The biggest change made to Super Mario 64 DS is the addition of four playable characters, instead of just playing as Mario, you now have access to Wario, Luigi and Yoshi (Mario, Wario and Luigi you have to unlock).

The improvements and additions over the Nintendo 64 game are notable and all make for a much more varied game than the original. However, if you can deal with the controllers and persist, a great game does exist. As I have said, the original Nintendo 64 game felt fiddly and because of the control options it does suffer here as well but to a worse level, I faced many cheap deaths because I had trouble with getting the game to do what I actually wanted.Ĭontrols are the only issue that really holds this game back and, to be honest it may be the thing that turns people off this game. Secondly, you can also use stylus controls via the DS touch screen which also personally felt awkward, neither option is that great but the directional buttons were the lesser of the faulty control options. This DS version suffers from the trade-off that inhibits the system, with the lack of a joystick, the game can now be played in one of two ways, for starters you can now move using the directional buttons which honestly never feels right. The original Nintendo 64 game lived off its joystick control which (while I still found that setup to be fiddly at times) was overall a decent system, the joystick still made running around these 3D settings enjoyable. The question that will likely be on peoples mind will be, how does this game control? And the answer is poorly most of the time. The changes are only small to this forgettable tale but are appreciated and don’t feel forced at any point. To change the story, this then puts you in the shoes of Yoshi who must now head into the castle to rescue Mario, Luigi and Wario, as well as help get back the power stars that Bowser has stolen.

For a reason I never found in the game to explain, Wario and Luigi tag along but soon disappear along with Mario. We all know the story of Super Mario 64 by this point, or do we? Although different, this DS version does change up the story in a refreshing way, Peach calls Mario to her castle for cake and he shows up to discover things are not quite right, however he is not alone. Super Mario 64 DS feels like a retelling of the classic tale striving to do more and offer a somewhat original journey. So where does this leave the remake? Surprisingly, this remake does turn out really well featuring many changes and improvements, but it never felt like the original which is fine because it never tries to. This game showed just how great you could make a Mario game in the 3D space and was loved by many as one of the earliest 2D to 3D transitions, the original is a remarkable game that can never be overshadowed. To this day Super Mario 64 is still widely considered to be one of Mario’s greatest adventures, as well as the 3D adventure that other Mario games try to beat.

Super mario 64 emulator will only walk