Top 50 and Bottom 25 Nintendo 64 games list

[Ed Oscuro]

Agreed, Star Fox 64 is one of the iconic games of our time. Sure it's "just" an upgraded SNES game, but oh man...plus the audios are classic. DO A ... you know the rest.

Interesting that we don't get into the 8.X scores until 23rd place. That's pretty darn decent - you can have a good sized N64 collection with nothing but 9.X scoring games.

I'm a bit disappointed that Extreme G 2 didn't get onto the list; although I got over my initial (mostly irrational) disappointment with the original going to it after XG2 (years and years after its release), I still think the sequel is better: Better feeling of speed, much better visuals, better bonus modes, and the weapons still aren't bad.

[Rob2600]

I just added the list of 25 worst Nintendo 64 games.

Can only guess what #1 is, right? I know most will say Daikatana, but I own and have played it. Although it sucks, it don't quite feel as though it's the worst for some reason.

Actually, there are 11 Nintendo 64 games that are worse than Daikatana.

I'm surprised that Starfox 64 isn't higher up in the list. The game was my favorite for the system, great shooter, well designed, and the replay value if you go after high scores is fantastic.

I completely agree. Star Fox 64 is one of my favorite video games ever. At one point, I had the enemy patterns memorized and could get medals on every stage in one try.

I'm a bit disappointed that Extreme G 2 didn't get onto the list

Actually, I'm surprised Extreme-G is as high as it is. I remember both versions being decent, but not superb. I'm also surprised Donkey Kong 64 is so high on the list. It was a great looking, well-produced game, but I don't think it deserved a 9.1.

Believe it or not, Super Smash Bros. scored a 7.9 overall...not quite high enough to make it onto the list. In fact, there are a lot of great games that didn't make the cut - 007: The World Is Not Enough, BattleTanx: Global Assault, Harvest Moon 64, Mario Party, Mortal Kombat 4, Pokemon Snap, Quake II, StarCraft 64, Top Gear Rally, etc.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Tetrisphere being rated above The New Tetris makes me sad.

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

[Tony Lama]

Tetrisphere being rated above The New Tetris makes me sad.

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

I love puzzle games and TETRISPHERE was okay. Never played THE NEW TETRIS. But I feel the REAL tragedy is that POKEMON PUZZLE LEAGUE ranked 30th! I know it's really TETRIS ATTACK, but the fundamentals are still the same. PPL deserves to rank much higher.

Also, DR. MARIO 64 didn't make the list?! One of my favorites on the N64!

And I know I will lose credibility for saying this but I loved WAR GODS (ranked 25th on worst list). That game cracks me up!

[kainemaxwell]

Wow, there's a game worse then Superman 64?! I didn't think it was possible.

[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.

[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.