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[Bill Rizer]

Mischief Makers is an incredibly good looking 2.5d game that still holds up today. I think the perfect bitmap-polygons fusion, along the total camera zoom and sprite scaling / rotating are still unmatched. It probably looks better than NSMB/NSMBWii.

And the soundtrack is sick.

 

[Dion Blaster]

yup

Dire Dire Docks

He said Kart, but I agree with both of you. Dire Dire Docks and Koopa Troopa Beach are some of my favorite game songs ever.

 

[Warm Machine]

The sound and music work in Jet Force Gemini was pretty incredible for the time. They went out of their way to make it sound like Star Wars. They also did a lot of cutting edge stuff with the art, sourcing textures from higher res prerendered art. Didn't it also do some realtime shadows and reflections here and there?

 

[Courage]

He said Kart, but I agree with both of you. Dire Dire Docks and Koopa Troopa Beach are some of my favorite game songs ever.

I need to learn how to read.

 

[GooeyHeat]

I gotta go with F-Zero X. Okay, so the environments were simply floating tracks, and the cars had pretty low polycounts. I don't give a damn, because 60 FPS ON N64 FOOLS

plus the music was incredible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqhkBHc1ark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft7OHxngm4M

\m/

 

[casmith07]

Star Fox 64 had really good music and that amount of dialogue on a cartridge was pretty mind-blowing at the time.

 

[bridegur]

I think wave race, for me it was the setting and i think by that time the most beautifull water.

While the rest of the visuals don't hold up that well, I still think WR64 has some of the best water on any console. The only game I can think of that beats it, obviously, is Blue Storm. I wish we could get another.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I would say Banjo-Kazooie was definitely the best looking and best sounding game on the system. The sequel doesn't have its consistency though. And Conker is too random to fit.

Diddy Kong Racing is a good second though.

 

[Grief.exe]

I'm actually scared. I've got a Japanese N64 on it's way, and I haven't played my collection in a decade. Whereas before I used my old console on a 24" Triniton CRT, I'll now be playing on a large 1080p LCD. I'm not sure if my eyeballs are ready.

Uh oh

Set your TV to 4:3 aspect ratio so the image is not stretched.

 

[Master Nairb]

Perfect Dark trumps all.

 

[dark10x]

Mischief Makers is an incredibly good looking 2.5d game that still holds up today. I think the perfect bitmap-polygons fusion, along the total camera zoom and sprite scaling / rotating are still unmatched. It probably looks better than NSMB/NSMBWii.

And the soundtrack is sick.

Really? I dunno, I picked it up based on such recommendations and thought it was ugly. I hate that "CG rendered sprite" look that so many games from that era featured.

Whereas before I used my old console on a 24" Triniton CRT, I'll now be playing on a large 1080p LCD. I'm not sure if my eyeballs are ready.

Oof, N64 pairs horribly with LCDs. The image quality is always bad but on an LCD it's almost torture.

 

[Magicpaint]

Banjo Kazooie or Conker's Bad Fur Day.

 

[Green Yoshi]

From a technical standpoint Shadow Man was quite an achievement (60 minutes cut-scenes with voice acting):

 

[Gillian Seed]

Wave Race 64 blew everything away! The Water Physics were so damn good!

 

[littlebirdtoldme]

I'm not sure about that, really. The problems are the same even when using an N64 capable of RGB output. I don't think it's actually an issue with the video output so much as an internal rendering limitation.

Is that so? Interesting.

Ive been keeping my n64 collection with the thought that i would rgb mod it one day.

But if its not the tv out that is the problem, then ill probably just sell it all.

 

[littlebirdtoldme]

Btw dark.

have you rgb modded the nes?

 

[Cygnus X-1]

No doubts. Conker's bad fur day.

A technological miracle.

 

[littlebirdtoldme]

No doubts. Conker's bad fur day.

A technological miracle.

@ 5fps

 

[dark10x]

Btw dark.

have you rgb modded the nes?

I don't but a good friend of mine has two. We spent some time playing with it before I left for Europe and it looked fantastic. The only odd thing is that some games seem to be tuned for the color palette you get over composite and look a bit odd via RGB (garish, perhaps).

 

[littlebirdtoldme]

that is good to hear.

 

[nesboy43]

Well OP you are right, it is Conker's Bad Fur Day easily. The game had an incredibly advanced animation system for all the characters, visuals looked great and vibrant as well. When you can have visuals be advanced and have an insanely detailed and smooth animation system, you can't ask for much more in terms of performance. Makes sense as it was a 2001 Rare game. Also so many different gameplay styles and locations in that game and they made it all feel solid. Music also sounds beautiful, Windy and Co is an amazing song that sounds like a big band is playing.

Also, what's with all these people posting emulator images of games?

I'm actually scared. I've got a Japanese N64 on it's way, and I haven't played my collection in a decade. Whereas before I used my old console on a 24" Triniton CRT, I'll now be playing on a large 1080p LCD. I'm not sure if my eyeballs are ready.

Uh oh

Keep the Trinitron or (if you got rid of it) get another one at Goodwill for any non HD game systems. I got one a nice 19" one for 20$ at Goodwill over a year ago and use it for about 11 systems with Sony RCA 3 to 1 input switch boxes. RCA cables hooked into an HDTV are guaranteed to look like crap, especially with game systems. On a nice CRT they will look beautiful.

 

[kingkaiser]

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion

Zelda OoT

 

[IOnEI Falcon]

Perfect Dark trumps all.

Yeah, it really does. That game is damn amazing! CBFD is also right next to it though.

 

[mokeyjoe]

Overall probably Shadowman. Acclaim really knew their way around the N64 hardware.

Star Wars Ep. 1 Racer was impressive in motion

 

[Bill Rizer]

Really? I dunno, I picked it up based on such recommendations and thought it was ugly. I hate that "CG rendered sprite" look that so many games from that era featured.

Despite even myself generally hating on prerendered stuff, I still find MM's graphics incredibly charming and not suffering the usual shortcomings this technique generally brings ie lack/confused detail and lack of colours. I think Treasure artists heavily retouched the prerendered base for their sprites.
Maybe I'm biased due to my unadultered love for the game, but I find MM's overall style and presentation very unique and captivating.

 

[MvmntInGrn]

Why don't the N64 Zelda games look like 20fps to me? They seem really smooth in general. A framerate like that would kill just about any other game for me but I can't really notice it there (I do notice the drops from 20, but they aren't even that bad).

Anyway performance is a big deal when talking aobut N64 games so taking that into account I'd say Majora's Mask and Banjo-Kazooie balanced their visual to performance ratio best. Conker is unrivaled at its best but there are some performance issues that can get annoying particularly because platforming/shooting are hurt by poor performance more. DK64 is just under Conker.

Banjo-Tooie and Perfect Dark (single player) sacrificed too much performance I think. Perfect Dark multiplayer doesn't seem as bad.

I'd include Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine if it wasn't such a glitchy mess. It looks really good with the expansion pack(480i I think) and the performance is alright for the kind of game it is. A lot of visual glitches (like large areas flickering) or other strange issues (like swimming in the air) though.

Just my observations. I don't know the actual numbers but I've tried all of these on original hardware within the last six months.

It was revealed in the Conker's BFD directors commentary that the only reason DK64 required an expansion was because of a random bug in the 4MB version that would crash the game. The expansion 'fixed' it, so they had to lose money and ship it with one.

I think this comment was misunderstood.

I got the impression that there were two "builds" of the game. One that didn't utilize the expansion pack and one that did (for extra effects). These would have, of course, shipped on the same cart and would have been a simple menu toggle. The 4mb (default, non-expansion) build had a bug that Rare couldn't track down and fix despite their effort. This left them with only the expansion pack build as stable so it became default.

I'm sure the DK64 we got still needs the expansion pack.

 

[DonMigs85]

1080 wasn't bad either - it was clean and ran smoothly, and the character models were much improved over what we had in Wave Race.

 

[Coreda]

I think this comment was misunderstood.

I got the impression that there were two "builds" of the game. One that didn't utilize the expansion pack and one that did (for extra effects). These would have, of course, shipped on the same cart and would have been a simple menu toggle. The 4mb (default, non-expansion) build had a bug that Rare couldn't track down and fix despite their effort. This left them with only the expansion pack build as stable so it became default.

I'm sure the DK64 we got still needs the expansion pack.

This of course makes sense.

 

[bennyc12]

Framerate was shit, but Majora's Mask looks way better than OOT.

 

[Yuterald]

Nintendo 64's Vagrant Story...Hybrid Heaven.

Maybe not the best looking, but it's close to having my favorite OST on the system. It does, however, have THE coolest looking box art on the system!

God-tier tracks:

Fight!! 2, Boss
Gargatuans Hide Out
Mr. President's Theme/Gargatuan's Rescue Theme

Runner up...as far as OST goes to...maybe even better than the above if I put my personal bias/obsession off to the side:

God-tier tracks:

Kappa Road
Frog Mountain
Sky Garden

No contest.

 

[dsmoke1986]

And Perfect Dark was better in every way.

Spoiler

maybe not including story, but at least it told it's story better

Nah, it lacked the soul that Goldeneye had. My fave game on the 64 and #1 on my all time list....The hours that I poured into that game, good god.

I will agree though that graphically, Perfect Dark with the expansion pack looked better...and IMO, was the pinnacle graphically for the console.

 

[DieNgamers]

Nah, it lacked the soul that Goldeneye had. My fave game on the 64 and #1 on my all time list....The hours that I poured into that game, good god.

I will agree though that graphically, Perfect Dark with the expansion pack looked better...and IMO, was the pinnacle graphically for the console.

It's funny that most people who played one first say the same thing about the other. I played Goldeneye after PD and just didn't feel it. I always appreciated it for being groundbreaking and the blueprint for one of my favourite games.
Oh and the Conker'sBFD soundtrack is a work of art. Sheer quality and variety... Robin Beanland is a genius!

 

[daninthemix]

Oh and the Conker'sBFD soundtrack is a work of art. Sheer quality and variety... Robin Beanland is a genius!

So true - not just the music but the way it subtly changes instruments as you move from one area to another.

Or in other words "context sensitive".

 

[MYE]

Shadow Man had a fucking AWESOME theme

 

[dark10x]

Why don't the N64 Zelda games look like 20fps to me? They seem really smooth in general. A framerate like that would kill just about any other game for me but I can't really notice it there (I do notice the drops from 20, but they aren't even that bad).

Well, to be fair, it did run at a reasonably consistent 20 fps. So while the framerate was very low it didn't fluctuate often.

Also, back then, low framerates were a lot more common (even on the PC) so I'd imagine people were less bothered by it.

 

[Shig]

Absolutely, unequivocally Sin & Punishment. It's really the only N64 game that stands the test of time visually.

Took way too long for this to be posted. The one and only correct answer.

 

[Version 3.0]

The most gorgeous thing on the N64 is probably the title screen for Starcraft 64. I don't see a decent example on an internet image search. Maybe I'll grab my own later. It's jaw-dropping. When I first saw it, I had to pull out the RAM pack to see if it would downgrade. It doesn't (the game does use the RAM pack, though).

Best-looking game, in-game? My personal pick would be Doom 64 - it's incredible-looking, much more visually impressive than other versions of Doom, and runs perfectly, unlike so many framey N64 games.

Quoting myself (and bumping a semi-old thread) because I've popped up a Youtube video of the StarCraft 64 character select screen, which just...doesn't look like it should be possible on the N64:

 

[FyreWulff]

Basically 'name the Rare game'

Conker BFD

Perfect Dark

Banjo Tooie (the 360 version is missing the original's real time lighting.. lol)

Conker and Tooie are even more impressive since they didn't even use the Expansion Pak, as far as I'm aware

 

[rjc571]

Quoting myself (and bumping a semi-old thread) because I've popped up a Youtube video of the StarCraft 64 character select screen, which just...doesn't look like it should be possible on the N64:

Why? Those are just pre-rendered digitized sprites. I do like the faux self-shadowing on the alien dudes.

This thread needs way more Kirby 64

I started playing this recently on the Wii Kirby collection, and I was blown away that the real time cutscenes actually run at 60 fps (although the gameplay itself is only 30). Makes the game's cutscenes look a million times more cinematic than the 30 fps cutscenes in modern games.

 

[Jay Sosa]

Conker. So pretty.

 

[Celine]

Battle for Naboo
Conker
Perfect Dark
Majora's Mask
Turok 3
Jet Force Gemini

 

[Chao]

I remember playing Jet Force Gemini, sound coming out of my dad's big speakers, and it was very impressive for the time.

I remember the sound of the rocket launcher being shot from close range hitting an ant soldier particularly well.

That and the ost, and the fact that it had Dolby surround sound

 

[Sword Familiar]

Absolutely, unequivocally Sin & Punishment. It's really the only N64 game that stands the test of time visually.
http://i.imgur.com/8Io3dSf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0hLnfWF.png

I agree with this. It almost looked like a PS1 game.

As for best sounding, I don't know. Maybe Goemon's Great Adventure?

 

[clem84]

To me it was Majora' mask. It had by far the prettiest textures on the N64 and the environments (for the time) were large and detailed. It beats Ocarina in just about every way (graphically).

Turok 2 was a slide show. Seriously, this game's framerate was constantly around 15-20 FPS, possibly even slower. A slow framerate makes any kind of game ugly IMO. Perfect Dark was, at times, very pretty but it also suffers from framerate problems.

Now that I think about it., Conker also looked really amazing. It would be between this game and Majora's mask. I would have a real hard time picking a winner.

 

[Celine]

Quoting myself (and bumping a semi-old thread) because I've popped up a Youtube video of the StarCraft 64 character select screen, which just...doesn't look like it should be possible on the N64:

Uh, why is pre-rendered stuff impressive?
We aren't in a PS1 thread

 

[Version 3.0]

Why? Those are just pre-rendered digitized sprites. I do like the faux self-shadowing on the alien dudes.

I realize that, but why does the method matter? That screen looks nicer than anything on a console that gen, pre-rendered or not. It just looks so...HD.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Conker is probably one of if not the most technologically impressive games on the system. Crazy what Rare was able to get out of the system. It's super low res, but Conker even has a true dynamic shadow of his model, that also reacts to light sources. Stand under the swinging ceiling lamps in the Teddiz bunker and his shadow moves accordingly.

I miss Rare's amazing technical Wizardry. I loved Donkey Kong 64 graphically as well.

Makes me wonder what the N64 could have achieved with some tweaks to its hardware to avoid some of the annoying bottlenecks.