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My son got a DS lite as an early Christmas present (to play with on the plane). We also gave him "Super Mario 64 DS" and "New Super Mario Bros.", along with the GBA version of Activision Anthology which I happen to have...
I have to say I'm amazed that the DS is able to do justice to SM64 from a graphics perspective. It really says what kind of 3D power it has under the hood. NSMB also has 3D graphics, but more in the Donkey Kong Country style - but rendered in real time instead of pre-rendered.
Unfortunately, the DS is constrained from a controls perspective. Namely it doesn't have an analog joystick. Yeah, you can use the touch-screen as a pseudo analog joystick in SM64DS, but it's not the same. I wonder if it would have been possible to make the joypad pressure sensitive, with some kind of digital compatibility workaround for GBA titles.
And that's my main complaint so far with SM64DS - the control scheme. Y for run works okay until you have to do a running jump. And why waste X on zoom? Maybe the touchscreen mode works better with the wrist strap / thumb stylus (not included with the DS lite) instead of the pen stylus.
On the other hand, NSMB doesn't suffer from the lack of an analog joystick. (Both because it was developed specifically for the DS and it's heritage goes all the way back to the NES.) My main complaint with NSMB is you only get to save after defeating Bowser or Baby Bowser - twice per world instead of after every level. Now, that may be better than it's predecessors, but it still significantly increases the difficulty level of an already tough game. (Well, tough for my 6 year old son at least.)
Unfortunately, we don't have any way to try out any of the wireless functions lacking a second DS or a game which supports playing over the Internet.
Oh, and it is kinda cool to play Skeleton+ on the DS (without any unnecessary HMOVE bar removal which appeared in some of the other versions). The controls are a little weird (or at least not intuitive), but that probably comes from trying to adapt 6 switch + fire +menu to the 6 button GBA.
I have to say I'm amazed that the DS is able to do justice to SM64 from a graphics perspective. It really says what kind of 3D power it has under the hood. NSMB also has 3D graphics, but more in the Donkey Kong Country style - but rendered in real time instead of pre-rendered.
Unfortunately, the DS is constrained from a controls perspective. Namely it doesn't have an analog joystick. Yeah, you can use the touch-screen as a pseudo analog joystick in SM64DS, but it's not the same. I wonder if it would have been possible to make the joypad pressure sensitive, with some kind of digital compatibility workaround for GBA titles.
And that's my main complaint so far with SM64DS - the control scheme. Y for run works okay until you have to do a running jump. And why waste X on zoom? Maybe the touchscreen mode works better with the wrist strap / thumb stylus (not included with the DS lite) instead of the pen stylus.
On the other hand, NSMB doesn't suffer from the lack of an analog joystick. (Both because it was developed specifically for the DS and it's heritage goes all the way back to the NES.) My main complaint with NSMB is you only get to save after defeating Bowser or Baby Bowser - twice per world instead of after every level. Now, that may be better than it's predecessors, but it still significantly increases the difficulty level of an already tough game. (Well, tough for my 6 year old son at least.)
Unfortunately, we don't have any way to try out any of the wireless functions lacking a second DS or a game which supports playing over the Internet.
Oh, and it is kinda cool to play Skeleton+ on the DS (without any unnecessary HMOVE bar removal which appeared in some of the other versions). The controls are a little weird (or at least not intuitive), but that probably comes from trying to adapt 6 switch + fire +menu to the 6 button GBA.
