fettfive

Hell no! I love Sunshine and it's a great game but it is deeply flawed... 64 hasn't aged well, especially with the visuals but it's still pretty great and doesn't have the glaring problems that Sunshine does.

• The game is unfinished: Only 7 levels and loooooaaaads of filler. Did you get every star because I'm willing to bet you didn't... There's a lack of variety too. 2 Hilly Villages, 2 Bays, 3 Beaches, and 1 short Bowser level. I'm oversimplifying but that's the entire game :( The levels are bigger but not big enough to chop the level-count in half.
• I really dislike how this game removed stars in any order (you have to play the missions in sequential order). This discourages exploration and forces you to play levels you don't want to play or are stuck on. This also makes the stars completely pointless. Once you've unlocked every level (30 stars), they legitimately have no point. This is an objective downgrade from Mario 64! Moreover, I really think they made this change because of the lack of levels, ie to force you to play the little amount of primary content this game has.
• Lack of platforming and exploration. So much of this game is just running around spraying things, solving bad puzzles, and fighting forgettable enemies. When the game actually focuses on platforming and exploration, it's a blast, the fludd totally works, and it really does surpass Mario 64! Tragically, that rarely happens. Why do you think people love the secret stars? They're some of the only platforming in this (mario) game! And to be fair, Ricco Harbor and Noki Bay are fantastic Mario levels! But on the other hand, Sirena Beach (the ghost hotel) and Pianta village are both abysmal. And remember, that's 2/7 of the game and those levels are NOT optional, unlike other Mario games. This game's problems compound off of each other.
• Buggy and frustrating stars: Many of the stars in this game are outright bad, which is really uncommon for Mario. The pachinko level, the watermelon level, everything involving yoshi, etc.