The big beautiful beast that was the N64 turned 17-years-old in March, so here are some of our fondest memories of the console.
The N64 was a console that is sometimes best remembered for its long-running feud with the PlayStation, which really did bring the best out of the developers and producers behind the games to make sure that their exclusive titles were better than the others. The -three pronged beast of a controller was a new innovation, not to mention the addition of the Z trigger and all the C buttons, everything about this machine screamed that it was unique and different.
The games themselves were, of course, unbelievable from first to last and there is no doubting that many of them took hours of our lives from us, but we wouldn’t have spend them any other way.
So here’s a look at some of JOE’s all-time favourite N64 games (not all of our favourites are featured, otherwise we’d be here all day).
Wave Race 64
Wave Race 64 was, and still is, one of the greatest racing games we’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. The game was great, not just for it’s unique courses, awesome sound effects or excellent graphics (for it’s time), but mainly because the split screen mode brings back some seriously good memories.
We also loved the fact that in Wave Race 64 you raced on officially licensed Kawasaki jet skis while official Coca Cola and Fanta adverts lined the watercourses. While the ads weren’t detrimental to the gameplay, it certainly made it feel all the more real.
Mario Kart 64
The game that made Gran Turismo look like a Lada convention. With these new fangled HD TVs, the graphics can play havoc on one’s eyes, so why not head back and remember a simpler time where levels like Rainbow Road tested your driving skills to the absolute limit. The gameplay remains incredible to this day, and who can forget the ecstatic feeling a Thunderbolt could cause. Once you hit that trigger, you were able to zoom straight from 8th place to 1st. Whilst the one player is super and all, it’s nothing compared to the multiplayer option which has made the title so famous. Once again, we need some mates.
FIFA 98
The rivalry even existed back then between FIFA and International Super Star Soccer, but what FIFA ’98 had was the greatest football simulation journey ever: The Road to the World Cup. No shortcuts here, every game must be played in order to lift the trophy aloft in Paris. As novel as being able to pick Ziderm and Ronarid was in ISS, playing with Zidane and Ronaldo was just that bit better. Also Ray Parlour’s skills here make Lionel Messi look like a conference player and do not forget Michael Owen’s fantastic lumberjack beard. So many happy memories…
WWF No Mercy
Very few will argue that this is, was and still is the greatest wrestling game of all time. Whilst the graphics may look a little ropey in 2014, the gameplay is still head and shoulders above anything that came before or after.
Ridiculously addictive, the create a wrestler function was and still is streets ahead of any character creation mode we have ever used in subsequent titles. The cream of the crème de la crème is undoubtedly the Royal Rumble, although picking X-Pac probably isn’t the wisest choice. Trust us on this one.
Shadows of the Empire
A game that brought Star Wars to our living room TVs in the first really gripping way, this was a title that we would still happily sit down and play for hours today.
The game, from the erstwhile LucasArts games studio, focused on the adventures of Dash Rendar (Han Solo’s mate), and was set in between the action of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, meaning that it could blend a few things from both of those movies in. While many complained that you couldn’t play as Luke or Han, it did give the creators licence to step away from the main story and have more fun in some previously unseen locations, as well as being that bit more inventive with the gameplay.
The main reason this was so great was that there was a huge variety in what you could do, from flying around and getting involved in the battle of Hoth (which was mind blowing at the time) to third-person shooter action, and in general it provided the perfect mix. It holds up pretty well considering that the game is coming up on 20 years old, so once we plug in our old N64 you’re all invited round for a game. One at a time, though.
Goldeneye
Possibly the greatest FPS of all time. Many a childhood hour was spent shooting various Post-soviet armies as well as partaking in some highly competitive multiplayer action (When we found some friends of course). The Frigate level was a personal favourite and one which we returned to many, many times after managing to complete each mission, making this one of the few games in which we have actually done this. This music may bring back many, many sweet memories to those of you out there who loved this game as much as we did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzPKctYAjE
Like sci-fi, video games, cosplay or anime? Then you most definitely cannot miss the MCM Comic Con which is coming to the RDS in Dublin on 12th and 13th April.
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