Even though it was only the second game, Mario Kart 64 changed the game.
Everything this series is today, it is because of Mario Kart 64.
It didn't matter that this was the best racing game on a system packed with great racing
games.
Didn't matter that seeing Peach's polygons made us understand why Mario bothers.
What mattered was...this was a multiplayer revelation.
I mean, Mario Kart 64 was a great game.
But with four players?
It was transcendent.
If the Nintendo 64 was the party system of the 90s, this was the game that fired up the
engine.
And then used a mushroom.
You know that reputation Nintendo has?
Of being the system for little kids?
Well, that really gained steam with this system.
It just wasn't a place where things got...mature, very often.
Let alone sh*t faced.
I mean, if all the platforming stars of the Nintendo 64 got together for a party, Conker
would've gotten drunk during the appetizers and tried to f*ck Candy Kong in the broom
closet.
Obviously, that kind M-rated behavior made his game really stand out, but it was more
than that.
Conker had all the good things about Rare...but with less of those awful collection quests.
It was like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, only...entertaining.
And a little more hungover.
Multiplayer games, platform games, even racing games...the Nintendo 64 had 'em.
Had a bunch of 'em, actually.
But one thing it didn't have...was RPGs.
And if Mario had to do everything, well, so be it.
Paper Mario picked up right where Super Mario RPG left off, five years and a whole console
generation earlier.
It had the same unique platformer/RPG gameplay, but with a gorgeous new look...turning the
entire game into moving pieces of paper.
And paper that covered up some pretty significant holes.
I mean, Paper Mario was a 2D game on a 3D system.
And a great RPG on the Nintendo 64.
I was at the beach when this game came out.
Actually, I was on my way to the beach, with a couple friends.
And before we left, we decided to stop and get a copy of this new Smash Bros. game.
We had no idea what a mistake that was.
While we were all getting ready for fun in the sun, girls in bikinis...we decided to
pop this thing in, and see what the big deal was.
Suffice to say, we never made it to the beach.
We'd never seen anything like this Smash Bros. game, and whatever it was, we couldn't stop
playing it.
It was multiplayer so good, so fast, so frantic...it kept us away from girls in bikinis.
That's pretty good multiplayer.
If you added up all the time I spent playing my Nintendo 64...this game would probably
be responsible for half of it.
I mean, there are addictive games, and then there's Star Fox 64.
You know, it only took about an hour or so to get to Venom and finish the game, but you
were never finished with this game.
No matter how many times you played it, you always seemed to find a new path, or see a
new ending.
From the tight controls, to the fast gameplay...and the hilarious dialogue...everything about
this game was meant to hook you in.
And it did.
Star Fox 64 was the ultimate rail shooter.
And you could make a pretty strong argument that...it still is.
There had only been three console Zelda games.
Only one 3D Zelda game.
So when it was time for number four, it's not like Nintendo had to do anything crazy.
The formula wasn't even close to being stale.
All they had to do was make another really good 3D Zelda game.
Instead, they made something very, very different.
If its predecessor was a Hollywood blockbuster, Majora's Mask was like an artsy independent
flick.
Daring, bold...it looked like Zelda, and even played like Zelda.
But it didn't think like Zelda.
Majora's Mask balanced familiar gameplay with an unfamiliar tone.
Even unsettling.
And not to mention a time mechanic that basically made it Nintendo's answer to Groundhog Day.
The result was a haunting, complex sequel that no one expected.
Before the Internet, there were bicycles.
Before lobbies, there were front porches.
Before servers and headsets and obnoxious 12-year-olds up past bedtime, there was sitting
on a couch.
There was getting together with friends.
There was GoldenEye 007.
There are a lot of reasons the Nintendo 64 is remembered as a multiplayer system.
Those reasons are entirely supplemental...to this.
This is the reason.
The game that set a course for the industry that it's still following to this day.
GoldenEye was revolutionary in a way few video games ever have been.
It redefined an entire genre, and turned it into the genre.
And it made high school a lot more fun, too.
Fast-forward three years after GoldenEye.
It was the year 2000, and things were about to change.
The PlayStation 2 was only a couple months away.
A new console generation was about to begin.
And it seemed like the Nintendo 64 had run out of ammunition.
Then she showed up.
If GoldenEye was the revolution, Perfect Dark was the evolution.
It simply had no equal, in terms of its size, and gameplay.
And beauty.
All the incredible games Rare had done for this system...it had all led to this one stunning
shooter.
This was the apex of Rareware.
I mean, Bond was golden.
But Dark was perfect.
This game has 15 worlds, each one with more color and craziness and creativity than the
one before it.
But you know what?
When I think about this game, this groundbreaking game...that's not what I think about.
I don't think about any of those places.
I think about this.
For most of us at the time, this one moment...was something really special.
These were our very first steps...into 3D gaming.
And for all the incredible memories this game had in store for me...that's still the one
I remember most.
The sound of birds chirping, and my own footsteps.
That feeling of total, three-dimensional, freedom of movement...in a video game.
Super Mario 64 changed everything.
And when you were playing it?
Even back in 1996, you knew...you were playing history.
Zelda games are always great.
The only question is how great are they gonna be.
But today's Zelda games, as great as they are, are always trying to outdo something
else.
A Link Between Worlds really tried to outdo A Link To The Past.
Twilight Princess tried to outdo this one.
This one didn't have to outdo anything.
The day Ocarina of Time was released, it was the greatest video game I had ever seen.
And it knew it, too.
Of course, a lot of people say that.
A lot of younger people ask why.
But I think you had to be there, to really understand.
I mean, that feeling of freedom, in Mario 64?
Baby steps, compared to the moment you laid eyes upon Hyrule Field.
And realized, those places over the horizon, were places you had to walk to.
And you'd better get there before the sun sets, because yeah...time passed, too.
I mean, this wasn't about...three screens left, two screens up.
This was about adventure, in a grander sense than we ever could've imagined.
And it was a game that made you imagine, "How could it possibly get any better, than Ocarina
of Time?"
Want to know the answer?
It never has.