Hello and welcome to Under the Super Scope where we take a look at some of the most famous
games of all time and try to work out exactly what makes them so good and if they still
hold up today.
Or in this case, where they went wrong.
So far this show’s been a celebration of the industry’s best but for the first time
we’re looking at a more negative finding.
Super Mario 64 was the pioneer of 3D movement and 3D design and even today its influence
is everywhere.
The majority of stages are masterfully put together and while 3D controls have evolved,
Mario 64 still has a really good unique feel to it.
So how does a remake which mostly has the same core structure completely squander it?
Well let’s take a look at Super Mario 64 DS.
If you write a list about all the things Super Mario 64 DS has going for it then it sounds
like a pretty sweet deal: Launch title – check
Updated visuals – check Great Mini Games that show off touch - check
30 new stars – check In theory this game has a lot going for it
yet in 2018 the original Super Mario 64 is still the one with a larger following, so
why with all this new content is 64 DS not given its due?
Well here comes the problem: the dpad.
The n64 was the very first system to ship with an analogue stick.
Sure Nights into Dreams was bundled with this but it wasn’t the primary controller for
the Saturn.
Every aspect of movement is catered towards manoeuvring in 360 directions at different
speeds and it’s encouraged from the word go.
When you start Super Mario 64 all you have in front of you is open space to move.
There’s no objective until you work your way towards the castle bridge.
Just listen to the sounds of wildlife while you adapt to a 3D world.
In the second level, Whomps Fortress, you’ll encounter these sleeping Piranha Plants and
sign posts will tell you to sneak around them and as we’re now adapted to analogue movement
we just lean the stick ever so slightly forward and tip toe past.
Now whenever we’re in a tight space we don’t just pelt the analogue stick forward, we could
even spin on the spot like this if we wanted.
We have so much control in any situation.
We can easily turn around in close quarters, we can swim at any angle and we’re able
to pull off some pretty impressive jumps.
So take that away and you’re left with a very different game.
Suddenly the game that pushed analogue movement is now just a shell of its former self.
Of course the DS only has a dpad and so no matter where you play Super Mario 64 DS be
it on Wii U virtual console or a 3DS you are always limited to just 8 directions.
I can move the circle pad all the way around but it will only respond 8 times.
The game is not programmed for 3D movement.
Instead 64DS shared very similar controls with Super Mario 3D Land.
The difference?
3D Land was built around its control scheme.
Every angle ensured that 8 directions made sense.
The camera was often in a neutral position where holding right on the circle pad can’t
result in you running in a wonky line.
You always have very deliberate steady movement and the control scheme makes a ton of sense
for this fixed camera and linear levels.
Super Mario 64 is a sandbox game though and the camera is not fixed.
This means if the camera isn’t perfectly straight, neither will your movement be.
64 DS requires a lot more stopping and starting than the original ever did.
There are so many moments where you need to just sort the camera out and turn yourself
around cause you can’t do this in the DS version.
When you do, you get this and let me tell you that caused a number of deaths in my playthrough.
This control scheme is not good in tight spaces.
Depending on your position tapping in the opposite direction will usually instantly
turn you around but if you’re at an angle your character will go in a wide circle.
Then there’s the problem with speed.
Your default speed is a slow walk however there’s a big problem here.
64 DS has the same speed boost that 3D World had where when you walk forward for a while
you get this burst of momentum and this applies to both running and walking.
And so when you sneak past the Piranha Plant there’s a high chance that you’ll unknowingly
wake it up while trying to be sneaky.
What you have to do is hold forward only for a little bit then let go and hold forward
again – otherwise you’ll get the speedboost and have a bite taken out of you.
Realistically though you’re not going to be walking that often, most of the time you’ll
be sprinting at full speed and just like 3D Land there’s a dedicated run button for
this.
For a game about large open spaces I’m a little baffled to why running isn’t the
default speed and walking having its own button.
You’ll spend the majority of your time with your finger on Y and in most cases it’s
actually easily to move this way.
The slide turn is way more responsive than turning around while walking and we of course
get way more momentum when running.
Unlike 3D Land though, 64 DS has other actions.
Punches, slides, tongues.
These are all on the A button and so to use them you need to let go of Y and reach over
to A and then go back to Y.
For diving which needs forward momentum to execute this feels incredibly unnatural.
In fact just holding so many button inputs feels unnatural.
You’ll have your finger constantly on L to reset the camera, one finger on Y for running
which will also lean on B for jumping and you may also have a finger on R for long jumps.
So you’ve got something like this at pretty much all times.
The DS isn’t to blame as a console – Super Mario 64 DS is just too ambitious.
The PSP was the home of 3D games, DS usually stayed 2D for a reason.
DS games are at their best when they dedicate themselves to the system’s limitations.
It can do 3D but it can’t really control 3D.
64 DS is clearly aware of this as analogue is actually provided on the touch screen and
some have adapted to this and to them I say: well done, but this has the same problem as
virtual buttons on a smartphone.
You really need physical feedback with precision games like Super Mario 64 but even if this
version was on 3DS or Switch with full 3D controls I still think it would be seen as
a lesser version.
Let’s get into why.
Super Mario 64 DS opens with a really unique twist where Mario jumps out of the pipe as
usually framed and then the camera pans out to reveal Luigi and Wario who have all been
invited to the castle.
I love this opening and that they gave context to Yoshi being on the roof in the original
game.
This is a great scene.
Turns out though Mario, Luigi and Wario have been gone for a while and so we take control
of Yoshi to go and see what’s going on.
Now here’s what I like about controlling Yoshi early.
He’s the easiest character to start with as he has a forgiving flutter jump and can
deal with enemies easily.
He also sets the tone that this isn’t just a Mario adventure and in fact we’re going
to need to earn the right to play as Mario.
I think this could have worked really well but with the amount of road blocks you kind
of just want to play as Mario.
For instance Koopa the Quick, the second star of Bob-Omb Battlefield will only race Mario
and the little lost penguin, the second star of Cool, Cool Mountain can’t be carried
in Yoshi’s mouth.
For a game that touts having extra content, we sure are given less options.
Of course we can still find stars in these two levels but the specific hints are locked
away until we clear the two that Yoshi isn’t able to participate in and we can’t rescue
Mario until we get 8 stars which was the exact number we needed to face Bowser in the N64
original.
So yes there’s more content but there’s also more padding.
We’re made to collect more stars and the majority of new ones mix in assets from other
levels or are as simple as timed challenges.
For instance Tiny Huge Island now has Klepto flying around with a star in his talons, this
is the exact same challenge found in Shifting Sand Land.
Kelpto also doesn’t adapt with the size of the level like other enemies which is jarring
and out of context.
Another instances is the silver stars.
There are five of them scattered around and when you find them you get a star.
Sound familiar?
These are red coins but silver, the only difference is you’re told their exact location at all
times so there’s no challenge in ever finding them.
Funnily enough they actually improved upon red coins by having a Pink bob-omb show you
their locations but only when you’re talking to the bob-omb, so it’s a helpful sway in
the right direction rather than just doing it for you.
The game also loves rabbits which was a mechanic used twice in the original Mario 64.
Now there’s a rabbit right at the start of the game, there’s one here and here and
here and ok there’s a lot of rabbits.
The point I’m trying to make is 64 DS may have a lot of new stuff but not much of it
feels new.
Arguably the new content devalues the game.
Mario 64 had its fill of the rabbits and then it was done, move on.
64 DS doesn’t get the move on part and ends up recycling so many ideas.
Even in its new levels.
You know what the level to get Mario looks like to me?
It looks like an unspired jumble of assets and the level structure doesn’t seem to
know what it wants to be.
It’s framed as something akin to the Bowser levels with a boss battle star with red coins
and a timer star thrown in but it has the openness of a level like Lethal Lava Land.
Luigi’s level isn’t that bad as it’s hidden inside Big Boo’s Haunt and thus the
reused assets aren’t quite as jarring.
The level to get Wario is probably the most inspired of the lot.
It reuses he snow theme which was already reused in the core game but it’s a fun linear
ride that makes intelligent use of the wind found in Tiny Huge Island without feeling
out of place.
The boss battles of these three are the real interesting part.
Two are really good.
The level to get mario brings back GoomBoss from Paper Mario 64 and has this intelligent
fight where Yoshi needs to get behind him and hurl enemies.
The level to get Luigi may reuse what’s essentially the same King Boo fight only now
we have to use two perceptions which cleverly enough is a visual metaphor for the Nintendo
DS.
Even the map looks like a DS.
And the one to get Wario is one of the most boring recycles.
It’s basically the Bully fights mixed with Bowser and there’s nothing more to it than
that.
There isn’t really an interesting new level in this game with anything substantial.
Sure I liked the Wario stage but when that’s done, that’s done.
It’s not a 7 star stage.
This one’s filler, this one’s ultra and this one is mega filler.
It’s not all doom and gloom though.
In fact 64DS in some areas improves upon the N64 original.
Tick Tock clock and Whomp’s Fortress now have a new ground level that can prevent you
from falling.
The “Fall onto the Caged Island Star” has also been heavily altered from this small,
easy to miss platform to this wide open structure.
Might be a tad too easy now but it’s certainly not a frustration.
Plunder the Sunken Ship now actually shows the eel swim out in real time whereas in Mario
64 you had to swim away and come back for him to disappear.
Makes a lot more sense.
Some levels have questionable changes like here in Jolly Roger Bay.
There’s now just one chest here which kind of begs the question to why there’s a chest
at all.
The camera is also way more flexible, it would go –camera noise- and refuse to move in
Super Mario 64 but now it will usually be far more responsive.
That doesn’t mean it’s more freeflowing though, you’ll often have to stop to reposition
the camera whereas in the original all you need is a simple tap of the C buttons.
It has its pros and cons.
And then of course there’s the visuals.
Mario’s now long a round collection of polygons and Bowser’s no longer whatever he was meant
to be in the original.
I think whether this is an improvement is all up for interpretation.
Sure the characters look better but does the game still have a distinct visual personality?
I asked people if they could recognise games based on their skyboxes and far more recognised
Mario 64 than Mario 64 DS.
This isn’t my Koopa the quick, this is just some Koopa!
Mario 64 relishes in its bright bold colours whereas 64 DS tries to get a little more detailed
but again maybe this is something just too ambitious for the Nintendo DS and being too
ambitious with controls or visuals is a negative thing.
We need to work within and make the most of the limitations we have.
Of course there’s also the new playable characters.
Yoshi, Wario and Luigi.
Unfortunately Yoshi is kind of done with after the initial 8 stars.
There’s a few levels made around him but hardly any and unlike the other characters.
Playing as him is a great look into how a 3D Yoshi’s Island game might play and it
feels good, I kind of want a fully 3D Yoshi game now.
Yoshi can’t stomp boos which stops him from even entering Big Boss Haunt so he really
feels like the least prominent character.
There’s also no Yoshi hat that allows anyone to instantly transform into him.
That mechanic is very weird by the way.
I love that you can change characters in the stage as it stops it from being a Donkey Kong
64 kind of collectaphon but Yoshi in the form of Wario still makes Yoshi sounds and it just
ain’t right.
Speaking of Wario, he’s pretty much useless.
He runs slow, he jumps low, he swims slow… he has powerful punches but that’s incredible
situational.
You may find him useful against the bullies in Lethal Lava Land but you’ll also probably
not have him unlocked by then so that’s redundant.
All characters have a unique function and Wario’s that he can punch these very specific
black blocks.
As you can imagine it feels a little forced and not at all unique.
Mario’s the fastest character, even faster than he was in the original which makes those
Koopa the Quick races (which Mario can only do) a lot easier.
He can also wall jump unlike the other characters which works way better than the original N64
version.
I can’t get myself to do it here but it’s easy as 1 2 3 on the DS.
Now Luigi.
L is finally real but when Luigi’s not breaking hearts, he’s breaking games.
The propeller jump that you get from jumping on Spindrifts is a natural part of Luigi’s
moveset.
When you backflip the world is your oyster.
Stars that are specifically for Mario can be reached faster than Mario can dream of.
Rainbow Ride is now Rainbow Glide.
It is broken as all hell, it feels cheap and yet I can’t resist it.
Luigi can also run on water but there’s not a single use for this.
Yoshi’s able to breath fire by eating a flame or hitting a powerup block which is
a little boring as other characters have unique powerups that aren’t part of their natural
movesets and these are actually repurposed cap properties.
In the original you had the Flying cap, metal cap and invisible cap.
The flying cap returns which only Mario can use but the invisible and metal caps are just
powerups for Wario and Luigi.
The cap mechanic ends with the flying cap.
What’s weird though is Mario actually has another powerup being he inflates up like
a balloon just like in Super Mario World.
This usually doesn’t really add anything but I did like it here in Big Boo’s Haunt.
That star’s no longer hell to get hold of.
I’m not a fan of the character specific powerups.
In 64 Mario could seamlessly do any of these things and one star actually mixed together
the metal and invisible cap which was really clever but now it feels divided and tedious.
The thing is no character handles quite like Mario did in the original Mario 64.
Some jumps can be a struggle for a few of them and others clear them with ease.
Check out how Mario can barely make this jump in Mario 64 but has no trouble in 64 DS.
The different characters are often unwarranted which makes it all the more jarring when the
game feels they are with character specific stars.
Perhaps going the Super Mario Bros 2 or 3D World routes of them being just options for
different playstyles would have worked better but instead it comes across as a bit of a
chore changing characters, especially when the challenges are as tedious as needing Wario
to punch a black box.
Where I think Super Mario 64 DS truly thrives is when it isn’t being Mario 64.
The minigames in here are a ton of fun and as a DS launch title relying on dual screens
and touch was a smart move that hasn’t aged a day.
You can still spend a ton of time with these and likelihood is if you played New Super
Mario Bros you’ll recognise most of these too.
As a launch title this whole package was impressive.
It showed off what the system can do graphically, it showed off touch and dual screens.
It’s just Mario 64 was not made for a dpad and the game lost so much when it transitioned
to DS.
In some areas they improved upon the original but I think the cons heavily outweigh the
pros.
There’s a reason the original is still so revered today and that’s because it’s
simply fun to move in Mario 64.
It’s fun just to hop around the Castle Grounds and I don’t feel that with 64 DS.
When Nintendo remade Ocarina of Time they didn’t really change a thing.
The graphics were updated but they didn’t add more cucco fetching minigames or a new
dungeon or anything like that.
Ocarina of Time doesn’t need more content because it’s pretty much perfectly paced
as it is.
And I think that’s true of Mario 64 as well.
So even if some new content is for the worse or some is for the better, it’s all moot
because the controls just aren’t good enough to be Mario 64.
Sure, it showed off what the Nintendo DS could do but it also highlighted why the PSP was
better for 3D games and this is likely why there aren’t that many DS games visually
comparable to its launch title, Mario 64.
DS games played best on a 2D plane and playing through Mario 64 DS today I can’t possible
say this game hasn’t aged.
It’s not even age, this game was always flawed but perhaps the wow factor of a portable
Mario 64 was enough to sustain it.
Should you play it over the original?
No!
Should you play it after?
It’s worth a shot but this is in my opinion the worst Mario platformer.
Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more from under the super
scope and other things games too.
Until next time, bye!