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While not as good as Super Mario 64 modding's greatest hits, such as Star Road or Last Impact, this is still one of the best and most iconic mods out there that every fan of the game should play at least once. It's quite interesting to see what a creative mind can push Super Mario 64 to without using any custom code. Such as making a mission require use of both the metal and wing cap, or using a cannon as an unlockable checkpoint in a Bowser level.

One negative point about this mod is its lack of custom music, where only a few songs are modded and most come from the vanilla game. Even one of the custom songs is just Bob-Omb Battle Field with different instruments. It just makes the game feel less fresh than it could've.

Another problem is some of the stars are just too difficult. And this is coming from someone who 100%s Last Impact without breaking a sweat. I understand that the stars in the "Sphere" levels are supposed to be ridiculously difficult, so I won't criticize those. But even other random stars are that ridiculously difficult, such as the 100 coin star in Sunny Beach, where there are exactly 100 coins in the entire level, and some of them require kaizo skill, or ridiculously tedious effort to obtain.

Also, the entrance to the Frozen Slide secret level REALLY should have been somewhere else. Backtracking to that thing every time you die is terrible game design.

8/10 Stars - An overall fun and unique experience.

With 135 stars, I consider myself to have done an exhaustive exploration of what the author had to offer and to express in this redesign, perhaps missing some easter eggs and possibly a very well hidden ending price for getting a perfect 150 count.

In general, I enjoyed myself in this journey. Simplistic atmosphere, and the highest added value that you will likely get will be the challenge-oriented level designs, in which the author was remarkably creative, as well as the nice, sarcastic humour. The need for non-common manoeuvres and very awkward combination of obstacles and enemies makes this an interesting proposal, which will keep you tuned to see what the author has to offer next each time. The more you progress through the redesign, the better the quality and more original proposals in general, leaving you with a feel of satisfaction and reward.

Difficulty is prudently managed during great part of the game, where you will find yourself getting the first stars perhaps in less than a minute and for some of the final ones you could perhaps spend hours depending on your expertise level with Mario. Difficulty progresses at a steady, linear and comfortable pace (taking my personal experience as baseline, somewhat extensive) until you stumble upon the very last stages of the game, where it just skyrockets. Only very experienced people will be able to truly finish the game entirely. For those who are not keen of using save states, be warned. Basic gamers will be likely able to enjoy just a limited portion of this work.

As mentioned before, level design is, most of the times, kept simplistic. No meticulous detail in visuals to create a particular atmosphere or ornaments (notable exception of few levels), presenting many misaligned textures/blocks in general, for instance. Level themes are plain and very similar to the original game in general, with little or no leverage made on soundtracks to complement the experience. Don't expect absorbing compositions such as in Star Road or perhaps Missing Stars or even some from Stardust Planet. Most of the architecture is entirely meant to be functional. You will find that the author sticks with small spaces, making use of height, walls and thin platforms to extend level perception and functionality. You will feel that levels are unexpectedly small in some cases.

(Possible Spoiler). A very remarkable mention would be what I consider to be the most beautiful level compositions of this redesign near the end, a twin level set. Definitely an interesting gift for experienced players and worth analysing in detail. The inspiration the author had in structures, star distribution and atmosphere in general can be readily noticed and differentiated with respect to the other levels. Severely difficult, but I consider this to be part of the concept of these compositions. The experience you have as a Mario player within these is unique and not likely to be found in other notable creations.

So, well. Technical and challenge elements are basically the main means of expression from the author in this redesign, clearly appraising and rewarding very experienced players, with surprises at the end. I highly suggest to enjoy this work from that perspective.