Super Mario Sunshine has some evil secret levels and Episode 8 missions. Did you know how long it took me to 100% the game because of that dumb lilypad ride?
Aside from the precise timing for wall jumps and the outdated camera, I wouldn’t call the controls for Super Mario 64 bad. I mean there’s a reason why this game is so popular with the speed running community.
Mario Maker games put every other Mario game into Cakewalk tier. Except maybe Sunshine. No matter how good you are at platforming, it won't help you if you have no idea where you are supposed to go.
The Impossible Pack in NSMB2 doesn't count IMHO due to it being a DLC pack in a side mode. The main game itself should be in cakewalk tier due to the amount of coins the game gives you, so much that it's pretty much impossible to get a game over
Wait… If Grandmaster Galaxy’s was the reason for Galaxy 2 going up, why wasn’t Wonder getting that with The Final Badge Challenge? That level alone is misery.
For more reasoning on 64 DS being easier than OG 64 (arguably kinda easy tier) -100 coin stars are significantly easier since levels have more coins -Luigi is BROKEN his high jumps and backflip tornado makes so many stars from the original a joke like "whirl from the freezing pond" and "blast to the lonely mushroom" and him having vanish cap anywhere allows you to complete many stars the unintended way like chain chomp gate -the ds bottom screen makes navigating levels like hazy maze cave and shifting sand land much easier