Game: Super Mario 64 DS
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Nintendo EAD
System: Nintendo DS (NDS)
Total Score: 86/100
Value Score: 8.6/10
• Story: 7/10
o Super Mario 64 DS' storyline is almost exactly the same as the N64 version's except one can see it as a alternate reality that involves Yoshi, Luigi and Wario or a sequel that literally lives up to the saying "History Repeats Itself". Mario, Luigi and Wario were invited to Princess Peach's castle for a taste of cake that she was baking. After a while Lakitu finds a Sleeping Yoshi in the front yard of the castle and wakes him up in hopes of him finding the Mario brothers and Wario since they've been gone for a while. You pretty much play as Yoshi who goes on a journey to find his friends and to help Mario to save Peach from Bowser who seem to have taken over Peach's castle yet again.
• Characters: 8/10
o Super Mario 64 consists of several nostalgic characters from the Super Mario 64 game however features close to none in terms of new characters with the exceptions being Yoshi (who is now playable), Luigi and Wario. Other than that you have several enemies from Super Mario 64 and previous Mario games such as Goombas and Koopa troopas. You have Toads, Peach and Bowser of course.
• GamePlay: 7/10
o Super Mario 64's control scheme seems to be similar to Super Mario 64 at first sight however due to the lack of analog stick and the shoddy D-pad of the Nintendo DS that is offered you will have more than likely frustrating moments when controlling your characters. Sometimes the pinpoint of going a particular direction doesnt work all the time and you might end up going off a bit. It is so painful you might end up with a aching thumb at times just trying to carefully navigate through the worlds. Other than that the gameplay seems to have kept at least 85% of the original game's content with a few changes here and there to match up with the multiple characters. Mario no longer has access to all the abilities that were offered to him in the original game, instead the powers are divided in between the characters along with a few new additions. Mario now dons the Winged Hat, Luigi can turn invisible with his power up, Yoshi gains wings and shoot fire balls while Wario turns into Metal Wario. You will need to play specific characters in order to get access to various power stars in the game or to get across to a certain point in the game. There are hats which appear in numerous places or on enemies that you can don and become a character temporarily but lose upon touch. The map feature on the bottom screen however is a nice touch but you probably wont even notice that good add-on after playing it with the bad d-pad configuration. A alternative to the d-pad control is the touch screen but even that is a bad option on its own especially for a game such as this.
• Graphics: 9/10
o Super Mario 64 DS' graphics have heavily improved over the original. No longer are the character models blocky or pixelated at points. The game literally looks brilliant with the redesign - keeping the original colors but stabilizing the models have made the imaging in the game quite more attractive than in the first game. The animations have improved as well and the frame rate is quite decent with absolutely no slowdowns at all.
• Sound: 10/10
o Super Mario 64 DS uses a improved sound mechanism to the original. With a better bit rate the sounds make a better clearer and appealing effect to those who love hearing nostalgic sound effects. The addition of voices make the characters more appealing as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Wario each make few comments or their signature quotes. Like the graphics the sound effects have vastly improved due to improvement of technologies.
• Music: 10/10
o The music is exactly the same as the first game but like the sound the bitrate feels less of a midi and more higher quality.
• Length: 8/10
o One might think the game is longer due to the fact you have the addition of new characters but the length is pretty much the same. There are no additional new worlds added to the game from the original and the only new area that has been added is the Princess' room which consist the hallway to change characters and the mini game options.
• Replay Value: 10/10
o Super Mario 64 DS offers a lot of various replay options. You have the option to play multiple save files, play the worlds with different characters as some power stars can be obtained by different methods and ways. But what possibly is the greatest aspect of the replay value in the game is the mini games. There are several rabbits in the game similar to the one rabbit you had to chase in the original. Upon catching these rabbits you gain access to different mini games which you can play that offers different styles of gameplays as if you are playing Mario Party. There are over 30 mini games in the game all of which have various genres to them.
• Player Value: 7/10
o Super Mario 64 DS is a decent addition to what seems like a system that has a less appealing platformer roster compared to other Nintendo systems. If you are new to the series or new to Mario 64 this is a great game to start on. It includes pretty much the original game but you get so much more such as the multiple types of gameplay with the different characters, mini games and improved visuals and sounds. If you are a veteran Mario fan and a old player of the first game you will enjoy this game but you might find the controls a bit too clunky compared to the original game. Despite its short comings to a veteran player, this game is still recommended as it is still enjoyable.