Super Mario 64 DS Preview
Everything you need to know about Nintendo’s sole DS launch title
Tags: Super Mario 64 DS Categories: GBA Previews, Previews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Oct 9th, 2004
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We can all pretty much agree that Super Mario 64 was a pretty good game, right? Like many of Shigeru Miyamoto’s creations, the title has been dubbed “The best videogame ever made” by numerous publications. Even if you weren’t to go to such fanboy-ish lengths, the game still ranks as the 13th-best game ever on gamerankings. So saying that the title is more-than-welcome in the DS’ launch lineup definitely seems justified.
At first, Super Mario 64 DS (Originally unveiled as the 4-player Super Mario 64×4 demo at this year’s E3) seems like an extension of the Super Mario Advance games: they took one of Mario’s console hits, added multiplayer, and shrank it down to fit on a handheld. But this time Nintendo went a step further and added new features throughout the game, giving this title enough new content to entice even those who got their 120th star years ago.
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The game will have at least three different control modes: One using the D-Pad for movement, and the others using the touchscreen and DS Thumbstrap. The thumbstrap, which wraps around the thumb and has a pointed tip, allows for precise control using a thumb instead of a stylus, and in Super Mario 64 DS it is used to emulate the N64’s analog stick. A circle icon appears on the DS’ touchscreen, with players moving the point over the top of it in a manner similar to an analog stick. Given that many feared that Super Mario 64’s fine-tuned controls would lose something in the transition to the plain old D-Pad, this should come as a releif.
The touchscreen is also used for game menus and for camera control. Buttons on either side of the screen are present for rotating the camera, and players can quickly reach over to the touchscreen with their thumb while playing to adjust the camera at any time. The touchscreen is also used extensively in the game’s minigames, which I’ll get into in a bit.
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In a bizarre way, Super Mario 64 DS is sort of a sequel to the original game, in that it apparently takes place after the events of Super Mario 64. Mario has saved the princess, had his cake (and ate it, too!), and has now taken to hosting parties around the palace. As one such party is about to begin, Luigi and Wario show up at the castle ready for the shindig, only to be trapped inside the castle (presumably along with Mario and Peach), most likely the result of another evil scheme by Bowser.
Meanwhile, Yoshi is apparently still waiting on the roof, and has fallen asleep (probably out of boredom). Waking up and finding that things are amiss, he sets out to try and rescue his friends. Throughout the course of the game, players will be able to play as Mario, Luigi, Wario and Yoshi, apparently through the use of hats strewn throughout the castle. Each of the four characters plays signifigantly different, has different power-up abilities, and some of the goals are even character-specific.
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Mario plays the same as his N64 counterpart, although now with new power-up abilities, such as the ability to blow up like a balloon (similarly to the P-Balloon in Super Mario World). Luigi jumps extra-high (oh, come on, is that really a surprise?), Wario is the powerhouse of the group, able to break barriers the others can’t (whose exclusive power-up is apparently the original game’s metal cap). Yoshi is perhaps the most versatile. He has his extra-air flutter jump, as well as the ability to shoot out his tongue to eat enemies and turn them into eggs, which he can then throw. Yoshi’s exclusive power-up is apparently the invisible cap from the original game, and he can also apparently get a power-up that lets him breathe fire.
In addition to all this, Nintendo has tossed in a few more surprises, like the classic-style mushroom that makes you grow extra-large, albeit for only a short time. In this state, you’re virtually invulnerable, and can even dispatch some obstacles that were impervious in the original game, like the giant black balls rolling down the mountain in the first area.
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While the original game had players searching for 120 stars, Super Mario 64 DS has 150, with new goals spread throughout the castle (like catching even more MIPS rabbits, who have now multiplied like… uhhh… rabbits), as well as in brand-new areas. Two new areas shown in the game were a mysterious land of moving platforms and dangerous lakes of purple goo, and a tropical locale styled after Super Mario Sunshine (complete with Sunshine’s town music playing in the background). There are even new bosses, like the Paper Mario-esque mustachioed goomba on the right.
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In addition to all of this, one of the castle’s rooms has now been converted into a mini-game room, where players can sit down with one of over 30 little time-wasters, from card, casino and puzzle games to more unique stuff, like a game where you use the stylus to slingshot bombs falling from the sky to protect Toads down below. The minigames are split into four groups (one for each character), and can apparently be accessed either via menu or by running over to the room where they’re stashed.
Finally, one would be remiss not to mention the game’s new multiplayer capabilities. From the title screen, the grab-and-stretch Mario head has now been replaced with a grab-and-stretch drawing of Yoshi. This screen can be cleared and drawn on, and players can send those drawings wirelessly to other players in the area, which can be used to help players organize matches before diving into the game (kind of like a poor man’s in-game PictoChat).
Once they get going, up to four players can compete wirelessly, and Nintendo has even gone an extra length to make the game download-link compatible. That means that if four people with DS systems want to throw down, they only need one Super Mario 64 DS game card to do it.
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The meat of the multiplayer mode has gamers racing to collect stars. Players can choose to do this the straightforward way, by being the first to run to one of the stars that appears on the feild, or they can do it the underhanded way, by attacking other players and stealing their stars for themselves. While the only multiplayer arena shown back at E3 was in the castle courtyard, there will be multiple locations for players to compete in, including the previously-mentioned Mario Sunshine-inspired area.
In short, if you’ve never played Super Mario 64, this game should be a must-have launch title on everyone’s lists. Even if you have played the original, Nintendo seems to have jam-packed the DS version of the game with so much new stuff it could make your head spin. With the absence of Metroid at launch (Nintendo says it’ll be out shortly after launch), Super Mario 64 DS looks like it will have to take the role of the DS’ killer ap launch title. At the moment, that seems to be a role it’s more than capable of filling.
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Tags: Super Mario 64 DS
Posted by Jake McNeill on Oct 9th, 2004 and is filed under GBA Previews, Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
