After the massive success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Super Nintendo
Entertainment System, Nintendo entered the 5th generation console race with their ultra
powerful Nintendo 64.
Despite a curious decision to stick with cartridges, Nintendo managed to carve out a niche market,
as the PlayStation won the race, and the Saturn more or less failed.
Thanks in part to their internal development teams, Nintendo went on to sell nearly 33
million of the things.
So on today’s episode of 5 Games, I present 5 Great, Nintendo 64 Games.
Wave Race 64 was an early title for the N64, and really shows off some of the system’s
graphical power.
The water featured in the game was revolutionary at the time, and jump-started a water-race
of sorts that would continue for the next decade, with new games trying their best to
set the new bar in realistic water.
Anyway, Wave Race 64 is a classic arcade style racer.
Your goal is to finish a championship with the most points, to unlock the next one.
To win a race, you have to memorize the tracks, and more importantly, the locations of the
buoys.
Successfully navigating the buoys will fill the power meter at the bottom, allowing you
to go a little faster.
Failing to navigate the buoys will result in a game over, so plan your shortcuts accordingly.
The buoys, in addition to some great waves, make the track design exceptionally interesting,
and really sets it apart from the wheeled racers of the time.
But more impressive, are the controls.
There is something really special about the way the jet skis interact with the water.
It is both realistic, yet arcadey, rewarding you for understanding the water, and punishing
you when you go too far.
The charming graphics, with simple polygon models, cool weather effects, tracks that
change every lap, and some awesome use of color, round out a truly amazing racing experience.
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth was one of the few, if not only, N64 shmups released in North
America.
The game itself didn’t set the world on fire when it was released 1998, but I feel
the game has aged rather well.
For starters, the gameplay is very straightforward.
You can select one of three different ships, which each have a different weapon varying
in spread, and damage output.
The laser deals out plenty of damage, but has a limited spread.
The vulcan cannon has awesome spread, but less damage output.
Of course, your weapon can be leveled up by collecting the appropriate power-up, rewarding
you for, not dying.
Lastly, you have a secondary weapon, which has awesome damage output, but limited uses.
The main gimmick with Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth is the ricochet feature.
This shield like item let’s you rebound enemy fire, right back at them.
It works well and adds a layer of depth to the straightforward gameplay.
Graphically, Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth holds up great.
The texture work is very detailed, everything has a nice contrast, draw distance is never
a problem, and the game avoids the blurry watered-down look the N64 was famous for.
The polygon models are simple, but charming, and most of the enemies are well animated.
Above all else, the game just plays really good, with the perfect mix of shooting and
bullet dodging.
If you’re looking for something different on the N64, look no further than Star Soldier:
Vanishing Earth.
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the WipEout series, but I do rather enjoy Wipeout
64.
This game really seemed to iron out the control quirks of the PlayStation and Saturn games,
and works wonderfully with the N64’s analog stick.
They also eased up on some of the difficulty, allowing you to brush against the wall, without
screeching to a halt.
Crashing still grinds you to a halt, but I find the increased forgiveness results in
a much more accessible game.
Anyway, WipEout 64 has a few different modes.
Time Trial is a great place to learn the courses, which you’ll need to do, because this game
is still, really hard.
After learning the courses, you’ll want to move onto the race mode, which pits you
against 14 rivals.
Finally, weapon mode requires you to destroy a certain amount of opponents before crossing
the finish line.
As always, the beauty of Wipeout lies in the complex controls, which add in air-brakes
with the traditional steering.
The track design works brilliantly with the brakes and steering, and when you get into
a groove, you’ll experience some breathtaking speed.
Add in some awesome texture work, a smooth framerate, and some of the cleanest techno
music I’ve heard on the system, and you have one of my favorite racing games of all
time.
I’ve been obsessed with Dr. Mario since first playing the NES version as a kid.
And I wasn’t alone, because Nintendo more or less released an update each console generation.
Dr. Mario 64 was a late-release budget title, debuting in 2001.
But that doesn’t mean this isn’t packed with a ton of new features.
First up is a story mode, complete with goofy cut-scenes and battles against the computer.
Next is flash mode, where you need to clear a flashing virus before your opponent.
Marathon mode forgoes the concept of levels, instead offering a never ending game with
new viruses bumping in from the bottom of the screen.
Score attack requires you hit a score threshold in a specific time limit.
And of course, all of these modes can be played with four people, as you would expect from
the Nintendo 64.
Moving on, Fever and Chill are some of the most classic pieces of video game music ever,
and they are present here in Dr. Mario 64, updated of course.
Additionally, two new music tracks have been added to the mix.
While catchy and melodic, they don’t quite live up to the originals, but noteworthy none
the less.
As I’m sure you already know how Dr. Mario works, I won’t bother explaining.
Needless to say, the Dr. Mario series has always done a wonderful job at being very
easy to learn, but difficult to master, and is ridiculously addicting, making it on my
shortlist, of best puzzle games.
Rounding out today’s list is F-Zero X.
I apologize if you’re tired of the racing games, but the Nintendo 64 seemed to excel
at the genre.
Anyway, the impressive aspect of F-Zero X is the frame-rate, which cruises along at
a blistering 60 frames per second, which was insane back in 1998.
It does all of this while placing 29 opponents on the screen, often at the same time.
Now, detail was sacrificed for frame rate, and there are no environmental, uh, things
to speak of, but it really doesn’t matter.
With the game moving this freaking fast, you wouldn’t have time to stop to admire anyway.
This awesome sensation of speed is matched with some truly excellent courses.
As F-Zero X is a futuristic racing game, gravity has been tweaked, so-to-speak.
Tracks will bend and twist, sometimes allowing you to see your opponents, and this added
dimension is used expertly to create some of the best flowing courses I’ve ever raced
on.
And what good would awesome speed, and terrific courses be without excellent controls?
F-Zero X, of course, delivers.
As weird as the N64’s analog stick was, something about it just works with racing
games, allowing extreme precision when it comes to steering.
Another great addition is the boosting.
As before, the energy meter depletes when you scrape the wall.
But now, you can also sacrifice energy for a boost.
This makes for some intense finishes, and rewards you for clean racing.
If you’re not wasting energy on scrubbing the wall, you get more speed.
Brilliant!
To wrap things up, the music is great, there are plenty of courses to unlock, and even
more race crafts, and you can tweak your acceleration curve.
There are virtually no flaws to speak of, making this one of the very best games on
the Nintendo 64.
So there you have it, 5 great games for the Nintendo 64.
Now, this is not a definitive list, nor is it intended to be a best-of, and the Nintendo
64 has far far more than 5 great games, so be sure to leave a comment and let me know
which N64 games, you enjoy.