N64 - arcade style games that have aged well?

RetroGamingUK

RetroGamingUK

Member
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?
 
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+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%.
 
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One of these:

what-are-your-thoughts-on-star-wars-episode-1-racer-v0-n5ofewa6jv0d1.jpeg

1pMrhwlcQ4NhD2fyt93JuNfqY0ep7DTB2tvHTWH3I7w.jpg

msaqoxe5yakb1.jpg


Beetle Adventure Racing is secretly a top 50 all-time racing game. Maybe top 20.
 
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.
 
Those are all great. The aki wrestling games are great multiplayer. No Mercy has a career save deleting bug if it is the first run (version with blood). I would suggest wcw revenge or wrestlemania 2000.

Ridge racer 64 is solid. Fighters destiny was good at the time once you got into it.
 
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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.
 
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diffusionx said:
SF Rush
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
Durin said:
Mario Tennis is still good too.
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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.
 
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- 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

images


Mario_Golf_box.jpg


n64_san_francisco_rush_extreme_racing_p_junpj0.jpg



star_wars_rogue__36809.1713200927.jpg


250px-Wayne_Gretzky%27s_3D_Hockey_for_N64%2C_Front_Cover.jpg


fightersdest-1649832352823.jpg


BAR_gamebox.PNG


250px-Pilotwings_64_box.jpg


s-l1600.webp
 
RetroGamingUK said:
Ah yes, I remember me and a couple of friends spending hours playing WCW World Tour in HMV back in the day and enjoying it.

Everyone speaks highly of WWF No Mercy too.
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You really can't go wrong with any of them.

World Tour is the most basic. It's very similar to AKI's PlayStation game "vs the World".

No Mercy has the most robust career mode. The others have very basic championship modes.
 
Kacho said:
You really can't go wrong with any of them.

World Tour is the most basic. It's very similar to AKI's PlayStation game "vs the World".

No Mercy has the most robust career mode. The others have very basic championship modes.
Click to expand...

It was one of the first N64 games I ever played and I just remember marvelling at the texture filtering 😆
 
RetroGamingUK said:
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?
Click to expand...
All the games on that list aged like fine wine. For arcadey games, you can't go wrong with Midway's contributions on the N64.
NFL Blitz (If you don't mind American Football)
Gauntlet Legends
Mortal Kombat 4
the Cruis'n series
Rampage: World Tour
Doom 64
Top Gear Rally
The Rush games
Ready 2 Rumble boxing
I say you can't go wrong but they did release several of bad games on the N64 as well
 
diffusionx said:
That's not an arcade style game, it's an exercise in medieval torture.
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Disagree, you grab a vehicle and cause total destruction within a time limited arena. I love it and just played through it again a couple months ago. It's really not that hard and very satisfying.
 
Only the arcade driving games have aged well, if at all. Most other games are limited by the single analogue stick controller.
 
Hollowpoint5557 said:
Disagree, you grab a vehicle and cause total destruction within a time limited arena. I love it and just played through it again a couple months ago. It's really not that hard and very satisfying.
Click to expand...

Fun game, but that's not really "arcade" if it's just fuck-around gameplay and there's no point or challenge to it... That's more like those warehouses people rent to host plate-breaking parties.

90
 
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Buy my old Switch and I'll put you on NSO for free for at least a year. lol.

I would disagree that Mario 64 is not pretty arcady and time friendly. Mario64 stars are basically little arcade games for the most part. But ...ok but maybe I'm also influenced by the ability to save state on NSO.
 
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Kacho said:
- 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

images


Mario_Golf_box.jpg


n64_san_francisco_rush_extreme_racing_p_junpj0.jpg



star_wars_rogue__36809.1713200927.jpg


250px-Wayne_Gretzky%27s_3D_Hockey_for_N64%2C_Front_Cover.jpg


fightersdest-1649832352823.jpg


BAR_gamebox.PNG


250px-Pilotwings_64_box.jpg


s-l1600.webp
Click to expand...
Wow a wave of Nostalgia hit me. Especially after seeing that Fighters Destiny.
 
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