Thoughts on Super Mario 64 DS

[gtmtnbiker]

I've been playing Super Mario 64 DS for almost 2 months. Wow, what a great game. I had briefly played Super Mario 64 before but never got into it. For me, this was one of the games that I felt really satisfied at getting my money's worth by far.

In the beginning, I fought a little bit with the controls...trying to figure out the best way to use it. At first, I was using the stylus in my right hand and switching hands as needed. Then I tried using the d-pad for a bit but then finally settled into using my left hand (I'm a righty) for stylus control. It was slightly awkward in the beginning but then I got pretty comfortable.

I thought it was very clever to have 15 different worlds and 8 different missions for each world. Collecting 100 coins was probably my least favorite way to get a star. For some of the worlds, it was tough to get them without dying. Rainbow Ride was extremely tough.

I think my favorite world was Tiny-Huge land. I liked how you had to be small to get some stars and then big to get the others. The game gave me the mindset of trying over and over to get better. There were times I would play for 15-30 minutes to geta star and then try again the next day if I got frustrated.

Shifting Sands land was another favorite. My least favorite was probably Rainbow Ride but it was still pretty decent but hard.

I haven't finished the game yet. I have about 141 stars (got all of the regular, non-secret stars) and have 2-3 more secret stars to complete. Then I have to hunt around for the remaining secret stars that I didn't find yet.

I liked how you needed to use a specific character to get some of the stars. It was also fun switching between them as needed. My favorite was probably Luigi because of his jumping ability. I also liked using Yoshi.

All in all, it was an awesome game. I will have to try the N64 version one day as well as do the sequels (Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxies).

[alienjesus]

There were a few problems with this game - the primary one being the controls. Personally, I couldnt get the hang of using the stylus controls (with the thumbpad or with the stylus), and the dpad controls just dont feel accurate enough. The other issue I had is that playing as anyone but yoshi was normally a waste of time. Luigi was easily and obviously the best character, but yoshi was the only one who could transform into all 3 other guys - which saved a lot of time having to quit a level and go and swap guys.

On the other hand, the game itself, Mario 64 is pretty great. My personal favourite worlds are wetdry world, Dire Dire Docks and Tick Tock Clock (especially tick tock clock). My least favourite worlds in the DS version is rainbow ride (because i kept feeling like I was dying ue to the controls), but on the original mario 64, I found Shifting sand land, tiny hude island (lol, your favourite ones) and tall tall mountain a bit of a pain.

I dont think mario 64 is the best game ever, or the best mario game, or even the best 3d mario (actually, i think sunshine is, lol, controversy), mostly due to the camera, which hasnt dated well. But the game is a ton of fun, and really showed the world what 3d gamign could be. Before everything became an FPS at least ( ).

[Ziggy]

All in all, it was an awesome game. I will have to try the N64 version one day as well as do the sequels (Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxies).

I didn't play the DS version, but it's one of my favorites for the N64. If you enjoyed the core gameplay then you should definitely check out Sunshine and the Galaxies.

[l0whit07]

I too am playing this right now. I've been playing it for about a week, on and off. I am getting very frustrated with it, and I never play it for longer than 30 minutes at a time.

Super Mario 64 is my all-time favorite game and this game is really getting to me. The controls..... are awful imo. I haven't tried the stylus option much, but the Dpad is horrible. I can't stand playing as Yoshi. He is so damn slow. I probably would have preferred this just to be a port, and maybe adding a few things here or there. I don't like playing Super Mario and not being able to be Mario the entire time.

Sorry for that rant. I'm trying very hard to be positive about this game, and I've given it plenty of time, but it is killing me. I think it would all be much better with a giant joystick on my ds .

[ChimairaGT]

I had it when I got my launch DS, and I sold that game pretty fast. The controls were just too frustrating. The stylus controls were never comfortable enough, and the D-pad lacked the precision you need. Mario 64 is such a good game, though, so I wouldn't feel too bad if they put this on the 3DS ala Zelda: OOT just so that I can have a portable version with an analog stick

[gtmtnbiker]

I can understand the controls being frustrating at time. For me, holding the stylus in my left hand with my right hand holding the DS and buttons was the best. I definitely had to practice to getting the left hand to be precise. It helps that I've been using the mouse in my left hand for a long time that it's natural to me. When I play pool and have to use a bridge, I will avoid using a bridge by switching to my left side. Practice does make perfect.

One thing I found odd about the game was how it never saved your lives. That is, you always started out with 4 lives whether you saved the game with 1 or 30 lives. In the beginning, I was bothered by this but as I got good, I didn't care because I could easily find the 3 mushrooms in each level to get more lives if needed. Plus, if you found the mega mushroom, you can often run into stuff and start getting more lives after hitting 7 objects.

I also had trouble controlling winged mario. It took me multiple times to get the 8 red coins in that secret castle tower level. I realized that I didn't have to fly up and down and instead, could fly relatively flat to get the coins. It was frustrating to get them all in one shot because if you missed, you had no way of getting back up to that height.

Metal Wario was pretty cool because he couldn't get hurt by any enemies. I also liked how his punch had more of an impact on the Bullies.

[Betamax001]

I played SM64DS more than the original version. The original by far has the best controls, but I guess when I first played SM64DS I haven't played the original so I guess I didn't think the DPad was that awful. I think I might pick this game up again, until I get a Xbox 360 controller to play it on my laptop.

[anth0ny]

The game felt forced to me on the DS, but that's probably because I played the hell out of it on the N64. To each his own.

[l0whit07]

One thing I found odd about the game was how it never saved your lives. That is, you always started out with 4 lives whether you saved the game with 1 or 30 lives. In the beginning, I was bothered by this but as I got good, I didn't care because I could easily find the 3 mushrooms in each level to get more lives if needed. Plus, if you found the mega mushroom, you can often run into stuff and start getting more lives after hitting 7 objects.

Yeah the not saving your lives was how it was in the original as well. You'd always start with 4 lives no matter if you got Yoshi to give you 100 lives and instantly saved and quit. You'd still come back to 4 lives .

I'm really glad to hear you are enjoying/enjoyed SM64 DS, but you have got to go back and play the original . The controls are perfect! The game is perfect!

[Pabstblueribbon]

the controls drove me absolutely nuts so i gave up on this after a few hours. it seemed really good, and im a huge fan of the original on the N64, but i couldn't do the controls. I wish there was a way to play this with a controller.