(upbeat music)
The unthinkable has happened you guys.
We are officially older than dirt.
Well, dirt that's over the age of 21,
because Nintendo 64 turned 20 years old!
(horn)
I know.
Recently the Nerdist team shared their favorite
N64 memories, which in turn sparked a heated debate
in the office about what the most under-appreciated
N64 games of all time were.
Now everyone knows games like Super Mario 64
and Ocarina of Time, but what about those hidden gems?
Well today on The Dave and Cave
we're gonna settle that debate once and for all
with some of the most underrated N64 games ever made.
Jet Force Gemini.
When it comes to third-person action adventure,
Rare could do no wrong during the N64 era.
Jet Force Gemini was a perfect example of this.
The game was a third-person shooter
that showed you exploring the galaxy and fighting the armies
of the evil insect overlord Mizar, or Meezar.
I don't know how it's pronounced, I was a kid!
Now what this game and many other Rare games
did so well, was exploration, meaning there's a
genuine sense of discovery, and there was so much
to uncover here, with secret areas and collectibles galore.
And it all made it feel like a hell of a lot of fun
to play over and over again, I'm talking replay value baby.
But most importantly, Jet Force Gemini gave you a jet pack.
That's the jet, it's the jet pack.
In any game, that gives you a jet pack
is like biting into a sweet, juicy mango.
Which is to say, pretty great.
Harvest Moon 64.
What if I told you that farming was lit as (beep).
Well a generation of gamers learned that true
is it with Natsume's blissfully bucolic RPG
Harvest Moon 64.
The game saw you inheriting your grandfather's farm
and trying to restore it to greatness.
Make my farm great again.
But what made this game a genuine triumph,
was how it integrated clever RPG style mechanics
and side quests, with a slice of life mundanity,
to make a calming but incredibly addictive experience.
Oh and, you could also woe mad babes in the local town.
So I mean, hey, you could really sell your wild oats.
I'm sorry.
Conker's Bad Fur Day.
To paraphrase the greatest rapper alive, MF Bumps,
you're gonna have a bad fur day.
Honestly it's almost a miracle that Conker's
Bad Fur Day was released at all.
This game is dark as hell.
And more foul-mouth that anything else
in Nintendo's squeaky clean catalog.
I mean sure, it was a solid 3D platform from Rare,
but it was a solid 3D platform from Rare
that saw you as a squirrel who got lost in a land
full of Nazi teddy bears in a weasel mafia
after a night of binge drinking, then you just had
to try and find your way back to your girlfriend.
Except, when you reunite with her, she's gone down,
so you have to break the fourth wall
and decapitate the evil Panther King
that had her killed to exact your revenge.
You know, that old chestnut.
That old hungover, Panther slaying chestnut.
I mean basically this game is Deadpool
with an alcoholic squirrel.
And you know what, I'm okay with that.
Mystical Ninja starring Goemon.
While the PlayStation had Brave Fencer Musashi,
Nintendo's fiddle Japanese blue-haired bad-ass
was a ninja called Goemon, who willed to kill Satu,
which is basically a weaponized, medieval Japanese babe.
(laughs)
Sure, the localization was hot garbage,
but the story, if you try and stop the Peach Mountain
Shoguns from using lasers to Japan into a giant theater,
and its citizens into enslaved dancers,
was delightfully weird and incredibly surreal.
Most of all though, it was a supremely enjoyable
3D platform, a genre that N64 did like no other.
And I mean, honestly, a game full of weird puns
and Japanese deep cuts, what am I
supposed to do, just not play it?
Have you watched the show at all?
I mean come on!
Mischief Makers.
Sometimes Japan out-Japans itself
in new and exciting ways, and one of those ways
was a little game called Mischief Makers,
in which she plays a robotic maid,
named Ultra Inter-Galactic Cybot-G Marina Lightyears.
Rolls off the tongue.
Anyways, you can probably guess
Marina has to rescue her creator from a planet
on the verge of a violent civil war.
Oh, and did I mention that the only way to defeat
your enemies is by violently shaking them?
You know, you're turning soda cans and newborns?
Anyway, this game was incredibly fun,
challenging boss fights, and hey,
you're a robotic maid, isn't that
what you always dreamed you would be some day?
I know I did.
Snowboard Kids.
What is the greatest snowboarding game on the N64?
Now if you said 1080° Snowboarding or Twisted Edge,
stand up and take a god damn seat, because you're wrong.
It's Snowboard Kids.
It's a weird but incredibly fun game to play
like the snowboarding equivalent of Mario Kart.
I mean sure, all your characters had these weird
bulbous, turn-up noses, but I'm not sure
that our character designs would've been much better.
The best part though, was the fact that it was lap-based,
which meant that at the end of each run,
you were to get on a lift and ride up back up to the top,
but that also meant you could slam into your opponents
knocking them out of line.
So watch your back Slash, 'cause your ass is ice,
and I'm a Zamboni.
Pokemon Snap.
The very fact that this is a Pokemon title
might disqualify it from being underrated,
but it bears mentioning nonetheless.
Pokemon Snap is an on-rails first-person shooter,
except you don't fire bullets,
you shoot pictures as Todd Snap,
I can't believe that's his name.
A Pokemon photographer, summoned by Professor Oak
to document the wildlife on the
inventively named Pokemon Island.
With Easter Eggs galore and simply an addictive game
played, this is one of the greatest pleasures
of the N64 era, and the fact that they never made
a sequel using the Wii U controller as a camera,
is a god damned travesty.
Clay Fighter 63 and a third.
Look, we get it, Smash Brothers is great,
Killer Instinct Gold is like Street Fighter for fairies,
but Clay Fighter 63 and a third
combined the animated awesomeness of Claymation,
with the brutality of Mortal Kombat to delightful effect.
And, you could fight as an evil snowman,
a blob of goo, a cyborg rabbit, and so many more
insane characters to list.
That's brisk baby.
Oh, wait, sorry.
Wrong snowman, that's Clay baby.
Nobody says that.
Space Station Silicon Valley.
A game as bunkers as it's title,
Space Station Silicon Valley took place in the year 3000
on a space station that also happened to be
an interstellar amusement park.
In the game you play as Danger Dan
and a tiny robot named Evo, who were tasked with finding
the station's missing designer, Professor Cheese.
Upon your arrival though, you discover the animals
on board have merged with the technology
and the station is on a collision course with the Earth.
So basically it's Armageddon meets the borg,
meets The Island of Doctor Moreau.
What's not to love?
Oh, and how's this for an O. Henry twist?
The game was developed by DMA Design,
which eventually became Rockstar North
a.k.a., the madmen behind Grand Theft Auto.
(laughs)
Suddenly everything makes sense.
(makes explosion sound)
Now obviously this is just a small slice of N64's catalog.
So tell me, what N64 games
do you think are wildly underrated?
Let me know on the comments below,
and while you're there give me an underrated thumbs up.
That's all for today's show.
Join me next time when I talk about the story
of a hard-boiled detective who tries to track down
a serial killer only to inadvertently get adopted
by John Lithgow and his family
in Dirty Harry and the Hendersons.
Until next time, keep on digging.
Let's open up the old mail bag shall we.
@bossorolana asks, what's your most anticipated game
coming out in the near future?
That's a great question.
I saw so many awesome ones at E3,
I'd have to say probably Telltale's Batman,
because I love the idea that what you do as Bruce Wayne,
will affect what you do as Batman, and vice versa.
It's something unique that we haven't really seen before
in a Batman game, and plus, I cannot wait
to hear Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey's
dolce tones, all up in my ear holes.
@camphollows asks, who's your top choice
starter Pokemon of any generation?
P.S. we all know there's a right answer.
Now, you might be expecting me
to say Charmander, and the little dude is great,
but my answer is Squirtle, because he's a chill-ass turtle
who rolls with a squad of ice, cold mother (beep).
Squirtle Squad baby, get into it.
@pansoffred asks, what Animeverse
would you like to be in, Attack on Titan
or Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress?
Oh, great question.
I mean, probably Attack on Titan,
because A, I'd love to get my hands on some
3D maneuver gear, and B, it seems
a little bit more enticing than Kabaneri.
I mean let's face it, I'm gonna die either way.
So I rather not be trapped on a train when and if I do go.
I'd rather be soaring through the air
than snatched like a fruit fly from the jaws of victory.
But tell me, what Animeverse would you most like to be in?
Let me know on the comments below
and I'll see you guys next time!
(machines beeping)