"This year's E3 is not Revolution's coming out party,"

[OB1]

2. The levels are more diverse. Also, the Star missions are more creative and far less repetitive. The Blue Coin challenges were cheap, and each level had multiple Red Coin challenges, which is akin to adding fluff to make the game longer, and those stupid "chase Shadow Mario" levels, some of which repeat also. The levels in SMS were not as interesting, and the whole thematic idea just bored me. The best, hardest and most creative levels of SMS were the gauntlets without the waterpack, levels that incidentally resembled SM64 more closely than the others. Having the waterpack made the game's pace too slow.

Mario 64 had a style and an atmosphere that SMS lacked, also. 64 had lots of hidden levels and secret areas and nuances missing in the sequel.

On a presentation and thematic level I'll agree with you, Mario 64 beats Sunshine (though Mario 64 pales in comparison in that regard to World, YI, and Mario 3). But on a purely gameplay level, which includes controls, challenge, and level design, Sunshine bitchslaps Mario 64. Which is to be expected, since Mario 64 was basically the first 3D platformer ever and had to be relatively simple.