N64 is 20

Mr E

The N64 came out this day, 20 years ago, in Japan.

If I remember correctly, I think I owned two of them altogether. I got it with Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 in March 1997 (when it was launched here). I sold it for some reason later that year or early 1998. I bought another one when Ocarina came out in late 1998.

Any Nintendo 64 fans out there? Share your memories.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-23-the-nintendo-64-turns-20-today
http://kotaku.com/the-nintendo-64-turns-20-years-old-today-1782474917
http://venturebeat.com/2016/06/23/the-nintendo-64-is-now-20-years-old/

Andrew76

Still have mine sitting in a cupboard behind me. It's hard not to remember Mario 64, playing that for the first time back then was something special. Mario, in 3D. 3D!! :eek:

Other fond memories I had with the machine:

1080° - Still the best pure snowboarding game?

Wave Race 64 - Felt so realistic bouncing about on the waves.

International Superstar Soccer - Was a much better football game than Fifa. Very addictive.

Goldeneye - So much fun this game was. Especially the multi-player - playing with 3 of your mates in 4-player split screen was brilliant. Still remember shooting the armour so nobody else could pick it up. (@Retr0 - I don't care how it's aged! :P)

Ocarina of Time - Probably my fondest memory was playing and finishing this, still my favourite game of all time. CIB and still in good nick.

Still have my original PAL N64 hooked up in my bedroom.

CiDeRmAn

I remember seeing Mario 64 playing on an imported N64 in Gamesworld, before buying it there on the evening before launch day.
They had an "event" and I went home with my lovely N64 and around three launch titles, including Mario and Pilotwings 64.
Of them all Pilotwings 64 was the most startling, an incredible game with a world packed with character and secrets, unlike the mediocre 3DS sequel.
Doesn't feel like so long ago though, but it must be, Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Majora, Beetle Adventure Racing, Blastcorps, Glover, Diddy Kong Racing, even the pretty damn decent San Francisco Rush games, a lot of fun had with that console.
Still have one though, it's an NTSC set now, with an Everdrive chugging away, still have the essentials in their original form though, including gold carts of the LoZ games.

OwaynOTT

It was the first console I owned from new. It was the first console I paid for myself. Got like two games with it goldeneye and Mario 64 and after that couldn't get another game for it in my town.
Had to make do with renting games for a long time.
Goldeneye was a blast.
Oh I forgot I had Buck bumble as well. Loved the music in that and thought it was a pretty decent game too.

Ol' Donie

Didn't quite catch it on launch day. Was closer to 2006, in fact.

But i love it Mario 64 and both Zeldas are among the very best games I've ever played.

Bought Resi 2 on ebay a while back. Loved that too.

Banjo

I first played Goldeneye in my girlfriend's cousins' house while we were babysitting for them. Just the opening levels on the Dam. Amazing stuff - analogue aiming, stealthy executions, a guy on the toilet. I was floored.

My girlfriend bought me an N64 with Zelda and Goldeneye for my birthday.

She was a keeper.

Married now, 3 kids, all of whom fight over who gets to be Peach in SM3DW.

My abiding memory of the N64 itself will always be the 40-man Royal Rumble in NCW vs NWO Revenge, where only knockouts counted, and then spending 2 hours as Roddy Piper smacking the ****e out of a hell of a lot of people while drinking and eating pizza.

Digital Solitude

I got one for Christmas this year Sitting all pretty at home, waiting for the day I return to play it.

As someone who grew up with PlayStation and now games almost primarily on PC, the controller just will not sit right in my hands

Star Lord

Banjo wrote: »

...and then spending 2 hours as Roddy Piper smacking the ****e out of a hell of a lot of people while drinking and eating pizza.

AKA "They Live" by John Carpenter! :pac:

Tom1991

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I remember seeing Mario 64 playing on an imported N64 in Gamesworld, before buying it there on the evening before launch day.
They had an "event" and I went home with my lovely N64 and around three launch titles, including Mario and Pilotwings 64.
Of them all Pilotwings 64 was the most startling, an incredible game with a world packed with character and secrets, unlike the mediocre 3DS sequel.
Doesn't feel like so long ago though, but it must be, Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Majora, Beetle Adventure Racing, Blastcorps, Glover, Diddy Kong Racing, even the pretty damn decent San Francisco Rush games, a lot of fun had with that console.
Still have one though, it's an NTSC set now, with an Everdrive chugging away, still have the essentials in their original form though, including gold carts of the LoZ games.

How good was the crew in gamesworld in liffey street at the time.My parents hadnt a clue about games and when i went in with my granny they always steered me away from the crap games.
I got my n64 from the lads on talbot street that were under the dart bridge another sound bunch of lads that had always got imported games for the playstation with the better covers.

OwaynOTT

Star Lord wrote: »

AKA "They Live" by John Carpenter! :pac:

Guess Banjo was all out of bubble gum

CiDeRmAn

Tom1991 wrote: »

How good was the crew in gamesworld in liffey street at the time.My parents hadnt a clue about games and when i went in with my granny they always steered me away from the crap games.
I got my n64 from the lads on talbot street that were under the dart bridge another sound bunch of lads that had always got imported games for the playstation with the better covers.

Those guys were Gameszone... and they did get in some good stuff.
I worked in Gamesworld at the time, on my day off from being a nurse, and used to love helping people put.
I was the tall guy with red hair, beard and glasses!
Also on Talbot street was Bookmart and Gamesexchange, and they are still there, working away.

Tom1991

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Those guys were Gameszone... and they did get in some good stuff.
I worked in Gamesworld at the time, on my day off from being a nurse, and used to love helping people put.
I was the tall guy with red hair, beard and glasses!
Also on Talbot street was Bookmart and Gamesexchange, and they are still there, working away.

Haha young me thanks you as no doubt i himmed and hawwed with staff like yourself for the one game id play till next xmas or my next birthday.
One day i remember talking to a fella about getting banjo kazooie or perfect dark(i think may have been goldeneye was a shooter).after 20 mins the fella goes here opens the demo n64 and says play the first level on each see what ya like.The competitions were great aswell and the kids were always danced on by the teens and older lads but somehow i always got some random spot prize.still have a clip on cover for my gameboy color off pokemon from that.
TLDR:Nostalgia getting to me

CastorTroy

I was about to say it can't be 20 years as that would mean I was 15. Then I remembered that I got Turok 2 and memory card as an 18th present

Gunmonkey

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Those guys were Gameszone... and they did get in some good stuff.

Still remember the only time I was in there, went with my brother and his friend. While browsing the friend spied a used £30 copy of Ocarina, so angry I missed out on that....until we went to Virgin on the quays later and they had brand new sealed copies marked down to £30

CiDeRmAn

I sold an unboxed copy for €45 a couple of years ago!
The demand for that game is still strong, particularly amongst young players of N64 games.
I know it's great on the 3DS but there is a special something about playing it on original hardware.
1080° is still cracking, as is Excitebike 64, Waverace 64 on an NTSC console is still probably the best jetski game there is.

machiavellianme

Still have my original N64 hooked up for daily play and a couple of special edition versions on display. Have been collecting it for years and almost have a full PAL set of games now. Ocarina of Time and Banjo the stand-outs but I also have a soft spot for Jet Force Gemini and San Fran Rush 2049.

Andrew76

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Those guys were Gameszone... and they did get in some good stuff.
I worked in Gamesworld at the time, on my day off from being a nurse, and used to love helping people put.
I was the tall guy with red hair, beard and glasses!
Also on Talbot street was Bookmart and Gamesexchange, and they are still there, working away.

What was the games section at the back of Chapters called do you know (on middle Abbey st.)? Remember going in there the odd time as a youff.

CiDeRmAn

I was there, it was the original Gamesworld, simply a counter at the back of the shop, around the launch of the Playstation they opened the shop on Liffey St, which is still there.
I used to love working in Abbey St, there was a more of a enthusiast feel to the customers there, myself and Eddie and a guy called Jason would be in there.
At the time the rental scheme was still running.
Good times!
The next thing they opened was a temporary stall on the top floor of the Stephen's Green Centre, over Christmas, they also moved with Chapters across the road, which itself has closed.

WeleaseWoderick

Great memories of the N64!

Got one for my birthday in June 2007 with Shadows of the Empire and played that game to death. Was amazed by the Battle of Hoth and had actually never seen a Star Wars movie at that point!

I still distinctly remember going to Gamesworld to pick up Lylat Wars on release and having a last minute change of heart and picking up Goldeneye 007 instead as I'd just read the review in ONM. To this day, I don't think I've played any other game as much! Damn Facility speed run!

By the time I moved onto the Gamecube, I'd gotten about 25 games or so (a lot at discount prices when 2nd hand actually meant cheap) and have fond memories of a lot of them

Shemale

Goldeneye is the best first person shooter ever, facility one shot kill using pistols. We used to go to one of the lads house and play for 6 hours of a weekday evening, drinking coke and eating crisps and chocolate and then get home to bed and lie there for three hors staring at tge ceiling as I was so wired!!

One of the lads figured out how to get into the vent over the jacks and used to grab the magnum on his way.

Myrddin

Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet

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

The_B_Man

Does anyone still play N64 games through emulation?
I have my N64 setup beside my telly but the cables are a bit damaged so its not ideal. So I have the laptop hooked up with a bluetooth gamepad. I saw an N64 controller to USB adapter online but I prefer the wireless gamepads these days.
Also, I've started looking into texture packs. There's some good ones for OoT, which make it a lot nicer to play. (I've done the same for my Gamecube games but this is an N64 thread ).

No doubt the best way to play is on original hardware, but there's a lot to be said for emulators + texture packs!

CiDeRmAn

The_B_Man wrote: »

Does anyone still play N64 games through emulation?
I have my N64 setup beside my telly but the cables are a bit damaged so its not ideal. So I have the laptop hooked up with a bluetooth gamepad. I saw an N64 controller to USB adapter online but I prefer the wireless gamepads these days.
Also, I've started looking into texture packs. There's some good ones for OoT, which make it a lot nicer to play. (I've done the same for my Gamecube games but this is an N64 thread ).

No doubt the best way to play is on original hardware, but there's a lot to be said for emulators + texture packs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

Doodleking

I guess they stop shipping N64 like in 2003-2004- ish....An old school gizmo :-) #memories

Realt Dearg Sec

TWENTY YEARS OLD!!!! My God...

I was a SNES child myself but used to read a lot of SNES mags and when this came out they really sold Mario 64 hard. I remember it looked amazing but I have still NEVER played it. When I was in college one of my roommates had the system and we used to spend a lot of time doing four player one shot kill pistol in the library on golden eye. Our other favourite, and nobody mentioned here, was Mario kart four player battles. I loved that social aspect of it, which the SNES lacked because you couldn't do four player games. Battle mode in Mario kart didn't make a lot of sense until the chaos of four players was introduced. Unbelievable craic.

Myrddin

Just this year it was discovered how to disable anti aliasing, & as such, remove the vaso-fog that ruined many games. You need an action replay or flash cart to do it - http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?31145-N64-Games-Hacked-To-Remove-Blurry-Graphics-Via-Action-Replay-Or-Flash-Carts

CiDeRmAn

Myrddin wrote: »

Just this year it was discovered how to disable anti aliasing, & as such, remove the vaso-fog that ruined many games. You need an action replay or flash cart to do it - http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?31145-N64-Games-Hacked-To-Remove-Blurry-Graphics-Via-Action-Replay-Or-Flash-Carts

Vago-fog!
WTF....

Oh, wait, yeah, vaso-fog... I get it now.... you don't want to know what I was thinking just there, but it would have required an anti-fungal to get rid of it....

Doodleking

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

TWENTY YEARS OLD!!!! My God...

I was a SNES child myself but used to read a lot of SNES mags and when this came out they really sold Mario 64 hard. I remember it looked amazing but I have still NEVER played it. When I was in college one of my roommates had the system and we used to spend a lot of time doing four player one shot kill pistol in the library on golden eye. Our other favourite, and nobody mentioned here, was Mario kart four player battles. I loved that social aspect of it, which the SNES lacked because you couldn't do four player games. Battle mode in Mario kart didn't make a lot of sense until the chaos of four players was introduced. Unbelievable craic.

Thoses SNES N-Force magazines....:D

Realt Dearg Sec

Doodleking wrote: »

Thoses SNES N-Force magazines....:D

Hahaha that and Nintendo Magazine System. For so long after the PlayStation came out they had been force feeding us propaganda that the console was awful and the SNES was a superior machine, when the n64 finally arrived they were able to tout something new. It never occurred to me they might not be entirely independent, impartial journalists. (I still think the SNES was a better machine to the PlayStation in some ways, but the way they talked about it you'd swear everyone who had bought one had buyer's remorse)

McLoughlin

I didn't get an N64 till a few years after it was out it was so expensive back then and games were around 70 to 80 punt. I think i got in around 2001 ish from Gamestop in Waterford or was it Game ? 100 punt for console and 3 cartridges Mario, Zelda and Golden eye

WeleaseWoderick

Myrddin wrote: »

Just this year it was discovered how to disable anti aliasing, & as such, remove the vaso-fog that ruined many games. You need an action replay or flash cart to do it - http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?31145-N64-Games-Hacked-To-Remove-Blurry-Graphics-Via-Action-Replay-Or-Flash-Carts

I much prefer the original look compared to the look without the AA

pajor

I got my N64 in 2004 (first year of secondary), given free by an older cousin who was moving out of his parents' house. It's a plain black one, but got 4 different colour controllers with it, GoldenEye and Perfect Dark with it. Have a lot of memories of playing it at his house many years before that too. Wasn't the first one he had either. Somewhere in 98/99 he had one that got taken when their house was broken into. He was of course devastated.

Bought a few more games for myself over the years; F1-II, Mario 64, Wave Racer.. and some more I think. I completed Mario 64 more or less over the 2 weeks of Easter holidays when I was in 2nd year. Weather was gorgeous out but I was inside playing Mario.

And I'll throw this here. As if there wasn't enough nostalgia here already.

CiDeRmAn

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

I much prefer the original look compared to the look without the AA

I know, some games look ok, but the likes of Body Harvest look terrible.
I wonder how much processing the anti aliasing took up, and how that power could have been better put to use in a games framerate.

Doodleking

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Doodleking wrote: »

Thoses SNES N-Force magazines....:D

Hahaha that and Nintendo Magazine System. For so long after the PlayStation came out they had been force feeding us propaganda that the console was awful and the SNES was a superior machine, when the n64 finally arrived they were able to tout something new. It never occurred to me they might not be entirely independent, impartial journalists. (I still think the SNES was a better machine to the PlayStation in some ways, but the way they talked about it you'd swear everyone who had bought one had buyer's remorse)

The last issue of this magazine was issued not that long ago, like 1 or 2 years go, like I guess that's what they had to do since we're living in a digital world now

RINO87

Banjo Kazooie. What a game.

Doodleking

RINO87 wrote: »

Banjo Kazooie. What a game.

Agree!!! Much betther than its successor Yooka-Laylee

Corholio

Doodleking wrote: »

Agree!!! Much betther than its successor Yooka-Laylee

Fair play on playing it already!

CiDeRmAn

I think the successor was Banjo Tooie tbh

bennyc

After Goldeneye I think Perfect Dark may have been my fav I even bought the expansion pack, my now wife got me the Matrix on DVD and Perfect Dark for XMas one year, what a year..

Star Lord

Random pointless trivia: Perfect Dark was the first game I'd ever pre-ordered, and to this day, is the only game that I booked release day off work to play!

WeleaseWoderick

Star Lord wrote: »

Random pointless trivia: Perfect Dark was the first game I'd ever pre-ordered, and to this day, is the only game that I booked release day off work to play!

Odd memory that I have re Perfect Dark was being amazed at the reload animation for the Cyclone gun.

That game was definitely getting every last drop of performance out of the N64.

Star Lord

My brothers used to hate playing the multiplayer with me, as I'd grab the farsight and kill them from the opposite end of the map! I'd toy with them first though, let them see me aiming at them while they tried to run...

I think I'm evil...

Retr0gamer

N64 wasn't that great a console especially in comparison to its direct competition the PS1. Still for the tiny library it had it had a very high ratio of fantastic games.

It's quite an easy machine to collect for these days, no real rarities worth playing. Only two problems is that the PAL system and games are terrible, make sure to start collecting NTSC games. That and the controls that are made of spiderwebs and fairy dust.

EagererBeaver

Donkey Kong 64 was incredible.

I remember getting WWF No Mercy for Christmas that had the memory deleting bug. Player it for a couple of weeks making sure to finish story mode, then swapped it for Majora's Mask. Good times.

briany

I got one in '97. Paid for it myself, too. Great machine. Mario 64 was, of course, amazing, although the I do remember a slight culture shock at the time. Before that, with a Mario game, you were on your way pretty much as soon as the game started, but in this one you could find yourself milling about without a clue what to do next or where to do. It passed and became a great game to me, though. And, yeah, obviously the other favourites like Ocarina, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Wave Race, MK 64 as well. Couple of games that were also standouts on the N64 to me were Body Harvest and Episode 1 Racer. I used to play a lot of Virtual Pool as well for some reason. Diddy Kong Racing was an excellent kart racer and superior to MK 64, IMO.

Oh yeah, and how could I forget about the AKAI wrestling games? WCW/NWO World Tour, WCW/NWO Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy. Great games even if you didn't like wrestling itself. The Acclaim games were horrible in comparison. The amount of button combos you had to learn to pull moves off made the action extremely clunky. The wooden commentary and blocky arena visuals did nothing for atmosphere either.

I also had Mace: The Dark Age, which was underwhelming. Lylat Wars was an excellent game and first experiencing the Rumble Pak was quite something.

ISS 98 was a great football game. Completely blew FIFA away at the time and to this day I am still a devotee of the Konami lineage of football games, finding them to be superior to EA's offerings.

Another good game, or series of games were the Goemon games on the N64. I remember the first game being pretty crazy and not getting too far in it, but the second game had a more traditional platformer type feel that was easier for me to wrap my western brain around.

So great memories of some great games. The only thing is that the N64 visuals have aged horribly, for the most part, rendering a large number of the console's games virtually unplayable to me. But there are standouts that I've returned to, most notably Pilotwings which is just a fantastic game. Perfectly weighted challenge there and surprising, really, that more entries have not been made in that series.

CiDeRmAn

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Donkey Kong 64 was incredible.

Dear sweet mother of god no, that game was dreadful.
Too much focus on collecting, sprawling poorly rendered levels, just a mess.
And I speak as a someone who bought it on release and tried my best to like it.

Len_007

Using my Jet Lag constructively...
I remember the first time I got to see & play the system was Christmas '96. My family were visiting friends in Canada & I happened upon it in the games isle of some Mall we were at. Incidentally, right next to it was a Virtual Boy. But on the N64 was Mario 64, which I played, for 5 mins, as the machine was set for auto reset! Guess it was to move on would be loiters...
It wasn't until almost a year later that I would get one at home. My Dad took ill in Aug '97. Men in Black had just come out actually, & Dad was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis. It almost took his life, but thankfully he's still around. Anyway, my grandparents at the time wanted to help cheer me & my brother up, so they bought us an N64. & of course, I chose Mario.
After that came GoldenEye. I recall vividly, pouring over screenshots of the game in ONM in the months prior to release. But that flipping game more than any other left a sear on my brain, that I can feel still to this day!! It turned me into a "Rare"-ite, as best as I can describe it. I ate up that company's software for the following 7-8, years. DKR that Christmas, man those tunes regularly pump in my head still, Kirkhope & Beanland, eh, the N64's Lennon & McCartney anyone?!?! "Hot Top Volcano", the perfect BPM.
From there I can't quite place what games came next in the chronology of things, but Banjo - Kazooie, what amazing textures, & of course: Stop N Swap!!!
JET FORCE GEMINI!!! That soundtrack, do yourselves a favor and YouTube the tune to the level "Water Ruin", it's just beautiful.
1080 snow boarding, Extreme-G, F-Zero X, resident evil 2...
And how this thread got so far without any one mentioning Conkers Bad Fur Day?!
I remember playing through that when I worked night shift in a filling station back in the day, good times, "Windy" by Beanland, top top tune.
So, for ocarina of time, it was the most normal thing in the world for me to take a day off school. What was that, Christmas '98? Yeh I got the 7 into town, & came straight back home to play it. A friend reminded me of this recently as I apparently picked him up a copy too, he swung by on his way home from school.
Getting to Perfect Dark then. This one, I think was June 2000? It was meant to arrive for Christmas '99, but was delayed a couple of times. So those same friends from Canada were visiting me this time, & were flying home the morning it came out. Having spend the whole night up with them before their flight, I said goodbye at the airport & went straight to EB Dawson's st to by two copies, one for another school mate. I was of course exhausted, but it didn't stop me playing through to the afternoon.
I had my multiplayer character saved on my controller pak, which meant I could bring my file to other lads' gaff's for continued stats, which blew my mind at the time. The "Chicago" theme is playing in my head right now.
Turok 2:Seeds of Evil was memorable, because it came in a black cart, but also because of the expansion pak!! 4 extra MB's of RAM is important, I told myself and others.
Wait, have you heard that story of how Nintendo shipped a free pak with DK64, because there was a bug RARE couldn't fix, but running with the expansion pak seemed to solve it?!

So yes, what a great system, it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. And the RAGE needs to run Mario Kart 64 nights at least once a year. Which I bought for the first time (!) very recently on the Wii-U VC, & it's the 60HZ version, which looks great.
& my jet lag is due from returning from visiting my brother, who now lives in Canada.
How about that for some awesome inclusio.

CiDeRmAn

Big fan of Diddy Kong Racing here, always preferred it to Mario Kart 64, particularly because they brought an over world and secrets to the racing genre, where onto only dry menus were before.
Plus the visuals were great, making great use of Rare imagination in taking traditional level themes and making then new again, like the Winter/Christmas themed Snowflake Mountain and the summery Sherbet Island.
Now I want to play it again!

EagererBeaver

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Dear sweet mother of god no, that game was dreadful.
Too much focus on collecting, sprawling poorly rendered levels, just a mess.
And I speak as a someone who bought it on release and tried my best to like it.

Blasphemy. I thought it was absolutely incredible, the DK rap aside...

CiDeRmAn

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Blasphemy. I thought it was absolutely incredible, the DK rap aside...

It's OK.
We can find you help.
The important thing is you recognise your illness and we can begin your path back to wellness.

Step one: Stop playing that awful DK64!
Step two: Play Glover on the N64, few did even though it's excellent!