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[RetroGamingUK]

So following my missus having a clear out at her deceased parent's house I've come into the possession of her childhood Nintendo 64.

I never owned one having owned a Saturn followed by a PlayStation during that generation, but I have vague memories of playing them at friends houses and was always a little envious at the time.

Anyway, I know all about Mario 64, Ocarina, GoldenEye and Banjo but, to be honest, I have no time for them. I'm more interested in the arcadey exclusives.

So far I've got my eye on…

- StarFox 64 (Lylat Wars here)
- 1080 Snowboarding
- F-Zero X
- Wave Race
- Diddy Kong Racing

My question is, have these aged well in terms of playability?

Also, are there any other games that have aged well that you guys would tecommend?

 

[diffusionx]

SF Rush

 

[John Bilbo]

Sin and Punishment

 

[Sethbacca]

Killer Instinct is always a good time
Cruisin USA/World might be fun as a time capsule of the era.
Blast Corps
Pilotwings 64

 

[amigastar]

I never played F-Zero X.
Is it as good as F-Zero GX?

 

[linko9]

Sin and Punishment

YES.

Maybe the best rail shooter ever, unless that's S&P2. SF64 is in third place, still great.

Bangai-O is good.

 

[TintoConCasera]

+1 to S&P and Bangai-O.

Don't know if it counts as arcade but Star Wars Ep 1 Racer is a great game for sure.

About F-Zero X, if possible, play the 64DD version. It's playable on original hardware (vanilla n64) via everdrive.

Also, you mention not having time for games like Banjo but thing is, most Rare games are kinda short as long as you aren't going for a 100%.

 

[March Climber]

One of these:

Beetle Adventure Racing is secretly a top 50 all-time racing game. Maybe top 20.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

One of these:

Beetle Adventure Racing is secretly a top 50 all-time racing game. Maybe top 20.

N64 is the only time I've ever envied USA box arts.

We had this thick black border shit…

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Blast Corps.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Vigilante 8

SO many hours on that gem

It has a sequel too!

 

[spookyfish]

SF Rush

E3 was in Atlanta for two years, and I got to play Starfox64, this, the FIRST Conker version, and some other games. I loved Rush. So well done on that little cartridge machine.

 

[deriks]

I never played F-Zero X.
Is it as good as F-Zero GX?

No, but I think it's unfair since GX is peak futuristic racing. X is very much great

 

[Rran]

StarFox 64 is one of the best arcade-style games Nintendo has ever made. It's great fun to go for the medals in the stages. Sin & Punishment is another good one, although I do think the Wii sequel (Star Successor) tops it in pretty much every regard. Pokemon Puzzle League is a great arcade-style puzzler. Diddy Kong Racing is strong too although it's more of a racer with a bunch of extra challenges and light exploration. F-Zero X is more arcadey and pretty spectacular, only problem is that FZGX kind of does it better (again). WaveRace is good punchy fun that doesn't overstay its welcome, and its arguably the best in its series.

 

[Emedan]

Lylat Wars totally holds up and is a great game. A bit short, make sure to take all routes.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Wave Race and Star Fox 64 are all timers for me. Absolutely timeless games that I still go back to. You should play both.

 

[6502]

Those are all great. The aki wrestling games are great multiplayer.

Ridge racer 64 is solid. Fighters destiny was good at the time once you got into it.

 

[Queso de Grande]

Pokémon puzzle league. It is such a great puzzle game.

 

[P.Jack]

Last year I grabbed a RGB modded N64 and a Everdrive 64 (both things highly recommended).

Standouts to me while exploring the N64 library;

Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth, a solid shmup by Hudson. I'm a fan of the PCEngine star soldier games, but didn't know about this one, or the fact that there is one solid shmup on the N64.

Wipeout 64, only wipeout I hadn't played before and it's actually good. You better have a decent controller though, it requires precision, just like the great F-Zero X.

N64 also saw a surprisingly large amount of fighting game releases, but most of them are not very good for anything but laughing at how bad they are (entertaining nontheless). Solid ports of MK4 and War Gods, otherwise Killer Instinct.

Another thing I really like is how some of it's library is a time capsule of late 90s PC Gaming. Many of the games I played on PC back then have decent to good N64 ports, like StarCraft, C&C, Worms Armageddon, Hexen, Quake II (which has modern FPS controlscheme by default. Also, Doom 64 is the real Doom 3.

Honestly, N64 has always been one of my least favourite consoles, but having a good video signal and the whole library of games sure makes it shine. With that said, I'd still struggle to make a top100 N64 games list, unlike contemporary consoles like PSX and Saturn, where bangers would be left out of such a short list. Still, very solid top 25.

 

[Dacvak]

SF Rush

Fuck yeah. My brother and I just sank a few hours into Rush 2 a couple weekends ago. It holds up tremendously well, especially stunt mode.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Battle tanks and sarges heroes plays well, Turok 3 if you care about a shooter, even if it's not arcade Majora's mask. Pickup a Mario party.

 

[Durin]

I think Extreme-G and Extreme-G XG2 have aged pretty well, even if the 3rd on Gamecube is the best one.

Snowboard Kids 1-2 I also think still play alright enough to goof around in.

Mario Tennis is still good too.

 

[Cattlyst]

Hydro Thunder received a decent N64 port. Worth a look if you can find it for a reasonable price

 

[CamHostage]

There's a pretty fun Robotron revival on N64 (a fixed-up version of the PS1 game Robotron X) which is cool for the double-stick play if you have that kind of jonzing.

 

[drganon]

Cruisn world

 

[Drell]

Well "arcade" in my head automatically means locked 60 fps, and the only one I can think is F-Zero X.

 

[BlackTron]

I forgot F-Zero existed at all on 64 maybe I should try it some day.

 

[Rran]

The N64 has a small library, but you can round up 50 very solid games out of it, no problem. A few genres it did particularly well, such as racers, FPSes, 3D adventures/platformers and multiplayer games in general.

Mario Tennis is still good too.

Whoa, how'd I forget about this one? Maybe still the best arcadey tennis game.

Super Smash Bros qualifies as a great fighter too, although that one obviously has gotten much bigger since.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Wave Race is still as good today thanks to great water / wave physics with the jet ski. Still the best feeling out there.

 

[Kacho]

- StarFox 64 (Lylat Wars here) great pick up and play action. fun secrets if you invest some time to get good.
- 1080 Snowboarding this game has probably aged horribly. It was kinda mid back in 1998.
- F-Zero X yes
- Wave Race yes
- Diddy Kong Racing very difficult but yes. Tiptup 4 life.

Other suggestions for pick up and play action