This thread is bumpin'
This is plain wrong, and you chose to namedrop the game that has much weaker platforming:
Mario 64, of course, holds up extremely well today due to the level design and flawless execution of controls and physics in the platforming context. The way you can naturally string together dozens of combinations of moves still stands out today and never feels awkward or stilted, or like the game is "pushing" you along. Like someone posted earlier in the thread there's no nonsense in how the collision detection works, it's down to your mastery of the controls and physics.
I am still disappointed whenever I see debates about the DS version ignore the fact that that version messed with the game's level designs and challenge and expected less from its players.
I've been replaying Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie for a potential video where I compare the two - and yeah, this totally knocks the nail on the head.
Just by the inclusion of a wall-kick, SM64 has given players an allowance not to follow the prescribed path - that platforms aren't just a "platform" that paths are drawn across but they can be interacted with on a more physical level.
The thing that gets me is just how much allowance there is for players to solve objectives however they want. The caged star in Thwomps Fortress?
You can ride the owl over to drop in
You can use a cannon to shoot yourself in
You can perform a series of tricky jumps to land in
and this kind of lateral thinking applies to pretty much every objective. If you're willing to be risky, you can achieve a lot with a mario's small set of inputs.
The reason I think people Banjo-Kazooie more fondly was just in how many abilities they gave you - walking up slopes, flying, high jumping, turning into different characters with different physics.
The problem is that they're all incredibly shallow - at most you'll only use these abilities to just grab items out of reach, or to active switches or engage in simple mini-games (that could have been designed to be completed by your core characters).
DK64 is the worse offender of this though. 5 characters with different weapons, instruments and abilities, but all rare ask you to do with them is push buttons.
Super Mario 64 totally holds up, BK does not.