E3 2004: Hands-on: Super Mario 64 x4

The idea is to simply roam around Princess Peach's castle from the Nintendo 64 game and collect stars scattered around the area before the other three players do. Players can also attack opponents to knock a collected start out of their possession. Some stars were easy to score, hiding behind walls and on blocks, where others took a bit more skill: a gigantic Chain Chomp romped around the area with one attached to his "tail." Each character (Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi) have their own special attacks and abilities, though in the demo they weren't entirely balanced, and some other abilities, like the feather cap to glide around the level, were nearly impossible to find in the game's very short time limit.

The game is meant to look, sound, and play just like Super Mario 64, and the development team succeed in at least getting it look and sound like it. The 3D engine used in Super Mario 64 x4 mirrors a lot of effects used in the Nintendo 64 game, right down to turning the sprite-based trees transparent when the camera swings just a bit too close to them. The framerate was very smooth as well...the game just looked great on the small Nintendo DS screen. The action took place on one screen, where the other screen featured an overhead view of the map on the other.

The controls, however, were a little on the sluggish side. It might be because they were ported over from the N64's analog stick to an eight-way pad, but it was just a little clumsy trying to get characters to walk up hills in their normal gait. Holding the Y button turned their walk into a sprint to make uphill climbs a little easier, but a lot more attention needs to be placed in the control department before this technology demo's ready for prime time.