Any mission where Mario needs the Wing Cap will insure that the Red Box will give him a feather for the Wing Cap instead of a Power Flower.
That being said, there are some notable changes to the formula for this version of the game the two most important being that there are now four playable characters (Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi), and that there are now a grand total of 150 stars to collect, up from 120 in the original. You can still jump, punch, slide, and fly your way through fifteen incredibly diverse, well-designed stages, each with their own main attraction and several layers with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore on your quest to save the local monarch. The physics engine has pretty much been ported straight from the original, so the platforming is just as tight and smooth as it was back in 1996. GameplayĪnd now for the meat of the game, the platforming. Fret not, Mario can be unlocked within an hour or two. We’re informed that it’s “been awhile” since the trio first made its way inside, and its now up to Yoshi to see what’s what. The transition to the next cutscene signifies the first of many changes to this remake, in which we start playing as Yoshi, not Mario. After narrowly avoiding a brawl right out of the gate, the three plucky plumbers head on into the castle to meet with Peach. There’s also a new skit added to the opening where the three nearly get into a melee that gave me a small chuckle. I say “almost” because while Princess Peach is still kidnapped by Bowser, and Bowser still hides Power Stars behind various paintings in Peach’s Castle, Lakitu’s initial panoramic sweep of the castle grounds places emphasis on a sleeping Yoshi on the roof of the castle followed by Mario showing up, now with Luigi and Wario in tow. The story of Super Mario 64 DS is almost the same as the original, so the story is about as basic as it gets for a Mario game.
The Super Mario Odyssey trailer and its subsequent reveal that it would return to the more open sandbox level design of 64 and Sunshine has me extremely excited for Mario’s latest adventure so in anticipation for this new release, I’m gonna review some of my favorite games from the series over the course of the year, starting with the DS remake of the timeless N64 classic, Super Mario 64 DS.