Should Mario fans be starry eyed?
Back when I was 8, I was unable to stretch my �2 weekly pocket money out enough to afford a second home console that dared to step into the realms of 3D, and so had to stick it out with my Playstation. I have no regrets, I enjoyed the majestic gliding of Spyro, the manic whirling of Crash and the hard as nails side-scrolling Heart Of Darkness. It was a golden age in platforming and loved every minute of it, yet all my friends referred to me as ‘deprived’. They didn’t show any sympathy, though. They laughed, they guffawed and they declared me a loser for owning the lush masterpiece that was Super Mario 64. Now, over 10 years on, I’m able to follow a trend that has long since left me behind with pocket remake, Super Mario 64 DS.
Super Mario 64 DS follows gaming’s most desperate virgin Mario in yet another attempt to save Princess Peach for something like a hundredth time in the man’s plumbing career. This time, however, he isn’t alone. To join him in his quest are Chuckle Brother Luigi, egg farting Yoshi and Jeremy Beadle’s evil twin Wario.
The main objective of the whole game is simple. Jump into several paintings in order to be whisked off to different lands and gain cute stars to unlock further paintings and eventually win. 30 extra stars have been added to the re-make, making a huge 150 to collect, and manages to make a huge game even bigger. Collecting all of them doesn’t really add much to your penultimate reward, but does insure you get the most out of the game.
Looking around at the levels on offer, I couldn’t help but feel that they were slightly small, yet the 8 goals provided in each level manage to add a fair amount of complexity to them. All force you to dig deeper into the game and in the end, your rewards aren’t stars, but more in the self satisfaction of deciphering an environmental puzzle. Objectives persuade you to explore the areas without trying to make you collect pointless little titbits lying around. Early levels do simply feel like big green fields, however as the game progresses you’ll be forced to traverse obstacles in underwater cities and giant grandfather clocks in order to gain the final precious stars.
The extra three characters mainly come into play to gain the extra stars, yet prove to be valuable shortcuts in gaining the original ones. It manages to make quite a few of the previous challenges much simpler and deters from the exploration. The huge leaps and long glides of Luigi completely stole the spotlight from Mario, leaving him to sit on the sidelines for a majority of the game that took his name.
An admirable re-make that will draw in first time players and fond revellers of the past alike
Compared to the original, the character models in Super Mario 64 DS are well rendered and locations seem a lot more lush. The top screen is used predominantly for gameplay, whereas the touch screen displays a map of the level, showing locations of collectables and making use of the games touch screen capabilities. Controls can be configured into two types, the first using a traditional D-Pad layout and the other attempting to make use of the stylus. By touching a location on the map, Mario (or in my case Luigi) will move towards the area pointed at. In theory it sounds like a good concept, but provides much confusion and frustration when it comes to jumping and crushing enemies with your worrying weight problem and is ultimately too complex to feel teh benefits from.
Although exploration of the levels is fun, the camera can ruin said enjoyment. In wide open areas there’s never a problem, but in obstacle ridden levels which practically arouse doom, the camera often takes the form of a daddy long legs mindlessly head butting a wall in sexual frustration. I don’t need to illustrate how annoying this is when surrounded by lava or spikes or pits filled with nothing but cold hard DEATH, needless to say it’s a huge hindrance.
Although gently bashing the touch screen controls with a marshmallow spear earlier on, they do come into their own when it comes to the minigames. Around the hub-level of Princess Peach’s castle are 8 rabbits for each character. Upon capture, each rabbit unlocks a mini-game ranging from screen tapping fun to unbelievably sad. I found myself strangely compelled to many of Luigi’s casino mini-games in a way I should probably seek help in the near future, yet Yoshi’s ‘He loves me, he loves me not’ mini-game where the player is challenged to pick petals in an effort to find true love just felt like desperate content filler.
Super Mario 64 DS proves to be a very satisfying adventure, yet a few practical mishaps mean that it falls short of the bar its predecessor set. Extra characters are welcome, but prove to make the game too easy in some instances. The touch screen controls are a nice idea, but fails to initiate sharp enough movement in dangerous spaces, and it’s lucky you are able to use simpler configurations of the D-Pad. Needless to say, it’s an admirable re-make that will draw in first time players and fond revellers of the past alike. Just don’t expect me to pick it over Sonic.
The Bad: DS Touch Screen doesn’t suit the game well, New character abilities can make untouched parts of the game incredibly easy
Bronze Y Award