Intro:

As usual, it's me reviewing another Super Mario 64 hack-that-no-one-else-bothered-to-review. It's sad that these games are the only ones I feel like reviewing This hack, Super Mario 64: Relax Your Life, is a mini-hack created by blackshadowdrybones containing 5 main courses, 4 secret-star courses, a Bowser course (not counting the original SM64 levels that were left in the game), and many spelling errors. There are 44 stars in total to collect. To see what it's like and how it compares to the original SM64, keep reading!

Graphics: 7/10

Even though many of the graphics are just boring or wacky, this hack's graphics aren't horrible. Quite a few of them are pretty good in my opinion. The red-orange gradient in Course 1's lava is a really nice touch, I haven't seen anything like it in any other SM64 hack! However, the other graphics in Course 1 are pretty boring. It's just a bunch of light green. The castle is interesting, with a picture of Dry Bones on the outside. On the inside there's the the crazy doors with triangles on them, the changed star doors, and the green, white, and blue floor with a square pattern. The Power display is pretty interesting too. It's a star that shrinks and changes colors when you lose damage. When you have 1 HP left, it's just a yellow circle.

Some areas' graphics are more interesting than others. For example, Course 2 is more interesting graphic-wise than Course 1 since it has brown floor/walls, gray and black platforms, and coolly colored boxes. However, I don't find Course 2's graphics to be very well-designed. There could have been much more done with the graphics, and same goes with every other course. Finally, the color of the stars is a nice shade of blue.

Sound (music): 6.5/10

I was pretty disappointed at the new soundtrack this hack has to offer. Honestly, I prefer music from the original SM64 over most of these songs. My first impression (Course 1's music) wasn't really good, but it wasn't really bad either. It's interesting what instruments were used for it, but a different instrument set would have been a better match for this song in my opinion. This hack's version of the song doesn't sound near as great as the original song.

However, some of the songs sound amazing! The wing cap/vanish cap/koopa shell/metal cap course theme was my favorite theme from this hack because it was pretty fitting for the wing cap and koopa shell power-ups, and I find it catchy. The theme that plays when you trigger a star appearing is really nice too. However, it's too long for that action in the game. It would be much more fitting as a power-up theme. The theme that plays when you try to enter a locked door is pretty catchy but it's too long. The theme that plays in the Bowser course is epic but a better instrument set could have been used for it.

The theme that plays when you talk to a Toad is very fitting for that action and it's also fitting that it's pretty long since it takes a while to read their text. But it isn't as fitting for Course 4, and it plays there too. Course 2's theme is very fitting and it sounds excellent! The vanish cap course has no music, which, even for such a small level that you can literally beat in 2 seconds (I did a speedrun of it XD), is pretty sad. The music that plays when you get a new star and have the option to save or not is very well done but too long.

Then there's some music that's just plain creepy and unfitting. The music that plays outside the castle is pretty creepy and it doesn't fit the atmosphere at all. It would fit in Course 5. Speaking of Course 5, the music is well-done and catchy, but it isn't fitting for a creepy house. Course 3's theme isn't really unfitting but it would be better suited for the metal cap theme or a more exciting/less deathly atmosphere. The star select screen's theme is the creepiest and most horrible-sounding of all the soundtrack in this game. It makes me want to play it with a trash can as my instrument! The boss theme sounds the same way, and I want to play that with a trash can too. The music that plays when you get a star is creepy as well, but thankfully you only have to put up with it for a couple seconds.

Sound (effects): 2/10

I'm rating this so low because most of the sound effects from the original SM64 are absent in every area except the castle. I liked those sound effects a ton and playing the game without them makes the game more dull. I'm guessing that since this hack is titled "Relax Your Life", the creator thought it would be more relaxing without the Mario sounds so he removed them. In most cases, that isn't true, especially when the music gives me the creeps!

Addictiveness: 3/10

As not-so-great as this hack is, I'm addicted to playing it once in a while. Some of the stars are really fun to play and speedrun, and some of them are pretty challenging. But for the most part, I don't find this game addicting and want to take a break from it after getting 8 or so stars. I find the original SM64 way more addicting XD

Story: Huh?/10

What?! No story? Alright, I gotta put the popcorn away and just play the game then. How boring.

But seriously, this game has no story. There's no introduction since it cuts straight to when you're outside of the castle, and none of the signs nor Toads mention any story. However, you can make up a story yourself which could be pretty fun For example, you could say Bowser stole Mario's voice the second he entered a painting and he has to collect all the stars to get his voice back fully.

Depth: 6/10

For a mini-hack, this has quite a few stars. Like I mentioned before, this hack has 44 stars to collect. 44 stars is over a third of the stars that are in the original SM64 (120). That shouldn't take too quick of a time especially if you aren't a pro at the original SM64. It took me over half an hour to get the first 8 stars the first time I played this, to prove my point.

Difficulty: 7.5/10

For the most part, this is more difficult than the original SM64 and some of the stars are tricky to figure out how to obtain. Some of them require pretty smart strategies but some of them require no effort at all (such as the star right behind and under you in the wing cap course). The boss battles are harder too. It isn't overly difficult though. You should be able to get most of the stars without using many savestates.

Overall: 5.6/10

This hack's title is unfitting because it is in no way relaxing for me, but I still like it. I think there should have been much more done with it, such as more variety in the graphics, testing different instrument sets for the music to see which ones worked best for certain songs, and more effort toward making the gameplay exciting and fun. Thank you for reading this review and I hope you enjoyed it! Please don't hesitate to give me feedback if you want to. I'm trying hard to optimize the way I do reviews.

Pretty good review! Since I'm a bit new-ish at this myself, I don't really have much to say on improvement.

This game sounds anything but relaxing, though. Even the screenshots seem pretty, uh, non-relaxing. In fact, they're a bit hard to look at straight for me! "

Nice work, man. Also I loved the way you sneaked "and many spelling errors" into the rundown of the game's contents. xD Caught me off guard and made me laugh.

If there's one thing I want to do when I get internet connection on my PC, it's to play SM64 hacks. I still think SM64 is one of the greatest games ever, and I would love to see how others interpret it and what kind of spin they put on it. Thanks for letting us know which ones are worth it.

SWTerra : Yeah, some of the colors are a little hard on the eyes. XD

Eirinn : I like sneaking jokes into the most serious parts of reviews The funny thing is I actually made a spelling error later in my review and had to edit it out before anyone could see it! I'm glad you like SM64 so much, it's an amazing game!

Thank you both!