It was a great, although relatively expensive, time to be a gamer and it’s where yours truly really started to become possessed by our pastime of choice. It all started with a free N64 promo VHS on the front of a Gamesmaster magazine that was watched over and over until it could be watched no more and evolved into hundreds of great game memories.
Split screen multiplayer at its finest (with no multi taps!); the birth of analogue sticks and rumble packs; cardboard boxes and chunky plastic cartridges; trying to doodle that impossibly hard to draw logo on school books; and saving up pocket money for 3 months just to buy the newest £50 release are all part of a huge list of things that ruled about the time before expensive DLC, online passes and the morons of the online gaming world.
This was a time when console exclusivity mattered. You’ll notice that almost ALL of the games in this list were only available on the N64. Games have been selected based partly on a dabble of nostalgia mixed with how well they still shape up today. But mainly because they’re great. Enoy!
25. Pilotwings 64
Developer/Publisher: Nintendo/Nintendo
PAL Release: 1/3/97
A launch game for the platform that really showed off the graphical power the N64 could produce. A relaxing and enjoyable title that provided the same kind of challenge that the previous SNES title had, this time letting gamers fly about and fully explore the 3D environments. Various test of aviation had to be completed to finish the game including using jet packs and being shot out of a cannon. Despite being mainly used as a pretty tech demo for the capabilities of the console the game still holds up pretty well today because of its unique and charming take on flight sims.
Best moment: Shooting yourself out of a cannon and flying face first into the giant Mario head carved into the mock ‘Mount Rushmore’.
Playability today (out of 5): 3
24. Paper Mario
Developer/Publisher: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
PAL Release: 5/10/01
Taking the successful turn-based battle system seen in Super Mario RPG and making it…thinner, Paper Mario succeeded because, despite changing the perfect formula usually associated with Nintendo’s main mascot, the game still oozed that typical ‘Nintendo magic’. Bright, colourful sprites and dashes of wicked self-referential humour made up a truly unique Mario adventure. The N64 days really showed the quality that can be achieved when Mario leaves his comfort zone and is handled by 3rd party developers. A shame the big N has kept this level of quality up in recent years.
Best moment: The game is full of sly in-jokes, which are at their best when poking fun of gaming’s perennial bridesmaid Luigi.
Playability today (out of 5): 4
23. Banjo-Tooie
Developer/Publisher: Rare/Nintendo
PAL Release: 12/4/01
Banjo-Tooie is the second title in this list that showed up near the very end of the N64’s life cycle and, as such, never really saw as much commercial success as it probably warranted. It did also suffer from being not quite as magical as it’s amazing predecessor. The music’s not as catchy, the world’s not as vibrant (although less generic) and some additional features (like the FPS and Mumbo bits) didn’t necessarily add to the game as much as they should. The game does, however, follow much of the same magnificent formula of the incredible original and still provides some of the best 3D platforming on the system…if not ever.
Best moment: Running around in recently deceased Bottles’ house and the awkward conversations where our duo tiptoes around the fact that Bottles is dead. In response to Bottles’ son explaining how he and his dad are soon to play in a kickball tournament, Kazooie replies with “I don’t suppose you have any substitutes?” Nice.
Playability today (out of 5): 4
Developer/Publisher: HAL Laboratory/Nintendo
PAL Release: 15/9/99
Pokèmon snap is a game that really shouldn’t have worked. Instead of walking around vast areas capturing, training and battling those pocket monsters, you get driven round on rails and take photos of them. Yeah, that’s it. Truly a game that should not be judged on a rather strange poke-voyeuristic premise, Pokèmon Snap is thoroughly engaging and totally addictive. Let’s not misconstrue this message – you will feel utterly ridiculous throwing apples at the ground to lure out a Dugtrio so you can snap a photo of it as a Pidgey flies past, but Pokèmon Snap really is a game for high score whores the world over. It has a cutesy childish mask but, make no mistake, this is Time Crisis for the Pokè generation…with brains. And Pikachus.
Best moment: Love him or hate him, the second that yellow, electric mouse sticks his head out ready for his portrait your hands will tense up as you desperately stab at the photo button, all in an attempt to satisfy a crusty old man in a laboratory.
Playability today (out of 5): 4
21. The New Tetris
Developer/Publisher: H2O Entertainment/Nintendo
PAL Release: 15/10/99
Home console versions of Tetris have somehow never managed to hit the high mark that handheld versions have previously set. New elements that were squeezed in never seemed to improve upon original Tetris. People don’t like change. The N64 had several different updated Tetris titles; among them were Tetrisphere and, arguably better, The New Tetris, both of which added new elements to Tetris that fans didn’t actually hate. The New Tetris stuck more rigidly towards the original format than Tetrisphere but included a new strategic risk vs. reward block-building element that, when combined with 4 player multiplayer, provided great entertainment and block-falling chaos. Hundreds of versions of the series nobody can hate have appeared on consoles since, but none have fused the genius of the original with new and fresh ideas with as much success as this.
Best moment: The first time you build yourself a huge golden block and finish it off, sending the Tetris equivalent of acid rain over to your opponent’s screen takes the satisfaction of performing a ‘tetris’ to whole new levels. This took longer to build up to, is harder to complete and feels damn good.
Playability today (out of 5): 5
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