My hat is off to you sir. Excellent overview of the system. Brought back a lot of good memories.
Also, for anyone asking, get WaveRace. Fantastic game. And pick up the Cube sequal as well.
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Celebrating the Nintendo 64: Short reviews of all N64 games I own (145+ games)
- Thread starter A Black Falcon
- Start date
My hat is off to you sir. Excellent overview of the system. Brought back a lot of good memories.
Also, for anyone asking, get WaveRace. Fantastic game. And pick up the Cube sequal as well.
Krappadizzle
Member
A Black Falcon
Member
I've picked up three more N64 games over the past few months, so I've added reviews of them to the OP. I'll need to come up with a better way to do it in the future, though -- NeoGAF's insanely small character count makes dealing with additions like these a complete nightmare.
Anyway though, I'll also post the three of them here.
Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck - Duck Dodgers is a 3d platformer from Paradigm, and it's their only attempt at the genre -- their other N64 games were all flight or racing games. The game makes me think a bit of games like Croc or Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (both on PC/PS1) -- it's a fun, but somewhat unpolished, game with a very Looney Tunes graphical style. Now, I love the Looney Tunes -- it's my favorite cartoon series by far. Duck Dodgers is a fantastic character, too. In this game you play as Duck Dodgers, of course, and have to collect fuel and such and defeat badguys helping out in Marvin the Martian's latest plot to destroy the earth. This game is inspired by the original Duck Dodgers cartoons, and predates the newer Cartoon Network show, so unfortunately characters that series added, such as the Martian Queen, don't appear here. That's too bad, but the classic cartoons are great too. The characters that are here are all fully voiced, though, which is nice; all of the voice acting is well done, and it's great that Daffy has a voice. It really does add to the game. The game is somewhat linear, as in each world, you'll go through a succession of areas. Each area is somewhat small, so this game doesn't have the scale of the system's top 3d platformers. Still, while small, the areas do have some good design elements and nice visual touches; as I said, this looks like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon gone 5th-gen 3d. It would have been nice if they were larger, though; these areas really are Croc-small. That's okay though I guess, and I do love Croc. Anyway, the areas are connected together with doors. When you enter an area, the game will show on screen how many fuel items there are left in the area. These serve as the game's stars or such. The other pickup are some blue crystal things. These respawn when you enter an area, and collecting fifty will get you an extra life. Run out of lives and it's game over, of course. The game over cutscene is quite amusing. The game starts out simple, but quickly gets more challenging. The controls here are somewhat flawed -- you don't have perfect control over Dodgers like you do Mario, or a Rare 3d platformer character. Jumps can be hard to make, and I found myself frequently missing them. Distance can be hard to judge, and the camera is mediocre at best. You can move it around, but good luck getting a perfect angle while zipping along on a moving mine car. However, the underwater controls are fantastic -- swimming with Daffy feels natural, and it's much easier to control him underwater than it is above. There's also a tiptoe button while on land, with the matching Looney Tunes sound effects. Still, most of the game is on land and you don't need to tiptoe very often. The controls are another reason why I compared Duck Dodgers to the games I did earlier, in addition to the visual style and mostly-linear-sequence-of-areas game design. Managing to get where you want, or WHAT you want, in trickier jetpack sections can be frustrating too. It's unfortunate that the controls aren't better; this game's good, but because of the controls, and somewhat simple level designs, isn't a match for Rare's great classics on the system. Still, Duck Dodgers is certainly worth a look. It's a decent game that many 3d platformer fans probably haven't played, and even if it has some problems, it does some things right too. And of course, it's a voiced Looney Tunes game on the N64, which is great. This game's better than most of the 16-bit Looney Tunes games too, I would say. If the controls were better this game would be a definite recommendation, but as-is, I would say that it's probably mostly for genre, or series, fans. I am a big fan of both 3d platformers and Looney Tunes, so I do enjoy the game for sure, but if you're not, the frustrating controls might well drive you away. Oh, and it's not the longest game either, certainly; Duck Dodgers is a bit on the short side. One player, on-cart saving.
Milo's Astro Lanes - Milo's Astro Lanes is a bowling game, as the title suggests. However, instead of being earthbound, this is a futuristic bowling game in space. Each lane has a different design, with obstacles and tricks to learn on the course. So yeah, the game has a decent concept to make things a bit more interesting than average. The graphics are basic, with lanes floating in space and very simple, small hub areas to choose levels in. The game looks okay, but it's quite simple for the platform. There are powerup icons on the courses too, and part of the strategy of the game is learning the powerups and deciding when to use each one. The bowling action itself is done well too, though. The ball and pin physics all work as they should. However, this is a very difficult game -- even the very first matches will require very high scores to complete. The game may seem simple at first, but you'll need to be very good to get beyond the second match. I find it maybe a bit too hard, actually... it's frustrating to score well but still lose. Apart from that though, it's good. I imagine that people good at bowling will have a much easier time with this game; I'm not all that good at it, clearly. The computer cheats, too -- it adjusts its play to match, and slightly exceed, yours, during matches. This makes winning frustratingly difficult. I can't compare this to the other bowling games on the N64, though, because I haven't played the other two for the system. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Rally Challenge 2000 - Rally Challenge 2000 is Imagineer's fourth and last N64 racing game. Released in Japan in 1999 and the US in 2000, this game has the best graphics and most content of the four. Yes, it's an Imagineer racing game which actually looks decently good! Nice work. I like the graphics in this game; they're not amazing, but they're quite solid for the system. Each track looks different, and the car models are done well too. Rally Challenge 2000 has nine cars and nine tracks as well, so there's more content here than in their previous games. The tracks have no shortcuts, as you'd expect from a rally game, but they're all fairly well designed. There are no tracks anywhere near as bad as most of GT64's tracks, for instance, thankfully. I came into Rally Challenge 2000 with low expectations, because the game has average review scores of around 6/10, or maybe 6.5 on the high end, but it surprised me -- this game may not be great, but it certainly is fun! The racing is done well, controls are good, graphics are solid, and the track designs are good, too. The game does have some flaws that do hurt the game, but it is good overall. For modes, there are three -- Arcade, Championship, and Versus. Arcade mode was inspired by Sega Rally. Here, you choose one of three sets of tracks. In each set, you'll go through three tracks, doing one lap on each course, just like Sega Rally. Try to catch up to the computers and win -- and yes, like Sega Rally, it'll be quite tough. There are nine cars in each race, one of each of the nine in the game. The game will save your best lap time on each track. Arcade mode is fun. Versus mode works as you expect -- choose a track and go. The game does have four player support, unlike the other Imagineer games. Championship mode has more problems, though. The basic concept is your standard points-based championship that goes through all nine tracks and allows saving between races, so this mode is more involved than the others. You do three laps per race in this mode too, not just one. There's more added than just that, though -- this mode also adds car customization and car damage. Customization allows you to adjust four different sliders, for the gear ratios, tire type, etc. I have no idea what to do with these, I know nothing about such things (though there is a guide on GameFAQs with some good suggestions for what settings to use in the game; quite helpful). You can save three car customization settings. The car damage element is probably the toughest thing about Championship mode, though -- your car will wear down as you drive, so by the third lap your car will be harder to drive. Tire type does affect this, but it'll be there at least somewhat with any of them. Championship mode is, as a result, MUCH more difficult than Arcade mode -- while I've finished in the top three in all three Arcade mode championships, I can't get above seventh in Championship mode races. It's just brutal. Still though, this game is at least average, and is a fun game. Four player multiplayer, on-cart and Controller Pak (2 blocks) saving, both required. The on-cart part will save the options, car customization settings, and your best time in each track, but you'll need to make a 2-block file to save your progress in the 9-race championship mode.
Anyway though, I'll also post the three of them here.
Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck - Duck Dodgers is a 3d platformer from Paradigm, and it's their only attempt at the genre -- their other N64 games were all flight or racing games. The game makes me think a bit of games like Croc or Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (both on PC/PS1) -- it's a fun, but somewhat unpolished, game with a very Looney Tunes graphical style. Now, I love the Looney Tunes -- it's my favorite cartoon series by far. Duck Dodgers is a fantastic character, too. In this game you play as Duck Dodgers, of course, and have to collect fuel and such and defeat badguys helping out in Marvin the Martian's latest plot to destroy the earth. This game is inspired by the original Duck Dodgers cartoons, and predates the newer Cartoon Network show, so unfortunately characters that series added, such as the Martian Queen, don't appear here. That's too bad, but the classic cartoons are great too. The characters that are here are all fully voiced, though, which is nice; all of the voice acting is well done, and it's great that Daffy has a voice. It really does add to the game. The game is somewhat linear, as in each world, you'll go through a succession of areas. Each area is somewhat small, so this game doesn't have the scale of the system's top 3d platformers. Still, while small, the areas do have some good design elements and nice visual touches; as I said, this looks like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon gone 5th-gen 3d. It would have been nice if they were larger, though; these areas really are Croc-small. That's okay though I guess, and I do love Croc. Anyway, the areas are connected together with doors. When you enter an area, the game will show on screen how many fuel items there are left in the area. These serve as the game's stars or such. The other pickup are some blue crystal things. These respawn when you enter an area, and collecting fifty will get you an extra life. Run out of lives and it's game over, of course. The game over cutscene is quite amusing. The game starts out simple, but quickly gets more challenging. The controls here are somewhat flawed -- you don't have perfect control over Dodgers like you do Mario, or a Rare 3d platformer character. Jumps can be hard to make, and I found myself frequently missing them. Distance can be hard to judge, and the camera is mediocre at best. You can move it around, but good luck getting a perfect angle while zipping along on a moving mine car. However, the underwater controls are fantastic -- swimming with Daffy feels natural, and it's much easier to control him underwater than it is above. There's also a tiptoe button while on land, with the matching Looney Tunes sound effects. Still, most of the game is on land and you don't need to tiptoe very often. The controls are another reason why I compared Duck Dodgers to the games I did earlier, in addition to the visual style and mostly-linear-sequence-of-areas game design. Managing to get where you want, or WHAT you want, in trickier jetpack sections can be frustrating too. It's unfortunate that the controls aren't better; this game's good, but because of the controls, and somewhat simple level designs, isn't a match for Rare's great classics on the system. Still, Duck Dodgers is certainly worth a look. It's a decent game that many 3d platformer fans probably haven't played, and even if it has some problems, it does some things right too. And of course, it's a voiced Looney Tunes game on the N64, which is great. This game's better than most of the 16-bit Looney Tunes games too, I would say. If the controls were better this game would be a definite recommendation, but as-is, I would say that it's probably mostly for genre, or series, fans. I am a big fan of both 3d platformers and Looney Tunes, so I do enjoy the game for sure, but if you're not, the frustrating controls might well drive you away. Oh, and it's not the longest game either, certainly; Duck Dodgers is a bit on the short side. One player, on-cart saving.
Milo's Astro Lanes - Milo's Astro Lanes is a bowling game, as the title suggests. However, instead of being earthbound, this is a futuristic bowling game in space. Each lane has a different design, with obstacles and tricks to learn on the course. So yeah, the game has a decent concept to make things a bit more interesting than average. The graphics are basic, with lanes floating in space and very simple, small hub areas to choose levels in. The game looks okay, but it's quite simple for the platform. There are powerup icons on the courses too, and part of the strategy of the game is learning the powerups and deciding when to use each one. The bowling action itself is done well too, though. The ball and pin physics all work as they should. However, this is a very difficult game -- even the very first matches will require very high scores to complete. The game may seem simple at first, but you'll need to be very good to get beyond the second match. I find it maybe a bit too hard, actually... it's frustrating to score well but still lose. Apart from that though, it's good. I imagine that people good at bowling will have a much easier time with this game; I'm not all that good at it, clearly. The computer cheats, too -- it adjusts its play to match, and slightly exceed, yours, during matches. This makes winning frustratingly difficult. I can't compare this to the other bowling games on the N64, though, because I haven't played the other two for the system. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Rally Challenge 2000 - Rally Challenge 2000 is Imagineer's fourth and last N64 racing game. Released in Japan in 1999 and the US in 2000, this game has the best graphics and most content of the four. Yes, it's an Imagineer racing game which actually looks decently good! Nice work. I like the graphics in this game; they're not amazing, but they're quite solid for the system. Each track looks different, and the car models are done well too. Rally Challenge 2000 has nine cars and nine tracks as well, so there's more content here than in their previous games. The tracks have no shortcuts, as you'd expect from a rally game, but they're all fairly well designed. There are no tracks anywhere near as bad as most of GT64's tracks, for instance, thankfully. I came into Rally Challenge 2000 with low expectations, because the game has average review scores of around 6/10, or maybe 6.5 on the high end, but it surprised me -- this game may not be great, but it certainly is fun! The racing is done well, controls are good, graphics are solid, and the track designs are good, too. The game does have some flaws that do hurt the game, but it is good overall. For modes, there are three -- Arcade, Championship, and Versus. Arcade mode was inspired by Sega Rally. Here, you choose one of three sets of tracks. In each set, you'll go through three tracks, doing one lap on each course, just like Sega Rally. Try to catch up to the computers and win -- and yes, like Sega Rally, it'll be quite tough. There are nine cars in each race, one of each of the nine in the game. The game will save your best lap time on each track. Arcade mode is fun. Versus mode works as you expect -- choose a track and go. The game does have four player support, unlike the other Imagineer games. Championship mode has more problems, though. The basic concept is your standard points-based championship that goes through all nine tracks and allows saving between races, so this mode is more involved than the others. You do three laps per race in this mode too, not just one. There's more added than just that, though -- this mode also adds car customization and car damage. Customization allows you to adjust four different sliders, for the gear ratios, tire type, etc. I have no idea what to do with these, I know nothing about such things (though there is a guide on GameFAQs with some good suggestions for what settings to use in the game; quite helpful). You can save three car customization settings. The car damage element is probably the toughest thing about Championship mode, though -- your car will wear down as you drive, so by the third lap your car will be harder to drive. Tire type does affect this, but it'll be there at least somewhat with any of them. Championship mode is, as a result, MUCH more difficult than Arcade mode -- while I've finished in the top three in all three Arcade mode championships, I can't get above seventh in Championship mode races. It's just brutal. Still though, this game is at least average, and is a fun game. Four player multiplayer, on-cart and Controller Pak (2 blocks) saving, both required. The on-cart part will save the options, car customization settings, and your best time in each track, but you'll need to make a 2-block file to save your progress in the 9-race championship mode.
Oh wow, you actually picked up Milo's Astro Lanes. I remember not being particularly fond of Duck Dodgers during a rental period. Not that I should really recommend this because the game is terrible, but are you missing Earthworm Jim 3D? It is atrociously bad and obscenely hard, but it might help round out your collection if you're searching for just about anything.
A Black Falcon
Member
Yeah, it was cheap so I picked it up. It's funny though, I find it quite hard, while one of the gamefaqs reviews has the person saying how easy it is. So yeah, either they're wrong, or I'm bad at it. Maybe I just need to practice more, but at least once I did retry a mission and do better, and get a better score than the computer had my previous time... only for the computer to score even higher. Coincidence, or rigged computer AI? I don't know.
I haven't seen it locally for less than $20, and don't care quite enough to pay whatever it costs on EBay... (haven't checked in some time). I would like to try it sometime, but yeah, if that's the price, it won't be soon... Duck Dodgers was $10, which is as much as I'd want to pay for a game like that, and that's got to be a better game than EWJ3D from what I've seen of it.
The PC version of EWJ3D is on GOG and such for cheaper, but... I don't know. I don't love the EWJ series either, the first one was okay but I never did entirely love it like many people did...
It's not really worth seeking out for very much. It is maybe one of the worst games I've played, and it's not particularly funny either.
Definitely rigged. I prefer playing it as a multiplayer game but the challenge shouldn't be insurmountable early on.Yeah, it was cheap so I picked it up. It's funny though, I find it quite hard, while one of the gamefaqs reviews has the person saying how easy it is. So yeah, either they're wrong, or I'm bad at it. Maybe I just need to practice more, but at least once I did retry a mission and do better, and get a better score than the computer had my previous time... only for the computer to score even higher. Coincidence, or rigged computer AI? I don't know.
A Black Falcon
Member
One of the worst games you've played? It's not that great, sure, but I've played worse bowling games for sure, or at least less fun ones. But yeah, I probably should edit in a mention of the unfair AI into that review... that is not good.
I meant Earthworm Jim 3D was one of the worst games I've played. Or at least one of the most unpleasant. I kind of like Milo's Astro Lanes.
A Black Falcon, I'm going to a retro games convention next week. Could you maybe suggest three or four N64 games to me that are worth picking up. I mainly care about multiplayer games and these are the N64 games I currently own. I'm not looking for rare games, just (preferably) multiplayer experiences that still hold up. Thanks in advance.
A Black Falcon
Member
Ah, okay. EWJ3D is that bad, really? I've heard the camera is horrible and the game somewhat generic, but not that much beyond that. I haven't played it, certainly.
As for Milo's Astro Lanes, it'd be more fun if the computer didn't cheat so badly...
Well, Battletanx Global Assault, or the first Battletanx if you can't find it (or just get both, if they're cheap), for sure. Those are great multiplayer games; BTGA's one of my favorite multiplayer games on the system actually.
Beyond that, what about the Rush games, the first SF Rush and Rush 2049 particularly? You don't have any, and 2049 is of course my favorite racing game. Very good in multiplayer too thanks to the fantastic battle and stunt modes.
Hmm... for another one, what about Turok: Rage Wars, Turok 3, and/or Armorines? Those three Acclaim FPSes all are pretty fun games. See my reviews, but Rage Wars is the Quake 3 styled game (arena combat only) and has the best multiplayer of the series, Turok 3's a great single player game with okay multiplayer, and Armorines is a simpler, somewhat underrated shooter with a 2-player co-op campaign as well as the usual 4-player mode. Turok 3's probably the most expensive of these three, but I don't think it costs THAT much...
Also, Goemon's Great Adventure. It's one of the best 2.5d platformers ever, in my opinion, and is entirely playable in 2 player co-op. (There's a secret, hidden 4 player mode too, but you can only access it via code after beating the game.) This one might cost slightly more than these others, but it's worth it, in my opinion at least...
Thanks! I remember San Francisco Rush from a magazine, just could never find it in stores back then. I really like racing games so I'll definitely look for Rush 2049. Not so sure about the Turok games personally, although it seems like Rage Wars has got bots so that's a good thing. The Goemon game is something I've been looking for for a while, haven't been able to find it at conventions yet but perhaps I should just get it from ebay. Thanks for your time.
TheNatural
My Member!
Great post. N64 was the last time I was really hardcore into games, my most played system ever. I liked some of the underrated gems you touched on, you echo my sentiments on a lot of them:
Totally agree, remember playing the fuck out of this game at the time, was a pretty fucking awesome multiplayer game. I don't know if the concept has returned in any modern form, but I would love to play an updated version of this.
Loved this game, the multiplayer was friggin awesome. I don't think I had a difficult time beating though, my memory is fuzzy though.
Totally agree, Mario Kart 64 was fucking awesome, best game of the Mario Kart series IMO.
I like mini reviews like this, I wish I could find more sites that do stuff like this. The only one I know of is videogamecritic.net which has a nice old school design with a bunch of short reviews of old and new games.
You've played pretty much all the games I've had, and a whole lot more. I was really into the WCW/nWo Revenge and sequels AKI wrestling series though, my most played games ever, and the games are awesome. Then again, if you weren't into wrestling at the time, I can understand the apathy.
Totally agree, remember playing the fuck out of this game at the time, was a pretty fucking awesome multiplayer game. I don't know if the concept has returned in any modern form, but I would love to play an updated version of this.
Bomberman 64 - Bomberman 64 is the first Bomberman game of four on the N64, and it is to this day still the only full, Mario 64-inspired open 3d world Bomberman 3d platformer. All Bomberman 3d platformers after it followed much more linear designs, and the Gamecube ones don't even have 3d multiplayer, just the usual 2d grid stuff. Bomberman 64 was different. The game is very, very difficult, too difficult I would say, but it's a very good game. I do need to say though, the graphics are mediocre at best. Don't expect a lot from this game. It's just good enough to get by, but nothing above that. It's clearly first gen work. My other main complaint is that there is an entire sixth world in the main game that you can only access by getting ALL of the golden tickets (this game's equivalent to Mario 64's stars). ARGH! Some of those tickets are very hard to get... I've never seen world six. It's pretty annoying, I've heard it's cool.
Loved this game, the multiplayer was friggin awesome. I don't think I had a difficult time beating though, my memory is fuzzy though.
Totally agree, Mario Kart 64 was fucking awesome, best game of the Mario Kart series IMO.
I like mini reviews like this, I wish I could find more sites that do stuff like this. The only one I know of is videogamecritic.net which has a nice old school design with a bunch of short reviews of old and new games.
You've played pretty much all the games I've had, and a whole lot more. I was really into the WCW/nWo Revenge and sequels AKI wrestling series though, my most played games ever, and the games are awesome. Then again, if you weren't into wrestling at the time, I can understand the apathy.
A Black Falcon
Member
Modern? Yeah, I don't think there's anything really like it. There is WDL Thunder Tanks and WDL WarJetz (plane game, not tanks) for PS2 and they are very similar gameplay-wise, but I don't know of much beyond that...
I at least found it pretty hard, though I'm sure that's something that will differ from person to person. It would be cool to play that hidden world sometime though, but having to get every single golden ticket? I don't think that's happening.
Yeah, for me it's either MK64 or MKWii for sure, for best in the series. It's hard to choose between those two though...
Yeah, I must admit that these threads were somewhat inspired by his work. I've done game-specific threads, or reviews, for a long time, but that site's what gave me the idea to do shorter reviews for everything on a system. I do have some differences from that site though of course, including that I'll make reviews longer if I have more to say, that so far I haven't attached scores to reviews, and that I don't have screenshots of course. Oh, and it's my opinions; I've found that sometimes I agree with the videogamecritic reviews, but other times I strongly disagree... I'm sure my reviews come across like that to people who disagree with me, but I always try to mention the good things about a game too, even if I dislike it. I don't think he always does that.
On the note of scoring games though, I actually do have scores for some games in my gamelist database (in a percent scale, though that could translate easily to a ten-point or letter-grade style because I use letter-grade based numeric scoring anyway, ie, anything below a 60% is a failing grade and is quite uncommon; I'm not too harsh of a grader...
) but I haven't posted them on the reviews... maybe I should. I do care about scores, but on the other hand these are just short reviews, not full ones, and I do think that the text of a review is more important than the score. Also I don't want to be scoring all of these games, because a short summary review like these isn't always going to be comprehensive enough to give a game a full score... that's something I think of as going with a full review, if that makes any sense. I wouldn't want to do a full review for a game I haven't played extensively, but I will write these.The other problem with putting scores on games is that given that most of the scores I give are in the 65-95% range or so anyway, it's somewhat hard to differentiate them... I like lots of games, so I find it impossible to avoid giving lots of games good scores.
I only had about 24 games during the system's actual life (I got the system in '99, so that'd be the 2+ years from then to the end of '01), and only bought two games in the three years after that too. The rest are all games I picked up since I started collecting classic games in '05.
I guess I could mark the games I actually did own during the system's life; I mention that sometimes in the reviews, but not always. That can affect what I think of some of them I imagine.
I've always really disliked wrestling. Never had more than the tiniest of interest.
beyond_death
Member
N64 was such a great console, so many memories.
Night_Trekker
Member
Saw the thread title and immediately knew who made the thread!
This is pretty cool, ABF. I'm not sure I even knew there were 145+ games for the N64, and I loved the console.
This is pretty cool, ABF. I'm not sure I even knew there were 145+ games for the N64, and I loved the console.
Master Nairb
Member
How do you not have Goldeneye?
A Black Falcon
Member
There are about 300 US releases, so I have around half of the US library.
A lot of the titles I don't have are sports games, though, so there are probably only a few dozen games at most that I both don't have and actually have an interest in playing... (ie, most non-sports games that I don't have for the system).
I borrowed it from a friend and beat it once on Agent back in 2000. It was okay, but never was something I was very interested in replaying. As I'm sure I said earlier in the thread, Goldeneye is probably one of the N64's more overrated games... I mean, it's good, but it's got some real problems, as far as I can remember. Perfect Dark is similar, but is better, with more modes, more options, better graphics, a better story, etc etc. I have PD.
I will probably get GE007 sometime, but only if I find it for very cheap, like a couple of dollars, and want to use some money on something I won't play much.
I'd put Wave Race 64 right up there with Excitebike 64 and Mario Kart 64; it's not quite as good as either of those other all-time classics, but it's very close, and is a fantastic, fantastic game. Might be the best water racing game ever made. But yeah, I don't like 1080 on N64 quite as much. It's a good game, but just isn't my thing... what it does best isn't what I find the most fun in snowboarding games. It's more about tricks and stuff, and races are only 1-on-1 ever... That's why I find Big Mountain 2000 more fun; it may be "worse", but it's a good racing game first and foremost. Great fun stuff.
And yeah, I really loved DK64. I think most people liked their first Rare 3d platformer, but the formula got old after a few games. That probably hurt DK64, for people who had played B-K first... but yeah, DK64 is fantastic.
It's an uncommon game. I'd like to get it sometime, but I'm unlikely to find it for cheap... and I'd probably have to get it on ebay too, because I haven't seen a copy of the game since it released. I managed to find relatively cheap copies of a few uncommon N64 games, including Clayfighter: Sculptor's Cut, Worms Armageddon, and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (and, some years ago, Ogre Battle 64), but not that one.
Awesome Animals
Member
Loved Snowboard kids. Lots of character
Next time I'm at my parents house I'm definitely grabbing my 64 and the two dozen games I own.
Next time I'm at my parents house I'm definitely grabbing my 64 and the two dozen games I own.
daninthemix
Member
An interesting theory, but I think for me Banjo-Kazooie's imaginative worlds are what made it great. DK64 doesn't have a Clanker's Cavern, Click Clock Wood, Rusty Bucket Bay etc - and the levels it does have wear very thin because we have to spend so much time in the amassing the excessive collectibles.
But it was better than Tooie, which had levels that were too big and demanded too much backtracking.
For me it's BK > DK64 > BT
My words exactly!
Member
Once again, fantastic thread! I'll only add sth about Rally Challenge 2000, IIRC it was the only N64 game i remember having accurate reflections on the windows
I loved it too, and Banjo Kazooie was my first Rare 3D platformer. To me, Rare could do no wrong during that gen. Collecting never felt like a chore in that game. The levels were fun and the music was great. I wish we could get a VC release.
I played Banjo Tooie XBLA a few months back, and it was tough. Then I remembered that I played the original game with the speed up code, which allowed Banjo to run 2x faster. That made traversing the large stages a whole hell of a lot easier. The 360 version doesn't allow you to enter cheat codes...
rip in peace cheat codes
Pretty sure this is as close to an N64 collecting thread as we have, and I got a great deal today I had to share.
I got Majora's Mask, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Bass Masters, and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack for $20, along with one of the purple consoles off of a yard sale posting.
I got Majora's Mask, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Bass Masters, and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack for $20, along with one of the purple consoles off of a yard sale posting.
IrishNinja
Member
^nice deal man! N64 carts seem to be on the cheap overall for now, no? i havent kept up with em to know if the retro bubble has affected them much yet.
speaking of - ive seen RGB modded N64's on ebay for $55-60 on the low end, is that a good price? not something i plan to get anytime soon but once i pay off this XRGB i could see grabbing one & a SCART RGB cable.
speaking of - ive seen RGB modded N64's on ebay for $55-60 on the low end, is that a good price? not something i plan to get anytime soon but once i pay off this XRGB i could see grabbing one & a SCART RGB cable.
Here's my N64 collection (old camera pictures warning):
As you can see, I only had third party memory cards. Luckily, neither of them ever failed on me.
Everyone in my family was amazed when my grandma bought me the system plus Pilotwings, a game I liked except for the fact that I barely understood English, so I got stuck in some missions (I remember one where you had to shoot a rampaging monster thing, which I never beat). I traded the game for SM64 soon after, and I kept playing until I got all 120 stars.
I rented several games such as Star Fox 64, Wave Race 64, Blast Corps, Banjo-Kazooie and some oddball games I only rented once, such as a gold one where I thought having a higher score was the goal (>_>).
Here're some mini-reviews of each game:
Super Mario 64
The first 3D platformer, which got lots of things right: worlds worked more like a sandbox than later titles, since you could select a mission but end up getting a star from a completely unrelated one (except for some specific cases, such as red coin stars). The world variety was awesome and Mario controlled really well, and I even liked the camera since I quickly learned to control it myself. Nowadays, the graphics could probably make you cringe, but the mechanics still work fine.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
I first played this game on my cousin's N64, several years after I got my console, and I eventually ended up getting my own copy. OoT's graphics are way better than Mario 64's, and you have a really large world to explore. I'm probably going to play this again someday, since I never managed to beat the whole game (my kid self eventually got a Gameshark and used it to cheat my way through the rest of the game). It was an amazing adventure game, and the lock-on mechanic quickly became a mainstay for all 3D Zelda games, as well as some others.
Goldeneye 007
This was the first FPS I played since Doom 2 in my PC, and I really liked the mission-based gameplay. It was also a blast in multiplayer, but it kind of suffers of the "FPS for a console with a single analog stick" syndrome, where my friends and I most often relied on the limited auto-aiming to hit each other, since aiming manually forced you to sit still, which often wasn't worth it. The missions are varied enough, and the difficulty settings, unlockable cheats and the amazing 007 Agent difficulty mode, where you could manually set the enemies' HP, accuracy, damage output and reaction time (if I remember correctly) added lots of replay value. The game worked fine as a single-player game, and was lots of fun in multiplayer as well.
Mario Party 1
This is one of the games I have that has aged really badly. The lack of items makes the game a lot less strategic and interactive, but it did have some fun one-player minigames, for one.
Mario Party 2
The addition of items is was a great improvement, but it still got one-upped by the later games, since having a single item slot limited strategies an awful lot.
Mario Party 3
My favorite Mario Party for N64 by far, it introduced lots of new and interesting items, as well as a two-player battle mode which was okay. It also introduces Waluigi, for those who care about him (I do).
Mario Kart 64
Nowadays I'd say it's a bit slow-paced, but back when I used to play it with my friends, cousins and even my mom (it was the only game we often played together) it was amazing. The game has lots of variety, the karts control well, the battle mode is ridiculously fun (I loved Block Fort, as well as Double Deck) and the racing tracks are all interesting (my favorites were Wario Stadium, DK's Jungle Parkway and Choco Mountain, with a special mention to Toad's Turnpike in mirror mode, since the cars moved towards you there, which made racing a lot more difficult). It's still one of the best racing games as far as variety and replayability are concerned (none of my other racing games come even close to MK64's battle mode).
Super Smash Bros.
What can I say... It's a ridiculously fun game that was the first of its genere. More related to sumo than to regular fighting games, the game being based on throwing your opponents out of the level bounds to get KOs was an incredibly interesting concept that hadn't been explored that much in games before (as far as I know). It's a never-ending source of fun if you have some friends to play it with, but playing it by yourself could be kind of boring once you nail down the AI's quirks, and it's definitely one of the N64 games everyone should have.
Mario Tennis
Don't be fooled by the game's Mario theme, it's actually a great straight-up tennis game with no crazy power shots or anything that got introduced in later games (unless you count the special item mode, which uses a Mario Kart-like item system). I'd recommend this game even to people who don't care about Mario because of this.
Banjo-Tooie
I liked this one of Rare's collect-a-thons more than the rest, mostly since it had more variety than Banjo-Kazooie but wasn't completely overflowing with character-specific parts like Donkey Kong 64. Rare really made awesome games, both gameplay-wise and in a technical level (most game levels and assets look way better than Nintendo's own games). It's a great game to have if you care about sandboxy 3D platformers, but you should be ready for collecting things from start to end, be it jiggies, notes, new moves, jinjos, mumbo tokens or any other pick-ups you'll need to get through the game.
Paper Mario
It's a good turn-based RPG that's simple to understand and pretty straightforward, with an interesting aesthetic even though it didn't play around with paper as a medium like later PM games did. I liked it a lot back when I played it, but I guess I'd recommend The Thousand Year Door over this one since I liked it more, though.
Pokémon Stadium
This was mostly a novel game and a great way for playing my copy of Pokémon Red at an actually playable speed thanks to the Doduo and Dodrio Game Boy Towers, which let you play your games at 2x and 3x the standard game speed, respectively. Other than that, it was fun to battle with your pokémon in 3D and get some rare prize pokémon from beating the Gym Leader Castle, but the novelty worn out somewhat fast, so it isn't a game I'd recommend to anyone looking to add some N64 games to their collection.
This is it for now, I'll be reviewing the other games later.
As you can see, I only had third party memory cards. Luckily, neither of them ever failed on me.
Everyone in my family was amazed when my grandma bought me the system plus Pilotwings, a game I liked except for the fact that I barely understood English, so I got stuck in some missions (I remember one where you had to shoot a rampaging monster thing, which I never beat). I traded the game for SM64 soon after, and I kept playing until I got all 120 stars.
I rented several games such as Star Fox 64, Wave Race 64, Blast Corps, Banjo-Kazooie and some oddball games I only rented once, such as a gold one where I thought having a higher score was the goal (>_>).
Here're some mini-reviews of each game:
Super Mario 64
The first 3D platformer, which got lots of things right: worlds worked more like a sandbox than later titles, since you could select a mission but end up getting a star from a completely unrelated one (except for some specific cases, such as red coin stars). The world variety was awesome and Mario controlled really well, and I even liked the camera since I quickly learned to control it myself. Nowadays, the graphics could probably make you cringe, but the mechanics still work fine.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
I first played this game on my cousin's N64, several years after I got my console, and I eventually ended up getting my own copy. OoT's graphics are way better than Mario 64's, and you have a really large world to explore. I'm probably going to play this again someday, since I never managed to beat the whole game (my kid self eventually got a Gameshark and used it to cheat my way through the rest of the game). It was an amazing adventure game, and the lock-on mechanic quickly became a mainstay for all 3D Zelda games, as well as some others.
Goldeneye 007
This was the first FPS I played since Doom 2 in my PC, and I really liked the mission-based gameplay. It was also a blast in multiplayer, but it kind of suffers of the "FPS for a console with a single analog stick" syndrome, where my friends and I most often relied on the limited auto-aiming to hit each other, since aiming manually forced you to sit still, which often wasn't worth it. The missions are varied enough, and the difficulty settings, unlockable cheats and the amazing 007 Agent difficulty mode, where you could manually set the enemies' HP, accuracy, damage output and reaction time (if I remember correctly) added lots of replay value. The game worked fine as a single-player game, and was lots of fun in multiplayer as well.
Mario Party 1
This is one of the games I have that has aged really badly. The lack of items makes the game a lot less strategic and interactive, but it did have some fun one-player minigames, for one.
Mario Party 2
The addition of items is was a great improvement, but it still got one-upped by the later games, since having a single item slot limited strategies an awful lot.
Mario Party 3
My favorite Mario Party for N64 by far, it introduced lots of new and interesting items, as well as a two-player battle mode which was okay. It also introduces Waluigi, for those who care about him (I do).
Mario Kart 64
Nowadays I'd say it's a bit slow-paced, but back when I used to play it with my friends, cousins and even my mom (it was the only game we often played together) it was amazing. The game has lots of variety, the karts control well, the battle mode is ridiculously fun (I loved Block Fort, as well as Double Deck) and the racing tracks are all interesting (my favorites were Wario Stadium, DK's Jungle Parkway and Choco Mountain, with a special mention to Toad's Turnpike in mirror mode, since the cars moved towards you there, which made racing a lot more difficult). It's still one of the best racing games as far as variety and replayability are concerned (none of my other racing games come even close to MK64's battle mode).
Super Smash Bros.
What can I say... It's a ridiculously fun game that was the first of its genere. More related to sumo than to regular fighting games, the game being based on throwing your opponents out of the level bounds to get KOs was an incredibly interesting concept that hadn't been explored that much in games before (as far as I know). It's a never-ending source of fun if you have some friends to play it with, but playing it by yourself could be kind of boring once you nail down the AI's quirks, and it's definitely one of the N64 games everyone should have.
Mario Tennis
Don't be fooled by the game's Mario theme, it's actually a great straight-up tennis game with no crazy power shots or anything that got introduced in later games (unless you count the special item mode, which uses a Mario Kart-like item system). I'd recommend this game even to people who don't care about Mario because of this.
Banjo-Tooie
I liked this one of Rare's collect-a-thons more than the rest, mostly since it had more variety than Banjo-Kazooie but wasn't completely overflowing with character-specific parts like Donkey Kong 64. Rare really made awesome games, both gameplay-wise and in a technical level (most game levels and assets look way better than Nintendo's own games). It's a great game to have if you care about sandboxy 3D platformers, but you should be ready for collecting things from start to end, be it jiggies, notes, new moves, jinjos, mumbo tokens or any other pick-ups you'll need to get through the game.
Paper Mario
It's a good turn-based RPG that's simple to understand and pretty straightforward, with an interesting aesthetic even though it didn't play around with paper as a medium like later PM games did. I liked it a lot back when I played it, but I guess I'd recommend The Thousand Year Door over this one since I liked it more, though.
Pokémon Stadium
This was mostly a novel game and a great way for playing my copy of Pokémon Red at an actually playable speed thanks to the Doduo and Dodrio Game Boy Towers, which let you play your games at 2x and 3x the standard game speed, respectively. Other than that, it was fun to battle with your pokémon in 3D and get some rare prize pokémon from beating the Gym Leader Castle, but the novelty worn out somewhat fast, so it isn't a game I'd recommend to anyone looking to add some N64 games to their collection.
This is it for now, I'll be reviewing the other games later.
Why did I sell my N64?!?!?! This thread just reminds me how many incredible and unique games it had. And how many missed opportunities for Nintendo to take my cash via Virtual Console.
My then girlfriend (now wife) bought me an N64, Super Mario 64, and Shadows of the Empire, our first Christmas after we moved across country to ABQ. It had been a rough few months in a new city, away from our families, but we finally had found crappy jobs and a crappy apartment. We hadn't even bought a sofa yet, but we sat on the floor and played Super Mario 64, and it was one of the best Christmases ever.
My then girlfriend (now wife) bought me an N64, Super Mario 64, and Shadows of the Empire, our first Christmas after we moved across country to ABQ. It had been a rough few months in a new city, away from our families, but we finally had found crappy jobs and a crappy apartment. We hadn't even bought a sofa yet, but we sat on the floor and played Super Mario 64, and it was one of the best Christmases ever.
A Black Falcon
Member
Big update! I've gotten a bunch of N64 games over the past year-plus, and here are reviews of 16 new games. Yes, many of these reviews are longer than the ones in the original list. Hopefully eventually I make some of those longer, because plenty of those games definitely deserve more. Also when I have fewer games to cover at once, it's more tempting to write more about each one... and many of these are not the best-known titles.
New Reviews, Nov. 2013: A Bug's Life, Chameleon Twist 2, Custom Robo (J), Doraemon Nobita & The 3 Fairy Spirit Stones (J), Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing, Mario Party 3 (J), NBA Hang Time, Neon Genesis Evangelion (J), The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction, Rampage: World Tour, SD Hiryu no Ken Densetsu (J) [SD Flying Dragon Legend], Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (J), Tigger's Honey Hunt, V-Rally Edition '99, Xena: Warrior Princess -- The Talisman of Fate. The (J) after a title means that it is a Japanese import game.
REVIEWS
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A Bug's Life - A Bug's Life, from Traveller's Tales, is the first of two games from the longtime licensed-game developer for the N64. Unfortunately, while TT (now TT Games of Lego ____ fame) could sometimes make good games, their N64 ports were badly botched and subpar. Whether this game or Toy Story 2, both games have worse presentation, closer draw distances, lower framerates, and worse graphics on the N64 than they have on PS1. It's really, really sad. A Bug's Life is a 3d platform/action game based on the decent Pixar movie. The game is quite linear, and plays from a behind-and-above angle. It's not well thought trhough, and making jumps is much harder than it should be because of the horrible camera angles. If you had a problem with something like Croc, don't even think about trying this, because it's much, MUCH worse. The game is very linear, too; branching paths exist, but always dead-end. You throw stuff at enemies to fight, while wrestling with the bad camera of course. Very basic. There are some puzzle elements though, and they do add a bit to the game. Generally the puzzles are simple, as you figure out which things to use where in order to get to a higher area for instance, but I did like that element. In addition to the main story mode, there is also a Challenge mode where you ahve to do specific goals within a strict, and tight, time limit. Challenge mode is actually quite challenging, surprisingly enough, but mostly not for good reasons -- the objectives are not always clearly explained, the time limits are tight, and the bad camera makes success difficult. One other major problem is, as I said earlier, how bad the porting job was from the PS1. I imagine that this game isn't that great on the PS1 either, but this version is, unfortunately, worse. The FMV cutscenes are of course gone, replaced with still images. The framerate is bad, and I just couldn't adjust. Normally I have no problem with N64 framerates, but somehow this games' choppyness was just a little bit too bad. It's like the worse moments in Banjo-Tooie or Conker, except the whole game's framerate is like that, and there are no good graphics to explain the awful framerate away, either. Just bad programmers, sadly. Making this worse is a horrendous camera. It's really bad, and makes the whole game harder and much less fun. Play this game and then something like Mario 64 or Jet Force Gemini and you'll appreciate all over again how competent those sometimes-tricky camera systems are in comparison to this one! So yeah, this game is bad. Don't get it. One player, Controller Pak saving (12 pages). Also on PS1.
Chameleon Twist 2 - The second Chameleon Twist game is similar to the first one, but with slightly better graphics and new levels. This game feels a little more cheaply made than the first game, since the multiplayer versus mode was removed -- this is a single player only game, though you can choose to play as any of the chameleons from the first game during play -- and the internal save was replaced with controller pak only saving, but the base gameplay is the same, and it's still good. The graphics are still average at best, though. They may have improved a bit, but they're still second or third rate. This time the player characters look much more like chameleons, though. In the first game the "chameleons" are very cartoony figures that look little like their supposed form, but in this game they do look like chameleons, albeit cartoony ones. I like the new character designs. Chameleon Twist 2 feels something like a 4th gen third-party platformer, in that it has six big levels but is much more linear than platformers from Nintendo and won't last you nearly as long. Each of the six levels are long, with multiple sections followed by a boss fight, and the game has some challenging parts for sure. You do get a lot of health though, so you can make many mistakes before losing a life. Unless you care about how well you are doing (as you are rated at the end of each level) or whether you're finding the collectables along the way, beating the game probably won't take long. There is a little replay value in going back and trying to find everything, but it's limited. As before, levels are completely linear areas, often on platforms floating in space. This is a 3d platformer, but your path is mostly linear. Some areas may have multiple routes, but often those are just hiding places for collectables. I do like the level designs, though. The controls work similarly to the first game, so once again, the central focus is on your chameleon's long tongue. You can attach to things with the tongue, swing around, and more. Getting used to it is tricky, so practice -- you'll need it! Swinging with precision is central to the game. The training rooms can be tough, but you will need to have mastered the moves, with the tongue particularly, in order to get through the levels. As with the first game, you get used to it with practice. Overall, Chameleon Twist 2's structure, with the small number of big long levels, is dated, but the gameplay is fun. This is a classic, simple platformer. There aren't all that many 5th gen 3d platformers developed in Japan, but this series is. They are no match for the top N64 3d platformers, but are simple, fun games that 3d platformer fans should try. Expect a short game though -- there's not much to this one. Fortunately it's fun while it lasts. One player, Controller Pak saving (5 pages).
Custom Robo (J) - Custom Robo is an outstanding game which started a great and highly under-rated series. For anyone who has played the (US-released) Gamecube or Nintendo DS Custom Robo games, this N64 original is very similar, just in Japanese. The series' basic gameplay has been the same from the start, and it start off great. The Gamecube game is the best one in the series, since it is the only Custom Robo game with a simultaneous four player battle mode and those three and four player battles are really, REALLY fun, but otherwise, this game holds up very well. Custom Robo is a fighting game RPG, essentially. Each fight happens in a small arena. You move around the arena, and try to defeat your opponent with your weapons. You have three weapon types to use, a main gun, a missile weapon, and a bomb, each mapped to a different button. There are many types of each to unlock. You can also jump up, or dash forward. The games' graphics are average at best, but the game is extremely fast and fluid. If they compromised the graphics here to keep the framerate up, it worked! I was worried that this would be yet another slow-paced N64 fighting game, but it isn't at all. Fights in Custom Robo are just as fast and fun as they are in the Gamecube or DS games, and controls are better than the DS game too, since you have an analog stick. Normally I would talk about graphics after game modes, but it's very important to say how well the game plays. It makes the game great. Once you learn the moves, you can run around, jump and dodge attacks, charge enemies, use your three weapon types judiciously in order to leat the enemies into your fire (as the guns, missiles, and bombs each have different firing patterns and uses), and more. It's a great fighting-action game, one of the better ones around. Fighting is simple but great fun, and there is depth.
Custom Robo has three main modes, a battle tournament mode where you fight through eight or so opponents in your usual tournament game, a two player versus mode, and a story mode where you play through the RPG-ish main game. All Custom Robo games have an "RPG" mode like this one. Here you play as a young boy who is just getting into Custom Robo battles, battles fought between mini robots which you can customize with various parts. As you progress you unlock more and more parts for your robot, which with to make it better and try out new weapons. You don't really gain levels, but instead unlock parts. It is very unfortunate that this game wasn't released here, because it really is a great game and I'd like to know what the story is, too. Fortunately, Custom Robo is a fairly simple game, so even not knowing the language it is not hard to figure out how to play. As with the later games, the game mostly plays out in a city, and has a basic overworld map with the various places you can go, connected by paths, and the various areas (buildings, usually) once you go to them. As I said earlier the battles are entirely polygonal, but the environments youy explore as a person have sprite-based characters in polygonal worlds. They look okay, not great, but do use that Custom Robo style you also see in the later games. Occasionally you will need to wander around to figure out where to go, but none of the Custom Robo games have all that many areas, so it's not hard. The game doesn't even have a guide online worth mentioning, but it's entirely playable. The main language-barrier issue with the game is the part names. Instead of being able to figure them out by name, you'll have to try the parts out. That's alright, though, it's not too bad.
Overall, Custom Robo is a fantastic game. I was hoping that it'd be alright, considering how much I like the GC and DS games, but it exceeded my expectations, and I'm very happy to have gotten it. The game also has a Japan-only sequel on the N64, Custom Robo V2. I'll need to get it eventually. There's also a GBA game only released in Japan as well, though it's entirely 2d (side-scrolling battles and everything) and doesn't look quite as interesting as the other games. Regardless, the Custom Robo series is a great fighting/action/RPG game series, and I highly recmmend it, and this game. The US-released ones will probably be easier to find, but this N64 game is fantastic as well and is well worth tracking down! I actually got this game complete with the box, and it was worth it. It's not too expensive either. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving..
Doraemon: Nobita & The 3 Fairy Spirit Stones (J) - This is the first of three 3d platformer Doraemon games on the N64. All three were only released in Japan, of course. With average graphics, not the best controls, and no really special gameplay elements, we didn't miss all that much here, but this game is moderately amusing if you like 3d platformers. The game does have a language barrier at first, but there is a good GameFAQs guide which can help with that. I recommend reading it if you don't know the language. Doraemon is not a complex game, as expected from a game based on a childrens' cartoon, but you do need to go from place to place and need to know what the menu options do. Doraemon and friends have to collect the pieces of the titular three spirit stones, which have been broken. The intro is far too long, for how simple the story is. In the game, you start out as Doraemon, but as you progress you can switch to Doraemon's human friends as you save (and unlock) them. Doraemon also gets a few new abilities as well. It's the usual stuff -- items to swim, fly, and such. The game has an overworld, from where you go into missions in the levels. You have to talk to a person then get the right item and go to the right place to reach each level, so a guide is helpful if you can't read Japanese, though the areas are not that large, so you'd probably figure it out eventually anyway. The levels themselves are each a linear sequence of rooms to get through. Each area has some jumps, enemies, collectables, invisible walls (argh), etc. This game is probably too simple and predictable; it's got nothing original about it, and the levels aren't large or complex enough to really grab me, either. The graphics are okay, but bland. It's quite average visually, just like the gameplay. It looks alright, but doesn't have the size, scope, or graphical quality of the systems' better 3d platformers. I was interested to try this, but the mediocre reviews I see of it online are, unfortunately, accurate. Still, I don't regret getting it; it's interesting to see one of the only N64 3d platformers not released in the US (there are these three and that's about it, the Taz game aside...). And even if the game is probably below average for an N64 3d platformer, it's still playable. I wonder if the sequels are any better. I'm not sure. At least it does have on-cart saving. One player, on-cart saving..
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is one of only two games based on Kevin Sorbo's Hercules TV show; the other one is a GBC game. So, it's a licensed game based on a TV show set in a fantasy version of ancient Greece. As it apparently is in the show this doesn't feel much at all like Greece, and has lots of medieval fantasy elements in it, but it's always that way, unfortunately. The game was also published by Titus, another bad sign. However, the game is actually okay! Yeah, I was surprised too. That's nice; I haven't watched the show before, myself, but did love Sorbo's next TV show, the sci-fi series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (which sadly never had a videogame; it should have). Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, though, is a 3d action-adventure game with beat 'em up-style combat and Zelda-inspired towns and adventure elements. The game has decent graphics, too. They aren't the best, and you can clearly see the Ocarina of Time influence in the games' graphical design, but they did a good job of making something that looks somewhat similar. The game does have fog, and I wish the draw distance was farther back, but it is enough to see where you are going, and the graphics are reasonably good. Just remember to center the camera behind you frequently. You play as Hercules at first, but eventually unlock two more characters you can switch between, or use in areas that the others cannot reach. This gives the game some nice variety. Hercules is slow and strong, Iolaus fast and agile, and Serena is better at ranged attacks (and is a centaur). The game feels different with each character, which is good. Enemies are definitely tougher with Iolaus than Hercules. The battle system does get repetitive, though; don't expect greatness here, just average stuff.
The game is linear in that you have to do things in order, but has puzzles and exploration along the way, as you would expect. You'll have to talk to people in the towns, solve some puzzles, and the like, in addition to going around fighting enemies and exploring. Talk to everyone! This is often necessary to progress. This game is not nearly as great as a Zelda game, but still, it's a fun little game. The game does have some parts where you have to find specific objects or people but aren't told specifically where to go, but just explore and talk to everyone again, that will usually help. Or use a guide, if you're really stuck; the game does have them. As I said earlier, though, the combat is nothing like a Zelda game. With Hercules, it plays much more like a beat 'em up. Hit the buttons to punch and kick the enemies (or hit them with your weapons), use basic combos to keep the hits going. Enemies all have health bars on them. You can ignore some enemies, but some you will have to fight, either to progress or in order to get drops (health, money, and such) you need. There are also bosses occasionally. Overall, this game is unoriginal, but it's alright. It's a decently average game (or maybe slightly above average? It's in that range, anyway), which is pretty good considering we're talking about a licensed game published by Titus. One player, Controller Pak saving (16 pages per save).
Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing - Hot Wheels Turbo Racing is an okay futuristic racing game. The game is a Playstation port and looks it, unfortunately. This game also has some very narrow tracks. Perhaps that's being accurate to the license, but the best Hot Wheels games, such as Stunt Track Challenge, aren't like that. That is a newer game than this one, though. This game looks dated. As with many earlier polygonal racing games, environments feel small, too many tracks have walls cloose by on both sides as if this game was from years before it released, and the graphics are mediocre at best -- the N64 can do much better than this. But of course, this is only a PS1 port. Still, the graphics are below average for the N64. There aren't all that many tracks, either, and the game isn't fun enough to make me want to master them and unlock the hidden ones. The game does have some nice track elements, such as loops, curving walls, traps to avoid, and the like, though, so there is something interesting here. Each track will take a bit of practice to master, but even so this isn't that long of a game. The stunt system is another disappointment, though. It's kind of like Rush 2 or Rush 2049's, except without a dedicated stunt mode and with far fewer ways to get points; instead, you just get points for spins and flips and the like that you make during jumps during races. Spinnging a bit during jumps is vitally important because it can get you turbos, but it's nowhere near as fun, varied, or interesting to look at as Rush 2049's, or even Rush 2's. As for modes, you've got circuit championships in several difficulties, a single-race mode, and two player splitscreen. That's about it. Futuristic and arcade style racing games are one of my favorite kinds of games, but this one isn't particularly good at either. This game isn't really worth playing. Two player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (28 pages). Also on PS1.
Mario Party 3 (J) - Mario Party 3 is the third Mario Party game, and it's pretty much the same basic thing as the second game, except with new minigames, new boards, and a few minor new modes. Unfortunately, since the US version of this game was the last game Nintendo released for the N64 before abandoning the system before its time, the US version is not cheap. I ended up getting this Japanese version in a lot with several other games (Doraemon, Flying Dragon SD). And... yeah, it's pretty much more Mario Party, just with a language barrier that makes figuring out how to play it a little harder. Once you do figure out how to get into the main game, though, it's the same Mario Party as ever. Well, minigame instructions are also in Japanese, but most games are simple enough to easily figure out. The new mode is a mode with very few minigames; instead, you go around and try to take as many of the board spaces as you can. Honestly though, it's kind of boring, since the minigames are the best part about Mario Party games. The main tables and minigames are fine, but I don't think this game is quite as good as Mario Party 2, language barrier aside. That game was quite an improvement over the first game, but this is pretty much more of the same. Also, as always, the game isn't very fun in single player mode. Mario Party and Wii Party games just aren't remotely the same when played single player, and Nintendo, Hudson, or the current series developers have never figured out how to solve that problem. This game certainly doesn't do that. So yeah, probably just stick with Mario Party 2, for your N64 Mario Party needs -- that game is cheaper. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Also when I have fewer games to cover at once, it's more tempting to write more about each one... and many of these are not the best-known titles.New Reviews, Nov. 2013: A Bug's Life, Chameleon Twist 2, Custom Robo (J), Doraemon Nobita & The 3 Fairy Spirit Stones (J), Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing, Mario Party 3 (J), NBA Hang Time, Neon Genesis Evangelion (J), The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction, Rampage: World Tour, SD Hiryu no Ken Densetsu (J) [SD Flying Dragon Legend], Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (J), Tigger's Honey Hunt, V-Rally Edition '99, Xena: Warrior Princess -- The Talisman of Fate. The (J) after a title means that it is a Japanese import game.
REVIEWS
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A Bug's Life - A Bug's Life, from Traveller's Tales, is the first of two games from the longtime licensed-game developer for the N64. Unfortunately, while TT (now TT Games of Lego ____ fame) could sometimes make good games, their N64 ports were badly botched and subpar. Whether this game or Toy Story 2, both games have worse presentation, closer draw distances, lower framerates, and worse graphics on the N64 than they have on PS1. It's really, really sad. A Bug's Life is a 3d platform/action game based on the decent Pixar movie. The game is quite linear, and plays from a behind-and-above angle. It's not well thought trhough, and making jumps is much harder than it should be because of the horrible camera angles. If you had a problem with something like Croc, don't even think about trying this, because it's much, MUCH worse. The game is very linear, too; branching paths exist, but always dead-end. You throw stuff at enemies to fight, while wrestling with the bad camera of course. Very basic. There are some puzzle elements though, and they do add a bit to the game. Generally the puzzles are simple, as you figure out which things to use where in order to get to a higher area for instance, but I did like that element. In addition to the main story mode, there is also a Challenge mode where you ahve to do specific goals within a strict, and tight, time limit. Challenge mode is actually quite challenging, surprisingly enough, but mostly not for good reasons -- the objectives are not always clearly explained, the time limits are tight, and the bad camera makes success difficult. One other major problem is, as I said earlier, how bad the porting job was from the PS1. I imagine that this game isn't that great on the PS1 either, but this version is, unfortunately, worse. The FMV cutscenes are of course gone, replaced with still images. The framerate is bad, and I just couldn't adjust. Normally I have no problem with N64 framerates, but somehow this games' choppyness was just a little bit too bad. It's like the worse moments in Banjo-Tooie or Conker, except the whole game's framerate is like that, and there are no good graphics to explain the awful framerate away, either. Just bad programmers, sadly. Making this worse is a horrendous camera. It's really bad, and makes the whole game harder and much less fun. Play this game and then something like Mario 64 or Jet Force Gemini and you'll appreciate all over again how competent those sometimes-tricky camera systems are in comparison to this one! So yeah, this game is bad. Don't get it. One player, Controller Pak saving (12 pages). Also on PS1.
Chameleon Twist 2 - The second Chameleon Twist game is similar to the first one, but with slightly better graphics and new levels. This game feels a little more cheaply made than the first game, since the multiplayer versus mode was removed -- this is a single player only game, though you can choose to play as any of the chameleons from the first game during play -- and the internal save was replaced with controller pak only saving, but the base gameplay is the same, and it's still good. The graphics are still average at best, though. They may have improved a bit, but they're still second or third rate. This time the player characters look much more like chameleons, though. In the first game the "chameleons" are very cartoony figures that look little like their supposed form, but in this game they do look like chameleons, albeit cartoony ones. I like the new character designs. Chameleon Twist 2 feels something like a 4th gen third-party platformer, in that it has six big levels but is much more linear than platformers from Nintendo and won't last you nearly as long. Each of the six levels are long, with multiple sections followed by a boss fight, and the game has some challenging parts for sure. You do get a lot of health though, so you can make many mistakes before losing a life. Unless you care about how well you are doing (as you are rated at the end of each level) or whether you're finding the collectables along the way, beating the game probably won't take long. There is a little replay value in going back and trying to find everything, but it's limited. As before, levels are completely linear areas, often on platforms floating in space. This is a 3d platformer, but your path is mostly linear. Some areas may have multiple routes, but often those are just hiding places for collectables. I do like the level designs, though. The controls work similarly to the first game, so once again, the central focus is on your chameleon's long tongue. You can attach to things with the tongue, swing around, and more. Getting used to it is tricky, so practice -- you'll need it! Swinging with precision is central to the game. The training rooms can be tough, but you will need to have mastered the moves, with the tongue particularly, in order to get through the levels. As with the first game, you get used to it with practice. Overall, Chameleon Twist 2's structure, with the small number of big long levels, is dated, but the gameplay is fun. This is a classic, simple platformer. There aren't all that many 5th gen 3d platformers developed in Japan, but this series is. They are no match for the top N64 3d platformers, but are simple, fun games that 3d platformer fans should try. Expect a short game though -- there's not much to this one. Fortunately it's fun while it lasts. One player, Controller Pak saving (5 pages).
Custom Robo (J) - Custom Robo is an outstanding game which started a great and highly under-rated series. For anyone who has played the (US-released) Gamecube or Nintendo DS Custom Robo games, this N64 original is very similar, just in Japanese. The series' basic gameplay has been the same from the start, and it start off great. The Gamecube game is the best one in the series, since it is the only Custom Robo game with a simultaneous four player battle mode and those three and four player battles are really, REALLY fun, but otherwise, this game holds up very well. Custom Robo is a fighting game RPG, essentially. Each fight happens in a small arena. You move around the arena, and try to defeat your opponent with your weapons. You have three weapon types to use, a main gun, a missile weapon, and a bomb, each mapped to a different button. There are many types of each to unlock. You can also jump up, or dash forward. The games' graphics are average at best, but the game is extremely fast and fluid. If they compromised the graphics here to keep the framerate up, it worked! I was worried that this would be yet another slow-paced N64 fighting game, but it isn't at all. Fights in Custom Robo are just as fast and fun as they are in the Gamecube or DS games, and controls are better than the DS game too, since you have an analog stick. Normally I would talk about graphics after game modes, but it's very important to say how well the game plays. It makes the game great. Once you learn the moves, you can run around, jump and dodge attacks, charge enemies, use your three weapon types judiciously in order to leat the enemies into your fire (as the guns, missiles, and bombs each have different firing patterns and uses), and more. It's a great fighting-action game, one of the better ones around. Fighting is simple but great fun, and there is depth.
Custom Robo has three main modes, a battle tournament mode where you fight through eight or so opponents in your usual tournament game, a two player versus mode, and a story mode where you play through the RPG-ish main game. All Custom Robo games have an "RPG" mode like this one. Here you play as a young boy who is just getting into Custom Robo battles, battles fought between mini robots which you can customize with various parts. As you progress you unlock more and more parts for your robot, which with to make it better and try out new weapons. You don't really gain levels, but instead unlock parts. It is very unfortunate that this game wasn't released here, because it really is a great game and I'd like to know what the story is, too. Fortunately, Custom Robo is a fairly simple game, so even not knowing the language it is not hard to figure out how to play. As with the later games, the game mostly plays out in a city, and has a basic overworld map with the various places you can go, connected by paths, and the various areas (buildings, usually) once you go to them. As I said earlier the battles are entirely polygonal, but the environments youy explore as a person have sprite-based characters in polygonal worlds. They look okay, not great, but do use that Custom Robo style you also see in the later games. Occasionally you will need to wander around to figure out where to go, but none of the Custom Robo games have all that many areas, so it's not hard. The game doesn't even have a guide online worth mentioning, but it's entirely playable. The main language-barrier issue with the game is the part names. Instead of being able to figure them out by name, you'll have to try the parts out. That's alright, though, it's not too bad.
Overall, Custom Robo is a fantastic game. I was hoping that it'd be alright, considering how much I like the GC and DS games, but it exceeded my expectations, and I'm very happy to have gotten it. The game also has a Japan-only sequel on the N64, Custom Robo V2. I'll need to get it eventually. There's also a GBA game only released in Japan as well, though it's entirely 2d (side-scrolling battles and everything) and doesn't look quite as interesting as the other games. Regardless, the Custom Robo series is a great fighting/action/RPG game series, and I highly recmmend it, and this game. The US-released ones will probably be easier to find, but this N64 game is fantastic as well and is well worth tracking down! I actually got this game complete with the box, and it was worth it. It's not too expensive either. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving..
Doraemon: Nobita & The 3 Fairy Spirit Stones (J) - This is the first of three 3d platformer Doraemon games on the N64. All three were only released in Japan, of course. With average graphics, not the best controls, and no really special gameplay elements, we didn't miss all that much here, but this game is moderately amusing if you like 3d platformers. The game does have a language barrier at first, but there is a good GameFAQs guide which can help with that. I recommend reading it if you don't know the language. Doraemon is not a complex game, as expected from a game based on a childrens' cartoon, but you do need to go from place to place and need to know what the menu options do. Doraemon and friends have to collect the pieces of the titular three spirit stones, which have been broken. The intro is far too long, for how simple the story is. In the game, you start out as Doraemon, but as you progress you can switch to Doraemon's human friends as you save (and unlock) them. Doraemon also gets a few new abilities as well. It's the usual stuff -- items to swim, fly, and such. The game has an overworld, from where you go into missions in the levels. You have to talk to a person then get the right item and go to the right place to reach each level, so a guide is helpful if you can't read Japanese, though the areas are not that large, so you'd probably figure it out eventually anyway. The levels themselves are each a linear sequence of rooms to get through. Each area has some jumps, enemies, collectables, invisible walls (argh), etc. This game is probably too simple and predictable; it's got nothing original about it, and the levels aren't large or complex enough to really grab me, either. The graphics are okay, but bland. It's quite average visually, just like the gameplay. It looks alright, but doesn't have the size, scope, or graphical quality of the systems' better 3d platformers. I was interested to try this, but the mediocre reviews I see of it online are, unfortunately, accurate. Still, I don't regret getting it; it's interesting to see one of the only N64 3d platformers not released in the US (there are these three and that's about it, the Taz game aside...). And even if the game is probably below average for an N64 3d platformer, it's still playable. I wonder if the sequels are any better. I'm not sure. At least it does have on-cart saving. One player, on-cart saving..
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is one of only two games based on Kevin Sorbo's Hercules TV show; the other one is a GBC game. So, it's a licensed game based on a TV show set in a fantasy version of ancient Greece. As it apparently is in the show this doesn't feel much at all like Greece, and has lots of medieval fantasy elements in it, but it's always that way, unfortunately. The game was also published by Titus, another bad sign. However, the game is actually okay! Yeah, I was surprised too. That's nice; I haven't watched the show before, myself, but did love Sorbo's next TV show, the sci-fi series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (which sadly never had a videogame; it should have). Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, though, is a 3d action-adventure game with beat 'em up-style combat and Zelda-inspired towns and adventure elements. The game has decent graphics, too. They aren't the best, and you can clearly see the Ocarina of Time influence in the games' graphical design, but they did a good job of making something that looks somewhat similar. The game does have fog, and I wish the draw distance was farther back, but it is enough to see where you are going, and the graphics are reasonably good. Just remember to center the camera behind you frequently. You play as Hercules at first, but eventually unlock two more characters you can switch between, or use in areas that the others cannot reach. This gives the game some nice variety. Hercules is slow and strong, Iolaus fast and agile, and Serena is better at ranged attacks (and is a centaur). The game feels different with each character, which is good. Enemies are definitely tougher with Iolaus than Hercules. The battle system does get repetitive, though; don't expect greatness here, just average stuff.
The game is linear in that you have to do things in order, but has puzzles and exploration along the way, as you would expect. You'll have to talk to people in the towns, solve some puzzles, and the like, in addition to going around fighting enemies and exploring. Talk to everyone! This is often necessary to progress. This game is not nearly as great as a Zelda game, but still, it's a fun little game. The game does have some parts where you have to find specific objects or people but aren't told specifically where to go, but just explore and talk to everyone again, that will usually help. Or use a guide, if you're really stuck; the game does have them. As I said earlier, though, the combat is nothing like a Zelda game. With Hercules, it plays much more like a beat 'em up. Hit the buttons to punch and kick the enemies (or hit them with your weapons), use basic combos to keep the hits going. Enemies all have health bars on them. You can ignore some enemies, but some you will have to fight, either to progress or in order to get drops (health, money, and such) you need. There are also bosses occasionally. Overall, this game is unoriginal, but it's alright. It's a decently average game (or maybe slightly above average? It's in that range, anyway), which is pretty good considering we're talking about a licensed game published by Titus. One player, Controller Pak saving (16 pages per save).
Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing - Hot Wheels Turbo Racing is an okay futuristic racing game. The game is a Playstation port and looks it, unfortunately. This game also has some very narrow tracks. Perhaps that's being accurate to the license, but the best Hot Wheels games, such as Stunt Track Challenge, aren't like that. That is a newer game than this one, though. This game looks dated. As with many earlier polygonal racing games, environments feel small, too many tracks have walls cloose by on both sides as if this game was from years before it released, and the graphics are mediocre at best -- the N64 can do much better than this. But of course, this is only a PS1 port. Still, the graphics are below average for the N64. There aren't all that many tracks, either, and the game isn't fun enough to make me want to master them and unlock the hidden ones. The game does have some nice track elements, such as loops, curving walls, traps to avoid, and the like, though, so there is something interesting here. Each track will take a bit of practice to master, but even so this isn't that long of a game. The stunt system is another disappointment, though. It's kind of like Rush 2 or Rush 2049's, except without a dedicated stunt mode and with far fewer ways to get points; instead, you just get points for spins and flips and the like that you make during jumps during races. Spinnging a bit during jumps is vitally important because it can get you turbos, but it's nowhere near as fun, varied, or interesting to look at as Rush 2049's, or even Rush 2's. As for modes, you've got circuit championships in several difficulties, a single-race mode, and two player splitscreen. That's about it. Futuristic and arcade style racing games are one of my favorite kinds of games, but this one isn't particularly good at either. This game isn't really worth playing. Two player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (28 pages). Also on PS1.
Mario Party 3 (J) - Mario Party 3 is the third Mario Party game, and it's pretty much the same basic thing as the second game, except with new minigames, new boards, and a few minor new modes. Unfortunately, since the US version of this game was the last game Nintendo released for the N64 before abandoning the system before its time, the US version is not cheap. I ended up getting this Japanese version in a lot with several other games (Doraemon, Flying Dragon SD). And... yeah, it's pretty much more Mario Party, just with a language barrier that makes figuring out how to play it a little harder. Once you do figure out how to get into the main game, though, it's the same Mario Party as ever. Well, minigame instructions are also in Japanese, but most games are simple enough to easily figure out. The new mode is a mode with very few minigames; instead, you go around and try to take as many of the board spaces as you can. Honestly though, it's kind of boring, since the minigames are the best part about Mario Party games. The main tables and minigames are fine, but I don't think this game is quite as good as Mario Party 2, language barrier aside. That game was quite an improvement over the first game, but this is pretty much more of the same. Also, as always, the game isn't very fun in single player mode. Mario Party and Wii Party games just aren't remotely the same when played single player, and Nintendo, Hudson, or the current series developers have never figured out how to solve that problem. This game certainly doesn't do that. So yeah, probably just stick with Mario Party 2, for your N64 Mario Party needs -- that game is cheaper. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
A Black Falcon
Member
NBA Hang Time - NBA Hangtime is a home port of Midway's third arcade basketball title. While Midway lost the NBA Jam name to Acclaim, they kept making games in the series, just under new names. The first of those was NBA Hangtime, and the second NBA Showtime (which I have for Dreamcast). Originally an arcade game, Hangtime was ported to multiple platforms (SNES, Genesis, GB, PS1, N64), but the N64 has one of the best versions. The game is classic NBA Jam, and has 2-on-2 arcade basketball, with that great NBA Jam gameplay that holds up so well. The graphics are quite good, too -- this game is sprite-based, and looks quite nice on the N64. Of course it has real sprite scaling, as you'd expect for a 5th gen platform. As a result, the game looks and plays great. However, some of NBA Jam T.E.'s innovations are sadly cut out of this version, however, which is a real disappointment; overall, I like T.E. more than I do Hangtime as a result. Most notably, turbo mode (2x, 3x, and 4x speeds), Hot Spots, and Power Ups are all gone. Also, T.E.'s quarter-based player replacemenet system is gone. INstead, you can only switch players at halftime, instead of each player. This completely gets rid of the slight strategy element T.E. had in having to manage your players' injury ratings (since the player on the bench healed up; remember that in T.E. there were only three players on most teams). Those first three mode removals are unfortunate, but that last change really is bad. I thought that the addition of injury ratings and quarter-based player replacement were probably the best thing about T.E. compared to the original NBA Jam. Why in the world did Midway remove it from their next game? That was a big mistake. There is one new feature, though, apart from the better graphics and the roster update: there is a player creation feature now. If you create players it'll take up some memory card space of course, but it's a nice feature to have. Midway's later basketball games would bring this feature back, though; it's not only in this game. Still though, despite its flaws, NBA Hangtime is a good game that is great fun to play, and I'd absolutely recommend it. It is a good arcade basketball game with some nice scaling 2d graphics and great gameplay. Unfortunately some feature cuts place it slightly below its predecessor in my opinion, but still, it's a very good game. Four player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (7 pages per player file, more for create-a-player files). Also on Arcade, PS1, SNES, Genesis, and GB.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (J) - Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most popular anime series of the last couple of decades, or at lesat it's one of the best known in the West. It is a series about teenagers who fight in giant robot suits called EVAs, defending the Earth from monsters called Angels which are trying to destroy it. Well, that's just the story on the surface; below that there's a very complex story going on about the characters and Shinji (the main character)'s psychology that I won't get into. Evangelion was an interesting anime, I liked it. In Japan there have been many Evangelion games, but most were adventure or board/card games; only a few are action games, and this was the first of those (there have since been PS2 and PSP Evangelion action games). As such, back during the N64's life, this game became known as the "good Evangelion game", because it's the one that Western gamers could actually play. Is it actually a good game, though? Well... not really; it's a below average collection of minigames of sorts, sadly. The GRAPHICS, however, are absolutely incredible! Seriously, Evangelion is one of the very best looking games on the N64, and should be on any list of the best-looking N64 games. This game looks fantastic, the EVAs look extremely impressive. They even get the animations and expressions down perfectly. The games' presentation is also spot-on. The menus and cutscenes look like something straight out of Evangelion, and there are plenty of speech samples in this game, too. The music is also fantastic, and sounds just like the music from the show. The music is MIDI, so there aren't voices in the ending theme (which is used in the end-level screen, cleverly enough), but still, the graphics and music in this game are outstanding.
But that gameplay? Yeah, that is the weak link here. The many cutscenes during missions are flashy, and the ingame graphics good as well, but the actual gameplay isn't as good. The Story mode starts with several battles against Angels, 2.5d fighting game-style. You control your EVA, and can walk forward and back, do a weak attack with A, do a strong attack/grab with A+B plus a direction, block with B, or use your shield (AT Field) with C-down. The EVAs are huge, so the long delay between when you press a button and when something happens actually makes sense, sort of. I hope it was intentional, anyway. It is annoying and frustrating, but you'll have to get used to it. Timing is key in this game, both in the fighting missions and later. Attacks, blocks, etc. must be done at the right time to succeed, and the game is not forgiving. AT Fields are great, but you can only use it occasionally; the bar on the center-left of the screen tells you if you can use it or not. When trying to break through an Angel's AT Field with your own, alternate button presses on C-down and A if you want to succeed. The gameplay is simple, but hard at times. The first level isn't too bad, but the second one is quite challenging, even on "Easy". In addition to your and the Angel's health (on the upper left and right corners), you also have a sync ratio between your pilot and EVA. There's an extremely useful guide on GameFAQs that tells you which moves you can do depending on your sync ratio -- the lower it goes, the fewer moves you can use. Fortunately the game saves your progress at each match, but still, I'm sure some people have just given up at level two. I sure was tempted to. If you get past match two, the game starts varying what you do in each mission. You play as Shinji in most of the 13 (13.5 really) missions, but Asuka has two (2.5 really, since one is split into two parts) missions, and Rei one. There is a sniping level (very short), a rhythm-style level where Shinji has to synchronize with Asuka (I hate this stuff...), some levels entirely about timed button pressing, and more, though it does return to some fighting-style levels later as well.
However, regardless of mission type the gameplay is never better than average, and that's probably being kind. You don't fight all the Angels from the TV show, either. Since there are only 13 full missions, some are skipped over, unfortunately, probably for cartridge space reasons. There are multiple difficulty levels to complete, though, and the second and third difficulties do each have one more level on the end, versus Normal, to encourage you to replay the game a few times. You also unlock a mission-select option after beating the game on Hard. Given the mediocre gameplay, though, you may or may not want to do that. There is also Simulation mode, which basically is just a series of target-shooting tests. You choose any one of the five Children -- yes, here you can play as any of the five, including Kawada, Toji, and Rei, as well as the two from the Story mode. However, it really is just a shooting gallery, so that's a minor bonus unfortunately. These Angel target-shooting tests are pretty hard to get a good rating in, though, despite their simplicity. Try to hit the weak points if you want to do well -- it's not easy. Overall, whether NGE is worth getting or not depends almost entirely on what you think of the anime. The game is easily playable for non-Japanese speakers who know the series, since menus are in English, the story is the same as in the anime, and the controls are easy to figure out, but the lacking gameplay is a problem. I highly doubt that people who don't know, or don't like, the anime would have much interest in this game, apart from looking at the quite impressive graphics, but I do like the anime, so yeah, I do think this game was worth getting. This game could have been a lot better, but fans of the series, or those who want to see some of the systems' best graphics, might want to check this game out. It's not the cheapest import, but isn't one of the most expensive either, fortunately. I wouldn't want to pay the cost for a boxed copy, though; as cool as that box looks in pictures it probably isn't worth it. One player, on-cart saving.
The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction - Based on the popular, and amusing, cartoon, this game was released in late 2001, and is one of the later N64 releases. However, the game is abysmal. Seriously, don't buy this, it's the worst game I own for the Nintendo 64 -- yes, it somehow manages to dethrone War Gods for that "honor!" This is a 3d fighting game perhaps somewhat inspired by Power Stone, but the designers were either incompetent or had no time to actually make a half-decent game, and the results are horrible. This game was also released on the Playstation, and this game feels like a down-port of that version, but oddly it seems to have released on N64 a month before PS1. On PS1 probably this game doesn't stand out nearly as much in its badness, since there are so many bad PS1 games, but games this awful almost never also released on the N64... but this one, somehow, did. This is a 3d fighting game where you fight in tiny little arenas. The game has six arenas and nine characters (the three Powerpuff Girls and six villains), but extends its single player game by not giving you the ending until you beat all 6 rounds with each PPG member. When it comes to gameplay, though, the game has very little in terms of move variety. You can punch, kick, block (C-left/right), punch or kick repeatedly to do a very basic "combo", jump plus punch or kick, and that's about it. You can also block, but it's hard to use, since it only blocks one hit, no more. This means that a block must be followed immediately with an attempted attack, or at least a jump, and you cannot block continuing enemy attacks -- you've got to try to get out of the way. What a bizarre design decision, and it's a bad one for sure. In a game where skill mattered that could potentially be interesting, but in this it's just frustrating. On that note, jumping is the only good way to get out of a "combo", when you are being hit by one. And by "combo" I mean "mashing one of the attack buttons repeatedly", because that's all you have to do to keep an attack going that only a well-timed jump or block plus jump or attack can get the victim out of. The AI will combo you a lot, so learn how to get out of them. This system gets very annoying, very fast, and is quite awful game design. Regardless, it's stupid and horribly designed. Why is blocking so hard in a game that otherwise involves almost no skill? It's bizarre! Also, you can try to throw objects in the arena at your enem (to stun them), but actually hitting them is hard, while they will hit you almost every time with the objects they throw. Argh.
The controls are also bad, because jump is mapped ONLY to the Z button, while L does nothing. So, if you want to use the D-pad, somehow you have to use it with Z, which is not going to be comfortable. Horrible design! The controls are not particularly responsive, either, I don't think. However, the graphics are reasonably nice, honestly. The arenas are very small, but somewhat detailed, and character graphics are okay. The music, however, is another story. On the N64, this game has only one music track, the Powerpuff Girls theme, which plays in the menu and during every match. Yes, really. The rendition of the song isn't that great, either. Unacceptable. Also, compared to the PS1 version, that version has a CGI intro video, while the N64 has a plain-text-only intro, without even any stills or something, like competent games would. And the text's font is so bad that I honestly couldn't read some of the words. Really. Also, there's more speech on the PS1 version -- on PS1, but not on N64 (in text or speech), there are silly little stage intro lines and it says the characters' names before the fight. Characters do speak furing fights though on the N64, for their moves and such. Also, the PS1 version supports memory-card saving. On N64, bizarrely, saving is password only, making this one of only two N64 games I know of with password-only saving (the other is Charlie Blast's Territory). However, the N64 version does have better in-fight graphics, thanks to its much cleaner graphics, so there is that. Overall, PPG:Chemical X-Traction is shamefully incompetent, horrible game for the N64. It may or may not be the overall worst game on the N64, but either way, it is definitely near the bottom of the list. Two player multiplayer, password save. Also on PS1 and PC.
Rampage: World Tour - Rampage: World Tour started Midway's rebirth of the Rampage series. The first Rampage, a popular '80s arcade game that was ported to the NES and other systems, didn't immediately get a sequel, but with this game, it finally got one. As in the original, you play as three monsters, and go around destroying cities. The monsters are humans who were transformed into monsters in science experiments gone wrong, and now you're getting your revenge on humanity by levelling all of its cities, from a 2d side-scrolling view. Yes, this game is entirely 2d. The graphics are okay, but aren't anything great, and use a pre-rendered style popular in the '90s. The game has a simple concept, but it's a simple series. You walk left or right, jump onto buildings to grab onto them and climb them King Kong style, and punch and kick them into rubble. There are human tanks, helicopters, soldiers, etc. shooting at you. Lots of hits cannot be avoided, as always in Rampage games; the series requires a little skill, but luck and endurance are more important. Rampage is a series which is fun for a little while, but gets old fast since there is never any variety whatsoever. World Tour tries to help that a bit with several different city environments, but the base gameplay never changes and does not require enough skill or strategy to not get tedious. It's always been that way in Rampage games, and it is here. However, it is a fun game for a while, and unlike in the arcade version of World Tour, or any version of the first Rampage, the console versions of World Tour do let you save your progress. That is great, and that's one reason to get this game for the N64 instead of just playing the emulated arcade version that was included in various Midway games and collections; there you'd have to play the entire long game in one sitting, which just is too boring to endure. As a result of that, the N64 version of Rampage: World Tour is still the best version -- it's the only one with both three player support AND saving. On that note, unlike the two-players-only PS1 or Saturn ports, N64 World Tour supports three player simultaneous play, which is great. The first Rampage was always a two player only game, but World Tour's arcade version had three player support, and this does as well. Overall though, Rampage: World Tour is a somewhat average game. The game is a good port of an average game. The game has a sequel released in the arcades, PS1, and N64 called Rampage: Universal Tour, but I don't have that one. There's also a final PS1-exclusive one, Rampage Through Time. Both games are basically rehashes of this game though, with the same gameplay but some new environments and monsters to play as. Finally, there's Rampage: Total Destruction for the GC/PS2/Xbox/Wii. It adds some new things to the series, such as isometric 3d gameplay (side-view-with-depth stuff, not full-roaming 3d); it's alright. It's still Rampage though, for good and bad. Rampage: World Tour is, ultimately, repetive, simplistic, and gets boring after a while. However, it's fun to wreck cities for a while, and the game does save, so sure, pick it up if you like this kind of thing and it's pretty cheap. Three player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (7 pages). Arcade port, also on PS1 and Saturn. The arcade version is also included in Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and Rampage: Total Destruction.
SD Hiryu no Ken Densetsu (J) [SD Flying Dragon Legend] - SD Hiryu no Ken is Flying Dragon's sequel. This game is another Japan-only game, and it's got a big language barrier, because there is absolutely no English text in the game anywhere; it's 100% Japanese, with some Arabic numerals for numbers. Fortunately there is a guide for the game on GameFAQs. Use it! Otherwise figuring out what to do in the menus will be quite tricky. The game is fun enough to perhaps make it worth the effort, though, though it is unfortunately very easy. As the name suggests, though, this time there is only one gameplay mode, the cute-looking "SD" (super-deformed) mode from the first game; the "Virtual Hiryu" mode, with more realistic, Virtua Fighter-esque, graphics, is gone. In the first game, SD mode had 3d-dodge buttons, while Virtual mode did not, as in VF 1 or 2. This time, you can choose whether you want to be able to enable the 3d-dodge buttons or not. The feature is disabled by default, but I much prefer it on, and that's how I've mostly played the game. SD Hiryu has slightly better graphics and a better framerate than the first game, as well. For the most part it looks similar, but it runs a bit better, which is great; Flying Dragon does have some framerate issues. This game is not as smooth and well-playing as the best 5th gen 3d fighting games, but it is an improvement over the first game, which is good. The game plays alright, though even in "Hard" AI opponents are easy to beat, and in "Normal" I found myself winning almost every single round even on my first time playing the game. As far as modes go, there is a story mode which has you play as the series' main character guy only. The story is all in Japanese of course, and there isn't voice acting, but you can at least do the fights and maybe figure a few things out by what's going on. The GameFAQs guide gives you some story details as well. There is also a tournament mode where you fight the usual eight or so enemies, versus mode, options, training mode, and the like. As in the SD mode in the previous game, you can buy items with the money you win in the various modes. This adds an "RPG" element to the game, as you try to get the better items. Of course, all item descriptions are netirely in Japanese, but the FAQ does have an item list with descriptions, which is nice. The other main unlockable are alternate tournaments for tournament mode. In addition to the basic one, there are seven more unlockable themed tournaments you can get if you do specific things and have certain items. Not bad. There are more characters to play as in this game than the last one as well, and the Virtual-only characters have been brought over into this game, in new superdeformed forms of course. Overall, SD Hiryu no Ken is an okay to good game. It's slightly better than the first Flying Dragon overall, thanks to the improved framerate most notably. If you like Flying Dragon, definitely check this game out. However, it is easy, and do use that FAQ if you can't read Japanese. Two player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving.
Tigger's Honey Hunt - Tigger's Honey Hunt is a 2.5d platformer, and while it is quite easy, it's actually kind of fun. As the name suggests, in this game you play Tigger, the tiger from Winnie the Pooh. While most Winnie the Pooh games are basic educational games for little kids, though, this one is a real platformer, and yes, it's alright. The main game is, that is; the minigames are unfortunately horrible. Yeah, do NOT play this for multiplayer. In the main game, Tigger's Honey Hunt has you bouncing through a somewhat short quest as you, as Tigger, have to find Pooh's honey (sorry, hunney), since, as always, he messed up and spilled Pooh's honey. Your goal in each level is collecting enough of the honey to unlock the next stage. Tigger can jump, but also can bounce high on his coil tail. You'll have to explore each level reasonably well in order to get everything, though this is at its core a linear platformer. There are only nine levels, though, so this is a short game. Still, there's a little replay value if you don't manage to find all of the honey on the first try; this generally isn't that hard, but for the target audience here it's probably perfect. You also do get a few more abilities during the game that will have you going back to the earlier levels if you want to get all the honey. But even for adults, even if the game is far too short and easy, I found it a fun game. Tigger's Honey Hunt has decent to good graphics, too. You can tell that this is a multiplatform title and that it doesn't really push the N64, but still, it looks good. I like the graphics, you couldn't do 5th gen 3d Pooh characters much better than this. There aren't many 2d or 2.5d platformers on the N64, so it's great that this one was released. Unfortunately, the sound is weak. There is no voice acting in the cutscenes, so children will have to be able to read for this one (or have someone read it for them). On PS1 there are voices, but they didn't want to pay for a larger cartridge to fit them in this release, I presume. Too bad. Also the game is only a few hours long, with somewhat limited replay value. And last, those minigames really are bad. There are only three of them, and they are Simon Says, Rock Paper Scissors, and a really tedious "watch sticks float down a river" game. That's it -- pretty bad! Still, overall, Tigger's Honey Hunt is a fun little game. If it's cheap, it's worth checking out, I think. It won't take long to play through, and it's a simple, fun game while it lasts. Four player multiplayer (minigames only; main game is single player only), on-cart saving. Also on PS1.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (J) - Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most popular anime series of the last couple of decades, or at lesat it's one of the best known in the West. It is a series about teenagers who fight in giant robot suits called EVAs, defending the Earth from monsters called Angels which are trying to destroy it. Well, that's just the story on the surface; below that there's a very complex story going on about the characters and Shinji (the main character)'s psychology that I won't get into. Evangelion was an interesting anime, I liked it. In Japan there have been many Evangelion games, but most were adventure or board/card games; only a few are action games, and this was the first of those (there have since been PS2 and PSP Evangelion action games). As such, back during the N64's life, this game became known as the "good Evangelion game", because it's the one that Western gamers could actually play. Is it actually a good game, though? Well... not really; it's a below average collection of minigames of sorts, sadly. The GRAPHICS, however, are absolutely incredible! Seriously, Evangelion is one of the very best looking games on the N64, and should be on any list of the best-looking N64 games. This game looks fantastic, the EVAs look extremely impressive. They even get the animations and expressions down perfectly. The games' presentation is also spot-on. The menus and cutscenes look like something straight out of Evangelion, and there are plenty of speech samples in this game, too. The music is also fantastic, and sounds just like the music from the show. The music is MIDI, so there aren't voices in the ending theme (which is used in the end-level screen, cleverly enough), but still, the graphics and music in this game are outstanding.
But that gameplay? Yeah, that is the weak link here. The many cutscenes during missions are flashy, and the ingame graphics good as well, but the actual gameplay isn't as good. The Story mode starts with several battles against Angels, 2.5d fighting game-style. You control your EVA, and can walk forward and back, do a weak attack with A, do a strong attack/grab with A+B plus a direction, block with B, or use your shield (AT Field) with C-down. The EVAs are huge, so the long delay between when you press a button and when something happens actually makes sense, sort of. I hope it was intentional, anyway. It is annoying and frustrating, but you'll have to get used to it. Timing is key in this game, both in the fighting missions and later. Attacks, blocks, etc. must be done at the right time to succeed, and the game is not forgiving. AT Fields are great, but you can only use it occasionally; the bar on the center-left of the screen tells you if you can use it or not. When trying to break through an Angel's AT Field with your own, alternate button presses on C-down and A if you want to succeed. The gameplay is simple, but hard at times. The first level isn't too bad, but the second one is quite challenging, even on "Easy". In addition to your and the Angel's health (on the upper left and right corners), you also have a sync ratio between your pilot and EVA. There's an extremely useful guide on GameFAQs that tells you which moves you can do depending on your sync ratio -- the lower it goes, the fewer moves you can use. Fortunately the game saves your progress at each match, but still, I'm sure some people have just given up at level two. I sure was tempted to. If you get past match two, the game starts varying what you do in each mission. You play as Shinji in most of the 13 (13.5 really) missions, but Asuka has two (2.5 really, since one is split into two parts) missions, and Rei one. There is a sniping level (very short), a rhythm-style level where Shinji has to synchronize with Asuka (I hate this stuff...), some levels entirely about timed button pressing, and more, though it does return to some fighting-style levels later as well.
However, regardless of mission type the gameplay is never better than average, and that's probably being kind. You don't fight all the Angels from the TV show, either. Since there are only 13 full missions, some are skipped over, unfortunately, probably for cartridge space reasons. There are multiple difficulty levels to complete, though, and the second and third difficulties do each have one more level on the end, versus Normal, to encourage you to replay the game a few times. You also unlock a mission-select option after beating the game on Hard. Given the mediocre gameplay, though, you may or may not want to do that. There is also Simulation mode, which basically is just a series of target-shooting tests. You choose any one of the five Children -- yes, here you can play as any of the five, including Kawada, Toji, and Rei, as well as the two from the Story mode. However, it really is just a shooting gallery, so that's a minor bonus unfortunately. These Angel target-shooting tests are pretty hard to get a good rating in, though, despite their simplicity. Try to hit the weak points if you want to do well -- it's not easy. Overall, whether NGE is worth getting or not depends almost entirely on what you think of the anime. The game is easily playable for non-Japanese speakers who know the series, since menus are in English, the story is the same as in the anime, and the controls are easy to figure out, but the lacking gameplay is a problem. I highly doubt that people who don't know, or don't like, the anime would have much interest in this game, apart from looking at the quite impressive graphics, but I do like the anime, so yeah, I do think this game was worth getting. This game could have been a lot better, but fans of the series, or those who want to see some of the systems' best graphics, might want to check this game out. It's not the cheapest import, but isn't one of the most expensive either, fortunately. I wouldn't want to pay the cost for a boxed copy, though; as cool as that box looks in pictures it probably isn't worth it. One player, on-cart saving.
The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction - Based on the popular, and amusing, cartoon, this game was released in late 2001, and is one of the later N64 releases. However, the game is abysmal. Seriously, don't buy this, it's the worst game I own for the Nintendo 64 -- yes, it somehow manages to dethrone War Gods for that "honor!" This is a 3d fighting game perhaps somewhat inspired by Power Stone, but the designers were either incompetent or had no time to actually make a half-decent game, and the results are horrible. This game was also released on the Playstation, and this game feels like a down-port of that version, but oddly it seems to have released on N64 a month before PS1. On PS1 probably this game doesn't stand out nearly as much in its badness, since there are so many bad PS1 games, but games this awful almost never also released on the N64... but this one, somehow, did. This is a 3d fighting game where you fight in tiny little arenas. The game has six arenas and nine characters (the three Powerpuff Girls and six villains), but extends its single player game by not giving you the ending until you beat all 6 rounds with each PPG member. When it comes to gameplay, though, the game has very little in terms of move variety. You can punch, kick, block (C-left/right), punch or kick repeatedly to do a very basic "combo", jump plus punch or kick, and that's about it. You can also block, but it's hard to use, since it only blocks one hit, no more. This means that a block must be followed immediately with an attempted attack, or at least a jump, and you cannot block continuing enemy attacks -- you've got to try to get out of the way. What a bizarre design decision, and it's a bad one for sure. In a game where skill mattered that could potentially be interesting, but in this it's just frustrating. On that note, jumping is the only good way to get out of a "combo", when you are being hit by one. And by "combo" I mean "mashing one of the attack buttons repeatedly", because that's all you have to do to keep an attack going that only a well-timed jump or block plus jump or attack can get the victim out of. The AI will combo you a lot, so learn how to get out of them. This system gets very annoying, very fast, and is quite awful game design. Regardless, it's stupid and horribly designed. Why is blocking so hard in a game that otherwise involves almost no skill? It's bizarre! Also, you can try to throw objects in the arena at your enem (to stun them), but actually hitting them is hard, while they will hit you almost every time with the objects they throw. Argh.
The controls are also bad, because jump is mapped ONLY to the Z button, while L does nothing. So, if you want to use the D-pad, somehow you have to use it with Z, which is not going to be comfortable. Horrible design! The controls are not particularly responsive, either, I don't think. However, the graphics are reasonably nice, honestly. The arenas are very small, but somewhat detailed, and character graphics are okay. The music, however, is another story. On the N64, this game has only one music track, the Powerpuff Girls theme, which plays in the menu and during every match. Yes, really. The rendition of the song isn't that great, either. Unacceptable. Also, compared to the PS1 version, that version has a CGI intro video, while the N64 has a plain-text-only intro, without even any stills or something, like competent games would. And the text's font is so bad that I honestly couldn't read some of the words. Really. Also, there's more speech on the PS1 version -- on PS1, but not on N64 (in text or speech), there are silly little stage intro lines and it says the characters' names before the fight. Characters do speak furing fights though on the N64, for their moves and such. Also, the PS1 version supports memory-card saving. On N64, bizarrely, saving is password only, making this one of only two N64 games I know of with password-only saving (the other is Charlie Blast's Territory). However, the N64 version does have better in-fight graphics, thanks to its much cleaner graphics, so there is that. Overall, PPG:Chemical X-Traction is shamefully incompetent, horrible game for the N64. It may or may not be the overall worst game on the N64, but either way, it is definitely near the bottom of the list. Two player multiplayer, password save. Also on PS1 and PC.
Rampage: World Tour - Rampage: World Tour started Midway's rebirth of the Rampage series. The first Rampage, a popular '80s arcade game that was ported to the NES and other systems, didn't immediately get a sequel, but with this game, it finally got one. As in the original, you play as three monsters, and go around destroying cities. The monsters are humans who were transformed into monsters in science experiments gone wrong, and now you're getting your revenge on humanity by levelling all of its cities, from a 2d side-scrolling view. Yes, this game is entirely 2d. The graphics are okay, but aren't anything great, and use a pre-rendered style popular in the '90s. The game has a simple concept, but it's a simple series. You walk left or right, jump onto buildings to grab onto them and climb them King Kong style, and punch and kick them into rubble. There are human tanks, helicopters, soldiers, etc. shooting at you. Lots of hits cannot be avoided, as always in Rampage games; the series requires a little skill, but luck and endurance are more important. Rampage is a series which is fun for a little while, but gets old fast since there is never any variety whatsoever. World Tour tries to help that a bit with several different city environments, but the base gameplay never changes and does not require enough skill or strategy to not get tedious. It's always been that way in Rampage games, and it is here. However, it is a fun game for a while, and unlike in the arcade version of World Tour, or any version of the first Rampage, the console versions of World Tour do let you save your progress. That is great, and that's one reason to get this game for the N64 instead of just playing the emulated arcade version that was included in various Midway games and collections; there you'd have to play the entire long game in one sitting, which just is too boring to endure. As a result of that, the N64 version of Rampage: World Tour is still the best version -- it's the only one with both three player support AND saving. On that note, unlike the two-players-only PS1 or Saturn ports, N64 World Tour supports three player simultaneous play, which is great. The first Rampage was always a two player only game, but World Tour's arcade version had three player support, and this does as well. Overall though, Rampage: World Tour is a somewhat average game. The game is a good port of an average game. The game has a sequel released in the arcades, PS1, and N64 called Rampage: Universal Tour, but I don't have that one. There's also a final PS1-exclusive one, Rampage Through Time. Both games are basically rehashes of this game though, with the same gameplay but some new environments and monsters to play as. Finally, there's Rampage: Total Destruction for the GC/PS2/Xbox/Wii. It adds some new things to the series, such as isometric 3d gameplay (side-view-with-depth stuff, not full-roaming 3d); it's alright. It's still Rampage though, for good and bad. Rampage: World Tour is, ultimately, repetive, simplistic, and gets boring after a while. However, it's fun to wreck cities for a while, and the game does save, so sure, pick it up if you like this kind of thing and it's pretty cheap. Three player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (7 pages). Arcade port, also on PS1 and Saturn. The arcade version is also included in Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and Rampage: Total Destruction.
SD Hiryu no Ken Densetsu (J) [SD Flying Dragon Legend] - SD Hiryu no Ken is Flying Dragon's sequel. This game is another Japan-only game, and it's got a big language barrier, because there is absolutely no English text in the game anywhere; it's 100% Japanese, with some Arabic numerals for numbers. Fortunately there is a guide for the game on GameFAQs. Use it! Otherwise figuring out what to do in the menus will be quite tricky. The game is fun enough to perhaps make it worth the effort, though, though it is unfortunately very easy. As the name suggests, though, this time there is only one gameplay mode, the cute-looking "SD" (super-deformed) mode from the first game; the "Virtual Hiryu" mode, with more realistic, Virtua Fighter-esque, graphics, is gone. In the first game, SD mode had 3d-dodge buttons, while Virtual mode did not, as in VF 1 or 2. This time, you can choose whether you want to be able to enable the 3d-dodge buttons or not. The feature is disabled by default, but I much prefer it on, and that's how I've mostly played the game. SD Hiryu has slightly better graphics and a better framerate than the first game, as well. For the most part it looks similar, but it runs a bit better, which is great; Flying Dragon does have some framerate issues. This game is not as smooth and well-playing as the best 5th gen 3d fighting games, but it is an improvement over the first game, which is good. The game plays alright, though even in "Hard" AI opponents are easy to beat, and in "Normal" I found myself winning almost every single round even on my first time playing the game. As far as modes go, there is a story mode which has you play as the series' main character guy only. The story is all in Japanese of course, and there isn't voice acting, but you can at least do the fights and maybe figure a few things out by what's going on. The GameFAQs guide gives you some story details as well. There is also a tournament mode where you fight the usual eight or so enemies, versus mode, options, training mode, and the like. As in the SD mode in the previous game, you can buy items with the money you win in the various modes. This adds an "RPG" element to the game, as you try to get the better items. Of course, all item descriptions are netirely in Japanese, but the FAQ does have an item list with descriptions, which is nice. The other main unlockable are alternate tournaments for tournament mode. In addition to the basic one, there are seven more unlockable themed tournaments you can get if you do specific things and have certain items. Not bad. There are more characters to play as in this game than the last one as well, and the Virtual-only characters have been brought over into this game, in new superdeformed forms of course. Overall, SD Hiryu no Ken is an okay to good game. It's slightly better than the first Flying Dragon overall, thanks to the improved framerate most notably. If you like Flying Dragon, definitely check this game out. However, it is easy, and do use that FAQ if you can't read Japanese. Two player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving.
Tigger's Honey Hunt - Tigger's Honey Hunt is a 2.5d platformer, and while it is quite easy, it's actually kind of fun. As the name suggests, in this game you play Tigger, the tiger from Winnie the Pooh. While most Winnie the Pooh games are basic educational games for little kids, though, this one is a real platformer, and yes, it's alright. The main game is, that is; the minigames are unfortunately horrible. Yeah, do NOT play this for multiplayer. In the main game, Tigger's Honey Hunt has you bouncing through a somewhat short quest as you, as Tigger, have to find Pooh's honey (sorry, hunney), since, as always, he messed up and spilled Pooh's honey. Your goal in each level is collecting enough of the honey to unlock the next stage. Tigger can jump, but also can bounce high on his coil tail. You'll have to explore each level reasonably well in order to get everything, though this is at its core a linear platformer. There are only nine levels, though, so this is a short game. Still, there's a little replay value if you don't manage to find all of the honey on the first try; this generally isn't that hard, but for the target audience here it's probably perfect. You also do get a few more abilities during the game that will have you going back to the earlier levels if you want to get all the honey. But even for adults, even if the game is far too short and easy, I found it a fun game. Tigger's Honey Hunt has decent to good graphics, too. You can tell that this is a multiplatform title and that it doesn't really push the N64, but still, it looks good. I like the graphics, you couldn't do 5th gen 3d Pooh characters much better than this. There aren't many 2d or 2.5d platformers on the N64, so it's great that this one was released. Unfortunately, the sound is weak. There is no voice acting in the cutscenes, so children will have to be able to read for this one (or have someone read it for them). On PS1 there are voices, but they didn't want to pay for a larger cartridge to fit them in this release, I presume. Too bad. Also the game is only a few hours long, with somewhat limited replay value. And last, those minigames really are bad. There are only three of them, and they are Simon Says, Rock Paper Scissors, and a really tedious "watch sticks float down a river" game. That's it -- pretty bad! Still, overall, Tigger's Honey Hunt is a fun little game. If it's cheap, it's worth checking out, I think. It won't take long to play through, and it's a simple, fun game while it lasts. Four player multiplayer (minigames only; main game is single player only), on-cart saving. Also on PS1.
A Black Falcon
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Tsumi to Batsu: Hoshi no Keishousha - Sin and Punishment [Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth] (J) - Sin and Punishment is surely the best-known and most popular N64 game that was not released outside of Japan. The game is a rail shooter (of sorts) by Treasure, and it's a quite good game as well. The game even is fully voice acted in English. The anime-esque story is confusing, and the ending in this N64 version has some text-only Japanese in it, but still, it IS mostly in English. However, some idiots at Nintendo decided that they wouldn't release the game outside of Japan, despite how badly me and so many other people wanted the game, and that was that. This was the N64 import game I really wanted, but could not have gotten, or afforded, back then; I wouldn't even have a credit/debit card until the mid '00s, never mind a way to import games from Japan. So yeah, Nintendo was stupid. I ended up looking up how to play N64 games emulated just to play this game, but always wanted to own the real thing too. Even after I got a Wii, and picked up the US Wii Virtual Console release of the game, I still wanted the actual cartridge. Well, I finally got it, complete in box. It cost about $40 shipped, but that's what it costs now. I do think that VC releease cut the price of the game in half, though, which is good; it used to cost even more. It's easy to see why when you play the game, though. Sin & Punishment is not a perfect game, though, Most importantly, it's way too short -- there are only three levels, each made up of three stages. That's not many, and not all of the levels are equally great, either. However, when it's good it's very, very good, and that makes up for the flaws. The game also keeps me coming back to try to get better scores. This is a Treasure game, and it's got some depth to it to make players want to keep playing it, try harder difficulty levels, and get better scores. That's good, when a game is as short as this one is. Still, the game needed more stages. Only nine, and one of the last ones is a random side-scrolling stage which isn't quite as great as the rail-shooter levels are? Plus the last stage is just the final boss fight, no more. It's a long boss fight, but still, all in all the games' length is disappointing. As for modes, the game has a main story mode (with saving), difficulty selection, some minor hidden options to unlock depending on which difficulty level you beat the game on, a training mode to help you through the controls, and high-score tables for each stage and difficulty. There is multiplayer, if someone hits start on controller two, but it just lets controller two control the cursor and fire, nothing more. Pretty disappointing.
Sin and Punishment is a rail shooter, but it is not a conventional one. Instead of flying a spaceship forward, Star Fox style, instead this is more like Jet Force Gemini bossfights, or perhaps Wild Guns and such on the SNES -- you move a character on a 2d plane in front and can run or jump to avoid projectiles, while also moving a cursor around the screen to shoot at enemies. This game isn't a static-screen game, though; instead, you're usually moving forward. Sometimes the screen will stick for a while while you fight some tougher enemy, or a boss of course, but usually you're moving forward, either on the ground somewhere or on some flying platform. So, it is indeed a rail shooter. You use the analog stick to aim, and the C-buttons to move. R jumps, and A switches between lock-on fire (with lower damage) or aimed fire (with higher damage). The controls take getting used to -- learning how to use R with the C-buttons and analog stick all at the same time isn't easy. I honestly find the controls even harder to use on the Gamecube controller (with the Wii VC release), though. X or Y to move left and right, plus R to jump? Argh! Not comfortable. And I like the C-stick even less. So, even though the controls are kind of odd, I do think that the N64 version has the better control setup. It's easier to use the C-buttons plus R than the various GC or CC options. And yes, jumping is very important. Once you get used to it, the controls do work well, and the gameplay is somewhat unique and plays great. Indeed, the great gameplay is why this game is so good, despite the various issues the game has. As for graphics and sound, the graphics are good, but not really great. This game looks good, but the N64 can do better. Some stages, most notably 2-2, the flying battle against an enemy fleet, look great, but others are less impressive. I'd have liked to see more stages like 2-2. Still, overall the graphics are decently good. The art design is great, as well. I like the box-art quite a bit. Enemy and boss designs also are often pretty good. The music is reasonably good, and it's cool that the voice acting is in English. You probably won't remember the music after playing, though.
Returning to the story, in Sin and Punishment you play as two teenage resistance fighters, Saki (a boy) and Airan (a girl). They are led by Achi, a girl with mysterious powers and an unknown agenda. Monsters called "Ruffians" are attacking the Earth, and yet again things are not looking good for Japan. The resistance is fighting Ruffians, while other enemy forces are using Ruffian powers instead. They are a private military corporation here to crush resistance, I believe; I'm not entirely sure. At the beginning of the game, their troops wipe out some other resistance bases, leaving only the three characters to continue their fight. Achi has her own secrets, which you learn later in the game, but the story isn't really the main draw here; it's okay, if you like dark anime-esque plots, and when you when you can actually figure out what's going on, but it's not great. It would be nice if it made more sense without having to go read online about what was happening, though. Ah well. You play the first and third levels as Saki, and only the second as Airan. No, you cannot choose who you play as, it's all preset according to the story. That's too bad; the sequel (Sin & Punishment: Star Successor for Wii) lets you choose either of that games' two characters during the game. Better. That game has a LOT more content than this one, too, and probably is the better game overall. Still, the first Sin & Punishment is a great game. The game has some flaws, most importantly the short length but also the learning curve on the controls, the lack of good multiplayer, no character selection allowed, etc., but the action is fast and furious, the game design somewhat original, and the game fun and high quality overall. This is a good game, and I don't regret getting the N64 version. I've always wanted it, and now I finally have it. The game definitely is not perfect, but it is good. Two player multiplayer (limited), on-cart saving.
V-Rally Edition '99 - V-Rally is a European rally racing game that started on the PS1. While the PS1 game had the Need for Speed license put on it in the US, it wasn't originally a NFS game, and this N64 port doesn't have the license either. V-Rally Edition '99 is a late N64 port of the first V-Rally game. This port released not far off from when V-Rally 2, the much-improved sequel, released on PS1, but this has none of the second games' features, sadly. Instead, players will have to make do with all of the signs of a shoddy port; this may have released long after the PS1 version, but it sure doesn't look like the developers knew how to get much out of the system. V-Rally has some of the most "Playstation-like" graphics I've seen on the N64, with some pretty ugly polygon models and even attempts at PS1 pixelization; this game has some of the most pixelated N64 graphics I've ever seen, I don't know how they managed to make it look so bad. Impressive work there, I guess. There is also heavy fogging, since apparently these poor graphics somehow were all they could manage. Really, this game looks bad visually. As for music, there is none during races, something "simmish" rally racers do sometimes, to their detriment. The menu music isn't very good, but something would have been better than nothing, in-race. The gameplay is only slightly better. The game has 50 tracks, all one-way courses, just like the original had, but the gameplay is bland and unexciting, and as there are only seven actual environments for those tracks, the tracks blend together and feel similar. Great fun gameplay could make up for that, but this game doesn't have that, for sure. This is a common problem in more "realistic" rally racing games, but it does get repetitive. Car controls and physics are even worse, unsurprisingly. At first you'll skid on every turn, and the AI opponents are tough and those crash physics frustratingly floaty and defintely nothing approaching realistic. That's okay, since I prefer arcade racing games to sims, so I probably like this game more than I would a hardcore sim on a subjective level, but objectively it's no good, for sure. Try not to hit things or spin out on turns. It's not easy to learn how to control the cars in this game well, and it's absolutely not worth the effort either. If you want to play a great N64 rally racing game, play Rally Challenge 2000 or the two Top Gear Rally games; this one probably isn't worth it. You can do worse, but you can also do a lot better. Test Drive V-Rally (aka V-Rally 2 in Europe; this is no more Test Drive game than it is NFS), the Dreamcast port of V-Rally 2, is much better, for example; play that one. This game, however, has awful graphics and plays poorly too. There are worse N64 racing games than this, and it's arcadey enough that it can be okay once in a while, but there aren't really any good reasons to get this game for people who aren't trying to own every N64 racing game, as I am. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Also on PS1.
Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate - Xena for the N64 is a somewhat beat 'em up-inspired 3d fighting game based on the popular Xena TV show. The show was initially a spinoff of Hercules, except with a female lead, and like Hercules it's got very little to do with its supposed Greek/Roman-era setting, design-wise. Sorry, but as a history major, this stuff bugs me. But yes, as with Hercules, I barely ever watched this show, so I'm not really familiar with the source material outside of what I've heard about it. In the game you can play as eleven different characters from the series, including Xena, Gabrielle, and various others (no, not Hercules). This game is a full 3d fighting game, and you move around the arena with the stick (or dpad, but the stick probably gives better control). The four C buttons are your attacks, two punch/kick and two weapon attacks. Each character has a couple of baisc combos (two to four hits) and a few special moves, though not many. R and Z jump and crouch, which are useful since most distance attacks cannot hit crouching characters. Fire breath can, but not stuff like thrown weapons. You can also block while standing or moving backwards. A changes targets in multiplayer matches with three or four players. The game is simplistic, but winning in the later fights, or Hard difficulty, will require a bit of thought -- enemies will block, and you'll have to time your attacks well in order to get through the block. This can be frustrating at times, as the AI blocks constantly and then hits you the moment you try to attack sometimes, but I did get used to it after a little while. The game also has balance issues, and the moves and characters are not at all evenly balanced, unfortunately. It also can be difficult to tell exactly whether you can hit someone before you swing, because of the 3d arenas and how the characters are constantly circling around eachother, while the camera always stays in one static position in front of the arena. When the enemy is between you and the camera, it can get annoying. So yeah, the gameplay here is definitely nothing better than average, and probably is below average. Run around, whack at the enemy, try to time your hits right, hit the button a few times to do a short combo, rinse, and repeat. That's about all there is to the game.
The graphics and sound are okay, though. The characters are okay looking and do look like the characters from the show, and the audio is alright. The arenas are bland looking, though; there aren't any obstacles in them, and they aren't very large either since each one has to fit on a single screen. However, yes, this game has four player matches! It's pretty cool... except for the critical design flaw that the game only allows one AI opponent in any match, so it's impossible to play with more than two characters on screen in single player. That's very disappointing and is a real problem with the game. The game would be more fun with four-player single player matches. That is only one of the signs that this game was made on a tight budget. Another one is that after you win matches in the main tournament ("Quest") mode, there isn't any kind of victory screen, score screen, or anything. The announcer says that you win, and then it's straight to the next match with no interruption. It's kind of odd, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a fighting game quite like that. Also, in the tournament you fight all 11 characters, so it takes longer to get through than most fighting games, since in these games you usually only have 7 or 8 characters per tournament. Once you're done, though, replay value isn't that high, as far as the single player goes; this isn't a fighting game many people will keep returning to on their own. At least each character does have a (very short) custom ending, so there is that at least. Other than Quest mode, your only other options are single match (vs. 1 CPU or up to three humans), training mode, and options. On normal the game isn't that hard, but it's not a complete pushover either, which is good. You also unlock the ability to play as the boss after beating the game once, and there are a bunch of entertaining cheat codes too, such as a big-head mode for instance. Overall though, Xena: The Talisman of Fate is a very mediocre game, and is below average overall. It's somewhere between bad and mediocre, I think. It's probably much more fun in multiplayer (with three or four people particularly!) than it is in single player, though, so keep that in mind. Four player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (1 block).
Sin and Punishment is a rail shooter, but it is not a conventional one. Instead of flying a spaceship forward, Star Fox style, instead this is more like Jet Force Gemini bossfights, or perhaps Wild Guns and such on the SNES -- you move a character on a 2d plane in front and can run or jump to avoid projectiles, while also moving a cursor around the screen to shoot at enemies. This game isn't a static-screen game, though; instead, you're usually moving forward. Sometimes the screen will stick for a while while you fight some tougher enemy, or a boss of course, but usually you're moving forward, either on the ground somewhere or on some flying platform. So, it is indeed a rail shooter. You use the analog stick to aim, and the C-buttons to move. R jumps, and A switches between lock-on fire (with lower damage) or aimed fire (with higher damage). The controls take getting used to -- learning how to use R with the C-buttons and analog stick all at the same time isn't easy. I honestly find the controls even harder to use on the Gamecube controller (with the Wii VC release), though. X or Y to move left and right, plus R to jump? Argh! Not comfortable. And I like the C-stick even less. So, even though the controls are kind of odd, I do think that the N64 version has the better control setup. It's easier to use the C-buttons plus R than the various GC or CC options. And yes, jumping is very important. Once you get used to it, the controls do work well, and the gameplay is somewhat unique and plays great. Indeed, the great gameplay is why this game is so good, despite the various issues the game has. As for graphics and sound, the graphics are good, but not really great. This game looks good, but the N64 can do better. Some stages, most notably 2-2, the flying battle against an enemy fleet, look great, but others are less impressive. I'd have liked to see more stages like 2-2. Still, overall the graphics are decently good. The art design is great, as well. I like the box-art quite a bit. Enemy and boss designs also are often pretty good. The music is reasonably good, and it's cool that the voice acting is in English. You probably won't remember the music after playing, though.
Returning to the story, in Sin and Punishment you play as two teenage resistance fighters, Saki (a boy) and Airan (a girl). They are led by Achi, a girl with mysterious powers and an unknown agenda. Monsters called "Ruffians" are attacking the Earth, and yet again things are not looking good for Japan. The resistance is fighting Ruffians, while other enemy forces are using Ruffian powers instead. They are a private military corporation here to crush resistance, I believe; I'm not entirely sure. At the beginning of the game, their troops wipe out some other resistance bases, leaving only the three characters to continue their fight. Achi has her own secrets, which you learn later in the game, but the story isn't really the main draw here; it's okay, if you like dark anime-esque plots, and when you when you can actually figure out what's going on, but it's not great. It would be nice if it made more sense without having to go read online about what was happening, though. Ah well. You play the first and third levels as Saki, and only the second as Airan. No, you cannot choose who you play as, it's all preset according to the story. That's too bad; the sequel (Sin & Punishment: Star Successor for Wii) lets you choose either of that games' two characters during the game. Better. That game has a LOT more content than this one, too, and probably is the better game overall. Still, the first Sin & Punishment is a great game. The game has some flaws, most importantly the short length but also the learning curve on the controls, the lack of good multiplayer, no character selection allowed, etc., but the action is fast and furious, the game design somewhat original, and the game fun and high quality overall. This is a good game, and I don't regret getting the N64 version. I've always wanted it, and now I finally have it. The game definitely is not perfect, but it is good. Two player multiplayer (limited), on-cart saving.
V-Rally Edition '99 - V-Rally is a European rally racing game that started on the PS1. While the PS1 game had the Need for Speed license put on it in the US, it wasn't originally a NFS game, and this N64 port doesn't have the license either. V-Rally Edition '99 is a late N64 port of the first V-Rally game. This port released not far off from when V-Rally 2, the much-improved sequel, released on PS1, but this has none of the second games' features, sadly. Instead, players will have to make do with all of the signs of a shoddy port; this may have released long after the PS1 version, but it sure doesn't look like the developers knew how to get much out of the system. V-Rally has some of the most "Playstation-like" graphics I've seen on the N64, with some pretty ugly polygon models and even attempts at PS1 pixelization; this game has some of the most pixelated N64 graphics I've ever seen, I don't know how they managed to make it look so bad. Impressive work there, I guess. There is also heavy fogging, since apparently these poor graphics somehow were all they could manage. Really, this game looks bad visually. As for music, there is none during races, something "simmish" rally racers do sometimes, to their detriment. The menu music isn't very good, but something would have been better than nothing, in-race. The gameplay is only slightly better. The game has 50 tracks, all one-way courses, just like the original had, but the gameplay is bland and unexciting, and as there are only seven actual environments for those tracks, the tracks blend together and feel similar. Great fun gameplay could make up for that, but this game doesn't have that, for sure. This is a common problem in more "realistic" rally racing games, but it does get repetitive. Car controls and physics are even worse, unsurprisingly. At first you'll skid on every turn, and the AI opponents are tough and those crash physics frustratingly floaty and defintely nothing approaching realistic. That's okay, since I prefer arcade racing games to sims, so I probably like this game more than I would a hardcore sim on a subjective level, but objectively it's no good, for sure. Try not to hit things or spin out on turns. It's not easy to learn how to control the cars in this game well, and it's absolutely not worth the effort either. If you want to play a great N64 rally racing game, play Rally Challenge 2000 or the two Top Gear Rally games; this one probably isn't worth it. You can do worse, but you can also do a lot better. Test Drive V-Rally (aka V-Rally 2 in Europe; this is no more Test Drive game than it is NFS), the Dreamcast port of V-Rally 2, is much better, for example; play that one. This game, however, has awful graphics and plays poorly too. There are worse N64 racing games than this, and it's arcadey enough that it can be okay once in a while, but there aren't really any good reasons to get this game for people who aren't trying to own every N64 racing game, as I am. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Also on PS1.
Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate - Xena for the N64 is a somewhat beat 'em up-inspired 3d fighting game based on the popular Xena TV show. The show was initially a spinoff of Hercules, except with a female lead, and like Hercules it's got very little to do with its supposed Greek/Roman-era setting, design-wise. Sorry, but as a history major, this stuff bugs me. But yes, as with Hercules, I barely ever watched this show, so I'm not really familiar with the source material outside of what I've heard about it. In the game you can play as eleven different characters from the series, including Xena, Gabrielle, and various others (no, not Hercules). This game is a full 3d fighting game, and you move around the arena with the stick (or dpad, but the stick probably gives better control). The four C buttons are your attacks, two punch/kick and two weapon attacks. Each character has a couple of baisc combos (two to four hits) and a few special moves, though not many. R and Z jump and crouch, which are useful since most distance attacks cannot hit crouching characters. Fire breath can, but not stuff like thrown weapons. You can also block while standing or moving backwards. A changes targets in multiplayer matches with three or four players. The game is simplistic, but winning in the later fights, or Hard difficulty, will require a bit of thought -- enemies will block, and you'll have to time your attacks well in order to get through the block. This can be frustrating at times, as the AI blocks constantly and then hits you the moment you try to attack sometimes, but I did get used to it after a little while. The game also has balance issues, and the moves and characters are not at all evenly balanced, unfortunately. It also can be difficult to tell exactly whether you can hit someone before you swing, because of the 3d arenas and how the characters are constantly circling around eachother, while the camera always stays in one static position in front of the arena. When the enemy is between you and the camera, it can get annoying. So yeah, the gameplay here is definitely nothing better than average, and probably is below average. Run around, whack at the enemy, try to time your hits right, hit the button a few times to do a short combo, rinse, and repeat. That's about all there is to the game.
The graphics and sound are okay, though. The characters are okay looking and do look like the characters from the show, and the audio is alright. The arenas are bland looking, though; there aren't any obstacles in them, and they aren't very large either since each one has to fit on a single screen. However, yes, this game has four player matches! It's pretty cool... except for the critical design flaw that the game only allows one AI opponent in any match, so it's impossible to play with more than two characters on screen in single player. That's very disappointing and is a real problem with the game. The game would be more fun with four-player single player matches. That is only one of the signs that this game was made on a tight budget. Another one is that after you win matches in the main tournament ("Quest") mode, there isn't any kind of victory screen, score screen, or anything. The announcer says that you win, and then it's straight to the next match with no interruption. It's kind of odd, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a fighting game quite like that. Also, in the tournament you fight all 11 characters, so it takes longer to get through than most fighting games, since in these games you usually only have 7 or 8 characters per tournament. Once you're done, though, replay value isn't that high, as far as the single player goes; this isn't a fighting game many people will keep returning to on their own. At least each character does have a (very short) custom ending, so there is that at least. Other than Quest mode, your only other options are single match (vs. 1 CPU or up to three humans), training mode, and options. On normal the game isn't that hard, but it's not a complete pushover either, which is good. You also unlock the ability to play as the boss after beating the game once, and there are a bunch of entertaining cheat codes too, such as a big-head mode for instance. Overall though, Xena: The Talisman of Fate is a very mediocre game, and is below average overall. It's somewhere between bad and mediocre, I think. It's probably much more fun in multiplayer (with three or four people particularly!) than it is in single player, though, so keep that in mind. Four player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving (1 block).
Sir Walter Taffy
Member
Only read through a few so far, but damn nice work here OP.
Edit: Had NO idea that their was an evangelian game for N64.
Edit: Had NO idea that their was an evangelian game for N64.
Catchafire2000
Member
The N64 is one of my least favorite systems ever. For me, it marked the decline of Nintendo consoles. It had extremely large shoes to live up to in its bigger brothers SNES and NES.
OMG
A Black Falcon
Member
Yeah, it really is. It's too bad more people don't recognize that. My favorite Rare N64 games are DK64 and Blast Corps, for sure, probably followed by JFG and then PD and the Banjo games.
Yeah, there is. The game does have "Neon Genesis Evangelion" as its title, too, not "Shinseiki Evangelion" as some of the games use. The title's in all-caps on the cartridge, but I used normal type size here...
There are actually a bunch of Evangelion games, but as I said, very few are anything other than visual novels and the like, and this one, as flawed as it is, is one of those few.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
This must have taken you an entire day
A Black Falcon
Member
So, after a request I decided to an update to this list, with the games I've gotten for the N64 since November 2013, when I did the last update. There are 26 new game summaries below. 25 are games I bought since the last update in late 2013, and one is a game I overlooked somehow before, Off-Road Challenge. 17 of these games are Japanese import titles, and only 9 US releases, so this is an import-heavy list. I have only actually beaten a couple of these games, so this is as much first-impressions as it is reviews, as usual for Game Opinion Summaries -- I cover everything I have. I know they're kind of long for "short-ish" summaries, but there's quite a bit to say about each game.
As always, I list the number of players the game supports, save type, and any supported accessories after the title, and other platforms the game is available on at the end of the review. Most of these games are N64-exclusive titles, though, so few of them have other platform listings.
A list of titles in this update was moved to the last post in this update for space reasons because of NeoGAF's stupid characters-per-post limit.
64 Trump Collection: Alice to Waku Waku Trump World [aka Alice's WakuWaku Trump World 64] (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge.
This is a card game collection with 13 different card games all on one cart. In addition to being able to play any of the games individually, the main mode is a story mode, where you play as Alice from Alice in Wonderland and face off against various characters from the story, one card game at a time. As with those games or Yoshi's Story, the game has a storybook look to it, with paper-cutout sprite characters in 3d environments. Matches take place in a variety of nice 3d environments, each one one page of the storybook you are playing through made into a full 3d environment. The game has great graphics that remind me a lot of Paper Mario or Dr. Mario 64's cutscenes, but this game actually released several years before either of those.
Of course, the story and game instructions are all entirely in Japanese, which makes playing the game a little harder for those who can't read the language. I highly recommend getting a complete copy of the game, because the manual has additional instructions for each game, and mentions English-language names for each cardgame, which is very helpful; ingame it's all Japanese script. The cardgames in the manual are organized in the order you will play them in the story mode, which is also quite helpful. In order, using the names as listed in the manual first followed by names the games are better-known as in parenthesis, the card games here are Shinkeisuijyaku (aka Concentration), Babanuki (aka Old Maid), Shichinarabe (aka Sevens), Speed, Doubt, Page One (a Japanese card game), Daihugo (aka Daifugo or Daihinmin; another Japanese cardgame), Seven Bridge, Poker (video poker, I think it is), Blackjack, Klondike [classic Solitaire; wrongly spelled as "Chrondike" in the manual), Freecell ("Freesell", the manual says), and Dobon (an Uno-ish Japanese cardgame).
So, the games are definitely an interesting mix with a good amount of variety, as far as card games go. Quite a few of the games were unfamiliar to me, but I eventually figured out the rules of each one. The ingame text explaining possible winning hand scores and such in Poker and Blackjack is, for some reason, English, unlike most of the rest of the text, so that's nice. Still, there is a definite language barrier, particularly for the games I wasn't familiar with. The game does have one other issue, other than the language barrier: 64 Trump Collection is single player only. That's an understandable problem, because card games rely on each person not being able to see the others' cards, but it's still unfortunate, this kind of thing is the most fun played against others. Still, this game was a nice surprise. I got it randomly because it was really cheap, and it ended up being pretty good. The visuals are particularly nice, and the gameplay is good. For a card-game collection 64 Trump Collection is better than most, it's not just Solitaire, Poker, and/or Blackjack like most card-game videogames are. Recommended, if you find it for a good price.
Baku Bomberman 2 (J) [Bomberman 64: The Second Attack] - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only), saves to cartridge. Baku Bomberman 2, released in the US as Bomberman 64: The Second Attack, is the sequel to 1997's Bomberman 64, which in Japan was known as Baku Bomberman. This is an okay game that disappointed me. But first, why get the import version of a US release? Well, as with Mario Party 3, the import was cheap, while US copies are quite expensive. There is a story in this game that I can't understand, but the gameplay is not too complex, so it's quite playable in Japanese. Baku Bomberman 2 changes things from its relatively popular predecessor. While Bomberman 64 was more of an attempt at a 3d platform/adventure Bomberman game, with large worlds to explore, missions for gold cards which are the games' version of Mario 64 stars, a very unique multiplayer mode with 3d arenas and round explosions instead of the usual Bomberman cross-shaped-lines explosion, and more, it was one of a kind. This game, sadly, is not more of the same. Bomberman 64 does have some flaws -- it's too hard near the end, you don't have a jump button, and teh graphics are mediocre at best, to name a few things -- but it is a good game overall, and I really liked the attempt to make a larger 3d adventure game out of Bomberman. Sadly, Hudson never attempted it again. While there are a couple of 2d Bomberman adventure-styled games, in Bomberman Quest (GBC) and Bomberman Tournament (GBA), Bomberman 64 (1997) is the only such game on any console. I really wish they had made more, but maybe Hudson just couldn't afford it or something. Bomberman 64 was followed up by the 3d platformer Bomberman Hero, which is fun but very different from standard Bomberman.
This game came next, and it's probably less interesting than either of its predecessors, sadly. It's much more linear and just doesn't feel as interesting to play as either Bomberman 64 or Hero. This game mostly just plays as a sequence of rooms. Enter a room, viewed from a side-isometric angle, kill the enemies, figure out the puzzles for how to proceed, and continue. While explosions are still round in single player, the multiplayer sadly ditches them in favor of classic cross-shaped explosions. Along the way you collect a variety of Pokemon-styled creatures that Hudson as putting in Bomberman games at the time; they are also in several GBC/GBA Bomberman games. This game is 3d, but the side view limits things when compared to Bomberman 64, and it's not a full-on platformer like Hero. It's an okay game, but my interest in it fades quickly, apart from a few fun moments here and there; I'd much rather play a more interesting game. Sadly, Bomberman games after this one wouldn't improve things -- the last two 3d-world Bomberman games, Generation and Jetters (for GC/PS2), are even worse than this game. Hudson was great in the '90s, but after two initial interesting efforts couldn't figure out how to improve on their ideas for 3d Bomberman, and it shows. This game retreats on many things from the first game, but isn't classic 2d Bomberman either. It feels generic, as you run around, blow things up, and progress. The multiplayer is similarly okay, but disappointing. Returning from Bomberman 64 are the 3d arenas, but they now have cross-shaped explosions instead of round ones, making hitting people a bit harder. I do like that the 3d arenas are back though, the two Bomberman 64 games are the only two games ever in the series with anything like them; Generation/Jetters ditch them entirely for 2d-style multiplayer. Classic Bomberman multiplayer is pretty good, probably better overall from that in Bomberman 64, but I like having the option to try something different. It's too bad that they abandoned this style in favor of only 2d multiplayer, after this game. Overall though, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack is an average game. It's decent and can be fun at times, but for the price the US version goes for I can't recommend it. Maybe do pick up the import if you see a cheap copy of it though (and modify your system to play Japanese games).
Bomberman 64 [2001] (J) - 4 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Bomberman 64, the Japanese game, is the fifth and final Bomberman game on the N64, and, releasing in December 2001, the last N64 game released in Japan. Unlike its predecessors on the platform, this game is entirely 2d, and uses no polygons at all, just sprites. This game is a collection of several 'minigames', I guess it might be best to say. That is, there are several modes, none of them as full-featured as Bomberman games that focus on that mode are. It's a cool collection, but I do find the sparse featuresets within each mode disappointing. The visuals are mostly nice, though; it's solid classic 2d Bomberman and looks good.
The first mode is classic Bomberman, single-player. In this mode, you go through a series of branching levels. Gameplay is classic Bomberman, with a square grid, with posts and then breakable blocks around them that your bombs will destroy. Your goal in each stage is to kill all of the enemies walking around. Many stages do scroll, so they aren't just one screen. The gameplay is great and is plenty of fun. I like the visuals too; Bomberman games changed their art styles regularly, and this is probably one of the better-looking ones. I like the look a lot more than the SNES games, certainly. The music is good happy stuff, too. The problem here is that it's over far too soon. There are only maybe seven to ten stages per game, so the playtime is very short; most classic 2d Bomberman games have at lest 25 levels. The game does have replay value because of the branching paths, though; you can see different stages each time for a while. Still, it's short and easy to finish. When you win, the game gives you your finishing time, and saves the top times in the records section of the menu. Each stage looks different, and the visual variety is nice. Still, I'd have rather seen a longer game, this is really short. It's not hard to finish a run through the mode in half an hour. At least it's quite fun and nice-looking while it lasts, though!
There is also a classic Bomberman multiplayer mode. You've got a variety of stages to play on, but all are similar traditional grids; there are no weird stages like those in Bomberman 64 (US) in this game. Of course it's also four players max, as opposed to the five in the Turbografx games or eight in Saturn Bomberman. Still, it's a great classic Bomberman multiplayer mode.
Next is a stripped-down version of Panic Bomber. Panic Bomber is the Bomberman puzzle game, and it's basically a Tetris knockoff. As in Tetris blocks drop down a well-shaped field, and you have to place them. Making it different are the bomb blocks, which can only be destroyed by lit bombs. This gives the game an element of Puzzle Fighter's crash gems to it. This isn't nearly as great as that game, though. Panic Bomber is a decent puzzle game, but it's not one of my favorites; it's a bit too hard to destroy the bombs, sometimes. Another issue is that this version is very simplistic visually, and has no modes. All you can do is single matches against either an AI opponent or other humans. It does have support for up to four player splitscreen, but the Turbo CD and SNES (both Japan-only releases; why Nintendo brought over the Virtual Boy version in 1995 for a US release but not also the SNES one I have no idea) have five player splitscreen, so that's nothing new, and those games have actual single-player story modes which this does not have. There are no choices for backgrounds either in this version, just one very plain one. SO yeah, Panic Bomber here is okay, but not as good as I was hoping.
Last but probably not least, there is a Bomberman Land-styled minigame collection. Bomberman Land was a series of minigame Bomberman titles that lasted from the late '90s to late '00s, starting on the PS1. None of the early titles in the series released outside of Japan, but we did get some of the later ones on the DS, Wii, and PSP. In this version, you play as Bomberman and wander around an amusement park. Each 'ride' is a minigame. There are maybe ten or fifteen of them here, far fewer than there would be in a dedicated Bomberman Land game, but it is the only Bomberman Land-style game on the N64, so there is that. The main issue here is that some games do have a bit of a language barrier because the instructions are in Japanese, but fortunately none of them are too complex, and I figured them out. Wandering around the little park is also fun, though it'd be better if I knew what the people are saying of course (language barrier...). This is the only mode with much of any Japanese text, but it does have a good amount of it. Still, I like having this. It's a fun little minigame collection. The full Bomberman Land games are better, but they don't come with as many other modes as this game; they're usually just that and usually also classic Bomberman multiplayer and that's it.
Overall, Bomberman 64 (2001, Japan) is a good game, but I was hoping for more. This game has a reputation for being 'the 2d N64 Bomberman game', and it is that, but it's also a collection of games, none of which are as full-featured as similar games on other platforms. It is nice that it compiles all of them together, and on a platform that doesn't have other versions of any of the games present here, though. The visuals are also nice, or at least they are everywhere other than the somewhat plain-looking Panic Bomber, and the music is good. It's worth getting for series fans or if you find it affordably.
Custom Robo V2 (J) - 4 player, but only 2 player simultaneous (2 v 2 with only 1 active at any one time) in multiplayer mode, saves to cartridge. This game is the second in a great series of 3d robot fighting game action-RPGs. The series kind of feels like a much better version of Virtual-On, with RPG elements. It's set in a future world where people solve many conflicts with matches fought in little arenas by tiny robots they control. I covered the first game previously, but now also have the sequel. Custom Robo V2 is the second Custom Robo game, and the last one on the N64. As with the first game, it did not see a Western release because Nintendo of America was stupid and didn't think that these great games would sell. We DEFINITELY should have seen at least one of them! We did eventually get the GC and DS games, but the first three should have had US releases as well, to help fill in some of those N64 software droughts. Gameplay-wise, Custom Robo V2 is very, very similar to the first game. Gameplay is just as great as before, and again running around in the arenas fighting feels fantastic. The graphics have been slightly improved, but the framerate is just as high, which is very important for a game like this. It's absolutely key to the greatness of Custom Robo that even the N64 games run fast and smooth! The new arenas aren't too different fro the old ones, though. Each game has new arenas to fight in, but all are fairly similar in being small-ish squares with various walls and such in them. The combat system is, as always, centered around three weapon types, a gun type you shoot, a bomb type you launch at an angle, and a slower rocket or mine type. You can also do damage with your running charge move. The game controls great, and there are a lot of different weapons to try out. Of course the names are all in Japanese, but it's fun enough to try the various ones regardless of language.
However, apart from the new story, which you won't understand anyway unless you speak Japanese, four player 2v2 tag-team multiplayer mode, and additional robot parts and arenas to fight in, it's basically the same thing as the first game. The controls are the same (good, but the same), the types of weapons are the same, and the story is similar though new. The limitations on the 4 player mode are particularly disappointing. One of the most fun things in Custom Robo for Gamecube are the four-player matches, and I'd have loved to see them on the N64 as well! Maybe the hardware just can't handle it, but still it'd have been great to see, four robots going around at the same time makes things more exciting than just two. Otherwise, this feels almost like an expansion pak, it really is more of the same. In the story mode, as with all five Custom Robo games, you play as a generic anime guy, they never let you play as a different kind of character. This is a different guy from the one in the first game, so it is a new story. As with the first game, your boy hero starts out just learning about Custom Robo, but eventually will go on to do greater things with his tiny little fighting robot. You are the hero after all! As far as a language barrier here goes, Custom Robo games are sort of RPGs so I don't understand the story, but the games have simple and linear structures, so regardless of language you can't get lost or confused for too long, you'll figure out where to go quickly. Again the game starts out in school, as with the first game; in this series, the GC title is the only one to break away from the school-centric story concept so common to anime. Overall, Custom Robo V2 is a great game, but it's so similar to the first game that I don't know if having both of them is really necessary. Definitely get at lest one, though! And both, if you love this kind of game.
Doraemon 2: Nobita to Hikari no Shinden (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. This game is a sequel to the first N64 Doraemon game. Of course, as in all Doraemon games, you play as Doraemon the robot cat, the popular childrens' manga and anime character. Doraemon 2 is a more ambitious game than the first one, which I covered previously, but for the non-Japanese speaker it probably isn't a better game. While the first N64 Doraemon game is a fairly basic 3d platformer with some adventure elements in the overworld, this time the game is a 3d platform/adventure game. The game has a sizable world to explore, better graphics than the first game, people to talk to and (overlong) cutscenes, and plenty of puzzles of both the inventory and jumping varieties. The camera is pulled overhead so the view distance is limited, but you can go to first person by hitting R, though you can't move in first-person mode. When you go to first person you see that there is no fog, you can see to the horizon. That's nice, but the environments are average at best for the N64, and probably aren't even that. The game looks okay, nothing more. Doraemon 2 has good controls and multiple playable characters, as you will sometimes play as the children instead of Doraemon. One important thing to know about Doraemon 2 is that it isn't an action game; you do explore a world, but there are no enemies wandering around it. The few enemies I've seen are ones you "fight" with inventory puzzles, not action combat. In the game you mostly wander around, find items and try to figure out where to use them, talk to people, and jump around. You often need specific items to progress. The game does have a day-night cycle, and you gradually lose health at night because the children are scared, so you'll need to find your way to a savepoint and rest when night comes. That's a nice, touch, is one of the few ways I've found so far to actually run out of health in this game. A combat element, like most other Doraemon games have, might have been good, but it does work as an adventure/platform game. Maybe there's something later? As far as I am though there isn't any combat command, you don't shoot by hitting a button or something. So maybe not.
Because of the more ambitious design Doraemon 2 is probably a better game than its predecessor, but it also has a much higher language barrier; figuring out what to do in this game is tough right from the beginning! The far too long cutscenes are even more boring when you can't read the text, either. Some bits are voiced, but there are a lot of text boxes. The game uses no kanji though, appropriate for the young audience the game is for. But for non-Japanese speakers, there is very little on the internet to help you figure out how to play the game -- there are a couple of videos of the beginning of the game, but that's all I found, and it's not helpful for long. This is a problem in a puzzle-heavy game like this one, figuring out what to do is frustrating. I haven't gotten all this far in this game, it's hard to keep playing when I have no idea what to do. One tricky bit early on involved having to find some items, one of which was hidden on a buildings' roof, somewhere I didn't think to look. People who can read Japanese will get more out of this game for sure, but I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more of a 3d platformer. There is platforming in this game, but exploring the world gets boring when I'm just walking around in circles because I don't know what my objective is. Just trying to interact with everything and using every item everywhere gets old after a while. And while the game looks decent, and they improved things over the fairly basic-looking first N64 Doraemon game, this isn't a great-looking game for sure; the N64 can do much better than you see here. Still, Doraemon 2 is at average overall, anyway. I probably wouldn't recommend it to people unless they really like the series or can read Japanese, though. There is also a third game, which is supposed to be somewhat similar in design to this one.
F1 Pole Position 64 - 1 player, saves to controller pak (70 pages required). F1 Pole Position 64 is a poorly-regarded racing game developed by Human Entertainment and improved for Western release by Ubisoft. This is a simple and arcadey F1 game, without the depth, complexity, challenge, or quality of an F1 World Grand Prix or Monaco Grand Prix. It is also the one and only racing game on the Nintendo 64 that does not have a multiplayer mode. On any other console single-player-only racing games are quite common, but not this one, so its absence here really stands out. Still, the game is better than I was expecting for something that seems to score between 4 and 6 out of 10. This definitely isn't a good game, but there is some amusement to be found here if you like simple and straightforward racing games instead of sims. F1 Pole Position 64 has been improved over the original Japanese version, Human Grand Prix. According to IGN's review, Ubisoft added the official F1 license, all 16 tracks from the F1 season in '97, 22 real F1 drivers to race as with their real car designs, and all the branding and advertising from the real thing. They also improved the draw distance, apparently. However, the graphics are still bland and mediocre, and there is still some popup. This game has a fairly low polygon count, with very simple environments that lack detail. The textures, particularly of the omnipresent ad banners, are fairly good, though, they look quite clear. They're all for real companies, and presumably came along with the F1 license. 16 cars are in each race, and the game can put at least most of them on screen at once, which is good. The framerate is also solid and doesn't drop, though with graphics this simple I'd hope it would be. Audio, however, is poor -- the music is weak, and car engine noise annoying and whiney.
As always, I list the number of players the game supports, save type, and any supported accessories after the title, and other platforms the game is available on at the end of the review. Most of these games are N64-exclusive titles, though, so few of them have other platform listings.
A list of titles in this update was moved to the last post in this update for space reasons because of NeoGAF's stupid characters-per-post limit.
64 Trump Collection: Alice to Waku Waku Trump World [aka Alice's WakuWaku Trump World 64] (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge.
This is a card game collection with 13 different card games all on one cart. In addition to being able to play any of the games individually, the main mode is a story mode, where you play as Alice from Alice in Wonderland and face off against various characters from the story, one card game at a time. As with those games or Yoshi's Story, the game has a storybook look to it, with paper-cutout sprite characters in 3d environments. Matches take place in a variety of nice 3d environments, each one one page of the storybook you are playing through made into a full 3d environment. The game has great graphics that remind me a lot of Paper Mario or Dr. Mario 64's cutscenes, but this game actually released several years before either of those.
Of course, the story and game instructions are all entirely in Japanese, which makes playing the game a little harder for those who can't read the language. I highly recommend getting a complete copy of the game, because the manual has additional instructions for each game, and mentions English-language names for each cardgame, which is very helpful; ingame it's all Japanese script. The cardgames in the manual are organized in the order you will play them in the story mode, which is also quite helpful. In order, using the names as listed in the manual first followed by names the games are better-known as in parenthesis, the card games here are Shinkeisuijyaku (aka Concentration), Babanuki (aka Old Maid), Shichinarabe (aka Sevens), Speed, Doubt, Page One (a Japanese card game), Daihugo (aka Daifugo or Daihinmin; another Japanese cardgame), Seven Bridge, Poker (video poker, I think it is), Blackjack, Klondike [classic Solitaire; wrongly spelled as "Chrondike" in the manual), Freecell ("Freesell", the manual says), and Dobon (an Uno-ish Japanese cardgame).
So, the games are definitely an interesting mix with a good amount of variety, as far as card games go. Quite a few of the games were unfamiliar to me, but I eventually figured out the rules of each one. The ingame text explaining possible winning hand scores and such in Poker and Blackjack is, for some reason, English, unlike most of the rest of the text, so that's nice. Still, there is a definite language barrier, particularly for the games I wasn't familiar with. The game does have one other issue, other than the language barrier: 64 Trump Collection is single player only. That's an understandable problem, because card games rely on each person not being able to see the others' cards, but it's still unfortunate, this kind of thing is the most fun played against others. Still, this game was a nice surprise. I got it randomly because it was really cheap, and it ended up being pretty good. The visuals are particularly nice, and the gameplay is good. For a card-game collection 64 Trump Collection is better than most, it's not just Solitaire, Poker, and/or Blackjack like most card-game videogames are. Recommended, if you find it for a good price.
Baku Bomberman 2 (J) [Bomberman 64: The Second Attack] - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode only), saves to cartridge. Baku Bomberman 2, released in the US as Bomberman 64: The Second Attack, is the sequel to 1997's Bomberman 64, which in Japan was known as Baku Bomberman. This is an okay game that disappointed me. But first, why get the import version of a US release? Well, as with Mario Party 3, the import was cheap, while US copies are quite expensive. There is a story in this game that I can't understand, but the gameplay is not too complex, so it's quite playable in Japanese. Baku Bomberman 2 changes things from its relatively popular predecessor. While Bomberman 64 was more of an attempt at a 3d platform/adventure Bomberman game, with large worlds to explore, missions for gold cards which are the games' version of Mario 64 stars, a very unique multiplayer mode with 3d arenas and round explosions instead of the usual Bomberman cross-shaped-lines explosion, and more, it was one of a kind. This game, sadly, is not more of the same. Bomberman 64 does have some flaws -- it's too hard near the end, you don't have a jump button, and teh graphics are mediocre at best, to name a few things -- but it is a good game overall, and I really liked the attempt to make a larger 3d adventure game out of Bomberman. Sadly, Hudson never attempted it again. While there are a couple of 2d Bomberman adventure-styled games, in Bomberman Quest (GBC) and Bomberman Tournament (GBA), Bomberman 64 (1997) is the only such game on any console. I really wish they had made more, but maybe Hudson just couldn't afford it or something. Bomberman 64 was followed up by the 3d platformer Bomberman Hero, which is fun but very different from standard Bomberman.
This game came next, and it's probably less interesting than either of its predecessors, sadly. It's much more linear and just doesn't feel as interesting to play as either Bomberman 64 or Hero. This game mostly just plays as a sequence of rooms. Enter a room, viewed from a side-isometric angle, kill the enemies, figure out the puzzles for how to proceed, and continue. While explosions are still round in single player, the multiplayer sadly ditches them in favor of classic cross-shaped explosions. Along the way you collect a variety of Pokemon-styled creatures that Hudson as putting in Bomberman games at the time; they are also in several GBC/GBA Bomberman games. This game is 3d, but the side view limits things when compared to Bomberman 64, and it's not a full-on platformer like Hero. It's an okay game, but my interest in it fades quickly, apart from a few fun moments here and there; I'd much rather play a more interesting game. Sadly, Bomberman games after this one wouldn't improve things -- the last two 3d-world Bomberman games, Generation and Jetters (for GC/PS2), are even worse than this game. Hudson was great in the '90s, but after two initial interesting efforts couldn't figure out how to improve on their ideas for 3d Bomberman, and it shows. This game retreats on many things from the first game, but isn't classic 2d Bomberman either. It feels generic, as you run around, blow things up, and progress. The multiplayer is similarly okay, but disappointing. Returning from Bomberman 64 are the 3d arenas, but they now have cross-shaped explosions instead of round ones, making hitting people a bit harder. I do like that the 3d arenas are back though, the two Bomberman 64 games are the only two games ever in the series with anything like them; Generation/Jetters ditch them entirely for 2d-style multiplayer. Classic Bomberman multiplayer is pretty good, probably better overall from that in Bomberman 64, but I like having the option to try something different. It's too bad that they abandoned this style in favor of only 2d multiplayer, after this game. Overall though, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack is an average game. It's decent and can be fun at times, but for the price the US version goes for I can't recommend it. Maybe do pick up the import if you see a cheap copy of it though (and modify your system to play Japanese games).
Bomberman 64 [2001] (J) - 4 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Bomberman 64, the Japanese game, is the fifth and final Bomberman game on the N64, and, releasing in December 2001, the last N64 game released in Japan. Unlike its predecessors on the platform, this game is entirely 2d, and uses no polygons at all, just sprites. This game is a collection of several 'minigames', I guess it might be best to say. That is, there are several modes, none of them as full-featured as Bomberman games that focus on that mode are. It's a cool collection, but I do find the sparse featuresets within each mode disappointing. The visuals are mostly nice, though; it's solid classic 2d Bomberman and looks good.
The first mode is classic Bomberman, single-player. In this mode, you go through a series of branching levels. Gameplay is classic Bomberman, with a square grid, with posts and then breakable blocks around them that your bombs will destroy. Your goal in each stage is to kill all of the enemies walking around. Many stages do scroll, so they aren't just one screen. The gameplay is great and is plenty of fun. I like the visuals too; Bomberman games changed their art styles regularly, and this is probably one of the better-looking ones. I like the look a lot more than the SNES games, certainly. The music is good happy stuff, too. The problem here is that it's over far too soon. There are only maybe seven to ten stages per game, so the playtime is very short; most classic 2d Bomberman games have at lest 25 levels. The game does have replay value because of the branching paths, though; you can see different stages each time for a while. Still, it's short and easy to finish. When you win, the game gives you your finishing time, and saves the top times in the records section of the menu. Each stage looks different, and the visual variety is nice. Still, I'd have rather seen a longer game, this is really short. It's not hard to finish a run through the mode in half an hour. At least it's quite fun and nice-looking while it lasts, though!
There is also a classic Bomberman multiplayer mode. You've got a variety of stages to play on, but all are similar traditional grids; there are no weird stages like those in Bomberman 64 (US) in this game. Of course it's also four players max, as opposed to the five in the Turbografx games or eight in Saturn Bomberman. Still, it's a great classic Bomberman multiplayer mode.
Next is a stripped-down version of Panic Bomber. Panic Bomber is the Bomberman puzzle game, and it's basically a Tetris knockoff. As in Tetris blocks drop down a well-shaped field, and you have to place them. Making it different are the bomb blocks, which can only be destroyed by lit bombs. This gives the game an element of Puzzle Fighter's crash gems to it. This isn't nearly as great as that game, though. Panic Bomber is a decent puzzle game, but it's not one of my favorites; it's a bit too hard to destroy the bombs, sometimes. Another issue is that this version is very simplistic visually, and has no modes. All you can do is single matches against either an AI opponent or other humans. It does have support for up to four player splitscreen, but the Turbo CD and SNES (both Japan-only releases; why Nintendo brought over the Virtual Boy version in 1995 for a US release but not also the SNES one I have no idea) have five player splitscreen, so that's nothing new, and those games have actual single-player story modes which this does not have. There are no choices for backgrounds either in this version, just one very plain one. SO yeah, Panic Bomber here is okay, but not as good as I was hoping.
Last but probably not least, there is a Bomberman Land-styled minigame collection. Bomberman Land was a series of minigame Bomberman titles that lasted from the late '90s to late '00s, starting on the PS1. None of the early titles in the series released outside of Japan, but we did get some of the later ones on the DS, Wii, and PSP. In this version, you play as Bomberman and wander around an amusement park. Each 'ride' is a minigame. There are maybe ten or fifteen of them here, far fewer than there would be in a dedicated Bomberman Land game, but it is the only Bomberman Land-style game on the N64, so there is that. The main issue here is that some games do have a bit of a language barrier because the instructions are in Japanese, but fortunately none of them are too complex, and I figured them out. Wandering around the little park is also fun, though it'd be better if I knew what the people are saying of course (language barrier...). This is the only mode with much of any Japanese text, but it does have a good amount of it. Still, I like having this. It's a fun little minigame collection. The full Bomberman Land games are better, but they don't come with as many other modes as this game; they're usually just that and usually also classic Bomberman multiplayer and that's it.
Overall, Bomberman 64 (2001, Japan) is a good game, but I was hoping for more. This game has a reputation for being 'the 2d N64 Bomberman game', and it is that, but it's also a collection of games, none of which are as full-featured as similar games on other platforms. It is nice that it compiles all of them together, and on a platform that doesn't have other versions of any of the games present here, though. The visuals are also nice, or at least they are everywhere other than the somewhat plain-looking Panic Bomber, and the music is good. It's worth getting for series fans or if you find it affordably.
Custom Robo V2 (J) - 4 player, but only 2 player simultaneous (2 v 2 with only 1 active at any one time) in multiplayer mode, saves to cartridge. This game is the second in a great series of 3d robot fighting game action-RPGs. The series kind of feels like a much better version of Virtual-On, with RPG elements. It's set in a future world where people solve many conflicts with matches fought in little arenas by tiny robots they control. I covered the first game previously, but now also have the sequel. Custom Robo V2 is the second Custom Robo game, and the last one on the N64. As with the first game, it did not see a Western release because Nintendo of America was stupid and didn't think that these great games would sell. We DEFINITELY should have seen at least one of them! We did eventually get the GC and DS games, but the first three should have had US releases as well, to help fill in some of those N64 software droughts. Gameplay-wise, Custom Robo V2 is very, very similar to the first game. Gameplay is just as great as before, and again running around in the arenas fighting feels fantastic. The graphics have been slightly improved, but the framerate is just as high, which is very important for a game like this. It's absolutely key to the greatness of Custom Robo that even the N64 games run fast and smooth! The new arenas aren't too different fro the old ones, though. Each game has new arenas to fight in, but all are fairly similar in being small-ish squares with various walls and such in them. The combat system is, as always, centered around three weapon types, a gun type you shoot, a bomb type you launch at an angle, and a slower rocket or mine type. You can also do damage with your running charge move. The game controls great, and there are a lot of different weapons to try out. Of course the names are all in Japanese, but it's fun enough to try the various ones regardless of language.
However, apart from the new story, which you won't understand anyway unless you speak Japanese, four player 2v2 tag-team multiplayer mode, and additional robot parts and arenas to fight in, it's basically the same thing as the first game. The controls are the same (good, but the same), the types of weapons are the same, and the story is similar though new. The limitations on the 4 player mode are particularly disappointing. One of the most fun things in Custom Robo for Gamecube are the four-player matches, and I'd have loved to see them on the N64 as well! Maybe the hardware just can't handle it, but still it'd have been great to see, four robots going around at the same time makes things more exciting than just two. Otherwise, this feels almost like an expansion pak, it really is more of the same. In the story mode, as with all five Custom Robo games, you play as a generic anime guy, they never let you play as a different kind of character. This is a different guy from the one in the first game, so it is a new story. As with the first game, your boy hero starts out just learning about Custom Robo, but eventually will go on to do greater things with his tiny little fighting robot. You are the hero after all! As far as a language barrier here goes, Custom Robo games are sort of RPGs so I don't understand the story, but the games have simple and linear structures, so regardless of language you can't get lost or confused for too long, you'll figure out where to go quickly. Again the game starts out in school, as with the first game; in this series, the GC title is the only one to break away from the school-centric story concept so common to anime. Overall, Custom Robo V2 is a great game, but it's so similar to the first game that I don't know if having both of them is really necessary. Definitely get at lest one, though! And both, if you love this kind of game.
Doraemon 2: Nobita to Hikari no Shinden (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. This game is a sequel to the first N64 Doraemon game. Of course, as in all Doraemon games, you play as Doraemon the robot cat, the popular childrens' manga and anime character. Doraemon 2 is a more ambitious game than the first one, which I covered previously, but for the non-Japanese speaker it probably isn't a better game. While the first N64 Doraemon game is a fairly basic 3d platformer with some adventure elements in the overworld, this time the game is a 3d platform/adventure game. The game has a sizable world to explore, better graphics than the first game, people to talk to and (overlong) cutscenes, and plenty of puzzles of both the inventory and jumping varieties. The camera is pulled overhead so the view distance is limited, but you can go to first person by hitting R, though you can't move in first-person mode. When you go to first person you see that there is no fog, you can see to the horizon. That's nice, but the environments are average at best for the N64, and probably aren't even that. The game looks okay, nothing more. Doraemon 2 has good controls and multiple playable characters, as you will sometimes play as the children instead of Doraemon. One important thing to know about Doraemon 2 is that it isn't an action game; you do explore a world, but there are no enemies wandering around it. The few enemies I've seen are ones you "fight" with inventory puzzles, not action combat. In the game you mostly wander around, find items and try to figure out where to use them, talk to people, and jump around. You often need specific items to progress. The game does have a day-night cycle, and you gradually lose health at night because the children are scared, so you'll need to find your way to a savepoint and rest when night comes. That's a nice, touch, is one of the few ways I've found so far to actually run out of health in this game. A combat element, like most other Doraemon games have, might have been good, but it does work as an adventure/platform game. Maybe there's something later? As far as I am though there isn't any combat command, you don't shoot by hitting a button or something. So maybe not.
Because of the more ambitious design Doraemon 2 is probably a better game than its predecessor, but it also has a much higher language barrier; figuring out what to do in this game is tough right from the beginning! The far too long cutscenes are even more boring when you can't read the text, either. Some bits are voiced, but there are a lot of text boxes. The game uses no kanji though, appropriate for the young audience the game is for. But for non-Japanese speakers, there is very little on the internet to help you figure out how to play the game -- there are a couple of videos of the beginning of the game, but that's all I found, and it's not helpful for long. This is a problem in a puzzle-heavy game like this one, figuring out what to do is frustrating. I haven't gotten all this far in this game, it's hard to keep playing when I have no idea what to do. One tricky bit early on involved having to find some items, one of which was hidden on a buildings' roof, somewhere I didn't think to look. People who can read Japanese will get more out of this game for sure, but I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more of a 3d platformer. There is platforming in this game, but exploring the world gets boring when I'm just walking around in circles because I don't know what my objective is. Just trying to interact with everything and using every item everywhere gets old after a while. And while the game looks decent, and they improved things over the fairly basic-looking first N64 Doraemon game, this isn't a great-looking game for sure; the N64 can do much better than you see here. Still, Doraemon 2 is at average overall, anyway. I probably wouldn't recommend it to people unless they really like the series or can read Japanese, though. There is also a third game, which is supposed to be somewhat similar in design to this one.
F1 Pole Position 64 - 1 player, saves to controller pak (70 pages required). F1 Pole Position 64 is a poorly-regarded racing game developed by Human Entertainment and improved for Western release by Ubisoft. This is a simple and arcadey F1 game, without the depth, complexity, challenge, or quality of an F1 World Grand Prix or Monaco Grand Prix. It is also the one and only racing game on the Nintendo 64 that does not have a multiplayer mode. On any other console single-player-only racing games are quite common, but not this one, so its absence here really stands out. Still, the game is better than I was expecting for something that seems to score between 4 and 6 out of 10. This definitely isn't a good game, but there is some amusement to be found here if you like simple and straightforward racing games instead of sims. F1 Pole Position 64 has been improved over the original Japanese version, Human Grand Prix. According to IGN's review, Ubisoft added the official F1 license, all 16 tracks from the F1 season in '97, 22 real F1 drivers to race as with their real car designs, and all the branding and advertising from the real thing. They also improved the draw distance, apparently. However, the graphics are still bland and mediocre, and there is still some popup. This game has a fairly low polygon count, with very simple environments that lack detail. The textures, particularly of the omnipresent ad banners, are fairly good, though, they look quite clear. They're all for real companies, and presumably came along with the F1 license. 16 cars are in each race, and the game can put at least most of them on screen at once, which is good. The framerate is also solid and doesn't drop, though with graphics this simple I'd hope it would be. Audio, however, is poor -- the music is weak, and car engine noise annoying and whiney.
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Gameplay-wise, F1 Pole Position 64 is easy to learn. Just turn at the corners and brake when near a sharper turn, that's about it. The game defaults to Easy AI difficulty, no car damage, and automatic transmission, so simplicity is the goal. You can turn up those settings if you want. There are also car settings to modify, so there is a bit of sim here. It's nothing too complex, but the settings affect how your car handles, so they do matter. You can also pit in during races, to replace tires and fill up on gas. The game doesn't have much in the way of good physics, things just bounce off eachother in a basic fashion. I found this game much easier than most other 3d F1 games; I finished 5th in my first race, and in races after that, except for one race where I managed to take too much damage with damage turned on (there isn't a good indicator I could see that I was in danger, annoyingly), I finished well in every race, on Easy, without needing any great skill. It's fun to be able to just play the game and do okay, and I'm sure turning up the difficulty would make the game harder, though people who want that probably should just play F1 World Grand Prix. The problem is though, this is still an F1 game, so races in the season mode are 10 laps long, and you need to do qualifying before that if you want to start anywhere other than last. That's all a bit boring. There is no music ingame either, as usual in F1 games, and the bland gameplay isn't exciting. It's not too hard, but it's not too fun either, doesn't look great, controls only okay and not beyond that, and sounds kind of bad. Combine that with the absence of multiplayer, and F1 Pole Position 64 isn't very good. All you can do here is play a season, single race, or time-trial, all as one of the 22 real drivers, there is no custom racer option, on the games' 16 real-world tracks. The problem with this game is that those wanting a good F1 sim won't play this because it's a simpler, arcadey game, while those who want arcade-style racing games will play more fun games like F-Zero X, Excitebike 64, Rush, or what have you. This is in a boring middle ground along with stuff like Automobili Lamborghini, but maybe worse than that game. If you want a fun, arcadey open-world racing game on the N64, I recommend getting Indy Racing 2000; it's good. Probably skip this game unless it sounds like fun to you. Still, it IS not quite as bad as I thought it would be, so there is that.
Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko - 1 player, saves to controller pak (1 block per file). Gex 3 is the third and last console Gex game, one of the many platformer series with a Sonic-style "cool" animal mascot. Gex's character may be Sonic-inspired, though, but the gameplay is different. The basic concept of Gex is that he's a TV-watching-obsessed gecko. So, each world in each Gex game is inspired by some type of TV show. The first game is a quality 2d platformer, but the sequels are 3d platformers. I covered Gex 2 in my PS1 Game Opinion Summaries list, but to recap, both games have very similar designs. The games have Mario 64-style hubs, with themed worlds branching out from there. Each world is themed after a type of movie or TV show, of course. This time, the first world is a snow level. Fortunately, the game is okay. Gex 3 is a nice improvement over Gex 2, which I didn't like very much. It is a similar game, but the graphics, gameplay, level designs, and objectives are all better. Gex 3 is only a bit above average, but Gex 2 doesn't reach average quality, so the improvement is welcome. The first level in this game is a lot more fun to play and explore than any level I saw in Gex 2. You've got a bunch of stuff to find, missions to attempt, and more, as in most 3d platformers of the era. Unfortunately, the controls hold the game back a bit. Even though you use the analog stick, you don't really have true analog control here -- instead, you can only move in eight or so directions. Apparently they did not fix the movement to account for having an analog stick on the N64, which is a problem in a genre all about moving around in 3d. Still, Gex 3 for N64 is a much better port than Gex 64, the N64 port of Enter the Gecko, was, by all accounts; I haven't played Gex 64, but it's supposed to be not very good, with a short draw distance, poor graphics, and more. The draw distance in this game is a lot better, and the graphics are improved all around. Graphically this game is no match for the better N64 3d platformers, but at least it looks decent, and even nice at times. The gameplay is about on that level as well. Overall Gex 3 isn't great, but it is a decent, slightly above-average game. After Gex 2 I was expecting worse. Also on PS1; this is a port of the PS1 original.
Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku (J) - 4 player alternating, saves to cartridge, Transfer Pak compatible (links to the GBC version of the game). Ganbare Goemon: Mononoke Sugoroku is a Goemon-themed board game with RPG elements which Konami released only in Japan in late 1999. There is also a Game Boy Color version of the game, though I haven't played it. I love the Goemon series, so I decided to finally get the last of the three N64 games, even if it is just a boardgame. The game has fantastic boxart with clay-style art of the characters and some of the monsters in the game. It's really nice. After playing the game though, it's not too hard to see why we didn't get this game; the game is decent, but it's just a boardgame, not a more full console experience. Digital boardgames like this often seemed to be more popular in Japan than the West. Fortunately, even though the game is entirely in Japanese, it's fairly easy to understand with a little bit of practice. The "Mononoke" in the title refers to monsters, and this game is all about fighting monsters, here seen in the form of the cards in a boardgame-RPG. There are still a few things I don't get, but most of the gameplay makes sense. First you choose a board, which there are only a couple of, and a character. All four of the standard Goemon characters are playable, and some others are unlockable. This game introduced a new costume for Yae; she now has a short kimono, instead of pants. I think I like the original costume more, but this is fine. The other three characters, Goemon, Ebisumaru, and Sasuke, look the same as ever. All characters are 2d sprites in this game, not polygon models like the previous two N64 Goemon games. They're fairly well done, and the game is well-polished visually for what is here, but the budget here clearly is a lot lower than its predecessors. The music is still fantastic as usual in the series, though. I love the Goemon series' classic-Japanese-style music. Still, I really wish Konami had made a third full-scale N64 Goemon game, instead of the not-great overly-serious 3d action-adventure game on the PS2 in 2000 and then those two mediocre PS1 2.5d platformers they tossed out in 2001... too bad. This is a good game, but some more variety and choice would have been nice. Each board has a circular path on it, so there are no branches, choices about where you go, or anything -- you just travel around in a circle endlessly until someone wins. That's a bit disappointing, some more interesting board maps would have been great.
Your goal in each game is to defeat your opponent or opponents. As in an RPG, each character has a health meter, and you lose health when you lose battles. To protect yourself, you can summon monsters and place them on spaces. Monsters take the form of cards, so when you land on a space you can only play the monster cards you actually have. There are also other kinds of cards, for direct attacks, healing, and such. You can equip cards on monsters, or use them on yourself. Cards with the sword icon can be equipped before a fight for a stat boost, while other cards can be used during a fight. Each turn you'll get some new cards. Battles are simple, you or a monster you summon fight against the opponent and/or their monster. Each monster has an attack, defense, and health rating, and the attacker goes first. Damage is attack minus defense, and the defender attacks back if they survived. The battle system is super simplistic, but at least it's not just Rock-Paper-Scissors such as Dokapon Kingdom for Wii, I don't like that game much because of how random the battle system is. If a monster is killed extra damage is applied to that monsters' player character, so you want to avoid losing monsters if you can. You want to avoid landing on enemy monster spaces, while hoping that the opponent(s) land on your monsters. Of course, a lot of this is random since die-rolls determine movement. I like the monster card art, some of it's pretty nice. In addition to card boosts, you can also move monsters around from one space to spaces nearby. You can even move them onto enemy monster spaces and attack them, which can be helpful. The more skill-based RPG side to the game makes this game different from something like Monopoly where once you've built hotels and such on a space they're stuck there forever; in this game you can move your "buildings" (monsters) around. Some spaces also have special functions such as healing you or your monsters, and you get money for each time you make a circuit around the board. For the most part though it's not too complex of a game, centering around choosing good places for your monsters to be, powering them up, and hoping that luck is on your side. Overall it's a good game, but winning requires a lot of luck; I do prefer more skill-based games. More boards, and more complex board layouts, would also have been very nice. Still, Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku is a fun thing to have and play once in a while, and is well worth it for series or digital boardgame-RPG fans. That box looks great, too. Also available on Game Boy Color; I'm not sure how similar that version is.
Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball 5 (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Powerful Pro Baseball, or Pawapuro, was for a long time one of Konami's more popular franchises in Japan. This series of super-deformed baseball games were well known for having challenging and deep gameplay beneath their cute graphical exterior, and this one is no exception. I haven't played this game as much as maybe I should for this, but it's not my favorite kind of baseball game. The game is an interesting hybrid of classic and modern baseball game design. On the one hand the game has a top-down, somewhat zoomed-in field view like that of most 3rd or 4th-gen baseball games, but on the other hand it has a fairly modern pitching/batting cursor interface. This is the second of five N64 Pawapuro games; only two games in the series have a US release, both MLB-themed games on the PS2/Wii. The game has all 12 teams and stadiums, and all the real players, from the Japan League circa 1998. There are a lot of features, modes, and options, and it's all in Japanese so for the non-speaker just figuring out how to do anything beyond a basic single match is a bit overwhelming. There are single matches (1p vs. cpu, 1p vs. 2p, or cpu vs. cpu), an options menu just for single matches; a character-raising mode where you train up a young player, adventure game-style (I haven't played this much because of the language barrier, but it's a series staple and is interesting); season mode; the ability to save a game in progress; and more. I'm not sure what all of the main menu options do, they're all in Japanese and there is no English-language help out there for these games. The game has okay to good graphics, each field does look different and the players are big-headed and cute. Arenas are 3d, with sprite-based characters. The sound design is even better. There is a quite excitable announcer, and lots of crowd noise and chanting too. I like the sound design here, it adds to the game.
The gameplay is tough as well -- you'll lose, badly, for a while until you figure out how to play decently. That is common in baseball games, though, because pitching and batting are very hard things to do, the hardest things people commonly do in sports. Pitching and batting just use A and the stick/pad. Presuming that you turn on analog control, which is recommended (seriously, why is d-pad only even an option?), for batting you move a batting cursor around with the stick. The pitcher has no indicator, but instead the ball goes where you are pointing the stick. For some reason, maybe it's an option I don't know about or maybe it's to be realistic, but left and right are reversed, so to throw to the right side of the plate you have to hold the stick left. Admittedly when pitching you do throw from the left to go right, and vice versa, but still, it's weird and not great. I do like the idea of holding the stick in the place you want the ball to go and then just hitting a button to pitch, though, it works well. My problem with pitching so far is that if there are any alternate pitches I can't figure out how to throw them, so it's always just one pitch type, which is annoying -- how do I throw offspeed, curveballs, sliders, etc., instead of just straight pitches? Once the ball has been thrown, an indicator appears showing approximately where it's headed, and the batter has a split second to move the cursor there and swing. As with pitching, there's just one button, no choice of normal or harder swing as some baseball games have. Getting your timing right is hard, as it should be. Overall the pitching/batting interface is alright, but could use some more features, unless I'm missing something under the big language barrier.
For fielding, though, I don't like it as much. I've never liked this style of top-down field view, and this game is no exception. I much prefer actually being able to see the field, so that I don't have to guess where to move my fielder. They do have an indicator pointing towards who you are controlling off screen, but it's not nearly as good as actually seeing the player. I know I say this every time about baseball games, but give me the Hardball series' perspective every time, over this stuff! And with 3d graphics, I know you could do something better than this basic overhead view. I'm sure some people would like the game because of this, but I feel the opposite, it makes the game harder and less fun. Honestly, I don't think I'll be playing this game enough to get good; the overhead perspective isn't great, and unless I'm missing something I really miss having alternate pitch types, compared to other baseball games. Batting works well, pitching is okay, the graphics are okay and sound is good, and there are a lot of modes and options, but I'd rather play something with more pitching options and better fielding. English-language menus would be a plus too, of course, for a game loaded with menus like this one is. For me, Pawapuro 5 is okay but not great.
Jinsei Game 64 (J) [The Game of Life 64] - 4 player alternating, saves to cartridge. Made by Takara, Jinsei Game 64 is one of two Japanese Nintendo 64 versions of the boardgame The Game of Life. For some reason, The Game of Life is a very, very popular boardgame in Japan. I'm not sure why; I do remember playing the game as a kid, but never thought it was THAT great, and haven't played the board game in quite some time. I don't think we own it anymore. I got this N64 version despite that because, well, I am trying to eventually get all non-sports N64 games, so I had to get it sometime. Honestly though, this might not have been worth getting; even though they do add some features to try to make this more than just a digital boardgame, it's boring and not much fun. In addition to the board game there are also eight minigames here, but they're mostly kind of bad. There is also a significant language barrier that is a real issue due to the choices you have to make during the game. The game would be a bit better if I could read the text, but at times it's tough to play in Japanese, if you care about what choices you make during the game.
There are a good number of modes available in Jinsei Game 64. You can play a normal game, play a game on a variety of different alternate boards, modify the order of things on a custom board, create a custom character to play the game with with a good number of options for hair, clothes, and such, and play the minigames outside of the main game. You can play with any mix of up to four human or AI characters, and the AI is reasobly challenging. By default, in the main mode you play a minigame each time characters land on the same space. All eight are for four players. You play them fairly often in the game, though, they aren't very good, and there are only eight of them, so this isn't as great an option as it sounds. While on the board the graphics are 3d, and each different board looks nicely different. The graphics aren't great, but at least they put some effort in to the game. The minigames are just basic 2d stuff, though, and don't look as good. Some require skill, but too many are just pure luck; really, if you're going to add minigames to your digital boardgame, don't make them just pure chance! There are also anime-esque 2d scenes for the life decisions, choices where you try to romance someone of the opposite sex, build your career, and such. I like the art style, it's stylized and kind of cute-looking.
In the main game, minigames aside, as in the boardgame on each turn you move via a spinner. Once you land on a space a menu opens and you have five options, all in Japanese. The top is to move, others are for various stats and such. Depending on where you land, you may play a minigame, make some of those life choice, or just end your turn. Your choices will change your character's stats, which affect how successful you will be, so as I said the language barrier is a real problem. The other main problem here is that I find The Game of Life kind of boring in any form; Jinsei Game 64 is okay, but I haven't finished a game of this yet not only because of the language barrier, but also because the game gets tedious fast. The mostly-bad minigames are also a disappointment. It might be better in multiplayer, but... just play the boardgame, or some better game. I do like the boxart, though, it's nice and represents the games' art style well.
Let's Smash (J) [also released in Europe as Centre Court Tennis, but I have the Japanese version because of how hard it is to play European N64 games on a US system] - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (7 pages per character file). Let's Smash is a tennis game from Hudson. This is an okay but flawed game thanks to difficult controls. Let's Smash has a lot of features and okay to good graphics, but the timing for hitting the ball is quite tight. Otherwise the controls are fine, and you have the usual options -- regular hit or lob, on separate buttons -- but that ball timing is a problem. It took a while before I managed to win a match because of how hard it is to get used to hitting back the ball. It's particularly bad when you use the default single-screen view and are on the upper half of the screen. The very tight timing reminds me of Namco's World Court Tennis for the Turbografx. Indeed, it would be very much like that interesting but frustrating nearly-impossible-once-you-leave-the-bottom-half-of-the-screen game if not for one major addition, different camera angles (on the C buttons). The game got a lot more playable once I figured out how to switch to the third-person-behind-the-character camera, which gives you a close-in view behind your character sort of like that in Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy. It's much, much easier to hit the ball from there than the default classic-style overhead camera. Of course, though, if you want to play the game in multiplayer you'll have to get used to that camera... or just play Mario's Tennis for the N64, that might be the better option. That game doesn't have this issue, hitting the ball is easy in that game. If you do play it multiplayer, be prepared for it to take more than a few matches before everyone manages to figure out the correct timing for hitting the ball. The AI is quite tough as well, and can be hard to defeat. Visually Let's Smash looks okay, but, like most Hudson N64 games, it doesn't look great. Hudson never managed to master N64 graphics like Nintendo, Rare, Acclaim, or such did. This game shows improvement over early Hudson N64 games like Bomberman 64, but still looks only average. The characters look fine and the arenas decent, and the framerate is thankfully good, but nothing looks great for the system, the N64 can do better, an does in games like Mario's Tennis.
For options, Let's Smash has quite a few. First, you can play Tournaments. There are four options here, based on the four major championships in pro tennis, the British, French, American, and Australian Opens. This game doesn't have any official licenses, so don't expect any real players, but there are 16 players to choose from, half male and half female, and the ball bounces differently on clay, hard, or grass courts. There is a different arena for each open, and you try to go through a single-elimination tournament to make it to the top. You can choose in the options how many games each match should last. Next, you can do a single match on any court. Next, you can create your own tennis pro, a very cool option. You can choose gender and clothing, and unlike many games (but like in the PSP Hot Shots Tennis game) it isn't gender-resticted, so you can have male characters wear 'female' tennis outfits. Nice option. You can also choose the hairstyle and color, face, skin color, clothing, and stats (made difficult by the language barrier, all stat names are in Japanese; I just guessed and chose middle settings. I sure wish it was easier to play European N64 games on US systems!). You start with only one set of tennis clothes that you choose, but character creation mode isn't just about creating characters you can play as in tournaments, though you can do that. No, you can also train in some minigames, or play matches against AI opponents. The minigames aren't as elaborate as those in Sega's great Virtua Tennis, but they are challenging and can be fun. There is one where you try to target specific points on the ground, one where you try to bounce the ball off some targets as many times as you can, and two more. Each has different difficulty levels.
The main draw for this mode, though, is playing as your custom characters against AI opponents. In these single matches, you can play on a variety of real or fantasy courts in matches where you get a clothing piece from the winner if you win, or lose one if you lose. So yeah, it's like gambling, except that you can just turn off the game if you're losing and don't need to lose anything, if you have remembered to save recently of course. It's nice to see your clothing options grow as you win matches, though actually winning is, of course, difficult. The courses, outside of the four stadiums for the major opens, include a grassy field, a lava pit, an ice level (with penguins who get in your way as obstacles, and you can hit them to the other side of the court with your racket to make them bother the other person), an urban court, a somewhat wild west-themed desert, and more. I find the ones with obstacles the most interesting; there's nothing like that in the main tournaments! There is also a different announcer for each arena, or, for some reason, no announcer in the ice arena.
Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko - 1 player, saves to controller pak (1 block per file). Gex 3 is the third and last console Gex game, one of the many platformer series with a Sonic-style "cool" animal mascot. Gex's character may be Sonic-inspired, though, but the gameplay is different. The basic concept of Gex is that he's a TV-watching-obsessed gecko. So, each world in each Gex game is inspired by some type of TV show. The first game is a quality 2d platformer, but the sequels are 3d platformers. I covered Gex 2 in my PS1 Game Opinion Summaries list, but to recap, both games have very similar designs. The games have Mario 64-style hubs, with themed worlds branching out from there. Each world is themed after a type of movie or TV show, of course. This time, the first world is a snow level. Fortunately, the game is okay. Gex 3 is a nice improvement over Gex 2, which I didn't like very much. It is a similar game, but the graphics, gameplay, level designs, and objectives are all better. Gex 3 is only a bit above average, but Gex 2 doesn't reach average quality, so the improvement is welcome. The first level in this game is a lot more fun to play and explore than any level I saw in Gex 2. You've got a bunch of stuff to find, missions to attempt, and more, as in most 3d platformers of the era. Unfortunately, the controls hold the game back a bit. Even though you use the analog stick, you don't really have true analog control here -- instead, you can only move in eight or so directions. Apparently they did not fix the movement to account for having an analog stick on the N64, which is a problem in a genre all about moving around in 3d. Still, Gex 3 for N64 is a much better port than Gex 64, the N64 port of Enter the Gecko, was, by all accounts; I haven't played Gex 64, but it's supposed to be not very good, with a short draw distance, poor graphics, and more. The draw distance in this game is a lot better, and the graphics are improved all around. Graphically this game is no match for the better N64 3d platformers, but at least it looks decent, and even nice at times. The gameplay is about on that level as well. Overall Gex 3 isn't great, but it is a decent, slightly above-average game. After Gex 2 I was expecting worse. Also on PS1; this is a port of the PS1 original.
Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku (J) - 4 player alternating, saves to cartridge, Transfer Pak compatible (links to the GBC version of the game). Ganbare Goemon: Mononoke Sugoroku is a Goemon-themed board game with RPG elements which Konami released only in Japan in late 1999. There is also a Game Boy Color version of the game, though I haven't played it. I love the Goemon series, so I decided to finally get the last of the three N64 games, even if it is just a boardgame. The game has fantastic boxart with clay-style art of the characters and some of the monsters in the game. It's really nice. After playing the game though, it's not too hard to see why we didn't get this game; the game is decent, but it's just a boardgame, not a more full console experience. Digital boardgames like this often seemed to be more popular in Japan than the West. Fortunately, even though the game is entirely in Japanese, it's fairly easy to understand with a little bit of practice. The "Mononoke" in the title refers to monsters, and this game is all about fighting monsters, here seen in the form of the cards in a boardgame-RPG. There are still a few things I don't get, but most of the gameplay makes sense. First you choose a board, which there are only a couple of, and a character. All four of the standard Goemon characters are playable, and some others are unlockable. This game introduced a new costume for Yae; she now has a short kimono, instead of pants. I think I like the original costume more, but this is fine. The other three characters, Goemon, Ebisumaru, and Sasuke, look the same as ever. All characters are 2d sprites in this game, not polygon models like the previous two N64 Goemon games. They're fairly well done, and the game is well-polished visually for what is here, but the budget here clearly is a lot lower than its predecessors. The music is still fantastic as usual in the series, though. I love the Goemon series' classic-Japanese-style music. Still, I really wish Konami had made a third full-scale N64 Goemon game, instead of the not-great overly-serious 3d action-adventure game on the PS2 in 2000 and then those two mediocre PS1 2.5d platformers they tossed out in 2001... too bad. This is a good game, but some more variety and choice would have been nice. Each board has a circular path on it, so there are no branches, choices about where you go, or anything -- you just travel around in a circle endlessly until someone wins. That's a bit disappointing, some more interesting board maps would have been great.
Your goal in each game is to defeat your opponent or opponents. As in an RPG, each character has a health meter, and you lose health when you lose battles. To protect yourself, you can summon monsters and place them on spaces. Monsters take the form of cards, so when you land on a space you can only play the monster cards you actually have. There are also other kinds of cards, for direct attacks, healing, and such. You can equip cards on monsters, or use them on yourself. Cards with the sword icon can be equipped before a fight for a stat boost, while other cards can be used during a fight. Each turn you'll get some new cards. Battles are simple, you or a monster you summon fight against the opponent and/or their monster. Each monster has an attack, defense, and health rating, and the attacker goes first. Damage is attack minus defense, and the defender attacks back if they survived. The battle system is super simplistic, but at least it's not just Rock-Paper-Scissors such as Dokapon Kingdom for Wii, I don't like that game much because of how random the battle system is. If a monster is killed extra damage is applied to that monsters' player character, so you want to avoid losing monsters if you can. You want to avoid landing on enemy monster spaces, while hoping that the opponent(s) land on your monsters. Of course, a lot of this is random since die-rolls determine movement. I like the monster card art, some of it's pretty nice. In addition to card boosts, you can also move monsters around from one space to spaces nearby. You can even move them onto enemy monster spaces and attack them, which can be helpful. The more skill-based RPG side to the game makes this game different from something like Monopoly where once you've built hotels and such on a space they're stuck there forever; in this game you can move your "buildings" (monsters) around. Some spaces also have special functions such as healing you or your monsters, and you get money for each time you make a circuit around the board. For the most part though it's not too complex of a game, centering around choosing good places for your monsters to be, powering them up, and hoping that luck is on your side. Overall it's a good game, but winning requires a lot of luck; I do prefer more skill-based games. More boards, and more complex board layouts, would also have been very nice. Still, Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku is a fun thing to have and play once in a while, and is well worth it for series or digital boardgame-RPG fans. That box looks great, too. Also available on Game Boy Color; I'm not sure how similar that version is.
Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball 5 (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Powerful Pro Baseball, or Pawapuro, was for a long time one of Konami's more popular franchises in Japan. This series of super-deformed baseball games were well known for having challenging and deep gameplay beneath their cute graphical exterior, and this one is no exception. I haven't played this game as much as maybe I should for this, but it's not my favorite kind of baseball game. The game is an interesting hybrid of classic and modern baseball game design. On the one hand the game has a top-down, somewhat zoomed-in field view like that of most 3rd or 4th-gen baseball games, but on the other hand it has a fairly modern pitching/batting cursor interface. This is the second of five N64 Pawapuro games; only two games in the series have a US release, both MLB-themed games on the PS2/Wii. The game has all 12 teams and stadiums, and all the real players, from the Japan League circa 1998. There are a lot of features, modes, and options, and it's all in Japanese so for the non-speaker just figuring out how to do anything beyond a basic single match is a bit overwhelming. There are single matches (1p vs. cpu, 1p vs. 2p, or cpu vs. cpu), an options menu just for single matches; a character-raising mode where you train up a young player, adventure game-style (I haven't played this much because of the language barrier, but it's a series staple and is interesting); season mode; the ability to save a game in progress; and more. I'm not sure what all of the main menu options do, they're all in Japanese and there is no English-language help out there for these games. The game has okay to good graphics, each field does look different and the players are big-headed and cute. Arenas are 3d, with sprite-based characters. The sound design is even better. There is a quite excitable announcer, and lots of crowd noise and chanting too. I like the sound design here, it adds to the game.
The gameplay is tough as well -- you'll lose, badly, for a while until you figure out how to play decently. That is common in baseball games, though, because pitching and batting are very hard things to do, the hardest things people commonly do in sports. Pitching and batting just use A and the stick/pad. Presuming that you turn on analog control, which is recommended (seriously, why is d-pad only even an option?), for batting you move a batting cursor around with the stick. The pitcher has no indicator, but instead the ball goes where you are pointing the stick. For some reason, maybe it's an option I don't know about or maybe it's to be realistic, but left and right are reversed, so to throw to the right side of the plate you have to hold the stick left. Admittedly when pitching you do throw from the left to go right, and vice versa, but still, it's weird and not great. I do like the idea of holding the stick in the place you want the ball to go and then just hitting a button to pitch, though, it works well. My problem with pitching so far is that if there are any alternate pitches I can't figure out how to throw them, so it's always just one pitch type, which is annoying -- how do I throw offspeed, curveballs, sliders, etc., instead of just straight pitches? Once the ball has been thrown, an indicator appears showing approximately where it's headed, and the batter has a split second to move the cursor there and swing. As with pitching, there's just one button, no choice of normal or harder swing as some baseball games have. Getting your timing right is hard, as it should be. Overall the pitching/batting interface is alright, but could use some more features, unless I'm missing something under the big language barrier.
For fielding, though, I don't like it as much. I've never liked this style of top-down field view, and this game is no exception. I much prefer actually being able to see the field, so that I don't have to guess where to move my fielder. They do have an indicator pointing towards who you are controlling off screen, but it's not nearly as good as actually seeing the player. I know I say this every time about baseball games, but give me the Hardball series' perspective every time, over this stuff! And with 3d graphics, I know you could do something better than this basic overhead view. I'm sure some people would like the game because of this, but I feel the opposite, it makes the game harder and less fun. Honestly, I don't think I'll be playing this game enough to get good; the overhead perspective isn't great, and unless I'm missing something I really miss having alternate pitch types, compared to other baseball games. Batting works well, pitching is okay, the graphics are okay and sound is good, and there are a lot of modes and options, but I'd rather play something with more pitching options and better fielding. English-language menus would be a plus too, of course, for a game loaded with menus like this one is. For me, Pawapuro 5 is okay but not great.
Jinsei Game 64 (J) [The Game of Life 64] - 4 player alternating, saves to cartridge. Made by Takara, Jinsei Game 64 is one of two Japanese Nintendo 64 versions of the boardgame The Game of Life. For some reason, The Game of Life is a very, very popular boardgame in Japan. I'm not sure why; I do remember playing the game as a kid, but never thought it was THAT great, and haven't played the board game in quite some time. I don't think we own it anymore. I got this N64 version despite that because, well, I am trying to eventually get all non-sports N64 games, so I had to get it sometime. Honestly though, this might not have been worth getting; even though they do add some features to try to make this more than just a digital boardgame, it's boring and not much fun. In addition to the board game there are also eight minigames here, but they're mostly kind of bad. There is also a significant language barrier that is a real issue due to the choices you have to make during the game. The game would be a bit better if I could read the text, but at times it's tough to play in Japanese, if you care about what choices you make during the game.
There are a good number of modes available in Jinsei Game 64. You can play a normal game, play a game on a variety of different alternate boards, modify the order of things on a custom board, create a custom character to play the game with with a good number of options for hair, clothes, and such, and play the minigames outside of the main game. You can play with any mix of up to four human or AI characters, and the AI is reasobly challenging. By default, in the main mode you play a minigame each time characters land on the same space. All eight are for four players. You play them fairly often in the game, though, they aren't very good, and there are only eight of them, so this isn't as great an option as it sounds. While on the board the graphics are 3d, and each different board looks nicely different. The graphics aren't great, but at least they put some effort in to the game. The minigames are just basic 2d stuff, though, and don't look as good. Some require skill, but too many are just pure luck; really, if you're going to add minigames to your digital boardgame, don't make them just pure chance! There are also anime-esque 2d scenes for the life decisions, choices where you try to romance someone of the opposite sex, build your career, and such. I like the art style, it's stylized and kind of cute-looking.
In the main game, minigames aside, as in the boardgame on each turn you move via a spinner. Once you land on a space a menu opens and you have five options, all in Japanese. The top is to move, others are for various stats and such. Depending on where you land, you may play a minigame, make some of those life choice, or just end your turn. Your choices will change your character's stats, which affect how successful you will be, so as I said the language barrier is a real problem. The other main problem here is that I find The Game of Life kind of boring in any form; Jinsei Game 64 is okay, but I haven't finished a game of this yet not only because of the language barrier, but also because the game gets tedious fast. The mostly-bad minigames are also a disappointment. It might be better in multiplayer, but... just play the boardgame, or some better game. I do like the boxart, though, it's nice and represents the games' art style well.
Let's Smash (J) [also released in Europe as Centre Court Tennis, but I have the Japanese version because of how hard it is to play European N64 games on a US system] - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (7 pages per character file). Let's Smash is a tennis game from Hudson. This is an okay but flawed game thanks to difficult controls. Let's Smash has a lot of features and okay to good graphics, but the timing for hitting the ball is quite tight. Otherwise the controls are fine, and you have the usual options -- regular hit or lob, on separate buttons -- but that ball timing is a problem. It took a while before I managed to win a match because of how hard it is to get used to hitting back the ball. It's particularly bad when you use the default single-screen view and are on the upper half of the screen. The very tight timing reminds me of Namco's World Court Tennis for the Turbografx. Indeed, it would be very much like that interesting but frustrating nearly-impossible-once-you-leave-the-bottom-half-of-the-screen game if not for one major addition, different camera angles (on the C buttons). The game got a lot more playable once I figured out how to switch to the third-person-behind-the-character camera, which gives you a close-in view behind your character sort of like that in Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy. It's much, much easier to hit the ball from there than the default classic-style overhead camera. Of course, though, if you want to play the game in multiplayer you'll have to get used to that camera... or just play Mario's Tennis for the N64, that might be the better option. That game doesn't have this issue, hitting the ball is easy in that game. If you do play it multiplayer, be prepared for it to take more than a few matches before everyone manages to figure out the correct timing for hitting the ball. The AI is quite tough as well, and can be hard to defeat. Visually Let's Smash looks okay, but, like most Hudson N64 games, it doesn't look great. Hudson never managed to master N64 graphics like Nintendo, Rare, Acclaim, or such did. This game shows improvement over early Hudson N64 games like Bomberman 64, but still looks only average. The characters look fine and the arenas decent, and the framerate is thankfully good, but nothing looks great for the system, the N64 can do better, an does in games like Mario's Tennis.
For options, Let's Smash has quite a few. First, you can play Tournaments. There are four options here, based on the four major championships in pro tennis, the British, French, American, and Australian Opens. This game doesn't have any official licenses, so don't expect any real players, but there are 16 players to choose from, half male and half female, and the ball bounces differently on clay, hard, or grass courts. There is a different arena for each open, and you try to go through a single-elimination tournament to make it to the top. You can choose in the options how many games each match should last. Next, you can do a single match on any court. Next, you can create your own tennis pro, a very cool option. You can choose gender and clothing, and unlike many games (but like in the PSP Hot Shots Tennis game) it isn't gender-resticted, so you can have male characters wear 'female' tennis outfits. Nice option. You can also choose the hairstyle and color, face, skin color, clothing, and stats (made difficult by the language barrier, all stat names are in Japanese; I just guessed and chose middle settings. I sure wish it was easier to play European N64 games on US systems!). You start with only one set of tennis clothes that you choose, but character creation mode isn't just about creating characters you can play as in tournaments, though you can do that. No, you can also train in some minigames, or play matches against AI opponents. The minigames aren't as elaborate as those in Sega's great Virtua Tennis, but they are challenging and can be fun. There is one where you try to target specific points on the ground, one where you try to bounce the ball off some targets as many times as you can, and two more. Each has different difficulty levels.
The main draw for this mode, though, is playing as your custom characters against AI opponents. In these single matches, you can play on a variety of real or fantasy courts in matches where you get a clothing piece from the winner if you win, or lose one if you lose. So yeah, it's like gambling, except that you can just turn off the game if you're losing and don't need to lose anything, if you have remembered to save recently of course. It's nice to see your clothing options grow as you win matches, though actually winning is, of course, difficult. The courses, outside of the four stadiums for the major opens, include a grassy field, a lava pit, an ice level (with penguins who get in your way as obstacles, and you can hit them to the other side of the court with your racket to make them bother the other person), an urban court, a somewhat wild west-themed desert, and more. I find the ones with obstacles the most interesting; there's nothing like that in the main tournaments! There is also a different announcer for each arena, or, for some reason, no announcer in the ice arena.
A Black Falcon
Member
Overall, Let's Smash is a decent to good game. It gave me a very poor first impression thanks to the games' overly-difficult controls, but after some practice I started liking the game more. Still, compared to Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast or Mario Tennis for N64, this game isn't nearly as good thanks to the difficult controls and only average graphics. Hot Shots Tennis for PSP also probably does the custom character thing better, as it has a full 'RPG-styled' mode. This game has character-building, but it's not a full RPG as you don't explore a world, talk to people, and the like, you just choose options from menus and play matches. Still, despite its flaws, Let's Smash was definitely worth getting. It's okay.
Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode), saves to controller pak (8 blocks). Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is one of Namco's only games for the N64. This game and Namco Museum are the only games Namco itself made for the N64; Ridge Racer 64 was a first-party Nintendo title, by NST. 5th-gen Namco were, sadly, huge Sony supporters, but at least we on the N64 did get this quality title. After the success of Pac-Man World for the Playstation, Namco decided to make a Ms. Pac-Man game. This isn't a full 3d platformer like that game is, though; instead, it's more of a classic-styled, overhead-view action/puzzle title. This game is a polygonal 3d game, but almost feels "2.5" in that you mostly just move around on a flat grid. You can travel between upper and lower areas and the like, but it all plays from a pulled-back viewpoint. This gives it a much more traditional feel than the side-view isometric 3d platforming of Pac-Man world, though it's also a lot more approachable than the frustrating isometric platforming that game is loaded with. Between the two, I probably do have more fun with this one, but both are worth a try. I wish the N^4 had gotten a version of Pac-Man World as well, too bad.
The story here is forgettable; you, as Ms. Pac-Man, have to travel through time, thanks to a machine made by Professor Pac, to rescue the princess or something stupid like that. The time-travel mechanic allows each level to have a different theme, so you go through ancient Egypt first and progress from there. Your goal is always to just reach the end of the stage, but enemies, puzzles, and many dots to collect lie along the way. Levels are linear mazes, so you progress through a level, instead of just running around one big maze as in the original Pac-Man games. Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is definitely on the easy side, but it's fun despite that. The puzzle elements add something to the game, as you do sometimes have to figure out how to get to some dots, by pushing blocks, using jump-cannon things which toss you to another point in the level, and more. Enemies are also a threat, unless you kill them with a Power Pellet. Figuring out how to progress usually isn't too hard, but the game does get more challenging as you go along, and the adventure is plenty of fun. You can also unlock harder time-trial versions of the levels after you beat them, and can play the original Ms. Pac-Man arcade game as well. There are also three multiplayer modes, though I haven't played them yet. This is a fun little game; I wish it was harder, but otherwise it's good classic gaming fun. This is a multiplatform game also available on PS1 and Dreamcast. The three versions look very similar, with the expected graphical differences -- the DC version looks the best, N64 in the middle, and PS1 the worst. I also have the DC version and it probably is a bit better than this one, but the N64 version is more than good enough to be worth getting.
Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2 (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. Shiren the Wanderer 2 is one of Chunsoft's many roguelikes that they have released over the past 20-plus years. I'm not a big fan of the genre, but got this one anyway because it's interesting and is on the N64. I'm having issues with this game (how do you save???), but that's probably just me; anyone who can read Japanese certainly won't have a problem. Once the first Shiren for SNES was a success Chunsoft obviously knew they'd hit on a popular formula, and the company continues to make fairly similar games to this day. As with most of their earlier roguelikes, Shiren 2 is a Japan-only release. The game has good graphics, good gameplay, and lots to do. It's a great title, and I'm really not sure why it isn't better-known outside of Japan. There are very few mentions of this game and isn't even one single FAQ out there in English for this game, which is a real shame! One is badly needed. Just some basic thing explaining how the menus work would be fantastic, and something for item names would be even better, either in FAQ or translation-patch form. But if you stick with the game despite the language barrier, it's great classic Chunsoft Mysterious Dungeon roguelike fun. As usual you play as Shiren, the mysterious wanderer of the title. He is an adventurer in a fantasy version of traditional Japan, and is trying to help out a town beset by monsters.
As always in Mysterious Dungeon games, Shiren 2 plays from an overhead perspective, and when in dungeons the game is turn-based and you move on a grid. The game has sprite-based characters in 3d environments, and the look works well.
Visually Shiren 2 looks pretty good. The art style is somewhat rounded and cute, and I like the look of the sprites. The polygonal environments look good to great as well, this game has good art design. This is a good-looking N64 game. The music is similarly good and fits the traditional Japanese theme quite well. Combat works just like most any other Mysterious Dungeon game. When you move or attack so do the enemies, but they can't move otherwise. You can move one space at a time with the d-pad, or use fast movement with the analog stick or by holding B or Z. The fast movement is very useful. On each floor of the dungeons in the game your goal is to find the exit while collecting as much stuff as you can (while dealing with your tight inventory limit, you can only hold about 20 items), but the enemies will make that difficult to say the least; it may be easier than its SNES predecessor, but this is a hard game, probably harder than the third game, for Wii, is; Shiren 2 doesn't have any more forgiving modes. While you stay alive it can be fun enough, but then you die an lose all your equipped items and level, as is common in this genre; you only keep things if you beat the dungeon and put them in storage. Ouch! Honestly I've never liked this kind of harsh design, I prefer having a game where you don't have to continually redo things you have done before just because you died farther in to the game. Yes, I've mostly skipped over the wave of roguelikes the game industry has made in recent years. Add on top of that that probably because of the language barrier I still can't figure out how to actually save a game, and yeah, this game is a bit hard to play. Another key game design element makes that worse -- your main task in this game is to build a castle so that the locals in the town you're in can protect themselves from the hordes of monsters. That's cool, it's nice to have a task beyond just killing stuff and gaining levels, but you need to collect certain items for the castle, and better items will hold up better against monster attacks that apparently happen later in the game. This whole system is obviously somewhat impenetrable if you don't know the language. So, overall, Shiren the Wanderer 2 is a good-looking game which is fun to play, but the language barrier is significant and a real issue.
To be clear, If I could actually save my progress in this game, I'd say that it's a pretty good game for its genre. It definitely seems fun, and isn't as hard as the first game for SNES. So please someone, tell me what I'm doing wrong... the only menu options that quit seem to either (for one option) quit without saving, or (for the other) restart the game from the beginning. I don't see anyone to talk to to save, either. So yeah, what's going on here? I want to be able to play this game, and "play it all in one sitting" is not a good answer.
Nuclear Strike 64 - 1 player, saves to controller pak, Expansion Pak supported (for higher resolution graphics). Nuclear Strike 64 is the N64 version of the fifth and sort-of-final Strike game from EA. While the previous game, Soviet Strike, didn't release on Nintendo platforms, this one returned the series to Nintendo. There's sort of a sixth, but only if you count Future Cop LAPD as a Strike game -- it started out as one, but changed to an original title during development. I'd call it a new game, so this is the last game in EA's topdown-style flight combat sim series which was quite popular particularly on the Genesis and SNES. I have never have been a fan of this series, but I got Soviet Strike, the 4th game, for Saturn a few years ago and was surprised to find it kind of fun for a while, the series' usual too-high difficulty level aside. So, I thought that maybe I'd like this one too... but I don't know. It's still a Strike game, and as with all the Strike games, it's too slow and boring to be a good action flight game, but too action-oriented to be a good sim. But also, on the N64, the live-action-video cutscenes of the original PC/PS1 game are gone. Without the super-cheesy live-action-video FMV the game loses something. Gameplay-wise, the main changes in Nuclear Strike compared to its predecessor are that you now have a variety of tanks and a hovercraft you will control at times during the game, the graphics are better, and there's an improved on-screen compass/map telling you where you need to head. That arrow is helpful, it does indeed reduce time spent on the map as the back of the box claims, but the full-screen map is still essential. And visually, the N64 version certainly looks better than the PS1 version thanks to 3d that doesn't fall apart whenever anything moves. The textures are a bit blurry as usual, but the game looks nice. Still, that cheesy FMV is good stuff. As for the gameplay, the core gameplay is the same as usual for this series. It's still very hard and kind of boring. This game plays a lot like the previous one, but maybe with a closer-in camera. The game still plays on a flat plane, so you cannot move up or down, only around at a set level over the ground. You can shoot bullets and missiles and lower a winch to pick things up. You are not only fighting the many enemies in this game, though. Fuel and ammo are both very limited, and unless you are careful, use your weapons well, and know where the pickups are, you won't finish the mission. There are a nice variety of objectives along the way, but they usually boil down to destroying or protecting things. You also need to be on the lookout for fuel and ammo to pick up, of course. It's okay, but I get frustrated when I lose far into a mission; saving is limited, and I lose interest before getting good enough to beat a mission. Each game generally has only four or so missions, or maps, each made up of a series of objectives scattered around the level. Four is more than enough in games as hard as the Strike games are, and Nuclear Strike is no exception. Even though I did kind of like Soviet Strike, I still have not yet ever beaten a full mission in a Strike game, I believe; I did get most of the way through Future Cop LAPD, but that plays quite differently. Overall Nuclear Strike 64 is a good game that just isn't really for me. Also on PC and PS1; the best version is surely the PC version, but between PS1 and N64, you have to choose between better graphics and probably also controls (N64) or cheesy FMV (PS1).
Off-Road Challenge (actually already had but forgot to cover) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak. Off-Road Challenge is a point-to-point racing game from Midway. The game is an arcade port of a Midway arcade game, developed by Avalanche Studios. They didn't do a very good job, sadly. The game runs in the Cruis'n USA engine and visually looks sort of like that series. This game is a part of the Off-Road franchise, the third (or fourth if you include the Track Pack as a game) game in a series that began with the all-time classic early '90s arcade game "Ironman" Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road. I absolutely love the original Super Off-Road and always have, but this game, sadly, isn't nearly as good; of the six point-to-point Midway racers on the N64, this one is the one I have played least. Off-Road Challenge is pretty much just a mediocre spinoff of Cruis'n, with off-road pickup trucks instead of cars, desert-only environments, only six tracks, 3d truck graphics, ugly graphics with a sometimes-poor framerate, and a far higher difficulty level. Returning from previous Off-Road games are turbo boosts and boost powerups to refill your boost. These powerups are small and a lot harder to pick up than they were in the original Super Off-Road, and yet you really need them to be competitive. The skiddy controls don't help here, either. I don't think I've ever actually finished first in a race in this game; it's frustratingly hard right from the start, and then gets harder.
Indeed, one major issue with this game, along with the visuals and sound, is that it is way too hard! The handling is average skiddy stuff, you slide around a lot. So, memorization is key, to learn when to turn on the courses to avoid the many obstacles littering each course and to try to stay on the road. The tracks are curvy and difficult, and I do like the bumpy, obstacle-filled track designs, but I don't like how hard getting the powerups is or the super-difficult AI. Still, moments like dodging a rock knocked over by a falling UFO or learning the correct route to avoid pitfalls in the track are kind of nice. However, perhaps because of the 3d vehicles, there are only eight racers in each race, only four trucks to choose from, and only six tracks in the game. That's a lot less of all three of things than you'll find in any Cruis'n game, and the tracks are no longer than Cruis'n tracks, so there isn't much variety here. Between races, as usual in the series there's also an upgrade system where you can upgrade your truck between races with your winnings. The championship mode saves your truck upgrades, so in order to compete later on you really need to have done well earlier in the game, so don't settle for 4th in that first circuit even though finishing harder is hard. YOu need to finish in 3rd in each race in the second circuit, and do even better than that later on, so mastering the tracks is essential. I haven't done it, sadly. The dune buggy is fastest, so it might be the best of the four vehicles available, but between the AI, the controls, and the rest, the game doesn't feel fairly designed. The AI usually just beats me, even when I do better time-wise... argh. I wouldn't be surprised if the AI cheats.
Visually, the graphics are below average, with some VERY large super-blurry textures, a sometimes-iffy framerate, and distance fade-in. Midway can, and did, do so much better than this! I know the tracks are full of bumps and hills, but still, this game looks worse than the first SF Rush game on N64, but actually released after it. The music is forgettable rock, and fails to loop after finishing the first time, so many races will end in silence. Not good. There are a lot of much, much better, and better-looking, N64 racing games than this. There's not much here to make me want to spend the hours it would take to actually finish this very difficult game. There are few modes, too. You can do a single race, a circuit where you go through all the tracks, and that's it. You won't find modified versions of the tracks here, unlike Cruis'n World or Exotica, and all other Midway N64 point-to-point racers have many more tracks than this game. Overall, Off-Road Challenge is disappointing. This is a downgraded port of an average arcade game, and even I can't entirely defend it, and I find the Cruis'n series fun. The game has no new ideas, some design issues, looks ugly and sounds bad, and I get tired of always losing. Instead of playing this game more and beating it, I'd rather play a better game. Off-Road Challenge is below average. Really, stick to the original classic Super Off-Road. Or for a similar 3d game, the best polygonal 'Off-Road"-style racing game from Midway doesn't actually doesn't have the franchise name on it -- it's 4-Wheel Challenge for the Dreamcast. That's a great game, a bit like this one but better. That game is also very tough, but that's the kind of hard that keeps me coming back! I wish this game was like that too, but it isn't. Arcade port (but N64-exclusive at home).
Puyo Puyo Sun 64 (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. This game is a puzzle game in the popular and long-running Puyo Puyo series, then made by Compile -- this game is from before Compile shut down and Sega bought the rights to the franchise. Puyo Puyo is a match-four block-dropping puzzle game. The "blocks" here are called Puyos, and they're cute little bloblike things. They drop in pairs only; for those familiar with Sega's Puyo games, Compile's always have the puyos drop only in pairs. The larger shapes first appear in Sega's first Puyo game, Puyo Puyo Fever from 2004. When you match four of the same color they are destroyed. Because you have to match four instead of the usual three, Puyo Puyo is a bit slower-paced and more strategic than some other games of this type. It's not as complex as Puzzle Fighter/Baku Baku though, because you just need to match four, instead of use separate objects to destroy the blocks. I like Puzzle Fighter more than Puyo Puyo, because I like the added element of the crash gems versus just match-three or match-four play, but Puyo Puyo is a classic series and the games are usually quite fun. Puyo Puyo is also a very hard game -- victory centers around setting up good combos, but setting up long combos while puyos drop at a breakneck pace, as they eventually will, is very hard! Puyo Puyo games are always tough, and this one is no exception. It's a good, challenging game, and getting good at Puyo Puyo will take practice. You need to learn how to form at least basic combos to succeed. I'm not great at it, but can at least get through story mode. Visually, as usual in this genre, the game is entirely 2d.
In the arcade story mode you play as Arle as usual, the series heroine, on her latest quest in Compile's silly anime-styled fantasy world of the Puyo Puyo puzzle series and Madou Monogatari RPG series, both of which star Arle. The art design is cutely amusing as usual, the monsters never look too threatening. Of course though, all troubles are solved by puzzle games, not actual battles, though Arle is a magician and her attack sounds when you set off good combos are various spells of hers from the RPGs. The music here is good, but nto as good as the CD versions of the game thanks to having to downgrade it for a cart. For modes and options, the game has a few, but not as many as I'd like. There is the vs. story mode, an endless mode, single-match play for vs. cpu or vs. human games, and that's about it. There are also difficulty settings and such in the options. Puyo Puyo Sun 64 is a pretty straight port of the third Puyo Puyo game, Puyo Puyo Sun, to the N64. I also have the earlier Saturn release of this game, and there are no significant differences between the two releases, unfortunately, other than the downgraded music. Some other puzzle games added features to their N64 versions, but not this one. Overall, Puyo Puyo Sun is a fun classic puzzler. It looks decent, is a lot of fun to play, and will last quite a while with the series' usual high difficulty level. However, there is no reason to get this version of the game over the PS1 or Saturn versions, since it's the same exact thing but with worse music. The games' sequel, Puyo Puyo~n Party (Puyo Puyo 4, N64 version) is probably better, as it at least has a four-player splitscreen mode, something this game sadly does not have. However, that game does also have a better Dreamcast port (which I have), while here, music aside, the N64 version of Puyo Puyo 3 is as good as any. Arcade port also available on PS1, Saturn, and Game Boy Color.
Rat Attack - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (1 block), Expansion Pak supported (for higher resolution graphics). Rat Attack is a very simple and basic game, reminiscent of a classic arcade game. It's decent and can be fun. It's nothing really special, but I don't know that it deserves review scores as low as it mostly got. This game isn't really bad, just very simple. The game is polygonal 3d. Each level in Rat Attack is a single screen, viewed from an overhead perspective. You play as a cat, or up to four cats at once in the co-op multiplayer mode, and have to capture all of the evil rats on each stage which are trying to destroy everything in sight. There are six cats to choose from, with two more unlockable if you do well. The game is a somewhat frantic and fast-paced game where you run around hitting rats, trapping them, and bringing them to the dropoff point. You can jump with B, attack to stun rats with Z, and open a trap by holding A and moving to open the rectangle. 'Traps' aren't some object that drops; you automatically catch any rat which is inside the trap when you let go of A. Obviously it's easiest to capture stunned rats. Caught rats must then be brought to that dropoff point cat-symbol circle. If a rat touches you before you get there, you drop any rats you are carrying, which will happen. The controls are good, but your cat can be small on the screen, so sometimes I lost track of where I was in all the chaos. Level designs are nicely varied, and include multi-leveled arenas, stage hazards such as moving lawnmowers, warp circles that teleport you between points in the stage, and more. While the graphics are simple, I do like the varied level designs. You need to capture a set number of rats in each level before they destroy everything destructible in the stage, and while trying to avoid dying because you only get three lives per level and each level is made up of quite a few stages, and you cannot save between stages, only after levels. With the limited lives, fast enemies, and often crowded screen, this game gets hard quickly and will last a decent while. Oh, and you get points for everything you do, if you want to play for score. The multiplayer mode is a versus mode, not co-op through story mode, sadly, but it's still pretty fun, as you compete to catch as many rats as possible (and whack on the other cats, of course). Rat Attack is a simple but challenging and entertaining classic arcade-style game that I, at least, think is fun. It's average stuff, but entertaining. Also on Playstation. The PS1 version actually does also support four players in multiplayer mode, interestingly.
Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness - 4 player simultaneous (in battle mode), saves to controller pak (8 blocks). Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is one of Namco's only games for the N64. This game and Namco Museum are the only games Namco itself made for the N64; Ridge Racer 64 was a first-party Nintendo title, by NST. 5th-gen Namco were, sadly, huge Sony supporters, but at least we on the N64 did get this quality title. After the success of Pac-Man World for the Playstation, Namco decided to make a Ms. Pac-Man game. This isn't a full 3d platformer like that game is, though; instead, it's more of a classic-styled, overhead-view action/puzzle title. This game is a polygonal 3d game, but almost feels "2.5" in that you mostly just move around on a flat grid. You can travel between upper and lower areas and the like, but it all plays from a pulled-back viewpoint. This gives it a much more traditional feel than the side-view isometric 3d platforming of Pac-Man world, though it's also a lot more approachable than the frustrating isometric platforming that game is loaded with. Between the two, I probably do have more fun with this one, but both are worth a try. I wish the N^4 had gotten a version of Pac-Man World as well, too bad.
The story here is forgettable; you, as Ms. Pac-Man, have to travel through time, thanks to a machine made by Professor Pac, to rescue the princess or something stupid like that. The time-travel mechanic allows each level to have a different theme, so you go through ancient Egypt first and progress from there. Your goal is always to just reach the end of the stage, but enemies, puzzles, and many dots to collect lie along the way. Levels are linear mazes, so you progress through a level, instead of just running around one big maze as in the original Pac-Man games. Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness is definitely on the easy side, but it's fun despite that. The puzzle elements add something to the game, as you do sometimes have to figure out how to get to some dots, by pushing blocks, using jump-cannon things which toss you to another point in the level, and more. Enemies are also a threat, unless you kill them with a Power Pellet. Figuring out how to progress usually isn't too hard, but the game does get more challenging as you go along, and the adventure is plenty of fun. You can also unlock harder time-trial versions of the levels after you beat them, and can play the original Ms. Pac-Man arcade game as well. There are also three multiplayer modes, though I haven't played them yet. This is a fun little game; I wish it was harder, but otherwise it's good classic gaming fun. This is a multiplatform game also available on PS1 and Dreamcast. The three versions look very similar, with the expected graphical differences -- the DC version looks the best, N64 in the middle, and PS1 the worst. I also have the DC version and it probably is a bit better than this one, but the N64 version is more than good enough to be worth getting.
Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2 (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. Shiren the Wanderer 2 is one of Chunsoft's many roguelikes that they have released over the past 20-plus years. I'm not a big fan of the genre, but got this one anyway because it's interesting and is on the N64. I'm having issues with this game (how do you save???), but that's probably just me; anyone who can read Japanese certainly won't have a problem. Once the first Shiren for SNES was a success Chunsoft obviously knew they'd hit on a popular formula, and the company continues to make fairly similar games to this day. As with most of their earlier roguelikes, Shiren 2 is a Japan-only release. The game has good graphics, good gameplay, and lots to do. It's a great title, and I'm really not sure why it isn't better-known outside of Japan. There are very few mentions of this game and isn't even one single FAQ out there in English for this game, which is a real shame! One is badly needed. Just some basic thing explaining how the menus work would be fantastic, and something for item names would be even better, either in FAQ or translation-patch form. But if you stick with the game despite the language barrier, it's great classic Chunsoft Mysterious Dungeon roguelike fun. As usual you play as Shiren, the mysterious wanderer of the title. He is an adventurer in a fantasy version of traditional Japan, and is trying to help out a town beset by monsters.
As always in Mysterious Dungeon games, Shiren 2 plays from an overhead perspective, and when in dungeons the game is turn-based and you move on a grid. The game has sprite-based characters in 3d environments, and the look works well.
Visually Shiren 2 looks pretty good. The art style is somewhat rounded and cute, and I like the look of the sprites. The polygonal environments look good to great as well, this game has good art design. This is a good-looking N64 game. The music is similarly good and fits the traditional Japanese theme quite well. Combat works just like most any other Mysterious Dungeon game. When you move or attack so do the enemies, but they can't move otherwise. You can move one space at a time with the d-pad, or use fast movement with the analog stick or by holding B or Z. The fast movement is very useful. On each floor of the dungeons in the game your goal is to find the exit while collecting as much stuff as you can (while dealing with your tight inventory limit, you can only hold about 20 items), but the enemies will make that difficult to say the least; it may be easier than its SNES predecessor, but this is a hard game, probably harder than the third game, for Wii, is; Shiren 2 doesn't have any more forgiving modes. While you stay alive it can be fun enough, but then you die an lose all your equipped items and level, as is common in this genre; you only keep things if you beat the dungeon and put them in storage. Ouch! Honestly I've never liked this kind of harsh design, I prefer having a game where you don't have to continually redo things you have done before just because you died farther in to the game. Yes, I've mostly skipped over the wave of roguelikes the game industry has made in recent years. Add on top of that that probably because of the language barrier I still can't figure out how to actually save a game, and yeah, this game is a bit hard to play. Another key game design element makes that worse -- your main task in this game is to build a castle so that the locals in the town you're in can protect themselves from the hordes of monsters. That's cool, it's nice to have a task beyond just killing stuff and gaining levels, but you need to collect certain items for the castle, and better items will hold up better against monster attacks that apparently happen later in the game. This whole system is obviously somewhat impenetrable if you don't know the language. So, overall, Shiren the Wanderer 2 is a good-looking game which is fun to play, but the language barrier is significant and a real issue.
To be clear, If I could actually save my progress in this game, I'd say that it's a pretty good game for its genre. It definitely seems fun, and isn't as hard as the first game for SNES. So please someone, tell me what I'm doing wrong... the only menu options that quit seem to either (for one option) quit without saving, or (for the other) restart the game from the beginning. I don't see anyone to talk to to save, either. So yeah, what's going on here? I want to be able to play this game, and "play it all in one sitting" is not a good answer.
Nuclear Strike 64 - 1 player, saves to controller pak, Expansion Pak supported (for higher resolution graphics). Nuclear Strike 64 is the N64 version of the fifth and sort-of-final Strike game from EA. While the previous game, Soviet Strike, didn't release on Nintendo platforms, this one returned the series to Nintendo. There's sort of a sixth, but only if you count Future Cop LAPD as a Strike game -- it started out as one, but changed to an original title during development. I'd call it a new game, so this is the last game in EA's topdown-style flight combat sim series which was quite popular particularly on the Genesis and SNES. I have never have been a fan of this series, but I got Soviet Strike, the 4th game, for Saturn a few years ago and was surprised to find it kind of fun for a while, the series' usual too-high difficulty level aside. So, I thought that maybe I'd like this one too... but I don't know. It's still a Strike game, and as with all the Strike games, it's too slow and boring to be a good action flight game, but too action-oriented to be a good sim. But also, on the N64, the live-action-video cutscenes of the original PC/PS1 game are gone. Without the super-cheesy live-action-video FMV the game loses something. Gameplay-wise, the main changes in Nuclear Strike compared to its predecessor are that you now have a variety of tanks and a hovercraft you will control at times during the game, the graphics are better, and there's an improved on-screen compass/map telling you where you need to head. That arrow is helpful, it does indeed reduce time spent on the map as the back of the box claims, but the full-screen map is still essential. And visually, the N64 version certainly looks better than the PS1 version thanks to 3d that doesn't fall apart whenever anything moves. The textures are a bit blurry as usual, but the game looks nice. Still, that cheesy FMV is good stuff. As for the gameplay, the core gameplay is the same as usual for this series. It's still very hard and kind of boring. This game plays a lot like the previous one, but maybe with a closer-in camera. The game still plays on a flat plane, so you cannot move up or down, only around at a set level over the ground. You can shoot bullets and missiles and lower a winch to pick things up. You are not only fighting the many enemies in this game, though. Fuel and ammo are both very limited, and unless you are careful, use your weapons well, and know where the pickups are, you won't finish the mission. There are a nice variety of objectives along the way, but they usually boil down to destroying or protecting things. You also need to be on the lookout for fuel and ammo to pick up, of course. It's okay, but I get frustrated when I lose far into a mission; saving is limited, and I lose interest before getting good enough to beat a mission. Each game generally has only four or so missions, or maps, each made up of a series of objectives scattered around the level. Four is more than enough in games as hard as the Strike games are, and Nuclear Strike is no exception. Even though I did kind of like Soviet Strike, I still have not yet ever beaten a full mission in a Strike game, I believe; I did get most of the way through Future Cop LAPD, but that plays quite differently. Overall Nuclear Strike 64 is a good game that just isn't really for me. Also on PC and PS1; the best version is surely the PC version, but between PS1 and N64, you have to choose between better graphics and probably also controls (N64) or cheesy FMV (PS1).
Off-Road Challenge (actually already had but forgot to cover) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak. Off-Road Challenge is a point-to-point racing game from Midway. The game is an arcade port of a Midway arcade game, developed by Avalanche Studios. They didn't do a very good job, sadly. The game runs in the Cruis'n USA engine and visually looks sort of like that series. This game is a part of the Off-Road franchise, the third (or fourth if you include the Track Pack as a game) game in a series that began with the all-time classic early '90s arcade game "Ironman" Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road. I absolutely love the original Super Off-Road and always have, but this game, sadly, isn't nearly as good; of the six point-to-point Midway racers on the N64, this one is the one I have played least. Off-Road Challenge is pretty much just a mediocre spinoff of Cruis'n, with off-road pickup trucks instead of cars, desert-only environments, only six tracks, 3d truck graphics, ugly graphics with a sometimes-poor framerate, and a far higher difficulty level. Returning from previous Off-Road games are turbo boosts and boost powerups to refill your boost. These powerups are small and a lot harder to pick up than they were in the original Super Off-Road, and yet you really need them to be competitive. The skiddy controls don't help here, either. I don't think I've ever actually finished first in a race in this game; it's frustratingly hard right from the start, and then gets harder.
Indeed, one major issue with this game, along with the visuals and sound, is that it is way too hard! The handling is average skiddy stuff, you slide around a lot. So, memorization is key, to learn when to turn on the courses to avoid the many obstacles littering each course and to try to stay on the road. The tracks are curvy and difficult, and I do like the bumpy, obstacle-filled track designs, but I don't like how hard getting the powerups is or the super-difficult AI. Still, moments like dodging a rock knocked over by a falling UFO or learning the correct route to avoid pitfalls in the track are kind of nice. However, perhaps because of the 3d vehicles, there are only eight racers in each race, only four trucks to choose from, and only six tracks in the game. That's a lot less of all three of things than you'll find in any Cruis'n game, and the tracks are no longer than Cruis'n tracks, so there isn't much variety here. Between races, as usual in the series there's also an upgrade system where you can upgrade your truck between races with your winnings. The championship mode saves your truck upgrades, so in order to compete later on you really need to have done well earlier in the game, so don't settle for 4th in that first circuit even though finishing harder is hard. YOu need to finish in 3rd in each race in the second circuit, and do even better than that later on, so mastering the tracks is essential. I haven't done it, sadly. The dune buggy is fastest, so it might be the best of the four vehicles available, but between the AI, the controls, and the rest, the game doesn't feel fairly designed. The AI usually just beats me, even when I do better time-wise... argh. I wouldn't be surprised if the AI cheats.
Visually, the graphics are below average, with some VERY large super-blurry textures, a sometimes-iffy framerate, and distance fade-in. Midway can, and did, do so much better than this! I know the tracks are full of bumps and hills, but still, this game looks worse than the first SF Rush game on N64, but actually released after it. The music is forgettable rock, and fails to loop after finishing the first time, so many races will end in silence. Not good. There are a lot of much, much better, and better-looking, N64 racing games than this. There's not much here to make me want to spend the hours it would take to actually finish this very difficult game. There are few modes, too. You can do a single race, a circuit where you go through all the tracks, and that's it. You won't find modified versions of the tracks here, unlike Cruis'n World or Exotica, and all other Midway N64 point-to-point racers have many more tracks than this game. Overall, Off-Road Challenge is disappointing. This is a downgraded port of an average arcade game, and even I can't entirely defend it, and I find the Cruis'n series fun. The game has no new ideas, some design issues, looks ugly and sounds bad, and I get tired of always losing. Instead of playing this game more and beating it, I'd rather play a better game. Off-Road Challenge is below average. Really, stick to the original classic Super Off-Road. Or for a similar 3d game, the best polygonal 'Off-Road"-style racing game from Midway doesn't actually doesn't have the franchise name on it -- it's 4-Wheel Challenge for the Dreamcast. That's a great game, a bit like this one but better. That game is also very tough, but that's the kind of hard that keeps me coming back! I wish this game was like that too, but it isn't. Arcade port (but N64-exclusive at home).
Puyo Puyo Sun 64 (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. This game is a puzzle game in the popular and long-running Puyo Puyo series, then made by Compile -- this game is from before Compile shut down and Sega bought the rights to the franchise. Puyo Puyo is a match-four block-dropping puzzle game. The "blocks" here are called Puyos, and they're cute little bloblike things. They drop in pairs only; for those familiar with Sega's Puyo games, Compile's always have the puyos drop only in pairs. The larger shapes first appear in Sega's first Puyo game, Puyo Puyo Fever from 2004. When you match four of the same color they are destroyed. Because you have to match four instead of the usual three, Puyo Puyo is a bit slower-paced and more strategic than some other games of this type. It's not as complex as Puzzle Fighter/Baku Baku though, because you just need to match four, instead of use separate objects to destroy the blocks. I like Puzzle Fighter more than Puyo Puyo, because I like the added element of the crash gems versus just match-three or match-four play, but Puyo Puyo is a classic series and the games are usually quite fun. Puyo Puyo is also a very hard game -- victory centers around setting up good combos, but setting up long combos while puyos drop at a breakneck pace, as they eventually will, is very hard! Puyo Puyo games are always tough, and this one is no exception. It's a good, challenging game, and getting good at Puyo Puyo will take practice. You need to learn how to form at least basic combos to succeed. I'm not great at it, but can at least get through story mode. Visually, as usual in this genre, the game is entirely 2d.
In the arcade story mode you play as Arle as usual, the series heroine, on her latest quest in Compile's silly anime-styled fantasy world of the Puyo Puyo puzzle series and Madou Monogatari RPG series, both of which star Arle. The art design is cutely amusing as usual, the monsters never look too threatening. Of course though, all troubles are solved by puzzle games, not actual battles, though Arle is a magician and her attack sounds when you set off good combos are various spells of hers from the RPGs. The music here is good, but nto as good as the CD versions of the game thanks to having to downgrade it for a cart. For modes and options, the game has a few, but not as many as I'd like. There is the vs. story mode, an endless mode, single-match play for vs. cpu or vs. human games, and that's about it. There are also difficulty settings and such in the options. Puyo Puyo Sun 64 is a pretty straight port of the third Puyo Puyo game, Puyo Puyo Sun, to the N64. I also have the earlier Saturn release of this game, and there are no significant differences between the two releases, unfortunately, other than the downgraded music. Some other puzzle games added features to their N64 versions, but not this one. Overall, Puyo Puyo Sun is a fun classic puzzler. It looks decent, is a lot of fun to play, and will last quite a while with the series' usual high difficulty level. However, there is no reason to get this version of the game over the PS1 or Saturn versions, since it's the same exact thing but with worse music. The games' sequel, Puyo Puyo~n Party (Puyo Puyo 4, N64 version) is probably better, as it at least has a four-player splitscreen mode, something this game sadly does not have. However, that game does also have a better Dreamcast port (which I have), while here, music aside, the N64 version of Puyo Puyo 3 is as good as any. Arcade port also available on PS1, Saturn, and Game Boy Color.
Rat Attack - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (1 block), Expansion Pak supported (for higher resolution graphics). Rat Attack is a very simple and basic game, reminiscent of a classic arcade game. It's decent and can be fun. It's nothing really special, but I don't know that it deserves review scores as low as it mostly got. This game isn't really bad, just very simple. The game is polygonal 3d. Each level in Rat Attack is a single screen, viewed from an overhead perspective. You play as a cat, or up to four cats at once in the co-op multiplayer mode, and have to capture all of the evil rats on each stage which are trying to destroy everything in sight. There are six cats to choose from, with two more unlockable if you do well. The game is a somewhat frantic and fast-paced game where you run around hitting rats, trapping them, and bringing them to the dropoff point. You can jump with B, attack to stun rats with Z, and open a trap by holding A and moving to open the rectangle. 'Traps' aren't some object that drops; you automatically catch any rat which is inside the trap when you let go of A. Obviously it's easiest to capture stunned rats. Caught rats must then be brought to that dropoff point cat-symbol circle. If a rat touches you before you get there, you drop any rats you are carrying, which will happen. The controls are good, but your cat can be small on the screen, so sometimes I lost track of where I was in all the chaos. Level designs are nicely varied, and include multi-leveled arenas, stage hazards such as moving lawnmowers, warp circles that teleport you between points in the stage, and more. While the graphics are simple, I do like the varied level designs. You need to capture a set number of rats in each level before they destroy everything destructible in the stage, and while trying to avoid dying because you only get three lives per level and each level is made up of quite a few stages, and you cannot save between stages, only after levels. With the limited lives, fast enemies, and often crowded screen, this game gets hard quickly and will last a decent while. Oh, and you get points for everything you do, if you want to play for score. The multiplayer mode is a versus mode, not co-op through story mode, sadly, but it's still pretty fun, as you compete to catch as many rats as possible (and whack on the other cats, of course). Rat Attack is a simple but challenging and entertaining classic arcade-style game that I, at least, think is fun. It's average stuff, but entertaining. Also on Playstation. The PS1 version actually does also support four players in multiplayer mode, interestingly.
A Black Falcon
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Superman - 1 player, saves to controller pak (1 block per file). One of the N64's most infamous titles, last year I finally made myself buy Superman for the N64 (No, the correct tile is not "Superman 64".). I haven't gotten far in the game, but my opinion on this game is a bit different from most I've seen -- I don't really mind the flying-through-rings parts, it's the other half of the game I can't stand! Superman starts off with a bad story explaining how Superman has gone to a virtual world full of kryptonite fog, explaining why you aren't invincible. While there is a large city in this game, you can't usually just wander around it; instead, the game is linear. Infamously, you start out having to fly through rings. After I got used to the controls, I started to kind of enjoy this. It's not great, but I like racing games, and the challenge of figuring out the route is entertaining. Superman's flying controls are okay, it didn't take long to figure them out. Unfortunately, this isn't only a racing game, it's also a terrible action-adventure game. During the flying segments, you have to do some quick challenges. The first one is that you have a very tight time limit to do things such as pick up cars before they hit people; you WILL fail at this multiple times before you figure out what to do. Then it's back to the flying. That was mostly fun.
After that is when the game got really bad: the first full action-adventure level. Here, you have to wander around a facility, do some vaguely-defined tasks, figure out where to go, and struggle to not turn the system off mid-level because of how bad the level, mission/objective, and combat design are. Combat in Superman is absolutely no fun! You can punch and use your abilities such as heat-vision and such, but combat is extremely clunky and doesn't work well. Also, I hate wandering around in a level not knowing what I should be doing or where to go, but that's a huge problem in this game; the objectives are stated but not clearly, and you often have time limits making things much more challenging than they should be. Time limits are not okay in any kind of open-world game, I really dislike them in something like this. But this game is all about tight time limits, every level has one and they're horrible. I lost patience in the game somewhere in the second or third level, so I haven't gotten anywhere near th end of the game. Still, I think I saw how the game plays fairly well. Superman for N64 is not good, but how bad it is is hugely overstated -- the flight controls aren't nearly as bad as people say, and the flying-through-rings gameplay is kind of fun, for me at least! It's too bad that nothing else here is good. Superman is a disappointment. This is far from the worst game ever, but I find everything in the game that isn't flying through rings quite frustrating and annoying to play. There is also a cancelled PS1 version of the game, but I don't think it is publicly available; I've only heard about it, nothing more. The PS1 version and a similarly unavailable N64 beta rom are both supposed to be better than the N64 game as it was shipped. Apparently the licensor of the Superman name required a lot of changes to be made to the game shortly before launch. There's a video out there of N64 beta-version gameplay, the flying-through-rings half of the game is gone, and you can actually freely fly around the city from the start. The basic gameplay looks just as bad as it is in the final game, though, so I don't think that I, at least, would like that version much, if any, more than the released one. The majority of people who hate flying through rings probably would, though.
Super Mario 64: Rumble Pak Edition (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. This is one of two early N64 games that Nintendo re-released with rumble pak support added, along with Wave Race 64. Mario 64 is, of course, one of the greatest videogames ever made. The very definition of an all-time classic, Mario 64 redefined platform gaming and improved the genre in gameplay, controls, and graphics. It released before the rumble pak, though, so eventually Nintendo decided to release a version with rumble... and then only released it in Japan, annoyingly. I got this because it seemed interesting, but while Mario 64 with rumble is of course still a great, great classic, and the game is perhaps a bit better with rumble, it doesn't add a huge amount to the game. Mario 64 rumble edition is great fun, and the rumble is nice, but it's hardly essential. The other issue with this game is that it's in Japanese, so all of the star descriptions are in Japanese. So, unless you know the game really well or use a guide while playing, remembering what to do for each star is difficult. Is it worth that hassle anyway to replay one of the greatest games ever, again, just with controller rumble this time? Maybe, but I haven't gotten too far into this. Still, it's absolutely worth picking up if you're buying import N64 games, no question. It IS Mario 64 with an exclusive extra feature, after all. The original version is also available on Wii Virtual Console and has a Nintendo DS remake, but I don't know if any other version has rumble, as far as I know they don't.
Super Robot Taisen 64 (J) [Super Robot Wars 64] - 1 player, saves to cartridge. Super Robot Wars 64 is a 2d turn-based strategy game, and is a part of the long-running Super Robot Wars series of turn-based tactical strategy games about giant robots fighting eachother. For the basic concept think Fire Emblem but with robots, not as extreme a challenge, and not quite as great gameplay. The series started back in 1991 and has seen releases as recently as 2013, so it's an ongoing series. Only three games have released outside of Japan, though, all titles with only original characters because the licensing issues are apparently a nightmare for the rest of the games; getting the rights to use the many different series represented here would cost more than it's worth, unfortunately. So, as with most SRW games, this one released only in Japan. SRW64 is a common kind of game on other platforms, but on the N64, because Fire Emblem 64 was never released, this game is the only turn-based strategy game of this style on the system. The game plays well, with good graphics and sound. The 2d graphics look great, the game has a nice anime style. Licensed characters look like they should from the shows they come from, and original characters have a consistent anime style. There are also nice 2d battle animations whenever robots attack eachother. The game shows, for any doubters, that the N64 can do this kind of 2d look great, when developers wanted to. This game has four different playable characters, each of which take a somewhat different path through the game, so you'd need to play it four times to see every mission. That's cool. The four characters are two male and two female characters, so you've got some good variety there genderwise. Each character also has a rival who they will see regularly through the game. You can rename your character and rival at the start if you wish. As with all SRW games, the game has an extensive story, with text-heavy cutscenes between every mission. Even in the English-language games, the amount of story gets a bit tedious since it's not anything special; it's just generic giant-robot-anime-inspired stuff. I doubt this game is any different, though of course it is all in Japanese so I can't be certain.
As with the cutscenes, the gameplay is very reminiscent of Fire Emblem. Once you get into a mission, you see the map, with your robots and your enemies placed around it on a square grid. You've got to kill the enemies, and sometimes also do other tasks such as reach a certain point. You can also sometimes talk to enemies by moving a certain character next to them to talk to them and maybe persuade them to leave or join your side. Fortunately there's a pretty good guide on Game FAQs that covers the mission objectives for almost all missions in the game, all but one or two characters' exclusive missions are there. Definitely read it as you play if you don't know Japanese. The gameplay and controls are fairly straightforward for anyone who has played games like this before; all menu options are in Japanese, but it's mostly not too hard to figure out. You can move, attack with a variety of weapons, look at each robot's stats, and such, and once attacked can choose to counter-attack or defend. The game starts out quite easy, so there is time to learn the controls. It'll get harder as you progress, for sure, and the game is long -- there are a total of 123 missions, though again each character will not play all of them so you only see all of those missions if you play the game four times. It looks like even a single playthrough would take a good while. SRW games aren't the hardest tactical strategy games, though, so between the long length, constant cutscenes to click through, and often only moderately challenging (if that) missions, I have gotten bored of these games sometimes. Still, the game does get tougher eventually, and it's all very well made. The game looks and sounds good, is easy to play despite the language barrier (particularly with that guide, for helping out with recruiting optional characters especially!), and is pretty fun. I love that they made an N64 game like this, it's good and well worth playing. It's just too bad that Fire Emblem 64 was eventually cancelled and turned into a GBA game instead; Intelligent Systems struggled with the transition to 3d. SRW64 is not a replacement for that game, but it is a good, fun, nice-looking tactical strategy game with a lot of content and solid gameplay.
Super Robot Spirits (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Super Robot Spirits is a very mediocre 3d fighting game from Banpresto. Similar to the Super Robot Taisen strategy game series, Super Robot Spirits uses mechas (giant robots) from a variety of different franchises and mixes them all together, here in a fighting game instead of the usual strategy gameplay. After playing this game, though, it's not hard to see why that is a long-running series while this is a one-off title, it's not that good. Super Robot Spirits is not terrible, but it definitely isn't good either. The game has eight regular characters to choose from plus a couple of unlockable bosses. All eight starting characters are male; the only female one is unlockable, and I didn't have the patience to play a game this bland long enough to unlock them. As in most 3d fighters that generation, the d-pad moves and jumps, while buttons move you into or out of the screen. The face buttons attack; you only have a couple of buttons, because this game isn't too complex. Each character does have a bunch of moves, though, and they are not listed in the game, so having the manual is recommended -- all moves are listed in the manual. There is also a FAQ on GameFAQs though, for those who don't have the manual. I wasn't hoping for too much from this game, because it's a licensed game and Banpresto made very few N64 games, but even so it was worse than I was hoping. SRS is a slow and ugly game. It has one interesting feature, that the robots can fly, but it doesn't add much to the game. The gameplay, graphics, framerate, game speed, controls, nothing about this game is very good. There isn't much of a story either, in any language. The robots are from famous giant-robot shows, but for me that doesn't matter much, I don't care too much about giant-robot animes; I played this for the game, not the licenses. Unfortunately, if there is a reason to pplay this game, the gameplay isn't it.
The problem is, while SRS does not totally fail as a game, it is badly dated and there isn't much of any reason to play it now. I think that a lot of 5th-generation 3d fighting games have aged badly, and this game is no exception. Most 5th-gen 3d fighters play slowly, with dated controls, iffy framerates and/or slow gameplay holding them back badly when compared to the smooth, polished gameplay of 3d fighters from the Dreamcast on. Super Robot Spirits is a slow game with lumbering mech characters. Matches take a long time, and many moves seem to do little damage. The graphics are kind of ugly, and stages don't look like much, backgrounds are incredibly bland. SRS's combination of poor, dull-looking graphics and slow gameplay combine to show that the developers of SRS clearly didn't know how to program well for the N64. You don't have full 3d movement in this game either -- you can only move forwards, backwards, jump, and fly (with buttons), there aren't buttons to move into or out of the screen. The game plays on a flat 2d plane, the 3d is just window-dressing. That's okay, but the subpar gameplay isn't. Don't expect any kind of nice combo system here either, it doesn't have complexities like that. This is just a basic, simple 5th-gen 3d fighter, that's all. There are the usual modes -- 'story', versus, training, survival, options, a small roster of characters, and nothing much to make me want to play the game again after finishing it once. Overall, Super Robot Spirits is a very generic and uninteresting below-average 3d fighting game. Sure, it's very much a product of its time, but there are at least some 5th-gen 3d fighting games which are good, including a few on N64. While far from the worst, this game is no Criticom or War Gods-level debacle, SRS isn't among them. It is interesting that the only Super Robot-franchise 1-on-1 fighting game I know of is an N64 exclusive, I just wish it was a better game.
Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (5 pages). Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama is the N64 version of this long-running match-three block-dropping puzzle game series of Konami's. No Puzzledama game ever released outside of Japan except for maybe one cellphone game in the '00s, but in Japan there were many releases over the years. I have a few, including this one on N64 and the Tokimeki Memorial Puzzledama version on Saturn. The game is basically like Puyo Puyo, but faster-paced thanks to only having to match three similar things to destroy them instead of four. Otherwise though, it's pretty much Puyo Puyo mixed with a bit of Puzzle Fighter. This N64 version includes three games in one, including two variants of the main game, Puzzle Dama and Tokkaedama, and a top-down bowling game. Yes, really; I'm not sure why it's bowling. The visuals in the two puzzle games are good enough for the genre. The game has anime-styled art design and is entirely 2d. As in Puzzle Fighter, chibi versions of the characters fight in the center of the screen during matches. The music is great, as expected from Konami -- it's catchy stuff! In Puzzledama mode, the main arcade mode is a versus mode where you play against a series of opponents. You choose one of a crazy cast of characters, drop spheres, and try to set up chains so that the dropping spheres fall into places where at least three are touching, so that you can get big combos. The more balls you destroy at once, the more garbage blocks you will send at your opponent. Garbage blocks turn into regular balls once a match has been made in an adjoining space. Combos are essential, because the game gets VERY fast and challenging later one. This is a hard game, and beating all the opponents will requires skill and luck once the blocks move at their fastest speed. I really like Puzzledama, it's simple but lots of fun. Design-wise, this game is anime-styled. The weird cast in this version is amusing; each character is unique and odd, from the infant aliens to the idol guy to the beauty-loving schoolgirl. I do dislike how almost all of the female characters are younger while most of the male characters are adults, though; definitely some Japanese stereotypes going on there. The game has few options within each mode, just difficulty settings really for your AI opponent, though there is a 2-player versus mode. As in Puzzle Fighter, there is no endless puzzle mode, only vs. cpu or vs. human play. The game has difficulty settings and a few other options, but it's tough on any of them. Puzzledama is a great, addictive game that's fun for hours.
Tokkaedama mode looks similar, but has some key rule changes. Again it is a puzzle game about matching spheres, but this time you move a cursor around the screen, and the blocks rise up from below. With the cursor you can pick up the item in a space and then switch it with the object in the next space you select and then hit the button on. So, it's more versatile than Puzzle League/Tetris Attack; instead of just swapping pairs next to eachother, you can swap anything on the screen. This may sound easy, but it's not; as in Puzzledama, it gets hard fast. Opponents will absolutely swamp you in garbage blocks! It's often tough to keep up, though I do think Puzzledama mode is harder. Tokkaedama mode is fun, and it is nice to be doing something different, but I do like Puzzledama more, and mostly play that mode. Oh, Tokkaedama has the same (lack of) modes and options as Puzzledama. The last mode is the random bowling game. This is multiplayer only, so either you play against another human or just alone, and is quite basic visually -- there is no 3d bowling alley here, just a basic top-down 2d lane as you'd see in a SNES game or something. It's not too bad for basic topdown 2d bowling stuff, but it's too simple to actually hold my interest for more than a game or two, single player or multi. I don't know why they included this here, but it's forgettable. Fortunately, thogh, the greatness of Puzzledama mode more than makes up for everything else, and while Tokkaedama mode isn't as good, it's still good, and it is great that both are included in one -- some earlier versions of this game sell the two separately, as is the case for the Tokimeki Memorial games on PS1 and Saturn. Overall I really like Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama, it's fast, frenetic, and really fun for anyone who likes this genre at all. The game is faster paced than Puyo Puyo, and simpler than Puzzle Fighter, so it may not be as strategic as those games, but it's plenty fun and challenging despite that. I recommended it for sure. Arcade conversion collection also on Playstation; other Puzzledama games are available on many other consoles, including Saturn, mobile phones, and more.
Uchhannanchan no Honoo no Challenger: Denryuu IraIra Bou (J) [Irritating Stick] - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. IraIra Bou, or Irritating Stick as the US PS1 version of this game was called, is a Hudson game, and a slightly improved converstion of the arcade game of the same name. This game is fun... if you like extreme frustration. Irritating Stick is a maze game. Inspired by those carnival games where you have to move a stick through an electrified maze without touching the sides (and if you do you get a little shock!), you have to move a circle that represents the tubular electric stick through a series of mazes, without touching the walls. The later game KuruKuru Kururin is sort of like this, except that series innovated by having you control a spinning rotor, instead of just a dot. I love Kuru Kuru Kuruin, so I got this hoping for something somewhat similar, and I was not disappointed. Frustrated, but not disappointed. There are only six different maze-like levels in this version of the game, unfortunately, presumably the same as the mazes from the arcade game it is based on. The later Playstation 1 followup has a lot more, apparently, and a US release as well, but as an N64 fan I had to get this version. Even with only six somewhat short levels though, Irritating Stick is a very, very hard game that will take quite some time to master! Getting through the harder mazes is a serious challenge, you will need near-perfect precision. The game saves your best times for each level to the cart. While you play a Japanese guy yells at you as you fail. I don't usually like game commentators who insult me, but it's not as bad when I don't understand the language... and in THIS kind of game, it's appropriate. For options, there is just single player, two player versus, a high-scores table, and options. In either mode, you choose one of the six levels, then a stick type -- basically difficulty, as they vary in size and movement sensitivity to make the game easier or harder -- and then it's off to the maze. The fourth stick, on the right of the selection screen, is 'easy mode' -- you get three hits before you die instead of the usual one, but high scores won't be saved and this game is all about playing for score, so it's just for practice. The two player mode is the same as one player, but splitscreen.
Visually, Irritating Stick has a simple but nice-looking style. The game uses 3d graphics, but levels play on a 2d plane. Each of the levels starts with a flying overview of the maze, and then you're off. Levels are made up of metallic-looking lines that form the rails you must stay in, on simple, mostly-black backgrounds. Each level has a numerous obstacles to find your way past. Some are static maze elements to work your way through, while others involve moving pistons, coils, or more. Levels do have checkpoints, but it's still very hard because of the precision required. You have to not only memorize what to do to get past each obstacle, but perfectly execute your movements. A good N64 analog stick is highly recommended for this game! Broken ones won't get you far. You can move faster by holding A or Z, though watch out because while moving fast it is easy to hit walls. If you do hit a wall, the controller rumbles (in an emulation of the electric shock of the original carnival games), presuming you're using a rumble pack as you should be, and you're sent back to the start or the last checkpoint. One nice feature is that the game will display a ghost of your best run while you make attempts at the level you're currently playing, to try to help you play better. You can't save this, though, and playing a different level will erase it. Still, it's great for finding better routes. Overall, Irritating Stick is, as the name suggests, irritating. This home console version may not literally shock you with electricity, but it sure will shock you with its incredibly hard and frustrating gameplay! But that's what I wanted, something like Kuru Kuru Kururin but simpler, and that's exactly what this is. Really the only flaw with the game is that there are only six levels in this version, while the later Playstation version has more, and the very cool feature of a random maze generator too. I've never played the PS1 version, but would like to get it. I really wish the N64 had the random maze option, but sadly it doesn't. The US PS1 version apparently cuts out the Japanese commentator and replaces him with an English-speaking one not nearly as irritating, but for this game that's probably bad, so maybe get the import. So, I like this game and definitely recommend it if you like this kind of game as I do... but the added features in the PS1 version do make that maybe the better purchase. The Japanese N64 version has better boxart than either region's PS1 release, though! Arcade port, also available on Playstation (where it released a bit later and has more features).
After that is when the game got really bad: the first full action-adventure level. Here, you have to wander around a facility, do some vaguely-defined tasks, figure out where to go, and struggle to not turn the system off mid-level because of how bad the level, mission/objective, and combat design are. Combat in Superman is absolutely no fun! You can punch and use your abilities such as heat-vision and such, but combat is extremely clunky and doesn't work well. Also, I hate wandering around in a level not knowing what I should be doing or where to go, but that's a huge problem in this game; the objectives are stated but not clearly, and you often have time limits making things much more challenging than they should be. Time limits are not okay in any kind of open-world game, I really dislike them in something like this. But this game is all about tight time limits, every level has one and they're horrible. I lost patience in the game somewhere in the second or third level, so I haven't gotten anywhere near th end of the game. Still, I think I saw how the game plays fairly well. Superman for N64 is not good, but how bad it is is hugely overstated -- the flight controls aren't nearly as bad as people say, and the flying-through-rings gameplay is kind of fun, for me at least! It's too bad that nothing else here is good. Superman is a disappointment. This is far from the worst game ever, but I find everything in the game that isn't flying through rings quite frustrating and annoying to play. There is also a cancelled PS1 version of the game, but I don't think it is publicly available; I've only heard about it, nothing more. The PS1 version and a similarly unavailable N64 beta rom are both supposed to be better than the N64 game as it was shipped. Apparently the licensor of the Superman name required a lot of changes to be made to the game shortly before launch. There's a video out there of N64 beta-version gameplay, the flying-through-rings half of the game is gone, and you can actually freely fly around the city from the start. The basic gameplay looks just as bad as it is in the final game, though, so I don't think that I, at least, would like that version much, if any, more than the released one. The majority of people who hate flying through rings probably would, though.
Super Mario 64: Rumble Pak Edition (J) - 1 player, saves to cartridge. This is one of two early N64 games that Nintendo re-released with rumble pak support added, along with Wave Race 64. Mario 64 is, of course, one of the greatest videogames ever made. The very definition of an all-time classic, Mario 64 redefined platform gaming and improved the genre in gameplay, controls, and graphics. It released before the rumble pak, though, so eventually Nintendo decided to release a version with rumble... and then only released it in Japan, annoyingly. I got this because it seemed interesting, but while Mario 64 with rumble is of course still a great, great classic, and the game is perhaps a bit better with rumble, it doesn't add a huge amount to the game. Mario 64 rumble edition is great fun, and the rumble is nice, but it's hardly essential. The other issue with this game is that it's in Japanese, so all of the star descriptions are in Japanese. So, unless you know the game really well or use a guide while playing, remembering what to do for each star is difficult. Is it worth that hassle anyway to replay one of the greatest games ever, again, just with controller rumble this time? Maybe, but I haven't gotten too far into this. Still, it's absolutely worth picking up if you're buying import N64 games, no question. It IS Mario 64 with an exclusive extra feature, after all. The original version is also available on Wii Virtual Console and has a Nintendo DS remake, but I don't know if any other version has rumble, as far as I know they don't.
Super Robot Taisen 64 (J) [Super Robot Wars 64] - 1 player, saves to cartridge. Super Robot Wars 64 is a 2d turn-based strategy game, and is a part of the long-running Super Robot Wars series of turn-based tactical strategy games about giant robots fighting eachother. For the basic concept think Fire Emblem but with robots, not as extreme a challenge, and not quite as great gameplay. The series started back in 1991 and has seen releases as recently as 2013, so it's an ongoing series. Only three games have released outside of Japan, though, all titles with only original characters because the licensing issues are apparently a nightmare for the rest of the games; getting the rights to use the many different series represented here would cost more than it's worth, unfortunately. So, as with most SRW games, this one released only in Japan. SRW64 is a common kind of game on other platforms, but on the N64, because Fire Emblem 64 was never released, this game is the only turn-based strategy game of this style on the system. The game plays well, with good graphics and sound. The 2d graphics look great, the game has a nice anime style. Licensed characters look like they should from the shows they come from, and original characters have a consistent anime style. There are also nice 2d battle animations whenever robots attack eachother. The game shows, for any doubters, that the N64 can do this kind of 2d look great, when developers wanted to. This game has four different playable characters, each of which take a somewhat different path through the game, so you'd need to play it four times to see every mission. That's cool. The four characters are two male and two female characters, so you've got some good variety there genderwise. Each character also has a rival who they will see regularly through the game. You can rename your character and rival at the start if you wish. As with all SRW games, the game has an extensive story, with text-heavy cutscenes between every mission. Even in the English-language games, the amount of story gets a bit tedious since it's not anything special; it's just generic giant-robot-anime-inspired stuff. I doubt this game is any different, though of course it is all in Japanese so I can't be certain.
As with the cutscenes, the gameplay is very reminiscent of Fire Emblem. Once you get into a mission, you see the map, with your robots and your enemies placed around it on a square grid. You've got to kill the enemies, and sometimes also do other tasks such as reach a certain point. You can also sometimes talk to enemies by moving a certain character next to them to talk to them and maybe persuade them to leave or join your side. Fortunately there's a pretty good guide on Game FAQs that covers the mission objectives for almost all missions in the game, all but one or two characters' exclusive missions are there. Definitely read it as you play if you don't know Japanese. The gameplay and controls are fairly straightforward for anyone who has played games like this before; all menu options are in Japanese, but it's mostly not too hard to figure out. You can move, attack with a variety of weapons, look at each robot's stats, and such, and once attacked can choose to counter-attack or defend. The game starts out quite easy, so there is time to learn the controls. It'll get harder as you progress, for sure, and the game is long -- there are a total of 123 missions, though again each character will not play all of them so you only see all of those missions if you play the game four times. It looks like even a single playthrough would take a good while. SRW games aren't the hardest tactical strategy games, though, so between the long length, constant cutscenes to click through, and often only moderately challenging (if that) missions, I have gotten bored of these games sometimes. Still, the game does get tougher eventually, and it's all very well made. The game looks and sounds good, is easy to play despite the language barrier (particularly with that guide, for helping out with recruiting optional characters especially!), and is pretty fun. I love that they made an N64 game like this, it's good and well worth playing. It's just too bad that Fire Emblem 64 was eventually cancelled and turned into a GBA game instead; Intelligent Systems struggled with the transition to 3d. SRW64 is not a replacement for that game, but it is a good, fun, nice-looking tactical strategy game with a lot of content and solid gameplay.
Super Robot Spirits (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. Super Robot Spirits is a very mediocre 3d fighting game from Banpresto. Similar to the Super Robot Taisen strategy game series, Super Robot Spirits uses mechas (giant robots) from a variety of different franchises and mixes them all together, here in a fighting game instead of the usual strategy gameplay. After playing this game, though, it's not hard to see why that is a long-running series while this is a one-off title, it's not that good. Super Robot Spirits is not terrible, but it definitely isn't good either. The game has eight regular characters to choose from plus a couple of unlockable bosses. All eight starting characters are male; the only female one is unlockable, and I didn't have the patience to play a game this bland long enough to unlock them. As in most 3d fighters that generation, the d-pad moves and jumps, while buttons move you into or out of the screen. The face buttons attack; you only have a couple of buttons, because this game isn't too complex. Each character does have a bunch of moves, though, and they are not listed in the game, so having the manual is recommended -- all moves are listed in the manual. There is also a FAQ on GameFAQs though, for those who don't have the manual. I wasn't hoping for too much from this game, because it's a licensed game and Banpresto made very few N64 games, but even so it was worse than I was hoping. SRS is a slow and ugly game. It has one interesting feature, that the robots can fly, but it doesn't add much to the game. The gameplay, graphics, framerate, game speed, controls, nothing about this game is very good. There isn't much of a story either, in any language. The robots are from famous giant-robot shows, but for me that doesn't matter much, I don't care too much about giant-robot animes; I played this for the game, not the licenses. Unfortunately, if there is a reason to pplay this game, the gameplay isn't it.
The problem is, while SRS does not totally fail as a game, it is badly dated and there isn't much of any reason to play it now. I think that a lot of 5th-generation 3d fighting games have aged badly, and this game is no exception. Most 5th-gen 3d fighters play slowly, with dated controls, iffy framerates and/or slow gameplay holding them back badly when compared to the smooth, polished gameplay of 3d fighters from the Dreamcast on. Super Robot Spirits is a slow game with lumbering mech characters. Matches take a long time, and many moves seem to do little damage. The graphics are kind of ugly, and stages don't look like much, backgrounds are incredibly bland. SRS's combination of poor, dull-looking graphics and slow gameplay combine to show that the developers of SRS clearly didn't know how to program well for the N64. You don't have full 3d movement in this game either -- you can only move forwards, backwards, jump, and fly (with buttons), there aren't buttons to move into or out of the screen. The game plays on a flat 2d plane, the 3d is just window-dressing. That's okay, but the subpar gameplay isn't. Don't expect any kind of nice combo system here either, it doesn't have complexities like that. This is just a basic, simple 5th-gen 3d fighter, that's all. There are the usual modes -- 'story', versus, training, survival, options, a small roster of characters, and nothing much to make me want to play the game again after finishing it once. Overall, Super Robot Spirits is a very generic and uninteresting below-average 3d fighting game. Sure, it's very much a product of its time, but there are at least some 5th-gen 3d fighting games which are good, including a few on N64. While far from the worst, this game is no Criticom or War Gods-level debacle, SRS isn't among them. It is interesting that the only Super Robot-franchise 1-on-1 fighting game I know of is an N64 exclusive, I just wish it was a better game.
Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (5 pages). Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama is the N64 version of this long-running match-three block-dropping puzzle game series of Konami's. No Puzzledama game ever released outside of Japan except for maybe one cellphone game in the '00s, but in Japan there were many releases over the years. I have a few, including this one on N64 and the Tokimeki Memorial Puzzledama version on Saturn. The game is basically like Puyo Puyo, but faster-paced thanks to only having to match three similar things to destroy them instead of four. Otherwise though, it's pretty much Puyo Puyo mixed with a bit of Puzzle Fighter. This N64 version includes three games in one, including two variants of the main game, Puzzle Dama and Tokkaedama, and a top-down bowling game. Yes, really; I'm not sure why it's bowling. The visuals in the two puzzle games are good enough for the genre. The game has anime-styled art design and is entirely 2d. As in Puzzle Fighter, chibi versions of the characters fight in the center of the screen during matches. The music is great, as expected from Konami -- it's catchy stuff! In Puzzledama mode, the main arcade mode is a versus mode where you play against a series of opponents. You choose one of a crazy cast of characters, drop spheres, and try to set up chains so that the dropping spheres fall into places where at least three are touching, so that you can get big combos. The more balls you destroy at once, the more garbage blocks you will send at your opponent. Garbage blocks turn into regular balls once a match has been made in an adjoining space. Combos are essential, because the game gets VERY fast and challenging later one. This is a hard game, and beating all the opponents will requires skill and luck once the blocks move at their fastest speed. I really like Puzzledama, it's simple but lots of fun. Design-wise, this game is anime-styled. The weird cast in this version is amusing; each character is unique and odd, from the infant aliens to the idol guy to the beauty-loving schoolgirl. I do dislike how almost all of the female characters are younger while most of the male characters are adults, though; definitely some Japanese stereotypes going on there. The game has few options within each mode, just difficulty settings really for your AI opponent, though there is a 2-player versus mode. As in Puzzle Fighter, there is no endless puzzle mode, only vs. cpu or vs. human play. The game has difficulty settings and a few other options, but it's tough on any of them. Puzzledama is a great, addictive game that's fun for hours.
Tokkaedama mode looks similar, but has some key rule changes. Again it is a puzzle game about matching spheres, but this time you move a cursor around the screen, and the blocks rise up from below. With the cursor you can pick up the item in a space and then switch it with the object in the next space you select and then hit the button on. So, it's more versatile than Puzzle League/Tetris Attack; instead of just swapping pairs next to eachother, you can swap anything on the screen. This may sound easy, but it's not; as in Puzzledama, it gets hard fast. Opponents will absolutely swamp you in garbage blocks! It's often tough to keep up, though I do think Puzzledama mode is harder. Tokkaedama mode is fun, and it is nice to be doing something different, but I do like Puzzledama more, and mostly play that mode. Oh, Tokkaedama has the same (lack of) modes and options as Puzzledama. The last mode is the random bowling game. This is multiplayer only, so either you play against another human or just alone, and is quite basic visually -- there is no 3d bowling alley here, just a basic top-down 2d lane as you'd see in a SNES game or something. It's not too bad for basic topdown 2d bowling stuff, but it's too simple to actually hold my interest for more than a game or two, single player or multi. I don't know why they included this here, but it's forgettable. Fortunately, thogh, the greatness of Puzzledama mode more than makes up for everything else, and while Tokkaedama mode isn't as good, it's still good, and it is great that both are included in one -- some earlier versions of this game sell the two separately, as is the case for the Tokimeki Memorial games on PS1 and Saturn. Overall I really like Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama, it's fast, frenetic, and really fun for anyone who likes this genre at all. The game is faster paced than Puyo Puyo, and simpler than Puzzle Fighter, so it may not be as strategic as those games, but it's plenty fun and challenging despite that. I recommended it for sure. Arcade conversion collection also on Playstation; other Puzzledama games are available on many other consoles, including Saturn, mobile phones, and more.
Uchhannanchan no Honoo no Challenger: Denryuu IraIra Bou (J) [Irritating Stick] - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge. IraIra Bou, or Irritating Stick as the US PS1 version of this game was called, is a Hudson game, and a slightly improved converstion of the arcade game of the same name. This game is fun... if you like extreme frustration. Irritating Stick is a maze game. Inspired by those carnival games where you have to move a stick through an electrified maze without touching the sides (and if you do you get a little shock!), you have to move a circle that represents the tubular electric stick through a series of mazes, without touching the walls. The later game KuruKuru Kururin is sort of like this, except that series innovated by having you control a spinning rotor, instead of just a dot. I love Kuru Kuru Kuruin, so I got this hoping for something somewhat similar, and I was not disappointed. Frustrated, but not disappointed. There are only six different maze-like levels in this version of the game, unfortunately, presumably the same as the mazes from the arcade game it is based on. The later Playstation 1 followup has a lot more, apparently, and a US release as well, but as an N64 fan I had to get this version. Even with only six somewhat short levels though, Irritating Stick is a very, very hard game that will take quite some time to master! Getting through the harder mazes is a serious challenge, you will need near-perfect precision. The game saves your best times for each level to the cart. While you play a Japanese guy yells at you as you fail. I don't usually like game commentators who insult me, but it's not as bad when I don't understand the language... and in THIS kind of game, it's appropriate. For options, there is just single player, two player versus, a high-scores table, and options. In either mode, you choose one of the six levels, then a stick type -- basically difficulty, as they vary in size and movement sensitivity to make the game easier or harder -- and then it's off to the maze. The fourth stick, on the right of the selection screen, is 'easy mode' -- you get three hits before you die instead of the usual one, but high scores won't be saved and this game is all about playing for score, so it's just for practice. The two player mode is the same as one player, but splitscreen.
Visually, Irritating Stick has a simple but nice-looking style. The game uses 3d graphics, but levels play on a 2d plane. Each of the levels starts with a flying overview of the maze, and then you're off. Levels are made up of metallic-looking lines that form the rails you must stay in, on simple, mostly-black backgrounds. Each level has a numerous obstacles to find your way past. Some are static maze elements to work your way through, while others involve moving pistons, coils, or more. Levels do have checkpoints, but it's still very hard because of the precision required. You have to not only memorize what to do to get past each obstacle, but perfectly execute your movements. A good N64 analog stick is highly recommended for this game! Broken ones won't get you far. You can move faster by holding A or Z, though watch out because while moving fast it is easy to hit walls. If you do hit a wall, the controller rumbles (in an emulation of the electric shock of the original carnival games), presuming you're using a rumble pack as you should be, and you're sent back to the start or the last checkpoint. One nice feature is that the game will display a ghost of your best run while you make attempts at the level you're currently playing, to try to help you play better. You can't save this, though, and playing a different level will erase it. Still, it's great for finding better routes. Overall, Irritating Stick is, as the name suggests, irritating. This home console version may not literally shock you with electricity, but it sure will shock you with its incredibly hard and frustrating gameplay! But that's what I wanted, something like Kuru Kuru Kururin but simpler, and that's exactly what this is. Really the only flaw with the game is that there are only six levels in this version, while the later Playstation version has more, and the very cool feature of a random maze generator too. I've never played the PS1 version, but would like to get it. I really wish the N64 had the random maze option, but sadly it doesn't. The US PS1 version apparently cuts out the Japanese commentator and replaces him with an English-speaking one not nearly as irritating, but for this game that's probably bad, so maybe get the import. So, I like this game and definitely recommend it if you like this kind of game as I do... but the added features in the PS1 version do make that maybe the better purchase. The Japanese N64 version has better boxart than either region's PS1 release, though! Arcade port, also available on Playstation (where it released a bit later and has more features).
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World Driver Championship - 2 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (11 blocks per season file). Boss Games' World Driver Championship is a fairly highly-regarded N64 racing game for several reasons. First, the game has some of the best technical graphics on the system; and second, it is the N64's closest thing to the super-popular Sony series Gran Turismo. So, it's a part-sim and part-arcade console racing game, with a decently realistic driving model but not hardcore sim features. The problem is, I have never liked this kind of semi-sim racing game; I much prefer my racing games to be more arcadey than this. I love racing games which are futuristic, kart, weapon-based, and such. So yes, WDC has a very impressively high polygon count, a good framerate, detailed car models, great textures on both the cars and tracks, about ten courses to race on, lots of championships to challenge, cars to unlock which all look similar to real cars, and more, but it just doesn't interest me very much. Sure, the game looks very nice, the cars particularly, and plays smoothly and well, but this is one of those racing games where you have to take the turns well or you will very easily spin out, and a spinout probably means you will lose and have to redo the circuit. You cannot save after each race, you see, in championship mode, but only between circuits, and even IF you get a retry they are very limited. I wasn't expecting to find this game very fun when I bought it, and I don't. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to do okay after some practice at the first few championships; I did finish in the top three, there. With practice I'm sure I could continue through the game, but I just don't find this kind of game very fun! Real-life driving isn't much fun at all, so I don't know why a game which tries to be somewhat realistic should be a draw. It must be for some people, though, because Gran Turismo 1 and 2 are the two best selling games on the PS1 for some reason. I don't have either one. If I REALLY wanted to play a racing sim, anyway, it'd be an actual sim, with things like car damage and serious handling modeling that you won't find on console games like these, but only on PC games (and with a wheel, another thing I rarely use). I do wish this game had optional car damage, that would have been nice.
But anyway, I should discuss what I can about WDC. This game has only a few modes. There is single race, championship, a training mode where you just run around one track with no other options, the options menu, and that's it. Some more modes would have been nice, though the championship mode will take some time to beat for sure, and there are multiple tiers of cars to get. The car library of only maybe a few dozen vehicles is also small compared to a Gran Turismo game, and the cars aren't real licensed vehicles, but made-up ones that look similar to real cars. You can change some settings in the menu here, but they may not 'stick' once you get into a race, sometimes I had to change them again there. Once changed in-race (or in the championship menu) it does remember them, though. You can play either fullscreen (4:3) or a very, VERY letterboxed widescreen window. It's really too bad that Boss didn't support the Expansion Pak for a larger window in high-res mode, they really should have. This game released in '99, well after the Expansion Pak was first made available. Top Gear Overdrive is a good example which shows how with the expansion pak you can increase the size of the high-res window in a racing game while not impacting performance much at all. Of course, Excitebike 64 is a counter-example, with a letterboxed high-res mode that has a lower resolution than low-res. The super-letterboxed high-res mode here runs fast though, so I'm sure Boss could have done a bigger window with the added RAM. Anyway, the graphics. They are indeed great, technically. Boss Games convinced Nintnedo to let them use custom microcode for this game, which means that it doesn't have the same look as most N64 games do, it looks different. The polygon count is noticeably higher, but some other effects are off so the game has a bit more shimmering and such than most N64 games, I think. Also, while environments have good detail and great textures, the actual artistic design of the tracks is bland. The goal was clearly to be realistic, but realism to this degree just isn't as interesting looking as something more fantastic, I think. The cars probably look better than the environments, though it all looks good. But with slippery controls that lead to frequent spinouts, a championship system which punishes you a lot for one mistake, and a semi-realistic design, overall I don't like this game much more than I expected to. It is playable, and I can do okay at it with practice, but I just don't find this kind of game interesting enough to keep playing. Just like real life driving, this kind of halfway-simmish driving game is not fun.
Wave Race 64: Rumble Pack Edition (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge, saves to controller pak (lots of pages, for save backup). Wave Race 64 is one of the N64's first titles from 1996. This is a re-release of the game with rumble pak support added. Otherwise, it's identical to the original Japanese version of the game... but it's awesome anyway, and is the best version of this great classic for sure! Wave Race 64 + Rumble is a great combination. This version of Wave Race 64 released later on, probably only in Japan, and I don't know why Nintendo didn't push this in the US. It may just be a re-release, but the addition of rumble support really does improve the game! Wave Race 64 without rumble is an all-time classic, one of the many exceptional racing games on the N64 and probably the best water racing game ever made. The one flaw of Wave Race 64 is that it's a short game with only seven tracks, you'll beat it in a few hours. That's really the one thing holding this game back. This version of the game doesn't fix that problem, but the addition of rumble does add to the experience of of bouncing on the waves. There probably is no better choice of a pre-rumble N64 game Nintendo could have added rumble to than Wave Race 64, the rumble as you bounce on the waves feels great. Do know that this is the Japanese version though, so the menus are all in Japanese. I found it helpful to play my US copy of the regular game beforehand, to remember what is what in the menus. Otherwise though, this is a great, great game. Wave Race 64 has some of the best wave physics ever, incredibly great track designs, good graphics particularly for the water (parts above-water have aged, admittedly), great controls, and more. Apart from the limited amount of content, there's nothing much else negative to say about this awesome classic. If you get one of the two rumble-added re-releases, make it this one. The original non-rumble version is also available on Wii Virtual Console, but I don't know if this one is, perhaps not.
WinBack: Covert Operations - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (9 pages). Made by Koei's Omega Force team now mostly known for Dynasty Warriors games and such, WinBack: Covert Operations is a third-person cover-based shooter. The game was somewhat popular, and for the time was a pretty original concept. In 1999, a cover-based third-person-shooter on consoles was a new-ish idea! Now, of course, the concept is ANYTHING but new, and I'm sure modern shooter fans will take issue with the controls here. Even so, this is a decent to good game. I don't like third-person-shooters that much, and had never played this game before last year, but when I finally did play it, though I didn't expect to, I liked it. For modes, there is training, story, and versus. I haven't played the multiplayer, but it's probably okay but not as fun as something like Perfect Dark. The game has a fairly stereotypical spy-action-movie story, decent graphics, okay controls, some variety, and plenty of challenge. You play as Jean-Luc, a special agent out to save the world from an evil organization trying to take over the world with a hijacked space weapons satellite. Hmm, never heard that plot before. There are plenty of cutscenes along the way that tell the story. The gameplay is more original for the time than the story, though. In each level you explore the stage, kill the enemies, and solve some basic puzzles that generally involve shooting things or hitting switches to make things happen -- to destroy security lasers, start moving platforms, and so on. The level designs are good, and I like that the game does require some thought and isn't just a brainless shooter. You will have to look around for items and things to interact with.
The controls definitely take some getting used to. A attaches to cover when you are not in cover; Z ducks; C-left and C-right move the camera left and right; the analog stick moves Jean-Luc; B reloads; and holding R pops out of cover, brings up your gun, and aims at the enemy in the middle of the screen. While holding down R, pressing A will now fire your current weapon. C-up switches weapons, and C-down shows who you are currently targeting. When near an item or door a green box appears around it, and A will interact with it. You can change some of the control settings, but those are the defaults and they work, with practice. If you hold down R while not in cover, you will bring up your gun, so that you can shoot at things such as those laser-trap switches. Fortunately the main pistol has a laser sight and infinite ammo, making aiming easy. Alternate weapons such as the shotgun or machine gun do have limited ammo, and you can only hold a couple of clips at a time so you have to use them judiciously. You also have some special weapons such as dynamite, which you oftne have to use in specific places for missions. Of course, since this is a cover-based game, large blocks such as cargo boxes and waist-high walls abound, providing you with plenty of places to hide behind while you reload or choose which enemy to shoot at (by moving the camera, generally). The game has auto-targeting for your current target, so hitting them is easy. This game isn't easy, though! I, at least, find it pretty hard; the enemies do a good amount of damage, and you can only save at the end of each of the somewhat long levels, there are no checkpoints during them. Still, it's fun enough to keep me coming back and trying again. Everything in each level happens the same way each time, so memorization is key; you won't get through levels on the first try, you need to learn the stages. Visually, the game looks okay, but isn't one of the better-looking N64 games -- areas are very boxy and closed-in, and there is fog in places in larger areas. Environment detail is also only decent, not great, and textures are similar. Still, the game looks okay. Overall Winback has definitely aged, but it's probably worth a look. The game is fun, and it's interesting to see a time not long ago when the now super-cliche cover-based third-person-shooter was a new idea. Also available on PS2 (the game was ported to PS2 some time after its original N64 release). I only have the original N64 version. There is also a sequel for PS2 and Xbox; I haven't played it.
And that's all for now.
New game opinion summaries, August 2015: 64 Trump Collection: Alice to Waku Waku Trump World, Baku Bomberman 2, Bomberman 64, Custom Robo V2, Doraemon 2: Nobita to Hikari no Shinden, F1 Pole Position 64, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku, Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball 5, Jinsei Game 64, Let's Smash, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2, Nuclear Strike 64, Off-Road Challenge, Puyo Puyo Sun 64, Rat Attack, Superman, Super Mario 64: Rumble Pak Edition, Super Robot Taisen 64, Super Robot Spirits , Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama , Uchhannanchan no Honoo no Challenger: Denryuu IraIra Bou, World Driver Championship, Wave Race 64: Rumble Pack Edition, WinBack: Covert Operations.
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But anyway, I should discuss what I can about WDC. This game has only a few modes. There is single race, championship, a training mode where you just run around one track with no other options, the options menu, and that's it. Some more modes would have been nice, though the championship mode will take some time to beat for sure, and there are multiple tiers of cars to get. The car library of only maybe a few dozen vehicles is also small compared to a Gran Turismo game, and the cars aren't real licensed vehicles, but made-up ones that look similar to real cars. You can change some settings in the menu here, but they may not 'stick' once you get into a race, sometimes I had to change them again there. Once changed in-race (or in the championship menu) it does remember them, though. You can play either fullscreen (4:3) or a very, VERY letterboxed widescreen window. It's really too bad that Boss didn't support the Expansion Pak for a larger window in high-res mode, they really should have. This game released in '99, well after the Expansion Pak was first made available. Top Gear Overdrive is a good example which shows how with the expansion pak you can increase the size of the high-res window in a racing game while not impacting performance much at all. Of course, Excitebike 64 is a counter-example, with a letterboxed high-res mode that has a lower resolution than low-res. The super-letterboxed high-res mode here runs fast though, so I'm sure Boss could have done a bigger window with the added RAM. Anyway, the graphics. They are indeed great, technically. Boss Games convinced Nintnedo to let them use custom microcode for this game, which means that it doesn't have the same look as most N64 games do, it looks different. The polygon count is noticeably higher, but some other effects are off so the game has a bit more shimmering and such than most N64 games, I think. Also, while environments have good detail and great textures, the actual artistic design of the tracks is bland. The goal was clearly to be realistic, but realism to this degree just isn't as interesting looking as something more fantastic, I think. The cars probably look better than the environments, though it all looks good. But with slippery controls that lead to frequent spinouts, a championship system which punishes you a lot for one mistake, and a semi-realistic design, overall I don't like this game much more than I expected to. It is playable, and I can do okay at it with practice, but I just don't find this kind of game interesting enough to keep playing. Just like real life driving, this kind of halfway-simmish driving game is not fun.
Wave Race 64: Rumble Pack Edition (J) - 2 player simultaneous, saves to cartridge, saves to controller pak (lots of pages, for save backup). Wave Race 64 is one of the N64's first titles from 1996. This is a re-release of the game with rumble pak support added. Otherwise, it's identical to the original Japanese version of the game... but it's awesome anyway, and is the best version of this great classic for sure! Wave Race 64 + Rumble is a great combination. This version of Wave Race 64 released later on, probably only in Japan, and I don't know why Nintendo didn't push this in the US. It may just be a re-release, but the addition of rumble support really does improve the game! Wave Race 64 without rumble is an all-time classic, one of the many exceptional racing games on the N64 and probably the best water racing game ever made. The one flaw of Wave Race 64 is that it's a short game with only seven tracks, you'll beat it in a few hours. That's really the one thing holding this game back. This version of the game doesn't fix that problem, but the addition of rumble does add to the experience of of bouncing on the waves. There probably is no better choice of a pre-rumble N64 game Nintendo could have added rumble to than Wave Race 64, the rumble as you bounce on the waves feels great. Do know that this is the Japanese version though, so the menus are all in Japanese. I found it helpful to play my US copy of the regular game beforehand, to remember what is what in the menus. Otherwise though, this is a great, great game. Wave Race 64 has some of the best wave physics ever, incredibly great track designs, good graphics particularly for the water (parts above-water have aged, admittedly), great controls, and more. Apart from the limited amount of content, there's nothing much else negative to say about this awesome classic. If you get one of the two rumble-added re-releases, make it this one. The original non-rumble version is also available on Wii Virtual Console, but I don't know if this one is, perhaps not.
WinBack: Covert Operations - 4 player simultaneous, saves to controller pak (9 pages). Made by Koei's Omega Force team now mostly known for Dynasty Warriors games and such, WinBack: Covert Operations is a third-person cover-based shooter. The game was somewhat popular, and for the time was a pretty original concept. In 1999, a cover-based third-person-shooter on consoles was a new-ish idea! Now, of course, the concept is ANYTHING but new, and I'm sure modern shooter fans will take issue with the controls here. Even so, this is a decent to good game. I don't like third-person-shooters that much, and had never played this game before last year, but when I finally did play it, though I didn't expect to, I liked it. For modes, there is training, story, and versus. I haven't played the multiplayer, but it's probably okay but not as fun as something like Perfect Dark. The game has a fairly stereotypical spy-action-movie story, decent graphics, okay controls, some variety, and plenty of challenge. You play as Jean-Luc, a special agent out to save the world from an evil organization trying to take over the world with a hijacked space weapons satellite. Hmm, never heard that plot before.
There are plenty of cutscenes along the way that tell the story. The gameplay is more original for the time than the story, though. In each level you explore the stage, kill the enemies, and solve some basic puzzles that generally involve shooting things or hitting switches to make things happen -- to destroy security lasers, start moving platforms, and so on. The level designs are good, and I like that the game does require some thought and isn't just a brainless shooter. You will have to look around for items and things to interact with.The controls definitely take some getting used to. A attaches to cover when you are not in cover; Z ducks; C-left and C-right move the camera left and right; the analog stick moves Jean-Luc; B reloads; and holding R pops out of cover, brings up your gun, and aims at the enemy in the middle of the screen. While holding down R, pressing A will now fire your current weapon. C-up switches weapons, and C-down shows who you are currently targeting. When near an item or door a green box appears around it, and A will interact with it. You can change some of the control settings, but those are the defaults and they work, with practice. If you hold down R while not in cover, you will bring up your gun, so that you can shoot at things such as those laser-trap switches. Fortunately the main pistol has a laser sight and infinite ammo, making aiming easy. Alternate weapons such as the shotgun or machine gun do have limited ammo, and you can only hold a couple of clips at a time so you have to use them judiciously. You also have some special weapons such as dynamite, which you oftne have to use in specific places for missions. Of course, since this is a cover-based game, large blocks such as cargo boxes and waist-high walls abound, providing you with plenty of places to hide behind while you reload or choose which enemy to shoot at (by moving the camera, generally). The game has auto-targeting for your current target, so hitting them is easy. This game isn't easy, though! I, at least, find it pretty hard; the enemies do a good amount of damage, and you can only save at the end of each of the somewhat long levels, there are no checkpoints during them. Still, it's fun enough to keep me coming back and trying again. Everything in each level happens the same way each time, so memorization is key; you won't get through levels on the first try, you need to learn the stages. Visually, the game looks okay, but isn't one of the better-looking N64 games -- areas are very boxy and closed-in, and there is fog in places in larger areas. Environment detail is also only decent, not great, and textures are similar. Still, the game looks okay. Overall Winback has definitely aged, but it's probably worth a look. The game is fun, and it's interesting to see a time not long ago when the now super-cliche cover-based third-person-shooter was a new idea. Also available on PS2 (the game was ported to PS2 some time after its original N64 release). I only have the original N64 version. There is also a sequel for PS2 and Xbox; I haven't played it.
And that's all for now.
New game opinion summaries, August 2015: 64 Trump Collection: Alice to Waku Waku Trump World, Baku Bomberman 2, Bomberman 64, Custom Robo V2, Doraemon 2: Nobita to Hikari no Shinden, F1 Pole Position 64, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku, Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball 5, Jinsei Game 64, Let's Smash, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2, Nuclear Strike 64, Off-Road Challenge, Puyo Puyo Sun 64, Rat Attack, Superman, Super Mario 64: Rumble Pak Edition, Super Robot Taisen 64, Super Robot Spirits , Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama , Uchhannanchan no Honoo no Challenger: Denryuu IraIra Bou, World Driver Championship, Wave Race 64: Rumble Pack Edition, WinBack: Covert Operations.
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