Top 50 and Bottom 25 Nintendo 64 games list

[Rob2600]

I have played and enjoyed the majority here but would certainly rank games such as Mario Party, Harvest Moon, Star Wars: Episode I Racer & Top Gear Overdrive among them.

Yes, I agree. As I wrote in my previous post, a bunch of great games received high scores, but not quite high enough to crack the top 50. Some of them were my favorites, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I could've made the list longer, but I think 50 is plenty.

Tetrisphere being rated above The New Tetris makes me sad.

4-player T.N.Tetris on N64 was great.

I know what you mean, but there's really only a 0.2 difference between both games (8.5 vs. 8.7).

I used to play Tetrisphere a lot. It's fun, but my favorite part about it was the music. It sounded really, really good.

[CelticJobber]

I think Banjo Kazooie is ranked a little too high, and Zelda: Majora's Mask is a little too low. IMHO, the original San Francisco Rush which isn't in the top 50 was better/more memorable than Beetle Adventure Racing. And I'm shocked that more of the AKI-developed THQ wrestling games didn't make the cut, as they were a major selling point for the N64 to a lot of people.

[Rob2600]

I'm shocked that more of the AKI-developed THQ wrestling games didn't make the cut, as they were a major selling point for the N64 to a lot of people.

I know, but as I wrote in the original post, I only included the highest rated version of each sports series...otherwise, there would've been three versions of Madden NFL on the list, three versions of Askmik's wrestling games on the list, three All-Star Baseball games on the list, three Tony Hawk Pro Skater games on the list, etc.

I thought it was more fair this way. Yes? No?

[roushimsx]

It's a shame Stunt Racer 64 didn't fare better in reviews. It's by far my favorite racing game on the platform

It's also fun to note the extremely high average scores in the top 50. At least reviewers seem to be making more of an effort to shift the averages down and use the full scale now a days than they did back then, because back in the N64/PS1/Saturn/GBC era the whole "8 is awesome, 7 is crap" mentality was going full steam ahead.

[bangtango]

I know, but as I wrote in the original post, I only included the highest rated version of each sports series...otherwise, there would've been three versions of Madden NFL on the list, three versions of Askmik's wrestling games on the list, three All-Star Baseball games on the list, three Tony Hawk Pro Skater games on the list, etc.

I thought it was more fair this way. Yes? No?

I don't mind personally.

Of course that is no more (or less) fair than someone else taking the very same list and removing one Zelda, one Turok and several of the Mario games

In all seriousness, though, you did the right thing by including the "highest" rated Madden, All Star Baseball, etc. Just so we can see what reviewers considered the "best" in each series. So I think you handled it very well actually.

[Rob2600]

IMHO, the original San Francisco Rush which isn't in the top 50 was better/more memorable than Beetle Adventure Racing.

It's a shame Stunt Racer 64 didn't fare better in reviews. It's by far my favorite racing game on the platform

San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing and Stunt Racer 64 received good scores (7.9 and 7.2 respectively), but not quite good enough to make it into the top 50. There were many games I wanted to include in the list (Super Smash Bros., Goemon's Great Adventure, 007: The World Is Not Enough, Bust-a-Move '99, Snowboard Kids, San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing, etc.), but I stopped at 50.

One of these days I'll post a complete list of Nintendo 64 games and their overall ratings.

The only game noticably missing from the top list is Sin and Punishment if you're counting imports.

I was deciding whether or not to include Sin and Punishment, but I decided not to since it was only released in Japan. Maybe I should now that it's available on the Wii Virtual Console.

I don't mind personally.

Of course that is no more (or less) fair than someone else taking the very same list and removing one Zelda, one Turok and several of the Mario games

In all seriousness, though, you did the right thing by including the "highest" rated Madden, All Star Baseball, etc. Just so we can see what reviewers considered the "best" in each series. So I think you handled it very well actually.

Thanks. I think the Mario games, Zelda games, Turok games, etc. are a different situation because each version is a new, different adventure. With All-Star Baseball, Madden NFL, etc., they're basically the same experience every year, but with updated rosters and some minor tweaks. That's my reasoning.

By the way, every time I see your avatar, I think it's Steven Seagal for a second.

[roushimsx]

San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing and Stunt Racer 64 received good scores (7.9 and 7.2 respectively), but not quite good enough to make it into the top 50.

7.9 / 7.2 in N64-era ratings is like a 6.9 / 6.2 in today's ratings.

[Rob2600]

7.9 / 7.2 in N64-era ratings is like a 6.9 / 6.2 in today's ratings.

With PlayStation games, yes, I agree...but with Nintendo 64 games, I don't think so. Reviewers inflated the scores for a lot of PlayStation games, but were usually tougher on N64 games.

For example, the Madden NFL games received higher scores on the PlayStation, even though the N64 versions had much better graphics and much faster loading times. It didn't make sense.

[bangtango]

With All-Star Baseball, Madden NFL, etc., they're basically the same experience every year, but with updated rosters and some minor tweaks. That's my reasoning.

By the way, every time I see your avatar, I think it's Steven Seagal for a second.

There is a fine art to each edition of Madden on N64. See, Emmitt Smith breaks tackles slightly better in some editions of Madden than he does in others. Likewise, his Dallas Cowboy teammates on the O-Line open bigger holes to rush through in earlier editions of the N64 Madden games but they do a better job of protecting the quarterback from the pass rush in later editions. Of course I am not being serious about any of this!

My avatar is Beau Starr, who played the sheriff in the horror sequel Halloween 4 (a favorite of mine).

[jjgames]

The top 50 list is good. No big surprises there. I was surprised that Superman 64 was not the lowest rated game though. I thought it was panned by most critics as one of the worst games of all time.

[Night Driver]

I was deciding whether or not to include Sin and Punishment, but I decided not to since it was only released in Japan. Maybe I should now that it's available on the Wii Virtual Console.

41. F-1 World Grand Prix II - 8.5

This one was a Europe-only release (AFAIK), so if you're not counting imports like Sin and Punishment, then you might want to remove it from your list.

Perhaps you could substitute the original F-1 World Grand Prix (I), which was released in the USA. It's good enough to be on a top-50 N64 games list. Actually, it's my favorite N64 game.

[NE146]

I think Banjo Kazooie is ranked a little too high,

No way man.. Banjo Kazooie is definitely one of the all time best N64 games. Probably even the top 5.

Now that being said, Banjo Tooie is ranked too high. And DK 64 is DEFINITELY too high. That turd needs to drop

[j_factor]

It's weird to go back and see what was highly rated back in the day, compared to current opinion. Donkey Kong 64? Yuck. Reminds me of games like Battle Arena Toshinden getting positive reviews. Or Sega GT.

[mailman187666]

I never played carmageddon 64, I only played it for the PC back then. What was wrong with the 64 version?

[Neb6]

I used to play Tetrisphere a lot. It's fun, but my favorite part about it was the music. It sounded really, really good.

You should have heard the soundtrack that he WANTED to put on there. It was awesome. Unfortunately, the management wouldn't let him use that set of tracks, so he wrote the ones you hear in the game. Now if that had been a disc-based system, both sets of music would have been included.