The classic game, now with a bunch of surprises.
SM64DS is a solid game, overall. The graphics are great, the music is great, the original game is pretty much intact. They've added some new stars to collect. There's a whole bunch of minigames to choose from, and they range from incredibly lame to incredibly addictive.
Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that I can't rave about. First off, there's the controls. YUCK! Without the joystick, the controls feel very strange and imprecise. There's even a dash button because you can't use the directional buttons to run! Most times, you know what you want to do and the controls often react awkwardly enough that you might end up doing something else. I've been playing the game for a while now, and I still can't get used to the controls. They essentially hamper my nostalgic gaming experience. The second thing I don't like is the inclusion of Wario as a playable character. He is the anti-Mario! Why the heck is he in a Mario game? No matter how much I try to get over it, I just can't. Wario should not be in this game. It just feels wrong.
In the end, if you can get used to awkward controls, you'll probably love this game.