The ‘64 was my first console and remains one of my all time favorites. My love for it is definitely coupled with the final days of analogue tv and the end of my childhood but man—what a great system.
Always love me some N64. Unfortunately, it hasn't aged as well as some of the other retro consoles since the dips in framerate was pretty common for that machine even back when it was new. In comparison, the SNES still outputs a clean 60fps, as it was more of a priority back then.
Low framerates, extremely close draw distances, and odd controller make it less appealing to most retro gaming fans that don't have nostalgia for the system. That's not to say you shouldn't go ham on some Buck Bumble or Doom 64, but it does explain why it's not as active as some other platforms.
So many games for n64 feel like fever dreams to me. Mystical Ninja was where it was at. Also Hey Pikachu…. Conker… Zelda… goldeneye… banjo kazooie…
Love me some N64
I have tried playing banjo kazooie again with the Switch emulator and that game is hard
Did you ever play Glover? When I think “weird n64 games” I think Glover.
Oh wow yes! That unlocked a memory
Orcarina of Time just rocked my world back then. I think I had the gold cartridge that had the original Fire Temple music and symbol on the mirror shield.
I have so many fond memories of playing Superman 64 (and it’s multiplayer) and wave race with my dad.
I miss him so much.
NO ODDJOB! Slappers or throwing knives only. Perfect Dark no railgun.
My first ‘WTF is this controller’ layout but it just worked and could take abuse.
I love N64, it was one of the first console's I bought with my own money, still play it today. I actually played F-Zero this afternoon.
Banjo-Kazooie and Ocarina of Time are games I had that I think have aged well and that I still play occasionally. I also enjoy watching speedruns of them.
Played a lot of Mario Kart as a kid, but I don't think the "feel" is as good as the more modern versions.
N64 was the couch coop king. There were so many to choose from. Me and my buddies would get together and destroy each other on several different games back then. It was a blast.
Although online games are pretty nice for me now since we all have moved on to different locations.
N64 was the couch coop king
That's what actually supporting four controllers does for you, I still have no idea why PlayStation held on to only 2 controller ports for so long!
Ive been babying my N64 lately. Ive got it hooked up right now and I picked up a flashcart so I can try some romhacks, as well as a blueretro USB controller adapter. Its been pretty fantastic. Im just waiting for my upscaler to arrive so I can have some slightly nicer visuals.
Also, on the topic of flash carts, being able to use roms with the anti-aliasing disabled has been quite interesting. Good lord, the dithering!
My only other challenge now is finding which romhacks work on hardware and which are too much for it.
I'm just not ready to call the N64 'retro'. I mowed lawns for months to buy that thing.
Wave Race, both Zelda games and Perfect Dark were my most played games for sure. Perfect Dark was awesome with bots if you had the expansion pack.
We were a Wave Race and Diddy Kong Racing household. Everyone use to fight over who got to be the pink racer because she was “faster.” I don’t think any of us actually confirmed that.
Goldeneye was the best fps game I'd played up to that point, especially for same room multiplayer. Like it was one of those games that was head and shoulders above the rest at the time and really stood out.
Then Perfect Dark came along and made Goldeneye almost unplayable because it was just better in every way.
Though all of this was while game devs were still figuring out controls for FPS games. I think Halo was the one that figured it out decently for controllers. Nintendo still had Metroid Prime in its future during the N64 era, which is an interesting game in that I consider it one of the best out there but the controls were awful.
Anyone else remember Quest 64?
Ive had that sitting in my roms folder for years, but never gotten around to it. Do you think its a game that's more propped up on nostalgia or do you think it hold up well enough today?
Quest 64 wasn’t considered good in its own time; not sure what people would think of it today. I think it was very elementary, “baby’s first RPG” type of stuff, if I remember right, and that certainly didn’t bode well against games like FF7.
It's a 6/10. Nostalgia holds it aloft. I gave it a brief revisit and was totally unmotivated quite quickly.
Honestly, probably mostly nostalgia and the fact that there weren’t many RPGs of that style on the N64. I remember some fun stuff but also very rough around the edges.
Mario Kart 64 is still my favorite of the series.
Honestly, it was the perfect mix of random party and skill. I don’t think any Mario Kart since has captured that balance. It’s my favorite one, too!
It's a been a good past year for N64. We got PC native versions of Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time; Majora's Mask and Paper Mario in the works later on. Playing SM64 cooperatively works so much better than I thought it would 👍
Absolutely love the 64. Was just playing Mario Kart, Battle Tanx, and Cruisin USA with my wife on Sunday night. Only downside is the system is slowing down and it takes 4-5 attempts before I can get most cartridges to boot up now.
I have a file with all the n64 roms, it wasn't very big. I'll use them in an emulation station at some point.
I think the best games for it now are the rom hacks, especially the Super Mario 64 ones.
I enjoy having some games people often don't know about, such as Starcraft, Rainbow Six, the South Park fps game, the second 007 game, and Quake.
Oh nice I love Mario 64. Will have to check out these hacks
WCW vs. nWo: World Tour = best game.
No love for WCW nWo Revenge? I remember sinking so many hours into that when I was growing up.
I do love it though I have more more memories with World Tour only just because I wasn't watching it as much during 98 :V
I feel like it's just overpowered by Playstation and maybe even X-box, I sure remember drooling over all the Nintendo exclusive releases back then, having grown up with NES and SNES games. I've been playing Ocarina of Time (my first 3D Zelda, after a lifetime of playing 2D) for the first time this past year (I'm slow and I fucking hate the water temple) and I just absolutely love it. Can't wait to get into Majora's Mask, Banjo Kazooie and others I missed out on as a kid. Super Mario 64 didn't entirely convince me some years ago, but after I'm done with Zelda I might give it a try.
Edit: to say I'm surprised how well Ocarina of Time has aged despite the blocky polygon graphics. Once you get immersed in it, it actually plays very well in my opinion, but then again I'm honestly more used to older games than new and I still constantly play OG Silent Hill and games from that era.
Paper Mario, Mario 64, Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, even some lesser known gems like Mischief Makers and Pilot Wings. I fucking loved my N64 growing up.
Did anyone play Road Rash 64? It's absolutely my guilty pleasure. The fact the the entire island existed and you could just drive off course for miles blew me away. The wrecks were ridiculous, and the jankiness had a charm to it.
Didn't know it was on the 64, played road rash on the 3DO my friend had and loved it tho, must have been better on the 64 though
With the classic 3DO game and the playstation games, everything was sprite-based. With Road Rash 64, everything was modeled in 3D polygons. If you crashed, you'd go FLYING off the course and end up in some field somewhere. When you crossed the finish line, your character would slow to a stop, and if you're lucky enough to have an NPC end up right next to you, you could smack them until the fell off their bike as the leader board rolled out. My friend and I laughed so much back in the day.
My obscure nostalgia moment from the N64 was the game Blast Corps, where you had to destroy buildings with a range of vehicles to clear a path for a nuclear missile on a truck. Getting the side-swiper to skid just right was so satisfying.
And of course Banjo-Kazooie, as much for the immersive soundtrack as the colourful worlds.
Blast Corps was so good. I remember when you blew up a lot of the structures in one swipe, the game would stutter. How about that robot suit? Good times.
So many amazing N64 games. One of my more obscure favorites was Wayne Gretzky Hockey. So great with local multiplayer.
Spent many hours with friends playing N64 back in the day. Great console! I can't enjoy it on an emulator using a modern gamepad. Nothing can substitute for that goofy original controller in my mind...
N64 like a lot of the Nintendo consoles had none of the games on the competitors, but often vica versa as well.
Smash Brothers of course started there
Custom Robo started there (only in Japan though)
You got all the rare games that were only on it. Mario Kart and Diddy Kong racing were there.
Mystical Ninjas Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure were the last 2 Ganbare Goemon games released in the west (and they're two of the most fun as well)
WWF No Mercy is one of the best wrestling games for actually playing the game and not watching sims.
It had everything except the big name titles that basically won the era, unfortunately.
Absolutely!
Im excited for 8bitdo n64 controller internals to turn the controller into Bluetooth for Android and Linux. And switch & windows i guess too.
Love/hate relationship for me - much preferred earlier 2d versions of platformers like Mario, Donkey Kong and others (Mario 64 makes me nauseous). On the other hand, N64 games I do like - like GoldenEye (mostly for multiplayer), Mario Kart 64 (same) and Star Wars Episode 1 Racer all have a special place for me. So I guess overall I'm not a huge fan, not nearly as much as the NES, SNES, Game Boy, and later, the Wii, but the system does have some really good picks for me, just not the platformers I love.
Overall Nintendo is my favourite, but for that generation, at least the PlayStation still had a decent selection of 2D and 2.5D games.
If any one game made and still makes me nauseous its definitely golden eye...
Just made a community on my private instance
You all are welcome to join me there in sharing our love for this console. Super nostalgic for me and I think my favorite game is Banjo-Kazooie
The N64 is amazing. I remember needing to get that red thing so that it would run Majora's Mask.
Also Doom 64 is the best OG Doom game, mostly.
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