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''Super Mario 64 DS'' is an Enhanced Remake of the 1996 video game '' Super Mario 64 ''. It was one of the launch titles for the Nintendo DS . This remake features various new characters, levels, modes of play and minigames, much of which takes advantage of the features of the DS system. When the Nintendo DS was first revealed, Super Mario 64 DS was an early production demo. It was later confirmed as a Nintendo DS release game. In its early stages, the game was referred to as ''Super Mario 64x4''. STORY ''Super Mario 64 DS'' begins when Mario receives an invitation to a birthday party at Princess Peach 's castle, with Luigi and Wario tagging along. Yoshi is sleeping on the castle as they enter, and awakes later on to realize they still have not left. He uses a key acquired from MIPS the rabbit, and enters the castle. Once inside, however, Yoshi discovers that Bowser has taken over, and has kidnapped Mario, Luigi, Wario, Princess Peach and all of the Toads in the castle. Mario and friends must defeat King Bowser and release Princess Peach from captivity by obtaining Power Stars scattered throughout the different levels, along with secret stars that Bowser himself was unaware of. CHARACTERS ''Super Mario 64 DS'' features Mario , Yoshi , Luigi and Wario as playable characters. Each character has unique abilities and move sets. A box containing a flower gives has different effects on different characters; Yoshi breathes flames which scorch enemies and melt ice; Mario inflates into a balloon and floats as in '' Super Mario World ''; Luigi vanishes allowing him to pass by enemies and through some obstacles, as the Vanish Cap allowed Mario to do in the original ''Super Mario 64''; Wario transforms into metal, making him invulnerable to water, lava, and strong winds, as the Metal Cap allowed Mario to do in the original ''Super Mario 64''. A summary of the unique character abilities is as follows: GAMEPLAY Courses There are a total of 15 courses in the game, generally accessible through various gateway Paintings hung on the wall. An area gateway can be found because when the character you control moves close to an area gateway, the painting (or pool of water) that leads to an area will ripple as if a stone was dropped in it. When the character jumps into the gateway, a stage select screen will appear. To continue, select a stage on the screen by using the touch screen or arrow keys and then touch the character icon on the Touch Screen to enter the course. The 15 normal courses include Bob-omb Battlefield, Whomp's Fortress, Cool Cool Mountain, Wet-Dry World, Tiny Huge Island, Snowman's Land, Lethal Lava Land, Shifting Sand Land, Dire, Dire Docks, Tall Tall Mountain, Tick Tock Clock, Rainbow Ride, Big Boo's Haunt, Hazy Cave Maze and Jolly Roger Bay. Every course except Big Boo's Haunt, Rainbow Ride, and Hazy Cave Maze are accessible through a painting. Big Boo's Haunt can be entered by ground pounding or punching the boo in the back room of Peach's castle that is larger than the rest, the one that contains a carousel. The character can jump into the object to enter Big Boo's Haunt, which is where the key to unlock Luigi is originally located. Hazy Cave Maze can be entered by jumping into a pool of a dark liquid in the castle basement. Rainbow Ride is located on upper-right wall next to Tick-Tock Clock. New Stars/Courses There are 150 Power Stars in the game — an addition of thirty from the original (although a few of the original ones have been removed). Each of the fifteen main courses from the original game now has eight stars to be obtained, and there are now thirty castle secret stars, up from the original's fifteen. Secret Stars There are 30 secret stars that can be found in the castle. They come from a variety of sources, including speaking with Toads , entering paintings that lead to small extra courses, getting 100 coins in the courses, and small worlds that lead to fights with Bowser . Caps Mario, Luigi, and Wario Hats are available in levels, by wearing a character's hat, a character can transform into the character whose hat they are wearing (their physical appearance changes, but their voice doesn't). The hats fall off if the character takes damage, but can be re-acquired before disappearing. Hats are shown on the touch screen map. Yoshi comes with the ability to start a level wearing the hat of any of the unlocked characters. Characters (except Yoshi) cannot wear a hat if they are lacking their own. Types of new Power Stars Switch Star - Upon pressing a star-shaped switch, a Power Star appears in a glass sphere somewhere in the level. The player must run to the star before the timer expires. Switch Stars are featured in Courses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, and 15, the Goomboss battle, all three Bowser levels, and ''The Secret Under the Moat''. 5 Silver Stars - The player must collect five Silver Stars scattered around the level for a Power Star to appear. Each time the player is hit by an enemy, he/she loses one silver star and must recollect it. Silver stars are featured in Courses 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 14, as well as Sunshine Isles and Battle Fort. The only course that does not have either of the new types of stars is course 12, and courses 8 and 14 are the only ones which have both. Course bosses All the bosses that a player must beat to earn a star or a character:
The Rabbits As you move around in Princess Peach 's castle and progress to new areas, you will find that there are many rabbits scampering around the halls. You will also find rabbits outside of the castle. If you capture a rabbit with any character, you will earn whatever the rabbit was carrying. Rabbits can be captured either by Yoshi 's tongue or, with any of the other characters, picking them up. Although the rabbits flee when you approach them in the game, each rabbit will stay in its area and will not leave the area that it is in. The amount, types and location of rabbits change in the game based upon the character that is currently being used. When Mario is the character being used, the rabbits have a reddish tinge, when Luigi is being used, the rabbits have a greenish tinge and Wario will see orange hued Rabbits , based upon the character's dominant color. Yoshi will see yellow colored rabbits. Toward the middle of game play (about 50 stars collected), glowing rabbits will begin to appear in a random fashion. If you capture a glowing rabbit and release it, you add to a total count. When that total reaches 8, you are given the key to unlock the door without a character in the character select room, which will contain a Star , important in any attempt to gain 150 total stars. The glowing rabbits appear in a seemingly random fashion. However, exiting the game and then returning to the game tends to result in more glowing rabbits appearing. If a player collects 150 stars, a cannon will be opened in the front of the castle. You can use the cannon that is opened to launch a character to the top of Peach's castle. If Luigi is used, a green rabbit can be found which will unlock the last Luigi mini game if every other green rabbit was found and picked up. Minigames One of the new features of ''Super Mario 64 DS'' are the minigames. It offers nine minigames for each character, adding up to 36 minigames. These minigames largely take advantage of the touch screen of the Nintendo DS. The player starts with eight minigames, and the rest are unlocked in the single player adventure by catching various rabbits, similar to the rabbit MIPS in the original game (the one the player needed to chase around in the castle basement). Each rabbit gives the player one key to the drawer in Princess Peach's rec room, which allows one more minigame to be played. Multiplayer In ''Mario'' CRITICISM Though essentially an improvement on the original '' Super Mario 64 '', ''Super Mario 64 DS'' has been cited as having some faults that the original did not. One issue is with Luigi's backflip. After perfoming the move, instead of simply falling back to the ground, Luigi spins around like a helicopter, slowing his descent and allowing him to maneuver through the air. This is a very useful move, perhaps even too useful, as it allows him to bypass many platform areas and take major shortcuts. Some believe that this makes parts of the game too easy for Luigi and gives him an unfair advantage over the other characters. Some were also disappointed with lack of reward for collecting all 150 Power Stars. In the original game, collecting 120 Power Stars (the total in that game) revealed a cannon on the castle grounds. When players used it to shoot themselves onto the roof of the castle, they would meet Yoshi, who would congratulate them for their success and reward them by giving them 100 lives and a new, sparkly triple-jump ability. In ''Super Mario 64 DS'', Yoshi (as he is now a playable character) is no longer there, Instead, one of Luigi's Green Rabbits can be found on the roof, which will give the player a key to unlock Luigi's last mini-game. The mini-game (Super Mario Slots) is a variant of another mini-game (Mario Slots) that is available much earlier in the game. The types of new power stars are neither original nor interesting. The "five silver stars" is inspired by the "five silver rupees" puzzle element in Ocarina Of Time , in which the player must collect five silver rupees in a room to solve a dungeon puzzle (most commonly, a door is unlocked). Switch stars are also inspired by OoT, as players often had to press a switch and do something (like push a block) in a limited amount of time. All of the "new courses" are only mini-courses that offer 1-3 stars each. There are no new "full-sized" courses like those numbered 1-15; those remain the same. GOOFS
PROMOTIONS During June and July of 2005 , ''Super Mario 64 DS'' was included free with the purchase of an "Electric Blue" Nintendo DS system in North America. Many retailers also honored the deal with the original "Titanium" DS . WALUIGI RUMORS AND THE "BLACK BOX" Just as Luigi was rumored (but never found) to be in '' Super Mario 64 '', similar rumors about Waluigi have been spread about in ''Super Mario 64 DS''. A source behind a number of rumors is a black box (or possibly a small aperture) visible on the castle wall on the adventure select screen, but not in the actual game. Many of the Waluigi rumors have been in some way related to this ''black box'', claiming that he is hidden inside of it. As for the ''box'', some say it is invisible, while others suggest only players with 150 stars can see it. The latter claim, however, has been proven wrong , and if the ''box'' does exist in the game, it is yet to be found. REFERENCES |
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