What are the best N64 games?

[Gunstar Hero]

I feel like I'm not using the full potential of this system... I only own about 6 games for it! Please help me out... Post any games that are fun, or a list of your top ten, etc.

[Polygon]

Here are my suggestions.

Here's what I have:

Blast Corps
Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition
Cruis'n World
Donkey Kong 64
Forsaken 64
F-Zero X
GodenEye 007
Mario Kart
Mario Party 2
Multi-Racing Championship
Perfect Dark
San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing
San Francisco Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire
Super Mario 64
Top Gear Rally
Wave Race 64
Wipeout 64

Here's my wanted list:

Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
California Speed
Castlevania
Cruis'n U.S.A.
Cruis'n Exotica
Dark Rift
Doom 64
Dr. Mario 64
Extreme-G
Extreme-G 2
Hexen
Killer Instinct Gold
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mario Golf
Mario Party
Mario Party 3
Mario Tennis
Paper Mario
Quake
San Francisco Rush 2049
StarCraft 64
StarFox 64
Super Smash Bros.
Top Gear Rally 2
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
World Driver Championship
Worms: Armageddon

[BlastProcessing402]

Castlevania is terrible.

If you like wrestling the WCW vs nWo, WCW/nWo Revenge, Wrestlemania 2000, No Mercy series is must have.

[Polygon]

The first one wasn't that bad.

[Doonzmore]

Any of the NFL Blitz games
NBA Hangtime
NBA Showtime
Winback: Covert Operations
Tarzan
Goemon's Great Adventure
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Stunt Racer 64
Sin and Punishment

[Gunstar Hero]

Does anyone know any good shmups, RPGs, or Co-op games for the N64?

[Doonzmore]

The only real schmup on the system in the US is Star Soldier 64 which is okay. The power ups are kind of boring but I really liked the soundtrack. Anything beyond that you'll have to look abroad.

@Betawolf47 - Starfox is more of a rail shooter.

[kedawa]

All I can think of for shooters are Star Soldier and Bangaioh.

Rat Attack! and Robotron 64 are pretty cool.

[NayusDante]

The N64 is surprisingly lacking in RPGs and shmups. I remember holding out the entire life of the console for Mother 3, and the only real RPG I ever played on 64 was Quest 64 (meh). The shmup scene in that era seemed strongest on Japanese Saturn.

I think Nintendo burned a lot of bridges with their controller design. Can you imagine playing a lot of RPGs or shmups with that thing? The console hardware would have lent itself to some great games in those genres, but Sony was the only player in the market that had a sensible controller shape.

To my knowledge, it's also rather lacking in platformers. Mischief Makers is very good, but there's not a whole lot more. If you're looking for something kind of different from a lot of the stuff on the platform, that's probably where you should look.

[Gameguy]

I feel like I'm not using the full potential of this system... I only own about 6 games for it!
With 6 games I think you went well beyond it's full potential, unless you're into imports.

[Leo_A]

The N64 recieved some nice classic shooters. Namco Museum with the usual Galaga and Galaxian and Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 with Defender and Sinistar. Paper Mario was a great RPG, you should've picked that one up. The N64 also got another RPG late in life that seemed far better recieved than Quest 64 (I forget the name, JRPG's aren't really my thing although I enjoy Nintendo's take on them).

I don't see why the controller would've held back RPG's (Although like I already admitted, I'm far from a JRPG fan so maybe there's something I'm not seeing). But the N64 controller has one of the best d-pads I ever used (Although sadly there's little software that takes advantage of it) and seems perfectly suited for shooters. And if analog stick is necessary for a shooter, I don't see any reason why the 64's analog stick would've been at a disadvantage to the Dual Shock's.

The N64 has far more than 6 great games and there are dozens of good games for the system that are worth experiencing outside of the AAA games. I'd make a list, but there's no shortage of topics like this one that already have been done here over the years. Go use the search function if you want some list of favorite N64 games.

[FoxNtd]

Can you imagine playing a lot of RPGs or shmups with that thing? [...] Sony was the only player in the market that had a sensible controller shape.

I'd like to know how this isn't sensible:

http://www.famicom.biz/all/catalogue/6800000102070.jpg

I'd even pick that as best 2D gaming controller from all consoles. I'm more mystified about the comment because, just before it, you mentioned JP Saturn being the prominent player in shooters of the era. :|

On topic: No mention of Pilotwings 64?

[VertigoProcess]

I'd like to know how this isn't sensible:

http://www.famicom.biz/all/catalogue/6800000102070.jpg

I'd even pick that as best 2D gaming controller from all consoles. I'm more mystified about the comment because, just before it, you mentioned JP Saturn being the prominent player in shooters of the era. :|

On topic: No mention of Pilotwings 64?

Bleck... model one...

[old man]

The Castlevania games aren't bad. They're better than any 3D Castlevania made since. Also, Body Harvest, it's kind of simplistic, but a lot of fun. Other games I like:

Starfox 64
Conker's BFD
Doom 64
Beetle Adventure Racing
New Tetris
Shadow Gate 64
Robotron 64
Mario and the Zeldas
Rocket robot on wheels


Don't underestimate the fun you can have with a ninturdy 64. There are a lot of WTF awesome stuff about it, like a TV channel that mostly plays grainy B-Movies.

[kedawa]

The library does have some glaring genre gaps, that's for sure.
It's pretty sad that Smash Bros. And Mortal Kombat Trilogy are the best fighting games on the system.
I would have loved to have had a cartridge version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 or 3rd Strike.

[leatherrebel5150]

The battletanx games were fun. Stunt racer was freaking awesome. Hot wheels turbo racing is pretty cool. But that is just a few besides the 1st party ones. A good platformer was Goemons great adventure. The pokemon stadium games are fun for multiplayer.

[VertigoProcess]

The battletanx games were fun. Stunt racer was freaking awesome. Hot wheels turbo racing is pretty cool. But that is just a few besides the 1st party ones. A good platformer was Goemons great adventure. The pokemon stadium games are fun for multiplayer.

Oh man battletanx, that takes me back... the co op in that game was awesome, my friend and I use to play through the campaign together over and over and over again together (the first and the second one). those were good times...

[gameofyou]

All I can think of for shooters are Star Soldier and Bangaioh.

Rat Attack! and Robotron 64 are pretty cool.

Bangaioh is awesome! One of only two imports that I have for N64 (the other being Sin and Punishment).

It might be a stretch, but Asteroids 64 is a really solid game. And also Space Invaders 64 is fun.

[Aussie2B]

The only real schmup on the system in the US is Star Soldier 64 which is okay. The power ups are kind of boring but I really liked the soundtrack. Anything beyond that you'll have to look abroad.

That's basically it. There isn't much of anything to import in terms of shmups. I wouldn't call Bangai-oh a shmup, per se, and beyond there's just Dezaemon 3D, the shmup creator. You can make your own little shmup with it, but if you want to play a pre-made shmup, all it has are a couple small demo games.

If you're specifically seeking shmups, RPGs, 2D fighters (or good fighters in general), then the N64 isn't for you. But I wouldn't fault the N64 too much because its competition is weak in their own areas too. I can't really think of any system that's strong in EVERY genre (no, not even PS1 or PS2). But for its strong points, N64 is great for a fan of 3D platformers, adventure games, racers, first-person shooters, sports games, and for anybody that's open to dabbling in a lot of different genres to find the gems.

[Polygon]

If you're specifically seeking shmups, RPGs, 2D fighters (or good fighters in general), then the N64 isn't for you. But I wouldn't fault the N64 too much because its competition is weak in their own areas too. I can't really think of any system that's strong in EVERY genre (no, not even PS1 or PS2). But for its strong points, N64 is great for a fan of 3D platformers, adventure games, racers, first-person shooters, sports games, and for anybody that's open to dabbling in a lot of different genres to find the gems.

I agree.

I don't think the N64 deserves all of the negativity in this thread. It wasn't a bad system. I thought it had a lot of good games. It was no NES or SNES, but I enjoyed it and I still do.

[wingzrow]

Harvest moon 64 is the best game in the series. Some may say the gameboy advance game or the PS1 game are the best, but I dumped something like 300 hours into it when I was a kid.

I hope I can learn enough japanese one day to play the japanese version eventually. Apparently they cut some content when they translated.

That said, it's STILL the best game in the series.

The days are just the right short length, there's tons of content, holidays, characters are fun.

God I love that game.

[Doonzmore]

The N64 actually had around 20 fighting games which isn't terrible considering it had less than 300 games total. There's just a real wide range in quality...

GOOD:
Super Smash Bros - The one everyone knows about
Mortal Kombat 4 - Plays very well and a great looking 1998 release. Scaled down roster which means less pallet swapped characters and the end cutscenes for each character are highly rewarding. Fills of the void of mature rated games and fighting games on the system quite nicely.
Mace the Dark Age: Gorgeous looking fighter made in 1997 that has an interesting story and character bios.
Fighters Destiny 1/2 - Played these both a lot when I rekindled my love for the N64 many years ago. Pretty deep fighting games. The 2nd one feels more like an expansion of gameplay concepts (like the game board) because its graphics were outdated right out of the gate.

OKAY:
Tom and Jerry: Fists of Furry - Fun concept that's reminiscent of the Power Stone games in that you can throw objects at your enemies. Good character designs but very shallow gameplay. After you unlock the hidden characters (there's only 7 total, ho-ho) then it wears out its welcome fast.
Xena - A nice looking game from Titus which is worthy of mentioning because it arrived just months after Superman 64. Only one of two fighting game on the platform that allows up to 4 players and you can interact with your environment (jump off walls and such).
Rakuga Kids - The Art direction is intriguing but it struck me as mostly a button masher.

BAD:
Okay, I haven't played these, but the reviews have been pretty unanimous:
Duel Heroes
Deadly Arts

Its been a while but I remember Killer Instinct Gold being alright too. One I've wanted to try is Flying Dragon. Any thoughts on that one?

And heck since I just thought of it I'd highly recommend The World Is Not Enough. It's the only one of 2 FPS's that I've finished. That says enough. Damn, the N64 had some titles in its twilight years that really showed off what It could do:

Spiderman
Zelda: Majora's Mask
Banjo Tooie
The World Is Not Enough
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Sin and Punishment
Stunt Racer 64
Rush 2049
Star Wars: Battle For Naboo
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Ms. Pacman Maze Madness
Tigger's Honey Hunt
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine

Regardless of taste you'd be well off with this list here alone.

[kupomogli]

Unless you already own it on the PSX or PC, my favorite N64 game would be Nightmare Creatures. Nightmare Creatures 2 may have sucked ass and is what killed the series off, but the first one is one of the greatest games of all time and one of my favorite action/adventure games of the 32/64 bit generation. The game is 16 stages of one of the most well developed and beautifully designed 3D worlds paired with a very good combat system and a feature that forces you to keep up the pace and not take too much time progressing through the stage. Both memory cards and passwords are available to save the game.

That being said. I'd also suggest getting Ogre Battle 64, WWF Wrestlemania 2000, WWF No Mercy, Mega Man 64, Forsaken, Resident Evil 2, and Star Wars Shadows of the Empire.

[o.pwuaioc]

I'd also suggest getting Ogre Battle 64

By far the best game on the system, not to mention an RPG that easily holds it own with any of the PS1's RPGs.

[kupomogli]

By far the best game on the system, not to mention an RPG that easily holds it own with any of the PS1's RPGs.

It's a great RPG, but easily holds its own with "any" PSX RPG is a bit of a stretch. Quite a bit if you ask me and I'm a fan of the Ogre Battle Saga.

[Richter Belmount]

fucking Ogre battle 64 buy dat shit

[o.pwuaioc]

It's a great RPG, but easily holds its own with "any" PSX RPG is a bit of a stretch. Quite a bit if you ask me and I'm a fan of the Ogre Battle Saga.

Maybe if you're really in love with PS1 RPGs. I mean, I do have a bunch of my favorites, but I tend to see the obsession with Final Fantasy VII to be a thing of nostalgia, a love that was born from the first time an RPG jumped out in 3D, a story that could only move an underage heart. I had no love for Final Fantasy VII, so I took a more sober and realistic look at the PS1 RPG library. Granted there are several lacunae in my knowledge, and I'm not trying to knock down several solid RPGs (FFIX, the Breath of Fires, Xenogears), but in a top 10 list, I can see Ogre Battle 64 making it, whereas I cannot see, for example, Final Fantasy Tactics doing the same. What did OB64 do wrong?

[kupomogli]

Ogre Battle 64 is the better game of the two, but Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen has better gameplay. One major flaw of Ogre Battle 64 is there are only three spaces, each of the three locations on a row, to place characters rather than five, the three locations and two centered locations.

In Ogre Battle, you can have the front row centered so that they tank all damage that would be going to the back row if there was an open spot. If you have a griffon or something in the back, then there's obviously no reason to need to have the characters defend center as the griffon can take a hit.

In Ogre Battle 64, you have a group you want two front row characters and you want three back row characters. Not going to happen if one of those aren't a high defense, high hp character. Because you'll have one character in the back row not defended. So you'd have to set it up as either three in the front row and two in the back, or two in the front row, one center row(can be behind the front row character even,) and two in the back. In the early battles, a three character back row is fine because they're not going to deal some massive damage, but in the later battles, even with a healer, you might have that unprotected backrow character taken out before the end of the first turn of attacks. Just a flaw I didn't like. It's like a downgrade in the gameplay from the original Ogre Battle.

It's all debatable as it depends on your opinion, but as good of games as the Ogre Battle games are, I still wouldn't rank them above quite a few of the RPGs released that gen. Wild ARMs 1, 2, Arc the Lad 2, Breath of Fire 3, 4, Brigandine, Tactics Ogre, Dragon Warrior 7, Grandia, Star Ocean 2, Suikoden 1, 2, Tales of Destiny, Tales of Eternia, Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy 7, 9, Tactics, Front Mission 3, SaGa Frontier, and Xenogears are all much better in my opinion.

Ogre Battle 64 and Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen are amazing games though. Too many other good games out there with better gameplay to say that they're the best. Music though? It's up there with the best of them.

[old man]

This thread has me wanting to hook my ninty64 up and play it again. :]

[NayusDante]

I'd like to know how this isn't sensible:

http://www.famicom.biz/all/catalogue/6800000102070.jpg

I'd even pick that as best 2D gaming controller from all consoles. I'm more mystified about the comment because, just before it, you mentioned JP Saturn being the prominent player in shooters of the era. :|

The Saturn pad is the quintessential fighting game controller. The issue lies in the face button layout, which I've never found logical for anything but fighters. There's also the issue of the US getting the terrible Model 1 pad at first, which seem to be a lot easier to find.

[Rob2600]

You'll find the first post in this thread very helpful:

Top 50 and Bottom 25 Nintendo 64 Games (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?114086-Top-50-and-Bottom-25-Nintendo-64-games-list)

Some of my all-time favorites are:

1080 Snowboarding
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Goemon's Great Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Golf
Mischief Makers
Perfect Dark
Pokemon Puzzle League
Rayman 2
Star Fox 64
Super Mario 64
Wave Race 64

[old man]

Also get an S-Video cable. It is noticeably much better than composite on the N64.

[retro junkie]

When you speak of best games, you are talking about something that is so relative. It so depends on a person's personal taste.
Arcade Games
Ridge Racer 64 (my favorite)
Criuis'n Exotica (IMO the best of the series on the 64)
Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition (Bust-A-Move 99 is good too)
Hydro Thunder (very good speed boat racer)
Off Road Challenge (fun with trucks)
Excitebike 64
F-Zero X

Shooter
Forsaken 64 (I do not go for FPS, but I have gotten into this one)
Star Fox 64 (the reason I purchased an N64- played regularly and often- the best Star Fox game)
Robotron 64 (good old school gameplay)

Star War Games (good)
Shadows of the Empire
Battle for Naboo
Rogue Squadron
Episode 1 Racer (love this game)

Racers
Wipeout 64 (IMO best of the Wipeout series)
Beetle Adventure Racing (Very good use of VWs)
World Driver Championship (good)
Extreme-G (IMO much better than the second one)
Diddy Kong Racing (like Mario Kart)
Mario Kart 64


RTS
Star Craft 64

Fighting
Killer Instinct Gold
Dark Rift (I really love this game- my favorite fighter on the 64)
Mace The Dark Age ( another great fighter on the 64- weapon based)
Fighters Destiny (love the point system angle)
Fighting Force 64 (got bad rap in reviews-but I liked the Final Fight gameplay on the 64)
WCWnWo Revenge (love wrestling- got to have this game)

Platforming
Rayman 2 (very good game)
Mystical Ninja Goemon (3D)
Goemon's Great Adventure (2D sort-of 3D)
Banjo-Kazooie 1&2
Donkey Kong 64
Kirby 64
Yoshi's Story (it is not as bad as they have said)
Tarzan (yeah I know-simple gameplay- but I like it)
Castlevania (yeah I know that it is not the original- but I like this game- the mood and gameplay)
Mischief Makers (we are talking about a Treasure game here)
Jet Force Gemini (run and gun 3D platformer-adventure-action-a must play)
Space Station Silicon Valley (weird but fun)

Then there is Paper Mario the best RPG on the system. Adventure, you won't get any better than both Zelda games. Also an Honorable mention to 1080 snowboarding. I am not listing all of the games that I have for the system, but the N64 has gotten a bad rap. The system is worth having for the many games that it does offer that are still fun to play, IMO. I find the N64 a must have for its many games that I could not do without. Rage Racer 64 or Star Fox will almost always stay in the system ready for action. If you seek out the gems on the system, I think you will like what you find.

[BetaWolf47]

The only real schmup on the system in the US is Star Soldier 64 which is okay. The power ups are kind of boring but I really liked the soundtrack. Anything beyond that you'll have to look abroad.
Eh? What about Star Fox 64?

Here are some of the best games for the system IMO:

Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Battletanx: Global Assault
Beetle Adventure Racing
Donkey Kong 64
F-Zero X
Goldeneye 007
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party 2
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Perfect Dark
Rush 2049
Star Fox 64
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Super Mario 64
Super Smash Bros.
Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense

[retroman]

007 Goldeneye for sure, and 007 The World Is Not Enough was good also,but not as good as Goldeneye...any Starwars game for the N64 was good if not ok, Perfect Dark great. AllStar Baseball was a good game..This list could go on for a long time..

[Collector_Gaming]

A under rated game imo. Was like 3 dollar game at the end of N64's life at walmart (i remember those days well :P)

Indy Racing 2000
Fairly good graphics for a N64 game.
Really fun racing game imo

[Wraith Storm]

I LOVE arcade racers. Like shooters to the Turbo Duo, when I think N64 I think racing games. It's one of the reasons I eventually got one. There are a lot of crap racers for the system but there are also a lot of classics.

Cruis'n USA
Cruis'n Exotica
Cruis'n World

Top Gear Rally
Top Gear Rally 2
Top Gear Overdrive - An awesome arcade racer. Amazing graphics, great soundtracks and great gameplay.
Top Gear Hyper Bike - A great game. Its underrated only because Excitebike 64 overshadowed it.

San Francisco Rush
San Francisco Rush 2
San Francisco Rush 2049

Beetle Adventure Racing - Awesome, awesome racer. Reminded me a lot of Top Gear Overdrive.
Wipeout 64 - Back in the day this was my favorite Wipeout game as far as the original three are concerned.
Ridge Racer 64 - Best Ridge racer I have ever played. Amazing graphics, techno soundtrack and lots of unlockables!
Excitebike 64
F Zero X
Hydro Thunder
Star Wars Racer Episode 1
Stunt Racer 64
Penny Racers - One of the many installments of the Choro Q series. Fun and quirky racer.
F1 World Grand Prix - Aside from Geoff Crammonds F1 games, this is one of the best F1 games ever made.

[Leo_A]

Grand Prix Legend is the best F1 racer. Codemasters recent efforts rank up there too.

I thought Monaco Grand Prix and F1 Racing Championship were better N64 games than the two World Grand Prix releases. The odd implimentation for steering on those two games really hurt them.

My favorite N64 racer has to be Wave Race. World Driver Championship is excellent too (Ashame that Boss Studios is defunct, Top Gear Rally, World Driver Championship, and Stunt Racer 64 are all great and they had a Xbox racer that was looking good when they closed their doors).

Indy Racing League 2000 had decent graphics and physics, but was ruined by some of the worse AI I've ever seen and should be avoided unless you're content just running solo laps. Top Gear Overdrive's steering was far too loose and ruined what could've been a fun arcade racer. Top Gear Hyperbike was terribly plain, generic and ugly, so it isn't hard to see why that one went ignored.

If you liked the Cruis'n games, California Speed is worth a mention. It's more of the same.

Rush 2049, Hydro Thunder, and I assume the Star Wars racing game (Only ever played the N64 version) are best enjoyed on the Dreamcast