Realistically speaking, this game probably deserves to be more of a 7/10. The roster is pretty small, although I appreciate they went with oddball choices like Ness and Captain Falcon even with a small roster, the gameplay is super busted past any casual level, almost every stage is a gimmick and for some reason you can't unlock reasonable stages that are present in the game like Final Destination.
But Smash Bros 64 does have its charm. While it is certainly the shortest single player experience in Smash Brothers, the Break the Targets stages are creative and fun and it's the only one with the pretty cool Board the Platforms minigame as well. I completely understand why they aren't around any more, imagine designing a unique one for 80+ characters, but it is a bit sad to see them gone. The game also looks rather good for the Nintendo 64 with vibrant colors on stages such as Yoshi's Island and Saffron City. The stages themselves are rather elaborate for the time, Saffron City might be jank but getting to see an iconic Pokemon area brought to full 3D (for the first time!) with tons of little flourishes was a treat. I've also, personally, always rather liked the hit effect sounds in this game.
But ultimately the fact is that what pushes it up that little extra bit to me is this: I used to play this all the time with my mom, easily staying up until 3 AM, and despite the fact she was terrible at it (she can beat NES Legend of Zelda easily but can't remember B/A button differences in Smash) we were able to have tons of fun, the game is good at making sure even if your skill levels are different you can find your own fun. Personal bias, sure, but they're cherished memories and simply make the game better for me personally. Not to mention all the times I did stuff like make my own CPU tournaments, or choose a character, set three of the same CPU in FFAs and record them down in a tournament across all the stages (10 points for 1st, 7 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 1 for 4th). It might be outclassed by pretty much every Smash game after, but it's still fun to come back to and everything someone could want at the time.
But Smash Bros 64 does have its charm. While it is certainly the shortest single player experience in Smash Brothers, the Break the Targets stages are creative and fun and it's the only one with the pretty cool Board the Platforms minigame as well. I completely understand why they aren't around any more, imagine designing a unique one for 80+ characters, but it is a bit sad to see them gone. The game also looks rather good for the Nintendo 64 with vibrant colors on stages such as Yoshi's Island and Saffron City. The stages themselves are rather elaborate for the time, Saffron City might be jank but getting to see an iconic Pokemon area brought to full 3D (for the first time!) with tons of little flourishes was a treat. I've also, personally, always rather liked the hit effect sounds in this game.
But ultimately the fact is that what pushes it up that little extra bit to me is this: I used to play this all the time with my mom, easily staying up until 3 AM, and despite the fact she was terrible at it (she can beat NES Legend of Zelda easily but can't remember B/A button differences in Smash) we were able to have tons of fun, the game is good at making sure even if your skill levels are different you can find your own fun. Personal bias, sure, but they're cherished memories and simply make the game better for me personally. Not to mention all the times I did stuff like make my own CPU tournaments, or choose a character, set three of the same CPU in FFAs and record them down in a tournament across all the stages (10 points for 1st, 7 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 1 for 4th). It might be outclassed by pretty much every Smash game after, but it's still fun to come back to and everything someone could want at the time.