Super Mario 64 DS

"Great game, but sadly, bad control"

Ah, the first 3D Mario platformer, reborn. A classic. This game is thrilling and will keep you playing for days, even months just to get all 150 stars and all mini-games. It's got great graphics, good storyline and awesome characters. Plus, if you get bored with the main game, you can always play the mini-games or go 1on 1 with a friend in the multi-player mode. And if you're REALLY bored (which of course you probably shouldn't be) you can play with Mario's face with your stylus. Each character has his own special abilities for you to choose from. For example: Luigi is very fast and quick, but isn't quite that powerful while Wario is the complete opposite, he isn't that quick and doesn't jump very high, but he sure packs a powerful punch! Yoshi can stick his tongue out to grab enemies and then turn them into eggs to throw at other enemies! So if you're afraid of enemies that are about to kill you, you might want to choose Yoshi. Mario, of course, is even in all stats. Plus he's the only one that can wall kick.
The mini-games have many different challenges for you. From memorizing to drawing lines from place to place you will never get bored from these games. (unless you played the same one 100 times) My favorites are the trampoline mini-games. The multi-player is also fun but not quite as good as I expected it to be. It's not the type of multi-player where you could play 10 rounds and not get bored but this multi-player gets boring after 2 rounds! Basically what you have to do is get the star before the other person does. And whoever gets the most stars wins. Like it couldn't be any simpler.
The controls on the other hand are not that great. You may be thinking "Ah I can get used to the controls easily!" NO. This is different, the controls suck and I mean it. That's why I gave it a 7. Bad control can bring the grade for a video game down really fast. Now I will talk specifically about each score.

Gameplay: 10/10

Overall I thought the gameplay was actually quite good! You get to pick up bomb-ombs, stomp on Goombas, and best of all: swing Bowser around like an italian plumber should. For each of the 16 stages you get to search for 8 different stars, each with a different challenge and with a different difficulty. Some of the stars you have to come back later and get once you get a new character. From tossing the King Bomb-omb to his doom to flying for red coins, the challenges for each star is a heck of a lot different from the rest. In the castle, once you have a certain amount of stars, you will have access to more areas. And there are also stars INSIDE the castle as well! There are a total of 30 castle "secret" stars hidden in many areas. And once you beat Bowser on top of the castle, it's not over yet. You still have to get ALL 150 stars so you can be able to shoot yourself out of the cannon to the top of the castle! There are also other ways to get yourself to the top of the castle. (You just have to figure out how) Since Yoshi is a character that you can play with in the game, sadly he is not on top of the castle this time but on top of the castle is something different, and i cannot spoil it wat is on top. You will have to see for your self.....

Storyline: 8/10

The storyline is pretty good but not the best it could be. Here's how the story goes: Mario and his friends (Luigi, and Wario) get invited to Princess Toadstool's party at her castle. So they jump out of their pipes and head for the castle. Now Yoshi hasn't heard from them since, so he decides to search for them. What he finds out is that Bowser has kiddnapped Peach (again) and Mario and his pals as well and has trapped them in paintings! So now its up to Yoshi to rescue his pals, and once you have rescued his pals, they must then save Peach from the clutches of Bowser.
It's a basic storyline, not the greatest ever, but still pretty good. It's good enough to fit the game. After all, its the Goomba-stompin', bomb-omb throwing part that's fun. But you know what the bad thing about the storylines for each Mario game is that Peach always gets kidnapped and gets rescued by Mario and defeats Bowser. It's the same thing! (Well, almost) This time however, Bowser has trapped the power stars inside the castle paintings to make sure Mario doesn't get near him. So you have to get the power stars if you want to get closer to Bowser. So overall, I thought the storyline was pretty good.

Graphics: 10/10

As you know, when the DS came out, it has been remarkable for the graphics it can produce; N64 graphics, except slightly better. It's smoother, less glitchier than the first and better colors. I mean if you think about it, having N64 graphics on a hand-held? That's just plain incredible. That's why this deserves a 10. Bright colors lighten up the place. It's not foggy like earlier 3D games. And it's not blocky looking. (Unless you get up real close to the edge of a wall) Great graphics for this game. Keep it up Nintendo.

Controls: 5/10

This is why I gave this a 8/10...sadly because of the controls. The controls are really messed up in this game and take a LONG time to get used to. No matter which type of control you use (standard, semi, or stylus) they all suck. For standard, you have to hold down the Y button to run or else you will walk. For semi, it takes a long time to get used to moving your thumbpad to the right place. For stylus you cant really jump while using it. (unless you happened to be left-handed) With controls this bad, you will get so frusterated trying to jump over a cliff on the other side, only to fall down in-between it only because you couldn't go straight. The controls can get very frusterating at times and I really don't like them.

Replay value: 7/10

If you beat this game and get all 150 stars, sure you can erase your file and start anew but all that work that you put into getting those stars? Well, that's just not very smart. It is indeed fun starting a new file, but until you get all the stars, dont put all that hard work to waste. I reccomend that you replay this game only after you get all stars and minigames because then there really isn't anything else to do.

Should I buy this game?

Yes definetely! You will be missing out if you don't play this awesome game. Just make sure you don't have tantrums because the controls can get a little frusterating at times. Just beware of that. But buy this game! Buy buy BUY!

Conclusion: This game I will never forget. It is very fun to play it and even more fun to play the mini-games when you have nothing to do. The storyline and controls are mediocre but otherwise the graphics and gameplay are fantastic! Even if you aren't a Mario fan or even a Nintendo fan you should reccomend this game to your friends and buy it for yourself as well. This, of all the mediocre early releases is definetely the best.

Overall:7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05