The game which revolutionized gaming in the 90's is back and better! Only considering renting this should be punishable.
The remake of Mario 64 keeps to the original version almost exactly. Mario keeps his same set of moves as he runs, jumps, spins and leaps through fantastic looking environments. Yet this version of the game has much more to it than the original, despite being on a cartridge 10 times smaller.
The story begins as Super Mario launches out of a pipe along with his brother Luigi and old rival Wario. Princess Toadstool has baked a cake and Mario has come to eat it. As Mario enters the castle, party crashers Luigi and Wario follow pursuit.
A green huddle of scales lies asleep when suddenly awoken by a Lakitu. The Lakitu explains to the now awakened Yoshi that Mario and company haven't come out the castle for ages and thus suggests that Yoshi should go and investigate, and so the adventure begins.
Thus, you start out in Super Mario 64 DS as Yoshi, opposed to the original N64 version where the player started as Mario. It is your job to find the other characters, search through the castle and defeat the evil power locked away.
As the story progresses, Mario will become available, as will other characters. Once you enter the castle you will have to find the hidden portals to levels to jump in to save a magic Starman stolen by the enemy. The main objective is to gather enough Starmen to open various doors and complete the game, but don't think that this is a boring collect 'em up. The Powerstars only become available once an objective is complete. In the first world for example, you will race a Koopa trooper and defeat enemies. Once you finish the objective the star will become available for collecting. You then have to touch the star to progress.
Super Mario 64 DS consists of around 17 levels altogether, with 7 Stars per world (with a few exceptions). There are 150 Stars in all (20 more than the original- definitely enough to warrant a purchase) and the game will take about 20 - 30 hours to complete, which means quite a few DS recharges.
There are varying objectives. Some missions require that you destroy a boss while others have you collecting coins, or racing other characters. There's a lot of variety and the game gives you a lot of freedom to complete your objectives.
There are also rabbits to catch, which are scattered around the games environments. If you catch a rabbit it'll drop a key for you to be used in the new 'Mini game Room'. The mini games all take advantage of the DS's touch screen and require the stylus. There are loads of mini games to collect and you'll definitely keep coming back to them to beat previous high scores, because they're really fun to play, and very addictive. There are also more worlds and hidden paths and secret extras to find which the original didn't have.
The games graphics aren't shabby either. Beautiful worlds full of wildlife such as Goomba's, Koopa's and the odd butterfly or two... The graphics have had a major overhaul- the animations are superb and the worlds all look vibrant. the backgrounds blur a little bit when running at top speed and far away things look a bit pixelated, but the draw distance is great, and there's nothing to really worry about.
The sound is improved too, and Nintendo has replaced many of the original out of place sounds with the more familiar ones, an example being the 'Bopop!' when you jump on Goomba's and other creatures. The tunes themselves are still the same as the originals, and the game takes advantage of the DS's stereo sound. The game allows you to switch to 'Headphone', 'Stereo' or 'Surround' too, so you can have an even greater depth of sound. On the Surround option however, battery is drained slightly quicker. The sound can unfortunately become a bit tinny when turned down on the original Nintendo DS, which is a bit of a downer. So don't send your copy back thinking it's broken.
The controls are great, but could use tweaking. The D-pad controls are near perfect, and are precise and easy to use on the original DS. The stylus and thumb strap can be used in the same way as an analogue control (like the original version) on the bottom screen, however this makes the game harder, as it is less precise and your thumb can easily stray off onto the edge of the bottom screens boundaries. The controls can also be set to accommodate left or right handed users.
Overall the game is simply brilliant. The detail in the game and the look of Mario and the others as they spin, jump and punch is astounding for the DS, and hasn't been beaten by any other game since its original launch. The extras are worth the money alone and you can't buy a better 3D platformer game for DS. The are tonnes of secrets, tones of surprising moments... This is a must have DS game.
TQ_NintyNoE