I'm very disapppointed in Mario 64 tbh. I've only played a couple of levels thus far and I know it's old but it just seems really basic, not much happens and the drift is really restrictive. Maybe because it's early 3D but it looks more dated than Mario 3 and way more dated than Super Mario World.
I'll persist and I'm sure it'll get better but it needs to get a lot better. I really just want to play Galaxy again but I want to play them in order.