N64 Discussion Thread

What are you expecting me to say? We all know that I think the only good N64 game is Paper Mario

That's why we definitely question your sanity.

There are a lot of N64 games that I never played: the Blast Corps, Pilotwings 64 and Diddy Kong Racing that g mentioned in his thread revival! post all count, for example. I was off at uni for a good chunk of the N64's lifespan and when I was at home, where our N64 was based, I struggled with the 3Dification of my favourite games, as I have recounted umpteen times on this very forum. I'd probably put myself closer to the 'Dislike' than the 'Like' camp in terms of N64 love... but I recognise its position in Nintendo's history.

ZeroJones wrote:

There are a lot of N64 games that I never played: the Blast Corps, Pilotwings 64 and Diddy Kong Racing that g mentioned in his thread revival! post all count, for example. I was off at uni for a good chunk of the N64's lifespan and when I was at home, where our N64 was based, I struggled with the 3Dification of my favourite games, as I have recounted umpteen times on this very forum. I'd probably put myself closer to the 'Dislike' than the 'Like' camp in terms of N64 love... but I recognise its position in Nintendo's history.

That's interesting. I would have thought the N64 saw a lot of activity in university accommodation, particularly with Goldeneye 007.

I wasn't actually playing the monumental stuff like Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time - I was all about the wrestling games, ISS and the FPS titles like Turok 2 and Goldeneye. I think that's why I hold the console so closely to my heart - because it not only had the classic Nintendo franchises (Mario, Star Fox et al) but it also had the best wrestling game (No Mercy), the best football game (ISS 98 - for a time at least) and the best FPS. There was also the fact that the PlayStation was more popular, so the N64, especially with the wonderful N64 Magazine, felt like a club where those who owned one knew that it was a great system. A bit like the Dreamcast I guess.

Saying that, 99% of the games have aged badly - as Andy says, Paper Mario and other I'd add a few distinct titles like Rakuga Kids and maybe Mischief Makers have held up better.

We were discouraged from having TV's in our rooms... and I never met anyone who was into the N64. It was all PC games, if anything.

I'm still an N64 gamer, and have been for twenty years. And while I agree that the games have largely aged badly visually, the gameplay remains undamaged. Even a game like Super Smash Bros - which has undoubtedly been surpassed - is still massively playable.The only stuff that's aged is the stuff that wasn't any good in the first place.

When we had that console vote on here a few years ago, I think I said "legends stand alone" when I was typing about the N64. It's impact was phenomenal, it's library unrivalled.

I do feel that the games are aged now. Even the gameplay has for me - SM64's camera, OoT's Hyrule Field. But I'll always remember it fondly, the games were blinding at the time.

As for games I've missed, Snowboard Kids and Rakuga Kids spring to mind. I like games with kids in apparently.


Er, I mean.

On the topic of Rakugakids, I remember when I had a Beartank avatar on the NGamer Forums, and the magazine made a comment calling me and the picture "overly effeminate". I'm sure that wasn't the only time they took a dig at me either.

Anyway, "the games are aged now", kiss my arse, suck my willy, sniff my manky ring, etc etc.

I only played Goldeneye for the first time in about 4 years and that's held up really well, like I've said before and I'll say again a good game will always be a good game.

Eh.  May just be what I'm used to.  But I was gutted when I went back to SM64 on the Wii U VC and found the camera a pain in the arse.  Honestly and truly gutted.  I have a whole lot of love for that game, but most of it seems to be nostalgia now. (Nostalgia and level design and the water music, anyway.)

You know what I don't think's aged, though, and is still great?  The controller.  While everyone else raves about the GC's offering, I found that my hands fit brilliantly into the two right prongs.  And that Z-trigger!  Get rid of the mostly superfluous left prong, and you'd have my favourite pad ever.

Balladeer wrote:

Eh. May just be what I'm used to. But I was gutted when I went back to SM64 on the Wii U VC and found the camera a pain in the arse. Honestly and truly gutted. I have a whole lot of love for that game, but most of it seems to be nostalgia now

I played through SM64 a few years back and it still holds up. It felt more responsive than something like Banjo-Kazooie, but Mazza was definitely a little slower than he was in Galaxy or Sunshine. I never really had problems with the camera - it's impeccable when put up against Sonic Adventure.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'm still an N64 gamer, and have been for twenty years. And while I agree that the games have largely aged badly visually, the gameplay remains undamaged. Even a game like Super Smash Bros - which has undoubtedly been surpassed - is still massively playable.The only stuff that's aged is the stuff that wasn't any good in the first place.

I kind of see where you're coming from. The gameplay remains intact but games with more recent entries have definitely made refinements (Sunshine to SM64, Double Dash to MK64, Timesplitters to Goldeneye/Perfect Dark etc.) so they inevitably feel inferior, in my opinion at least. The AKI/THQ wrestling games remain great, although Pro Evolution Soccer has made ISS look very dated. Turok is a series that I feel hasn't aged well either, mostly because it's sluggish and takes place in massive levels (although that in itself was very ahead of its time).

Rakuga Kids was a game I picked up for 8 quid in 2000 and I remember it having some genuinely funny movesets. A guy who calls for a pizza and the delivery guy runs the opponent over, throwing the opponent in to a lift and it plummets fifty floors - that game was a good laugh with an amazing visual style.

I envy you, sir - both for playing Rakuga in the console's heyday, and still being able to play my favourite (if not the best IMHUAOWO) game ever and love it. Maybe I ought to play Sonic Adventure, would that help?

Balladeer wrote:

I envy you, sir - both for playing Rakuga in the console's heyday, and still being able to play my favourite (if not the best IMHUAOWO) game ever and love it.  Maybe I ought to play Sonic Adventure, would that help?

I wouldn't wish that upon you, but I'd definitely be interested in your opinion of the Dreamcast. Especially as you love Mario Tennis (Virtua Tennis is superior IMO), Last Window (Shenmue is similar) and Smash Bros (Power Stone 2 is a bit like Smash in 3D environments). They've aged better than N64 games too. Maybe if I get you in secret Santa I'll sort something out

(readies bribe money for Drunka)

Sonic Adventure is great still, also of course Dreamcast games have aged better they're from a whole generation on from the N64.

masofdas wrote:

I only played Goldeneye for the first time in about 4 years and that's held up really well, like I've said before and I'll say again a good game will always be a good game.

Now I love Goldeneye to bits & it was the only N64 game I owned for about a year so it got a lot of play time but I revisited it a couple of years ago and while everything else design wise about it has stood up the controls for me did not.

Definitely still a cracking game even if it was a bit of shock to the system having to wrestle with those old fps controls.

EDIT: This eurogamer late to the party video on Goldeneye is a good watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFvE8Zg1Ap4

From the BBC Archive, "Nintendo's much-anticipated N64 games console was about to be released in Europe". It's twenty-three years old today!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/nintendo_64_release/z7hk47h 

I'd have been eight years old when I was mesmerised at the Super Mario 64 demo pad at the Beatties near the St. Enoch's centre. That was a hugely exciting time in my gaming life. Time flies*.



*except during the Wii U era, that took fucking ages to end.

Now seeing that I must have got an N64 Christmas 1997 as it would have been a big deal as a prize that year.

On the time flies thing, I think it's more we've got older as the library on N64 is small and I guess due to the prices of N64 a game had to last and be more excited for the next game you get compared to the Wii U.

I miss the N64 too. That 1997-2000 era was incredible, just the vast step up to the GameCube is something that I don't think we'll ever witness again. Rogue Squadrons 1 and 2 is the example that springs to mind, given there were three years between them.

gjones wrote:

I miss the N64 too. That 1997-2000 era was incredible, just the vast step up to the GameCube is something that I don't think we'll ever witness again. Rogue Squadrons 1 and 2 is the example that springs to mind, given there were three years between them.

Surely the step up from SD to HD is going to be the last big one, just tad weird from Nintendo side of things as by the time WiiU came out the PS360 had already been doing HD for years that it never seemed like a jump as it just something to be expected.

The N64 was my first console. Got it with Super Mario 64 which I still like to play through every now and then - albeit on Wii VC or emulated on PC.

Also loved:

Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask (only got to properly play this on GC, but still)
Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2
F-Zero X
Super Smash Bros
Mario Tennis
Lylat Wars
Mario Party 2
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer (Now this is podracing)

Not gonna comment on the quality of the system's overall library as I didn't have a whole lot of games compared to some people, but there were very strong first party offerings in this era. Truly spoiled as a Zelda fan with OoT and MM.

Liked all the different modes in Pokemon Stadium, but the minigames were a large part of the appeal and lent a lot of replayability in the multiplayer.

Mario Tennis is still my favourite in the series (the GBA game is pretty great too though), and for a time I was absolutely obsessed with the original Super Smash Bros.

I got F-Zero X pretty late - after I'd already played a bit of my cousin's copy of GX, I think - but I still really got into it.

Also liked/had fond memories of:

Snowboard Kids
Goldeneye (don't remember bothering much with the campaign but had fun messing about on the multiplayer)

And these are games I want to get around to playing:

Paper Mario
Sin & Punishment
Banjo & Kazooie

Another shout-out to the Pokémon Stadium minigames.  In particular my sister and I got years out of the sequel's offerings.  Barrier Ball

masofdas wrote:

gjones wrote:

I miss the N64 too. That 1997-2000 era was incredible, just the vast step up to the GameCube is something that I don't think we'll ever witness again. Rogue Squadrons 1 and 2 is the example that springs to mind, given there were three years between them.

Surely the step up from SD to HD is going to be the last big one, just tad weird from Nintendo side of things as by the time WiiU came out the PS360 had already been doing HD for years that it never seemed like a jump as it just something to be expected.

Debatable, but I'd say no.  Maybe it's me being Nintendonly, or maybe it's you being a graphics nerd.  I don't think it was a graphics-only shift GJones was talking about, but even then the move from the roughly hewn polygons of the N64 to the much smoother shapes of the top-end GameCube games was bigger in my opinion..

The resolution (SD to HD) comes really second to the changes in polygon complexity and texture quality.

I do think it's being Nintendonly or even SEGA only at the time as FFIX easily could have been an early PS2 game. Not to say there wasn't a jump, in the same way, SMB on NES to SMW on SNES but that's to me due to more powerful hardware and having more time to perfect your craft.

Where I feel SD to HD is like SNES to N64, which we won't see again as even though I play in 4K it's not a huge jump by any means.

I love the N64 to bits. So many classics that I still play today. Super Mario 64, GoldenEye and Ocarina of Time are still among my favourite games ever made. And the console had some nice hidden gems too.

With GoldenEye, I always played multiplayer on Licence to Kill. Me and my brother had our "classic" mode where we'd play Proximity Mines on Facility. We ended up playing our own meta as we knew where all the spawning points were and would lay mines on them or in a way in which the player would definitely die if they tried to leave the room. What did other modes did people play on GoldenEye multiplayer?