Twitch
08-03-2006, 05:51 PM
Super Mario 64 DS is one of the many games that I have seen ported to the DS that has become better than original through the usage of the features the DS provides such as the touch and dual screens which have been used innovativly to provide an excellent gaming exprience and a brilliant spin on a classic 64 bit game. They do this by adding extra characters as well with Luigi, Yoshi, and Wario each with their own talents and abilities.
The game starts off like this, Mario recives a letter from the princess asking him to come to the castle and that she has baked a cake for him. Now who can resist the lure of cake I know I can't and neither can Mario it seems as he takes the warp pipe to the princess's castle.
Upon arrival he is realises that he has been followed by Luigi and Wario so together with the gate crashers they go into to the castle, completely unaware of the disaster about to befall them or that Yoshi was peacefully asleep in the garden when they entered.
Quite some time later Yoshi is awoken by one of the Lakito Bros. in charge of the camera work, he tells Yoshi that the Mario Bros. and Wario entered the castle a while ago and still havent returned, and so begins the adventure it is now up to Yoshi to rescue everyone and defeat the Evil Lord Bowser.
The gist of it is that in order to access each world you need the number of power stars on the door leading to that world you can collect power stars by completing the missions you will recive upon entering each world there are six ordinary stars in each world and one special one for collecting 100 coins. There are also stars hidden throughout the castle (Toad has Two of them) that you can find and only when you have all 150. This will open the grate to the cannon outside the castle and allow you to reach the top of the castle. Readers, I don't know what's up there, in the N64 version it was Yoshi and he gave you 99 lives. But at the moment, I have no clue.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are the same 64-bit sprites featured within the original game so they are not cutting edge in any way but, do you really need photo-realism in a game when it has great playablity and features? This writer doesn't think so and neither should you.
SOUND & MUSIC
The sound and music within the game is pretty basic hence the low rating for it. The game features voice work for Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi, and Princess Peach, is pretty basic with just voicing for attacking, falling and the like. The Soundtrack to the game is still the same as the original and at times you'll notice that many of the level tracks are remakes of those of the previous games in the series.
MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer mode in the game is a versus mode that allows for up to four players to battle it out to grab power stars. I can't really give much more info on it as I haven't had the chance to play it.
CONTROLS/PLAYABILITY
The game is pretty awsome in that Nintendo has completely re-engineered the control system when they took it to the DS, now I know many of you are thinking it'll be shit to control a game that used the analog stick for movement through a D-PAD but that's where a little old fashioned Nintendo ingenuity comes in. Nintendo have created a system where by you can used the touch screen to move you character thoughout the would and use the ABXY and D-PAD to perform all of the stock actions such as running, jumping, attacking etc. This conrtol system can be disabled, and the D-PAD can be used in conjuction with the ABXY buttons for the game. The game has also been made longer than the original with an extra 30 power stars to collect and in oder to collect all 150 you'll need to play as every character.
PROBLEMS
I didn't have any real problems with the game my only problem is the size of the ABXY buttons but that's a personal issue.
CONCLUSION
An extremely good game and fun for all ages. One of the better re-hashes of a good game. If I could give it a star rating it'd get four and a half but I can't so it's 74%.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next review
-Twitch
The game starts off like this, Mario recives a letter from the princess asking him to come to the castle and that she has baked a cake for him. Now who can resist the lure of cake I know I can't and neither can Mario it seems as he takes the warp pipe to the princess's castle.
Upon arrival he is realises that he has been followed by Luigi and Wario so together with the gate crashers they go into to the castle, completely unaware of the disaster about to befall them or that Yoshi was peacefully asleep in the garden when they entered.
Quite some time later Yoshi is awoken by one of the Lakito Bros. in charge of the camera work, he tells Yoshi that the Mario Bros. and Wario entered the castle a while ago and still havent returned, and so begins the adventure it is now up to Yoshi to rescue everyone and defeat the Evil Lord Bowser.
The gist of it is that in order to access each world you need the number of power stars on the door leading to that world you can collect power stars by completing the missions you will recive upon entering each world there are six ordinary stars in each world and one special one for collecting 100 coins. There are also stars hidden throughout the castle (Toad has Two of them) that you can find and only when you have all 150. This will open the grate to the cannon outside the castle and allow you to reach the top of the castle. Readers, I don't know what's up there, in the N64 version it was Yoshi and he gave you 99 lives. But at the moment, I have no clue.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are the same 64-bit sprites featured within the original game so they are not cutting edge in any way but, do you really need photo-realism in a game when it has great playablity and features? This writer doesn't think so and neither should you.
SOUND & MUSIC
The sound and music within the game is pretty basic hence the low rating for it. The game features voice work for Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi, and Princess Peach, is pretty basic with just voicing for attacking, falling and the like. The Soundtrack to the game is still the same as the original and at times you'll notice that many of the level tracks are remakes of those of the previous games in the series.
MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer mode in the game is a versus mode that allows for up to four players to battle it out to grab power stars. I can't really give much more info on it as I haven't had the chance to play it.
CONTROLS/PLAYABILITY
The game is pretty awsome in that Nintendo has completely re-engineered the control system when they took it to the DS, now I know many of you are thinking it'll be shit to control a game that used the analog stick for movement through a D-PAD but that's where a little old fashioned Nintendo ingenuity comes in. Nintendo have created a system where by you can used the touch screen to move you character thoughout the would and use the ABXY and D-PAD to perform all of the stock actions such as running, jumping, attacking etc. This conrtol system can be disabled, and the D-PAD can be used in conjuction with the ABXY buttons for the game. The game has also been made longer than the original with an extra 30 power stars to collect and in oder to collect all 150 you'll need to play as every character.
PROBLEMS
I didn't have any real problems with the game my only problem is the size of the ABXY buttons but that's a personal issue.
CONCLUSION
An extremely good game and fun for all ages. One of the better re-hashes of a good game. If I could give it a star rating it'd get four and a half but I can't so it's 74%.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next review
-Twitch