than what was found in the original and will last you for some time. Those who've never played the game should also get it as they're really missing on something. If you're tired of Mario 64 though then you might want to wait for the New Super Mario Bros as Mario DS is essentially the same game with a few added extras. They're good extras, but for some they might not be worth the 40$ price of admission. I've had a great time with it, and I hope we'll see more extended ports like this one on the DS.

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