Super Mario 64 DS Review

'The best launch game for ANY handheld EVER!'

Everyone is going retro crazy. Re-releases of 20-year-old games are popping up all over the place. But why bother looking a block and ball bounce aimlessly across a screen when what is considered to be the most revolutionary game is coming to handheld! In full colour, in full 3D! Super Mario 64 is back to reclaim it's thrown; it's the type of gameplay that the DS craves to see more of.

Get this into your head. By 3D, I do not mean a crappy isometric perspective. I mean real 3D. This game is miles away from its Gameboy brothers, and it's miles away from Super Mario Sunshine. No longer do you have to hover to get onto a ledge, the original run and jump formula is back. The days of enduring painfully blocky N64 graphics, just to play one of the best games of all time is over.

This is essentially the original N64 game. But this time, you have to rescue Mario, Luigi and Wario in order to use them. This is where the cleverness and new innovation comes in. You start as Yoshi and you battle your way through LOADS of different levels. When you have enough stars you can then go and kick Bowser's fiery butt. There are NO restrictions what so ever. You can complete levels, explore and collect stars in any order you like. When you have enough stars, a new level will open. But that doesn’t mean you have to go there. You can stay in that level and get even more stars. There are a whopping 34 new stars to collect, so even fans of the original will have something new to do.

4 Characters means a barrage of special moves. New power-ups like Mario who can float and Wario who can go under water while metal only add to the genius of the gameplay. At the start, Yoshi can transform into one of the other characters by finding their cap. But if he gets hit, he transforms back. Specific Stars require specific characters. You'll have to figure out who to use for a certain puzzle and how their moves will help you. It's so ingenious, even some older people will get stuck. But that doesn’t suck the enjoyment out of it, because it has the right balance of simple to difficult, meaning that any player can finish the game, but the masters will want EVERY single star, EVERY single coin.

Super Mario 64 is constantly being praised for its variation. 154 stars sounds like an endless collect-a-thon challenge. But the way you get the stars is extremely good. That is what made this game popular, and so many others, particularly Rareware's games. The only collecting you'll be doing is the occasional red-coin challenge. But even the way the coins are laid out isn't linear and requires concentration. When you battle the Stone Slab, you've beaten him and you DON'T need to do it again. Unlike in other games where the scenario would be 1000 Stone Slabs that you need to kill that re-appear after 3 seconds. Baddie-respawning is crap! Nobody likes it. Anyway. After beating the Stone Slab, the next thing you need to do is climb to the top of the lighthouse to get a star. You won't be climbing again, instead, a bird will appear asking you for a lift. It's varied 100% of the time. Tasks never repeat themselves, that's why the gameplay is so addictive. At times you'll be hitting yourself in frustration, at others, you'll be laughing at the game for being easy.

The controls of course, had to be carefully mapped to the Nintendo DS. The reason that was hard. It was designed to be the first 360-degree game. The D-pad provides you with 8 of those 360 degrees, but what about the other 352. Luckily, as well as being a map, the bottom screen also acts as an analogue control. However, the analogue shifts and turns every time you use it, turning that into an unpleasant experience. But 8 angles should do just fine and as long as it isn't a disgraceful isometric view, the control system will do good enough.

The DS is capable of doing more than just feeble GBA and N64 ports. The DS is actually more powerful than an N64 and while not achieving the same graphical standard as the Gamecube or even the PSP; it does come pretty close at times. It looks a lot sharper then on the N64 and the rough edges (which are now history) have been abolished. The character animation is nice and smooth, while the textures aren't as blurry as before. We particularly like the new shading effects, they make the characters look more Gamecube like and less like they were in 1997. The new levels are challenging, but whoever did the graphics for them must have been a particularly bland person. The lack of controls on the DS is counter-acted by brilliant graphics, and the vibrant colours shining on the screen will almost make you forget the time when you were allowed freedom over camera angles.

From the time this starts, you will be humming the tunes away. The DSs' speakers will be blasting brilliant music at you and it really does sound good. It's rich and sounds a lot better than GBA. From Classic N64 tunes to brand new DS tunes, you will love the music all the way...

The best DS game out there at the moment. It would nice to see a Zelda game as good as this on the DS.

Best Bit:
Seeing Mario back in his prime. Controlling FLUDD was alright, but I think most people would be happier with this as it brings back the fast, challenging, run and jump style that people were craving.

Worst Bit:
Hideous Analogue Control (shortened to HAC). HAC is extremely bad, considering that it was the main reason people bought the game on the N64. HAC doesn’t belong in this game. HAC belongs in another game. HAC is something that needs to be abolished.

Graphics 97% 'Simply Super'
Cheer up. These aren't just N64 graphics miniaturized. These are brand new revolutionary graphics for a Nintendo handheld. The textures are colourful without being a blurry mess. The characters are modelled with detail without being as rough as shampoo with rocks in it and the backgrounds are vibrant without being blocky. It clearly excels in this department.

Sound/Music 95% 'Mario Style'
The music is PERFECTLY suited to this game. No other music score would fit. The music is as varied as the gameplay, and the length of each song ensures that there is 0 level of repetitiveness. Absolutely brilliant.

Gameplay 89% 'Ruined by HAC'
I've used this word about a million times in my review: VARIED. That's all I'm going to say...

Value 98% 'Fun times lie ahead'
It's like a restaurant where you get all the meals for free. You get the Main Course (the game), a Second Course (34 extra stars), a Dessert (3 new characters) and a free side dish (Over 30 new Mini-Games). It's packed!!!

Overall Score: 94.75%.

Verdict: You have loads to do. Loads to look at and loads to listen to...

What the game lacks:
It's pretty obvious. It lacks an analogue control. You'll just have to put up with HAC for the moment.

What could have made it better:
Not having HAC.

Dual Screen Use:
HAC.

What it is:
- Extremely good.
- Intuitive.
- Better than the N64 game.

What it isn't:
- A masterpiece.
- To be disliked.
- An analogue revolution.

This review was added on 16th March 2005 by nGaming user ProReviewer.