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Essential N64 Games?

  • 10-10-2010 4:48pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,345 ✭✭✭


    Got an N64 winging its way to me at the moment, so I'm wondering what the essential games are? Especially any NTSC only gems like Sin and Punishment... but that won't cost and arm and a leg :pac:

    So far my own list goes:

    Super Mario 64
    Mario Kart 64
    F-Zero X
    Banjo Kazooie
    Goldeneye (yeah its dated, I know, but still!)
    1080 Snowboarding
    Zelda: Ocarina of Time

    Has Space Station Silicon Valley aged well? I remember it was incredible at the time in terms of being unique and clever about its puzzles


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 695 ✭✭✭Banjo Fella


    The following are all great too, so be sure to have a look for them!

    Lylatwars/Starfox 64
    The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
    Banjo-Tooie
    Rocket: Robot on Wheels

    Conker's Bad Fur Day is fantastic too, if you can find a reasonably-priced copy.

    I think Silicon Valley is still well worth playing, it's a sizeable game with lots of imaginative ideas. And as blocky as the graphics are I doubt they've dated too badly, given how colourful and cartoony the game is. Its music is awesome too, very memorable and distinctive. I wonder why they decided to use a fairgrounds-style jazz organ to set the mood for a space-station interior? It works, anyway! :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 660 ✭✭✭NeoKubrick


    I try to avoid playing my Nintendo 64 as the audio cut-off years ago and my controllers' analogues are beyond usable.

    Perfect Dark - Underrated, but I recommend buying the Xbox Arcade version because it is superior, technically.

    Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - Quirky Jap-centric platformer/adventure

    Jet Force Gemini - A very good third-person shooter


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Ones that haven't been mentioned:

    Mischief makers
    Glover
    Kirby 64
    Paper Mario
    Body Harvest
    Blast Corp (****ing brilliant)
    Pokemon Snap
    Pokemon Puzzle League
    Beetle Adventure Racing
    Excitebike 64
    Waverace
    Star Wars Racer

    Perfect Dark is nigh on unplayable on the N64 due to the awful framerate. The 360 version really is a whole lot better, was surprised it was playable. Single Player isn't great but for 800 points there's some great online multiplayer.

    Space Station Silicon Valley is brilliant, a real ahead of it's time true sandbox game.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,679 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Shouldn't this thread be merged with the Naff Old Gaming Memories thread? ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭paperwork


    CiDeRmAn wrote: »
    Shouldn't this thread be merged with the Naff Old Gaming Memories thread? ;)

    No! Boo to you! the nintendo 64 deserves its own thread! I lived and breathed this machine from 1997 to 2002! I had no friend until 2000, just a nintendo 64 and even after that i only had friends that had N64s, i think in the mid to late nineties there were no more militant fans than militant ninty fans!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 695 ✭✭✭Banjo Fella


    Oh yes, here are a few more I forgot first time around...

    Diddy Kong Racing - Rare-made kart racer with a great single-player mode and infectiously fantastic music.
    Ogre Battle 64 - tactical RPG with lovely sprite-based artwork. Might be hard to find/play as it was never released in Europe... it's on the Virtual Console though, if you're interested.
    Rayman 2: The Great Escape - limbless French platforming goodness. It's an very nice-looking game and holds up well today.
    Harvest Moon 64 - it's Harvest Moon! Farm, explore, relax and womanise your way to success. It's a great entry in the series, but again, never released in Europe. There are Australian PAL copies, though.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    I never rated Diddy Kong Racing, never thought it was great at all. Ogre Battle 64 is excellent but it's going to cost you a fortune unless you get it for the VC on the Wii and I think it might have been NTSC only?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,679 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    paperwork wrote: »
    I lived and breathed this machine from 1997 to 2002! I had no friend until 2000, just a nintendo 64!

    That is possibly the saddest thing I have ever read!
    Deary deary me, no friends at all.... :'(

    after that i only had friends that had N64s

    This is possibly the second saddest thing I have ever read, only had friends that had N64's? Just the two of you was it? ;)
    I think in the mid to late nineties there were no more militant fans than militant ninty fans

    Change militant to deluded and I think you could be on to something!

    Only kidding, please don't you and your army of two come after me, I too have had an N64, I had one at launch, I still have one, I had one during the period you refer to.
    Unfortunately from 97 onwards there really was only one, the PSone, that was innovating constantly and producing most of the games from the period you describe that we still play.
    From 1999 we had the DC to play with, and from 2001 onwards the N64 was hopelessly outclassed by the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube.
    And the GC did nothing to enhance Nintendo's reputation as a top class gamemaker.
    Only the excellent GBA:SP and DS pushed the Ninty name back into relevancy and then the Wii cemented that family gaming concept into homes worldwide.

    But the N64? It betted on, certainly in retrospect, the wrong format, carts instead of disks, feck all third party software worth playing, of first and second party software there weren't that many either.

    To put it in perspective, I have over 100 PSone games in my collection, close to 250 for the PS2, I have 60 odd Saturn games (in various types of media ;) ) as well.
    But for the N64, I have everything I ever wanted for the console, and I only have about 30 carts all together, including all mentioned here.

    It's telling that when talking about the top 20 games on a given console there is much contention, but on the N64 there were only about 20 games on note, and so it comes down to the order rather than the ones left out!

    The GC was what the N64 should have been, albeit with less graphic power, the disk media of the GC would have given Nintendo the proprietary media they love together with the cheap media storage that the devs wanted.
    Ah well.....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭paperwork


    CiDeRmAn wrote: »
    But the N64? It betted on, certainly in retrospect, the wrong format, carts instead of disks, feck all third party software worth playing, of first and second party software there weren't that many either.


    this is the most common misconception about the N64, cartage based games are what saved the system!

    But i agree about the rest, during the time of the N64 there was this slight glimmer of hope that Nintendo could wrestle the market share back from sony... but by the time the gamecube stumbled off the block we had lost all hope... sad times!

    the copper disk format that was used on the gc was not readily available at the time and a cd based system would have driven up the cost of the console itself, like it did with the Saturn and Nintendo just couldn’t absorb deficit like sony could. So they stuck with carts and the system maintained a higher install base than the Saturn, but couldn’t compete with sony. But all they needed to do was keep their heads above water for that generation, because from the minute the PSONE his the shelves that generation belonged to Sony, it offered something other systems couldn’t provide, it was cooler and edgier.

    The N64 just acted as a buoy for Nintendo until Microsoft came along and split sonys consumer base. I mean look at the Gamecube, it offered what the other systems offered, it could even outdo them, but it didn’t make half the headway that the 64 made. And we all know that if Nintendo hadn’t made their first clever marketing move in 25 years, with the wii, they’d have gone all sega.

    (edited becoz i thought maybe i should elaborate)


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Was going to ask you to elaborate but I guess you did :) Anyway I disagree with what you said but I think you have a point.

    It was a double edged sword for Nintendo and they came off the worst for the cartridges they used. They lost so much third party support to sony that the Gamecube found it very hard to claw any back.

    But if the N64 was disc based it might have turned out like the Xbox which for me was a very poor console. The Xbox only has about 10 exclusives on it that are worth playing. For the N64 developers couldn't port games from the PS1 over (although they did for a handful later on) so there's far more exclusives on the N64 and a lot of them are well worth playing.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭paperwork


    I think they were kind of backed against the wall and they had to make a snap decision. But I honestly dont think they could have absorbed the cost of a primarily disk based system. Nintendo are odd in that they are both forward thinking and stuck in the past, I dont think they "believed" in expansive games like FFVII packed with FMV's.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Probably not but they should have looked at the PC market and seen how big games had become and that was discounting all the FMV.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    +1 on body harvest, such an original game


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭paperwork


    Retr0gamer wrote: »
    Probably not but they should have looked at the PC market and seen how big games had become and that was discounting all the FMV.

    they've always viewed console games as toys tho, like i remember Iwata caused a bit of a stir pre gamecube boy describing it as a toy. I dont think they ever considered pc games as an impression of what was to come.

    Ironically tho, they still view video games as toys and while in the past it was their downfall it seems to have saved them these days.


  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 2,975 Mod ✭✭✭✭LoGiE


    Super Smash Bros and Mario party 3..... I'll get my coat.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭sengoku


    Its a Japanese import and comes highly recommended.

    Bangai O


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    I think the dreamcast version is better though and it's coming out in HD on the newer consoles so might be better to go for it on them.

    For a really awesome N64 import get Sin and Punishment which is amazing. It's expensive but is on the virtual console.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭paperwork


    Sin and punishment on the vc controls horrendously,using classic controller makes it feel like your maneuvering a tank. But if you stick to it eventually you get the hang of it and its rather rewarding, it was kinda like playing the whole thing again on a higher difficulty level.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 52,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    Yeah it's definitely designed for the N64 controller. Takes ages to get used to it.


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