[Aquavelvaman]

I really enjoyed reading this. So many memories

[-PXG-]

Heh. I just started playing Mischief Makers yesterday too.

[Myriadis]

So many games. I have 20 games and I thought that I have all necessary games, but looking through your list made me realize that I don't have the following games that I should buy:
GoldenEye
Perfect Dark
Blast Corps
Space Station Silicon Valley
Rocket Robot On Wheels
Bomberman 64 (Only rented)
Waverace
Sin and Punishment (Because never released for the N64 in Europe, but it is on VC now)
Ogre Battle 64 (Same as above)
Paper Mario (Rented it once, Too expensive for orginal, guess I take it for the VC)

And that's quite a lot.

[NinjaFusion]

I sure wish I had as much time on my hands as the OP!

:)

[Pazuzu9]

Mario Kart 64 - Mario Kart 64 is, in my opinion, still the game that all other kart racing games should be compared to. A substantial improvement over the SNES Mario Kart game, Mario Kart 64 is an exceptional masterpiece of game design. The tracks are all fantastic, the graphics are good enough, and the fun, particularly in multiplayer, is about as good as it gets. About the only flaw here is that the single player game won't take all that long to finish. Even so, it is a lot of fun while it lasts. Only the DS and Wii Mario Kart games rival this title's greatness, within the series. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Ghost saves are controller pak only, 121 pages per ghost.

The only game I have a strong opinion about. Super Mario Kart (SNES) is WAY better than Mario Kart 64. The handling went totally to shit, and while there is a lot more variety and production quality, the raw simplicity of the SNES version shines through, particularly in battle mode. Mario Kart Wii was even worse than MK64.

[Diddy Kong]

Enjoyed reading, nicely done OP

[Refreshment.01]

Outstanding thread A Black Falcon.

It was time to pay some respect to the console that basically invetnted modern gaming: The Nintendo 64.

All-Star Baseball '99 - Decent baseball game from Acclaim from 1998. Decent gameplay and graphics, it's a fine baseball game for its generation. This was the first of three N64 All-Star Baseball games. I'd like to play this more, but don't have enough memory cards to have one dedicated just to this game... Controller Pak required to save (107 pages).

Surprised by your take on this game. As far as i remember it had the best graphics of any base game at the time. I might be mistaken but i thing it supported 640*480 visuals without expansion pack or at least the "mid resolution" mode at 512*240. The engine had a nice texture warping trick that made the characters look more curved, instead of the blocky visuals most sport games featured in the generation.

The analog cursor batting felt great. The big shortcoming with the game was that it wasn't as feature rich as some of the other baseball games you had in PSX or Saturn.

[dimb]

Surprised by your take on this game. As far as i remember it had the best graphics of any base game at the time. I might be mistaken but i thing it supported 640*480 visuals without expansion pack or at least the "mid resolution" mode at 512*240. The engine had a nice texture warping trick that made the characters look more curved, instead of the blocky visuals most sport games featured in the generation.

ABF is a Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest fanboy.

[ElzarTheBam]

N64 had so much potential for its time. It still has some unique masterpieces like Wave Race, Mischief Makers that were just incredible when came out. The saddest thing is how restricted was Japanese support compared to PS and Saturn.

I adored Mischief Makers. I still think the game deserves a sequel. I'm surprised you didn't get Quest 64, but maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. Star Fox 64 is probably one of the best games ever made, that game is perfection.

Mischief makers was incredible, such a quirky game, equally adored Mystical ninja, loved the music in that game, especially Zazen town.

[Refreshment.01]

ABF is a Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest fanboy.

\|^o^|> Hey Dance.

I don't know how both games compare gameplay wise but in graphics All Star surpasses it.

Acclaim did an outstanding job with their first sport releases. The first Quarter Back Club was a show stopper. The high res graphics at that stage made some people, even ones not interested in games, take some long glances at it. The only breath taking American Football game after this one was NFL 2K on the Dream Cast.

[DeaconKnowledge]

I played most of these games, and some games that aren't on your list. Goddamn, N64 had a ton of games.

[Vollume]

The graphics of 007: The World Is Not Enough are amazing for the N64, never seen that game before, I'm always up for more GoldenEye, even if it's a clone done by another studio.


I'll never stop saying this, Blast Corps needs a sequel, one of the most original and fun game I've ever played, I love to drift at maximun speed while combo destroying buildings with a bulldozer, such great mindless fun. No clones of this game either, you would imagine someone would have copy it by now. I would buy a 3DS for a VC entry in 3D.

[Y2Kev]

Not enough praise for SSSV! Game had wonderful humor, great level design, and some real challenge. It is by far the most interesting use of "car jacking" dma has ever done.

Body harvest I also really liked but it was really hard and long. I don't think I ever got Beyond java.

[Chuckpebble]

I forgot about a few of those that I've owned. One that really sticks out is Top Gear Rally. I think I got that solely off of my addiction to Top Gears 1 & 2 on the SNES. I spent a lot of damn time painting my cars in that game. Great feature. I also remember being quite impressed with the replays and the effect of driving through water/mud. I'm sure it would look ugly to me today, but a neat rooster tail would shoot up from the wheels that hit slop. Pretty cool game.

PD > GE. I used to waste hours setting up challenge maps with my sister and her boyfriend. We'd get those zippy sims and give them good aim and see how long we'd last.

I also loved the Rush games. Something about being able to put a good crunch on your car and still limp across the finish line. This was my Burnout of that generation. I think I had California Speed too, don't remember owning it for long though. It had pickup trucks in it I think.

Great post.

[ShinUltramanJ]

That generation I was day one for Saturn, and eventually picked up a Playstation a few years later. Had no intentions of buying an N64, and then one day I'm flipping through a catalog, and there's a pic of a kid playing Mario 64.
That simple pic brought me back to my senses. How could I possibly be skipping a Mario platformer?! I love/need Mario games, and so I asked the wife to buy me one for Christmas.
This was the year Zelda was releasing, and so I asked for that, Rogue Squadron, and Goldeneye. I also asked for the RAM pak, which I remember made Rogue Squadron look so much nicer. Leading up the Christmas I traded some games in to Funcoland and grabbed Starfox 64, Mario 64, and Turok. Such a great time, and it really was a decent system. I really miss cartridge based consoles.

[faridmon]

Loved Fighters Destiny. Not only the scoring system was great, but all the characters felt different. From the amouint of health to the weight to the different attribute and to the ease of doing specials.

That game was the one me and my brothers have been playing for ages. It was really fun.

Also, no Goldeneye or ISS64?

[nicoga3000]

Good list, but missing a few of what I would consider some must plays! You have some that I forgot about though, which is awesome. :) My collection is only 35 games deep, so I have no room to talk I guess! But Quest 64, Killer Instinct Gold, and Harvest Moon 64 come to mind.

[ElzarTheBam]

Not enough praise for SSSV! Game had wonderful humor, great level design, and some real challenge. It is by far the most interesting use of "car jacking" dma has ever done. Body harvest I also really liked but it was really hard and long. I don't think I ever got Beyond java.

Body Harvest was very tough indeed, I'm actually somewhat surprised I managed to get to the last boss, Adam (I think), I never did beat him.

[ismk]

Wow, now that's hard work and dedication.

[Boerseun]

Awesome thread, ABF! I own about 80 NTSC N64 titles and genuinely love the platform. I should also mention that I've been using the same main controller for close to a decade now. The bad reputation these things have has surely more to do with people not taking care of their possessions as opposed to cheap parts.

On a side note, are the NTSC N64 owners in this thread connecting to their televisions through S-video? The cables are quite cheap and the third-party ones work well in my opinion. The S-video support is also the main reason I moved from the PAL version to the NTSC version.

[Bisnic]

I have so many good memories from the N64 days, if i could i would go back in time just to play them again as a kid (or rather teenager), i would.

[Franchuzas87]

Amazing thread, so many memories.

Right now I'm replaying Banjo-Kazooie and Turok 2. Both are so awesome as I remembered.

[entrement]

Though it signaled the end of Nintendo's console dominance, the N64 was a great system. I had so much fun with the 4 player games in college--yes, I'm old--MK64, Smash Brothers, Goldeneye64. 4 player Split Screen on a 19 inch CRT FTW! Gamers are spoiled today with online play and HDTVs!

[Mdk7]

Impressive work OP!

Anyway... i'd pay good money for a 3DS port/remake of Wetrix and Tetrisphere.
And another Blast Corps, my favorite Rare game, is such a sinful thought...

[krae_man]

Hey, I liked MRC and Nightmare Creatures.

[Apenheul]

I really suggest adding Duke Nukem 64 to your collection. The whole campaign can be played in splitscreen co-op with 2 players, and there's 4 player deathmatch with bots.

[bubnbob]

posting so i can look this thread up at home, will be a great read

i'm not up to 145, but this will help me pick some new recruits to my library

[AdventureRacing]

I really suggest adding Duke Nukem 64 to your collection. The whole campaign can be played in splitscreen co-op with 2 players, and there's 4 player deathmatch with bots.

Fantastic game. Also just for something different in deathmatch. We used to use the invincibility cheat and the shrink ray to make players permanently small. Then we would squish them over and over leaving as many guns covering the ground as possible. Once we did that we would have 1 person normal sized everyone else tiny and the big person would have to try and stomp on the little ones.

It was fucking amazing running around hiding under the weapons trying not to get stomped.

[Refreshment.01]

I really suggest adding Duke Nukem 64 to your collection. The whole campaign can be played in splitscreen co-op with 2 players, and there's 4 player deathmatch with bots.

Oh yes! I think it was a 97 game. A Co OP first person game in a console was a rarity. It was a very good port for what i can remember, it even had redone weapons and bosses using polygons.

For the friends that were only into console gaming and not PC it blew some heads up at the time.

[joedan]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Turok set the standard in N64 FPSes in many respects, the first being controls. The game uses the analog stick for aiming, and the C-buttons for moving. This system works fantastically well, and in my opinion is one of the best FPS control schemes. I think digital movement works really well, myself, and it's easy to get used to moving with the left side and moving with the right.

So very true. Best FPS controls ever devised.

[b3b0p]

Loved the N64.

Blast Corps, Pilot Wings, Mario Kart 64, and Mario 64 were all I needed. I love to replay those games.

Only comment about your reviews, I tried to read a couple of them, but you didn't mention anything about the actual game until half way through sometimes. You gave too much background information for example on Cruis n USA. I had this game, but never got around to playing it, so I was curious about your thoughts. I had to force myself through that small wall of text and you didn't say anything about the game until about half way through.

Otherwise, awesome post!

[PK Gaming]

...

WOW

how long did it take you to write that up? I enjoyed your write up for the majority of the entries I read, I was afraid you'd be overly critical.

(tips hat)

[theBishop]

<3 <3 <3 N64 <3 <3 <3

The last age of original franchises from Nintendo. Cerebral Bore FTW!

Only weakness was RPGs.

[Agent Unknown]

Nice thread, will be digging in for a good read.

Mischief Makers - Mischief Makers is a sidescrolling, 2.5d platformer from Treasure. The game is largely 2d, but there are some polygonal elements here and there, so it is a 2.5d game. The game centers around one thing, a grab-and-shake mechanic. Your character, Marina the robot, defeats enemies and interacts with objects in the world by grabbing onto them and shaking them with a voiced "shake-shake". Yeah, it's silly stuff, as is the anime-style plot in this game. Whether you like the game or not will basically depend onwhether you like the shake-shake mechanic, because you will be doing a whole lot of it in this game. Yeah, the game does have somewhat lacking variety. Even so, it's a pretty good game that any platformer fan should play -- the unique mechanics aren't like other games, and the game's a lot of fun to play most of the time. One player, on-cart saving.

Haha Uh, no. Any game that has you doing a track and field mini game in one stage and throwing missiles at a rampaging dog/dragon mech in another while riding on top of an alien cat is the very DEFINITION of variety.

[Refreshment.01]

Haha Uh, no. Any game that has you doing a track and field mini game in one stage and throwing missiles at a rampaging dog/dragon mech in another while riding on top of an alien cat is the very DEFINITION of variety.

Mischief was great. Japan even got Bangaio out of Treasure, kind of sad it was late in the life cycle so we didn't get a port.

[Kentpaul]

All my N64 time was spent shut away in my room during the summers with a bunch of bro's with the blinds down playing goldeneye multiplayer.

[I Push Fat Kids]

Big Mountain 2000

Interesting stuff. I remember it coming out to bad reviews and I think I was gearing up for a Dreamcast at the time. I'll see if I can track down a copy :)


Like your thoughts on Starshit. Played it on an emulator and found it rather unique.

[zephervack]

You have to post a picture of how much room 145 N64 carts take, please.

[Agent Unknown]

Mischief was great. Japan even got Bangaio out of Treasure, kind of sad it was late in the life cycle so we didn't get a port.

Too bad we never got Bangaioh as an N64 VC import. Oh well, at least we got the Dreamcast version which was awesome and addictive.

[Drinky Crow]

what is wrong with you, son

[Hansel]

OP, please play Harvest Moon 64. It is amazing.

[BGBW]

I never owned the system myself, my mother thought having a SNES was enough, but I had quite a few friends with the system (hardly knew anyone with a PSX) so I spent a lot of time with the system back in the day. So much so that at school people would come to me for help with games like Ocarina of Time. Of course the games I played were limited to those that my friends owned so it was mostly Nintendo and Rare games, but the series of games I remember having a great time with were the wrestling titles. Nowadays I wouldn't even consider buying one, but back then it was some of the most fun we could have. Also they were much fairer on someone who didn't have the opportunity practise with the game such as learning the levels in Goldeneye or all the shortcuts in Diddy Kong Racing.

I've always thought I should buy an N64 second hand. It is a gap in my collection of Nintendo consoles. My SNES served me well and my mother did find me quite a few second hand games to make up for the fact that I didn't own a current gen system and the jump to the GameCube probably made me love it even more, but the N64 provided me with great memories that no other system has replicated.

[Hobbestetrician]

Very, very impressive OP. An amazing set of posts for an amazing system with amazing games. I love my N64 so much and, even though I had an NES before, is the system that got me to fall in love with games.

Only really disagree with your assessment of Nightmare Creatures. Love that game so much and would do anything for a new one.

[stuminus3]

Amazing thread OP. But I'm reminded of the fact that outwith Nintendo's games and a select handful of top-tier third party games (a recurring theme, yes) the N64 library consisted of masses of complete shit that for some reason was popular in North America. I don't know if I was older than most of you during the N64 years or something but the N64 library isn't really any different to me than the GC or Wii if you're putting titles that are actually worth playing up next to each other.

[dark10x]

I actually bought a copy of Mischief Makers recently after hearing good things about it and I found it absolutely dreadful. :\

I would have expected Treasure + 2D = awesome but I just didn't enjoy it at all. It was ugly, clunky, and not much fun. Keep in mind that I've been playing a lot of retro games so I'm totally able to enjoy outdated titles. Mischief Makers really isn't even that out of date, I suppose (outside of the art style), I just didn't find it fun. It's kind of like Stretch Panic to me (not in terms of gameplay but in how I felt about it). Both games just left me cold.

[Refreshment.01]

Amazing thread OP. But I'm reminded of the fact that outwith Nintendo's games and a select handful of top-tier third party games (a recurring theme, yes) the N64 library consisted of masses of complete shit that for some reason was popular in North America. I don't know if I was older than most of you during the N64 years or something but the N64 library isn't really any different to me than the GC or Wii if you're putting titles that are actually worth playing up next to each other.

Well a line up filled with more shit than chocolate, yes.

But the top N64 games smocked everything else in the other consoles at the time. Most of those games are the blue print for modern gaming today. Stuff on the PSX edged the N64 in stuff related so sound quality and space to dump pre rendered cinematics. A game like FF7 was the rage but something like Ocarina of Time stands the test of time better in terms of gameplay.

[Thatoneguy]

This is a trip back in time. It's been years since I thought of Blast Corps and Destruction Derby. Loved those games.

[Prophane33]

Wow, someone with my N64 games than me! I have 85; however, I do have some you don't because of imports and sports.

Edit: Adding games I have you don't

Sin and Punishment: Fantastic Treasure shmup
Bust A Move 2 Arcade Edition: I think there are better ports of this.
Deadly Arts: More like Deadly Farts amirite?
Densha De Go 64: A great port of DDG 2 for the N64. One of my favs.
Dezaemon 3D: A 3D Shmup maker for the N64. There are better versions on other consoles.
ECW Hardcore Revolution: Really terrible.
F1 Pole Position 64: A very meh F-1 game. I think it's the US version of "Human Grand Prix" on N64.
FIFA: Road to World Cup 98: Really fun! Has like every freaking team in the world. One of the few FIFA games with Japan.
International Superstar Soccer 64: Godly footie game!
International Superstar Soccer 98: Best footie game EVER?
Jikkyou J-League 1999 Perfect Striker 2: A fantastically awesome J-League game (released in the west as ISS 2000 I believe)
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 4: The First of the Powerpro games on N64.
Killer Instinct Gold: Still a blast to play.
Knockout Kings 2000: Punch, Kick, it's all in this game...well mostly punch.
Madden NFL 2001: FOOBALL!!
Madden NFL 99: Also FOOBALL!!
NASCAR 2000: Don't turn right.
NBA In the Zone '98 (Japanese Version!) : Hey, it came with the box...which is sadly more fun than this blurry mess of a game.
NFL Blitz: The original.
Pokemon Snap: maybe one of my fav pokemon games.
Pokemon Stadium: meh.
Pokemon Stadium 2 (JP) : Now we're talkin'!
Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling: Toukon Road - Brave Spirits : It's got the great muta, that's gotta count for something!
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Fun port of the PC version, a bit short though.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: The way the songs were ported from PSX bothers me, but a competent port.
Virtual Pro Wrestling 64: Really awesome JP wrestling game.
Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: The absolute reason to own an N64; best wrestling game, EVER.
WCW Mayhem: What you'll cause after playing this shit.
WCW Nitro: Kuso-ge
WCW vs. NWO: World Tour: 1st WCW game on N64 (Western port of VPW64)
WinBack: Covert Operations: I won this for my Koei-lection, it's kind of shit.
World Driver Championship: Very neat racer.
WWF Attitude: bad
WWF War Zone: also bad
WWF Wrestlemania 2000 : My fav WWF game.
WWF No Mercy: I felt that VPW2 beats it, but others say this is the best N64 wrestling game. I prefer Wrestlemania 2k however.

[Jethro]

No World Driver Championship?! :D

I love your praise for Rush 2049. Loved that game too. Played days with my brother in Stuntmode. So awesome to pull off more than 1 Mio Points.

The DC port from the Arcade greatest Hits was totally shit :(

[PetriP-TNT]

I enjoyed reading through those because I have either played most of them (on N64 or Playstation) or read EVERYTHING about them when they were coming out. Nice nostalgia trip of sorts. Great effort!

RE: Hybrid Heaven. Saying it has martial arts moves is bit selling it short. It's an JRPG WITH WRESTLING MOVES. Goddaumn. I haven't actually played it (heh) but youtube videos seemed interesting.