Many Gamespot users made a review about it and put ‘Revolutionary’ as its main characteristic, what is indeed obvious.
Every time I play a game (regardless of its console or releasing epoch) I pay attention on its main characteristics, from graphics and detail-level to controllability and learning curve. I don’t know if you notice, but I gave a pompous 10 as a rate, cause this game used all of the Nintendo 64’s engine, making the frames per second orderly and a nice start to many other games that would be released about Mario and his party.
You will bump into many nefarious cartoonish characters, hopelessly trying to stop you on your journey (in the game your chances of being killed by a foe are indeed tiny. You will probably die by falling in an everlasting cliff or by hitting a gleaming and candescent lava pool), and your major mission is to gather as many shiny and golden stars as you can, facing the Big-Cheese afterwards (Bowser, or Big-Koopa ^^). The diversity of missions is amazing, and all the stages were really well designed, making the entertainment even better. Big parcel of N64 users has this game or at least has already played this game. You probably have already done it too, so you know what I’m talking about. So, this is it. This game is awesome, and nothing else. I suggest you that this game must be bought, or at least played for several hours (just like I did ^^).