Super Mario 64 DS

The Good
Well, it's a Mario game so there's lots of things to like here. First of all please note that Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 was one of the greatest and most notable games ever since it introduced us to the 3D platform genre. This game is the same but has much more to offer than the original, making it fun for veterans, too. You can now play as one of four characters: Yoshi, Mario, Luigi and even Wario, each with unique powers. This was one of the few flaws of the original. The story has been altered because of that. Now you start with Yoshi: Mario is invited to eat cake at princess Peach Toadstool's castle. Luigi and Wario join him. Yoshi, who was sleeping on the roof of the castle learns that they have been locked up by Bowser, who kidnapped Peach and stole the power stars from the castle. Now Yoshi must release the others and together they must retrieve the power stars and finish of with Bowser a few times along the way and finally save Peach. The graphics are better than the original since there's a lot more polygon's. Mario looks much, much better. Textures are a bit inferior to the N64 version, but overall this version is better on the graphics area. The gameplay is OK and you can steer with both the touch screen and the directional pad in different gameplay modes. Not all of them work well and none of them work as well as the joystick of the N64, but it's good gameplay nonetheless. The sound is great in the DS surround sound and you'll recognize some tunes from earlier games in the series, the same goes for the sound effects. The little shrieks of the characters are a bit worse but that's not much of a problem. This version is bigger because there are new areas, they are not very as spectacular as the original levels but it's a nice touch. There are 30 new stars to collect bringing the total up to 150. There are a lot of fun stylus mini-games that can be unlocked too, which are really worth the look. As mentioned before there are three more playable characters which are all needed to collect all stars. Al these new extra's make the longevity of this game a lot bigger. For the rest it's basically the same, which is a good thing because Super Mario 64 was such a brilliant game. The level design is great as always, just perfect. Another cool new feature is a map on the lower screen showing items.

The Bad
As mentioned before, some sounds don't sound very well and some textures are not so good on the small screen as on the TV screen. Gameplay is good, but not as good as on the N64 analog stick, either.

The Bottom Line
A great remake of a classic that is one of the few in a long line Nintendo remakes that manages to please both veterans and newbies. This is just the Mario game that is required in your collection for the DS, as with all Nintendo's systems. Buy it with a DS!