Which Nintendo 64 game had the BEST graphics on the system?

Later Mario Kart games have way more tracks thanks to the "retro" courses. The AI rubber band is really noticeable and very annoying. It has the most boring Rainbow Road.

How is it better than Mario Kart DS or 7 or 8?

Genuinely asking.
It's not so dependent on items and actual racing skill matters. It also has the best battle mode in the entire series.
 
The only game where I feel the devs accomplished what they set out to do, both graphically and artistically, was Mega Man 64:

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Wait is this a port of megaman legends? I didn't even know this was on the n64. Although I'm sure the control scheme is crap.

The legend series is my favorite and it bothers me everyday that Capcom doesn't port them to the switch.
This right here shows they aren't stuck do to some contract with Sony.

As for best graphics. Wave race is great and Forsaken. I just played that the other night for 1st time and it's the closet game outside of overload on PC that comes close to the Descent games. They need ported too.
 
It's not so dependent on items and actual racing skill matters.
Not in single player though. No matter how good you are, no matter how far behind you left the CPU after you hit them, the CPU will always speed boost in order to hover around you and try to steal 1st place. It's actually a matter of luck if they don't steal it so you need to have a last minute item to make sure they don't.

There is no other Mario Kart game that does this. Sure, in later entries the CPU will throw a blue shell at you 100% of the time but you can still win only with your skill. You can either stay at close second place to avoid it or let it hit you and reclaim your position. And if you are good enough, you should have enough distance to tank the shell without losing first place. Because if your driving skills are high enough you can even leave the CPU a long distance behind, since the rubber banding isn't as strong (but it's still there). You can basically win without ever using any items most of the time, by just your skills alone.

You can't do that in Mario Kart 64, which makes it the least dependent on driving skills actually. Because skill can't help you beat the cheating CPU without items.

Yes, they did this so high skilled players aren't bored when playing the single player mode. Some people may prefer this but it doesn't change the fact that a high skilled player will never be able to hold distance from the CPU.
 
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Not in single player though. No matter how good you are, no matter how far behind you left the CPU after you hit them, the CPU will always speed boost in order to hover around you and try to steal 1st place. It's actually a matter of luck if they don't steal it so you need to have a last minute item to make sure they don't.

There is no other Mario Kart game that does this. Sure, in later entries the CPU will throw a blue shell at you 100% of the time but you can still win only with your skill. You can either stay at close second place to avoid it or let it hit you and reclaim your position. And if you are good enough, you should have enough distance to tank the shell without losing first place. Because if your driving skills are high enough you can even leave the CPU a long distance behind, since the rubber banding isn't as strong (but it's still there). You can basically win without ever using any items most of the time, by just your skills alone.

You can't do that in Mario Kart 64, which makes it the least dependent on driving skills actually. Because skill can't help you beat the cheating CPU without items.

Yes, they did this so high skilled players aren't bored when playing the single player mode. Some people may prefer this but it doesn't change the fact that a high skilled player will never be able to hold distance from the CPU.
Who the hell cares about single player? And even then it's not functionally different than most other racing games where it's basically you vs the one or two cpu racers the game decides are going to be competitive. As long as you race as clean as you can you're still mostly likely going to win anyway. It's just how the genre worked for like decades.
 
Who the hell cares about single player?
I do.

And Mario Kart 64 has the worst rubber banding i have seen in any game, which means skills don't matter, the CPU will be on you no matter what.


And even then it's not functionally different than most other racing games where it's basically you vs the one or two cpu racers the game decides are going to be competitive.
It's very different because in other games if you are good enough, the second place CPU will be so far behind you won't care about one blue shell hitting you. In Mario Kart 64 it's impossible to keep a distance from the second place CPU, even if you are the world champion of Mario Kart 64. Unless you use glitched shortcuts that is. And even then you can see the CPU on the map desperately speed boosting to cover the distance.
 
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Well I know your MK64 debate went far more technical than this. But personally, even if I played it a lot as a kid, I tend to think this is the worst MK of the series. Starting from MK8, we got 3D models looking nearly as detailed as pre-renders at flaweless 60 fps. On the other hand, MK64 is the only one of the polygonal 3D episodes to feature ugly sprites for nearly everything that isn't the level geometry and despite this, the games still can't reach 30 fps the whole time... I know they were figuring out stuff with 3D and the N64 back then, but nostalgia doesn't work on this one as well as Mario 64 or Oot for me on this one. I'd take any other 3D episode, even the ugly DS graphics.

Edit: I largely prefer F-Zero X with its minimal geometry and minimal draw distance but full 3D with up to 30 racers at once and 60 FPS the whole time.
 
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It's too far back for me to really compare games in my mind, but Jet Force Gemini and Rogue Squadron are good shouts.

Also I remember being awed by that metalic black, level entrance pool in M64, and the fairy caves in OOT.💗
 
Frick I guess I do have to add an N64 to the retro setup. Reading this thread, there's a ton of awesome games I didn't even know exist.
When I made my top 50 games list a surprising number of titles ended up being N64 games. Despite everything it really did manage to put out a lot of great games.
 
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