Super Mario 64 DS

"Not the best platformer in the world, but still great."

I was hyped about the DS ever since I first heard about it from my favorite game critic, Game Informer Magazine. At the time, all the information that was released was that it had two screens and it would not use disc media. When I learned about the lackluster launch library several months later, I still wanted it and decided to get Super Mario 64 DS. I never played the original Super Mario 64 on Nintendo 64, so this would have been a fresh new experience for me.

Super Mario 64 DS is more than a port. It's a whole new remake that is made to make use of all of DS' cool features except the microphone. These features include the touch screen, the dual screens, and wireless multiplayer.

Super Mario 64 DS has three main modes: Multiplayer mode, Rec. Room mode, and Adventure mode. First, we will talk about the adventure mode.

Do you remember playing Super Mario 64 on Nintendo 64? I would not since I have never played it, so I am only going to judge the DS version. Basically, you run around Peach's castle hopping into paintings that take you to other worlds and trying to collect stars called "power stars" by completing certain puzzles, challenges, boss fights, etc. My personal favorite is the one in Bomb-omb's Battlefield where I have to collect five silver stars to make the golden star appear.

In adventure mode, the top screen is your main game play screen while the bottom screen provides an overall map of the area and a way of rotating the camera. This is something I hear was absent in the original Super Mario 64, but wasn't needed because the camera adjusted on its own so well that the game was hailed as "the best camera angles in the 3D world, period." Super Mario 64 DS also has great camera angles, but you also have the option of rotating them manually using arrows on the touch screen.

There are three different control modes in this game. In the default control mode, the D-pad is used for moving you're character, while pressing the Y button can make you run. The X buttons zooms the camera in and out, the B button jumps, and the A button is your interactivity button. The L button centers the camera behind your character, and the R button crouches.

In the touch screen control, you can move your character by using the thumb strap that comes with the DS to move your thumb around the touch screen as a "virtual analog stick" of sorts. The Y and X buttons rotate the camera and an icon on the touch screen is for zooming the camera in and out. Other than that, this control option much like the default. The virtual analog stick is supposed to solve the fact that the DS does not have an analog stick, which was what made the original Mario 64 famous. However, this control type is rather awkward, and you will soon learn that as jerky as the D-pad control is, it is far superior to the touch screen control.

The "dual hand" mode, as they call it, features a combination of the two other control options. You can use your choice of the D-pad or the touch screen, and there are icons for rotating the camera and zooming the camera in and out. The X button serves no purpose in this control mode; other than that, it functions identically to the D-pad control mode.

There are more additions to this game than just an option in how you control the game. You can now play as Yoshi, Luigi, and the tubby man Wario. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses. Yoshi, the first one you play as, can swallow enemies whole and shoot eggs that he makes out of them at other enemies, killing two enemies in one shot. He also has his hover jump, so he can get some hight if you hold down the B button. On the downside, Yoshi cannot complete certain missions like the "Little Penguin Lost" mission because he eats the items instead of carrying them.

Mario is an evenly balanced character. His three stats (strength, agility, and endurance) are all at two out of three. So therefore, while he is not weak in any category, he is not strong in any category either.

Luigi is the third character you'll unlock. He is the most agile of the four characters. He can get the most hight when jumping, and also has his helicopter jump for traveling across short gaps.On the negative side, he is a little on teh weak side and can't break blocks as well.

Wario, the last one available in the game, is the strongest of all the characters. He can often break huge, strong blocks with one punch, and can deal the most damage to an enemy of any of the characters who punch instead of eat. Of course, he is incredibly slow and can't jump very high, making it hard to get away from tougher enemies.

This takes us to the recreation room. This is where you can play the minigames that have been added to make good use of the touch screen. There are eight available from the beginning--two for each character--, and thirty-six total. Each character has a special theme to their minigames. Yoshi's minigames are kind of like "touch the correct object to advance" game like find the face ina crowd and musical memory match. THe only exception to this theme is Hide and Boo Seek, where a bunch of boos hide in the dark and you have to rub the screen to make light so you can find them. Be warned, though. One of his minigames isn't a game at all. It's called Loves Me; Loves Me Not. It is not a game because there is no gameplay. All you're doing is picking petals off a flower and HOPING that you end up with "Loves me!" on the screen at the end. It's all luck. Don't play that minigame.

Mario's minigames are more puzzle-oriented. My personal favorite Mario minigame is Mario Slides, where Mario is falling down vertical lines and you have to draw horizontal lines connecting the vertical ones in order to lead Mario to the star. My second favorite is Connect the bodies, which is like Mario slides, only you have to lead the heads to the right bodies and not just the star.

Luigi's minigames are similar to Yoshi's minigames, as they are "touch the right object to advance," themed, but Luigi's have an extra theme: Casino. Luigi is the card dealer at a casino and he deals you out some cards for you to pick. My favorite one is the one where you touch identical cards that are side by side to make them go away so that you're left with no cards when Luigi is done dealing. I've never beaten a single round before, but I still like it.

Wario's minigames are more intense and action-based. My favorite Wario game is Bomb-omb Squad, where bomb-ombs are parachuting down from the sky trying to mess up your flower garden. You are prepared, though, and you have a slingshot that you cock back with the stylus and fire at the oncoming bomb-ombs. Once the bomb-ombs have destroyed all four of your flowers, the game is over and your scores are tallied to see if you made high score.

Last but not least is the wireless multiplayer. This mode is merely an afterthought. You play as a character of your choice and you have to run around an area collecting as many stars as you can. If you are scared that your opponent has more stars than you, you can run up to him and knock it out of him or, if your Yoshi, you can take it from him with your tongue. Yoshi is the one I like to be because he can instantly take a star from an opponent without having to go fetch it because I only knocked it out. This all sounds good in theory, but at the end of the day, the multiplayer is just not very fun. Also, wi-fi compatibility would be nice.

The story is only paper thin, but you do not need a deep plot in order to appreciate what is being put into Super Mario 64 DS. Peach has sent a letter to Mario asking him to come to the castle for cake. This time, however, he brings Luigi and Wario. When they get there, they are locked in rooms. Yoshi is sleeping on the top of the castle, and Lakitu comes along and tells Yoshi that he is the only one who can stop Bowser now. Like I said, the story isn't all that and a bag of potato chips, but it works. At least there is a story period unlike in all the Mario platformers that came before it like Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World.

Super Mario 64 DS looks better than the Nintendo 64 screenshots I have seen on the internet. It loks a lot cleaner and a lot less choppy. However, this game doesn't live up to the DS' graphical potential. I've noticed a black line around the characters that make them look like sprites, and at the end of the day, it just doesn't look as great as the other games on the DS like Asphalt Urban GT and Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt.

The sound, however, is phenomenal. You can choose between stereo sound, headphone sound, or virtual surround sound. The addition of virtual surround sound on the DS hardware is a perfect compliment to the LCD screens. I would even go as far as to say that the DS is a high-defenition system. The background music is bang on with the mood, and the sound effects are timely and fun to listen too. Sometimes I just want to jump just to hear the sounds that Mario makes like "Woo-hoohooooooooooooo!"

The multiplayer is okay, and the Adventure mode is fun, but the real fun in this game is in the minigames. That's right, folks! Not even the world famous Super Mario 64 adventure can measure up to the higly addictive minigames. That is, of course, if you know what minigames to play. I've listed my favorites, so those are the ones I recommend trying out first. The adventure mode is only good while it lasts and the multiplayer mode is only an afterthought, but the minigames will keep you entertained for months.

I rate Super Mario 64 DS like this:

GRAPHICS: 6/10 (10%): The graphics are okay, but they don't live up to the DS' potential.
SOUND: 10/10 (10%): Virtual surround sound! Need I say more?
GAMEPLAY: 8/10 (20%): Awkward controls and a sup-par mulitplayer mode brings this score down to an eight.
LIFESPAN: 10/10 (20%): The minigames alone give this score a ten.
FUN FACTOR: 8/10 (40%): Sub-par multiplayer and a mediocre adventure mode, but the minigames are highly addictive.

OVERALL: 8.2/10 which rounds to 8/10: I recommend this game solely for the minigames. Get it.

RENT OR BUY: I would recommend renting this game first, simply because you might disagree with me. If you find it used at Gamestop, you can go ahead and buy it because you can always take a used game back to Gamestop if you don't like it.

That's my review! Chow!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/05