As I’ve mentioned, my wife @mckliz and I have been doing a podcast where we go through the North American N64 library in chronological order. I thought it would be fun to create a thread that archives the journey through each game. Feel free to share your thoughts on the games as we go!
We are already a few years into the project but I’ll update this gradually as to not spam the forum. So let’s get started with the launch titles: Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. (September 29, 1996)
We did one episode covering both of these games. I think it’s a nice complimentary set of games, although the months to come releases were not as steady as you would hope. What more can be said about Mario 64? Absolute classic that redefined gaming. Pilotwings is a nice little collection of mini-games with good vibes that acts as almost a tech demo for the console.
What do you think about these games? Listen to our podcast here or YouTube.
I think Pilotwings 64 is an underrated gem nowadays. It’s a weird game, and there’s a camera mission early on that is very confusing and can make the game just feel impossible. I played through it properly for the first time on NSO (with plenty of save state help).
I think it’s about the perfect size for what it’s trying to be. In hindsight, I think it’s fair to call it “the Wii Sports of the N64” - and by that I mean it’s mostly a tech demo showcasing how things work on the hardware. It’s easy to forget that 3D games were a new idea in 1996, and most players did not have any understanding of how to navigate that space. Practicing in Pilotwings 64 could give you a stronger foundation for understanding all the other games that came later.
Super Mario 64 is, of course, amazing. I am terrible at it now. I’ve played it several times before. But when I bought the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, I found that I was worse at it now than ever before. I don’t think I even saw the first Bowser fight before giving up.
Wave Race hits for me with the impressive wave physics and awesome vibe. Mortal Kombat, while traditionally not my thing, is a decent port of the game. Some serious MK heads may disagree?
I don’t have any experience with this particular Mortal Kombat game. I mostly played the Super NES games, but I did play the Sub-Zero game released on the N64 later.
I have very little experience with Wave Race 64. I ought to sit down and play through it sometime.
So it turns out I like hockey games. I found Wayne Gretzky to be an extremely fun arcade style sports game. As for Killer Instinct, this is one of my favorite fighting games on the console so far. Its obviously not as cool as the arcade game it was ported from, but I think it maintains a lot of the vibe and fun factor!
If you like games like Blitz or NBA jam it may be up your alley! As for Killer Instinct I just sorta button mash and do shapes with my directions to try and do combos. Lol there’s enough fun in that for me!
I wasn’t really interested in sports games as a kid, but my brother loved them and asked me to play sometimes.
I don’t think we had NBA Jam, but my brother quit playing NBA Courtside with me because I always won. NFL Blitz was also a lot of fun.
Not N64 related, but I have NES World Cup Soccer game (a Kunio-kun game). It’s hilarious because you can just kick all the opposing players to knock them unconscious and remove them from the match.
I’m forever harping on that the better versions of Super Mario 64* and Wave Race 64 (provided you can cope with some Japanese) are the Japanese Switch Classics versions because they have the rumble built in.
I’ve been playing Wave Race 64 recently and hit a wall on the hard difficulty tracks because the game demands players probably learn the courses inside out, customise your vehicle’s stats and really use the controller stick to make those hairpin turns.
The pod just posted a 1080 Snowboarding episode, however I’ve never played it… I grew up with Snowboard Kids guy. Really look forward to giving it a spin!
*Granted you can’t get your hands on Super Mario 3D All Stars
Shadows is an epic multimedia tie in to the Star Wars universe that does a great job bringing some element of the films alive. Not a perfect game by any means but still a fun variety of settings and set pieces.
Cruis’n is a decent port of the arcade game. There’s some things that had to be scaled back obviously and it’s not without performance issues. Still there is some fun to be had. We loved racing across the country, even if half the levels are actually in California.
Hangtime is a really fun follow up to NBA Jam. We had a hard time trying to beat the AI but its quite a fun multiplayer experience. As for Mario Kart 64, what can you say that hasn’t been said about that one? I’m curious if anyone has some personal memories of it they would want to share?
Mario Kart 64 was my first time playing the N64 outside of an in store demo unit. We had rich second cousins who got an N64 but didn’t know how to hook it up, so me and my brother were sent in to help them.
Unrelated, does anyone else have nightmares where you you’re stuck on top of a bright green castle while everyone you know is trying to pop your favorite balloon?
I don’t think I even saw the first Bowser fight before giving up.
