Classic and Adventure modes make up the bulk of the single player experience. The former is set up in essentially the same format as the original N64 version, while the latter is more like a platform title and includes famous locales, such as the Mushroom Kingdom (replete with Goombas) and Brinstar. Interspersed between stages, and sometimes during the stages, are matches against various enemies, ranging from giant characters to team battles to one-on-one match-ups. Event matches provide the player with various situations that need to be completed within a predetermined set of parameters, such as rescuing Peach from Bowser, without either Mario or Peach getting knocked out of the stage. The Stadium mode includes Target Test, Home Run Derby, and Multi-Man Melee events, each of which provides rudimentary tests for the player.

Multiplayer matches can be made up of any combination of four human or CPU opponents, and feature a variety of gameplay modifiers ranging from invisible characters to instant kills. Newly added Coin Battle and Point modes complement the original's Time and Stock modes. Players can enter their names in order to keep track of such statistics as games won and lost, number of kills and deaths, time played, and characters used, among others.