Mario is no stranger to the gaming market and there was no surprise when Nintendo announced that a title was going to be made for the up and coming Nintendo DS. I remember it like it was yesterday, the year was 1996 and the Nintendo 64 was being released, flocks of kids frantically dashing about town, frantically rushing from one computer game shop to another so that they could get their hands on the wonderful machine. A debut game being released with the console was the well known, Italian plumber Mario but this time with a difference. Compared to the many other titles he has been in, for the first time, the little moustached short man was in 3D, something that had never been done before!

Now it is 2004, eight years on from the landmark game and now it is being released again. Are you a little confused too? Why are they bringing out a game that has already been released and forgotten? The answer is simple; it has been given a make over or so they say. Welcome to Super Mario 64x4, the mad Nintendo classic that gives you the opportunity to do things never done in the original.

64x4 makes... Oh I was never good at maths anyway. Although the math is complicated (and for all of those smart arses out there, I do know the answer, it is 256) the game is actually quite simple. In this ‘new’ title, you will still be able to play through the classic one player game as you could on the Nintendo 64. Then what is the point, I hear you ask.

The reason why it is called Super Mario 64x4 is not because there are 256 Marios running around like madmen throughout all of the levels, it is because you can play through the one player game using one of four characters. The characters available are Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and obviously Mario. However, the fun does not stop there! Using the technology of the touch pad screen, whilst playing as a certain character, you can touch another character’s symbol to then switch to play as them. This of course opens up a lot of gameplay possibilities such as advanced puzzles just to name one (I am not a game designer, if I was, do you think I would be writing this preview? NO! I would be making the actual game!) but of course there are many other options. Such a function was the whole purpose why they created the touch screen; to use advanced gameplay that had never before been used. Of course it could be argued that character switching is nothing new and it could have simply been done by a click of a button, all of the gameplay has not yet been revealed in enough detail to say that the game has no other use for the touch screen.

Being able to play through the one player mode with four characters available is not only the new feature that has been added to the game; there is also a multiplayer mode. In this mode you connect up with those close to you, by the use of Wi-Fi or some form of wired technology, and play against them. The only thing shown so far is a mode in which the players hunt for golden stars within a level. When a player collects the star, another one then appears at another location. The one with the most stars when the time runs out is no doubt the winner. The four characters are available to play with but so far this seems feeble.

As yet, not much has been announced on the game. Only the above is known through a playable version that was presented at the E3 games Expo. There could be much more to it; more multiplayer modes to play, new features within the one player classic mode and also some new ideas for the use of the touch screen.

Running about through the crazed world has no problems at all, even with the DS not having a analogue stick, all four of the characters are easy to control and both of the shoulder buttons control the camera so you can stay on course and dodge those enemies and collect those coins.

The visuals of the game are near enough exactly the same as that of the title on the 64 and in some respects it is actually worse. I have watched a short video of the four characters flying around Peach’s Castle and it is very basic. The second video I have seen is the one that was shown at the E3 games expo and the graphics looked jagged and rough---very appalling for a handheld that is supposed to be of the future for Nintendo.

The sound also was not amazing. For the first video, it was only the sound effect of wind whipping about you as you flew around the castle and for the second video, it was the classic tune for the first level of Super Mario 64, the sound of coins dancing across the floor, goomba’s jumping up and down and not forgetting the yipee’s and yay’s of the Italian man himself.

From this title for the DS, it will bring them what every other Mario has done for Nintendo in the past; it will be a well-known and secure title for the release. That is all it will provide if it is still in this condition for the release. In all other respects, this is a poor game that has only a few new additives to change it from the original. Once again, I stress that not all information of the whole game has been announced and released but from what we have seen, from what Nintendo has shown the world, there is a lot that needs to be done to turn it into a game that everyone will want to pick up and play again and again, just like the original.

Yes, Super Mario 64 was a groundbreaking title for its time and it was loved and played non-stop by millions but eight years on, the same thing might not be able to hold its own against new and advanced titles on platforms such as the Playstation Portable, Gizmondo and even others on the Nintendo DS.

Tobias Rowe