Best and Worst N64 games?

[A Black Falcon]

Best
1. Zelda Ocarina of Time
2. Mario 64
3. San Francisco Rush 2049
4. F-Zero X
5. Wipeout 64

Honorable Mentions: Scores of games on this, my favorite console...

Worst
1. Dark Rift
2. War Gods

I have a good 150 N64 games, but the N64 doesn't have many bad games... though I do intentionally stay away from genres I would dislike like football or wrestling games (I will admit the the NFL Blitz games aren't too bad, but wrestling? Yeah, I really dislike any and all of those.). Those two fighting games there are really, REALLY bad, though. Some N64 3d fighting games are okay to good for their time (Mace: The Dark Age, Flying Dragon, Fighter's Destiny 1 and 2, Mortal Kombat 4, Dual Heroes, Bio Freaks), but those two... man are they terrible. Clayfighter 63 1/3 and Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut are masterpieces in comparison, and those two are pretty mediocre. Overall N64 fighting games have aged worse than the 3d platform-adventure games or the racing games, but at least some of them can still be some fun if you can still enjoy 5th gen 3d fighting games... but Dark Rift and War Gods? Only play if you like to suffer.


Also, Aidyn Chronicles is a legitimately very good game; if you can deal with the slow pace and horrible bugginess of the game, there's a huge game there with a lot to love. It definitely isn't for everyone, though, sure. I also like Carmageddon 64. Ignore the "it's the worst N64 game ever!" stuff. It isn't, at all. Sure, it's not the best, and it isn't as good as the original Carmageddon for the PC, but it is an okay game that I, at least, find fun to play. Oh, and Hybrid Heaven is a pretty decent game as well.

Two big thumbs up! RIP Mr. Ebert.

Some games that are regarded as "worsts" actually are very good - a prime example of this is the obscure Aidyn Chronicles, which starts off so very, VERY badly, but actually gets interesting in a while. Unfortunately I encountered a bug, and tons of headaches from the subpar framerate, and gave up. Definitely need to be more N64s overclocked, and Nintendo should've had it done from the start. There is a certain emulator out that offers overclocking capability for any game, but Aidyn Chronicles doesn't render properly in it.

Yeah, the game has bugs, but there's so much there if you have patience... though yeah, backing up your save files somehow is a very good idea.

I don't mind the N64 controller that much, but it doesn't sit in two hands as nicely as does a Dual Shock (recommended one-hand cradle grip = lolwut), and on top of that I have two remaining complaints: One, the stick in the middle does wear out (and I've never played any of the Party games, so it's just from normal use, more or less; it's definitely less durable than the Dual Shock, which isn't rock solid either, but much closer to the durability of a modern controller) with the plastic joystick wearing itself down into a chalk-like substance collecting around the middle ball; two, the thin top of the joystick is very uncomfortable to press sideways against, and it's easy to slip your grip otherwise. The PSX controller would have this problem as well but that, like the modern Xbox Joystick, gives you a well-shaped and well-textured middle nub to grib your thumb. Oh, and don't even get me started on trying to dash through levels in Mischief Makers using the buttons...argh. However, as mentioned the Hori joystick seems very nice, but also very small.

If you can overlook massive amounts of pain (either to the fingers or your eyes), there's a few good ones I didn't notice in people's lists:

The N64 controller, painful to hold? What? I couldn't disagree more, it's quite comfortable, and certainly is vastly superior to anything from Sony... Sony's controllers are all far too small, and that dpad-above, analog stick-below design is terrible. It makes using the analog stick a bit uncomfortable, and the d-pad's no good either thanks to that awful missing center. And the analog sticks are RIDICULOUSLY inaccurate too, anything from Nintendo is better.

I know I'm biased -- the N64 controller and Saturn 3D controller are probably still my two favorite gamepads ever, while the Playstation is a bad controller and I'm still sad that its design is now the basic layout of all controllers -- but yeah, the N64 controller's incredible, one of the best designs I've seen.

[Superman]

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Is that your best or worst list? lol

[Ed Oscuro]

The N64 controller, painful to hold? What? I couldn't disagree more, it's quite comfortable, and certainly is vastly superior to anything from Sony... Sony's controllers are all far too small, and that dpad-above, analog stick-below design is terrible. It makes using the analog stick a bit uncomfortable, and the d-pad's no good either thanks to that awful missing center. And the analog sticks are RIDICULOUSLY inaccurate too, anything from Nintendo is better.

Did you read anything I wrote beyond the first sentence? I didn't say it was painful to hold the controller (I called the one-hand-cradling method awkward, but I didn't have any problem using a two-fisted approach like with a Dual Shock). I said it was painful to try to push the analog stick from the side, and again, this is at issue because the analog stick doesn't have a good grip surface at all. It doesn't have any kind of rubbery texture, just a few raised rings (which, again, don't score any points for comfort). BEHOLD!

About the other issues, those may be true, but I would rather deal with wobbly PS1 dual analog stick slop than having my thumb slip off the N64 stick due to its poor design. And of course the modern controllers are a leap beyond both of those controllers, in stick grip area as well as accuracy and reduction of the dead zone.

[tom]

Is that your best or worst list? lol

Oh I forgot, it's my best list.
Worst, I just don't buy those, not yet anyway.

[needler420]

Can't believe no one mentioned rares conkers bad fur day yet.

[understatement]

However, as mentioned the Hori joystick seems very nice, but also very small.

What do you mean by small exactly? Because I hear this a lot and it was the only thing that held me back from getting one for a long time but after just biting the bullet and getting one it's actually pretty big. It's about the same size as a gamecube controller. I think what makes it feel smaller is it's button layout but as in terms of holding it, it has a fair size. Comparing it to the parts of the N64 controller you actually use it's a good bit wider and in my opinion so much more comfortable to hold.

[wiggyx]

It's just "small" in comparison to the relatively large size of the original N64 controller is all. It's not really small at all if you ask me.

[Daltone]

In no particular order..

Best:

Goldeneye
Blast Corps
Zelda OoT
Zelda M's Mask
Mario 64

Worst (Ignoring the unholy trinity of Carmageddon, Superman and Daikitana)

South Park (FPS)
Smash Bros
Mario Party
Something about the Power Rangers
Batman Beyond

I actually think that the N64 has some of the best worst games around. They are so very, very horrible tha I love playing them. Superman, Clayfighter, Carmageddon, Daikitana etc have reached some sort of level beyond bad where it is actually fun to see just how awful and broken they are. That could just be me though. My "worst" list is very subjective and is based on games which have bored the life out of me. A lot of people like Smash Bros and Mario Party, even South Park was popular for a time, but I never could stand them.

Distinct lack of love for Majora's Mask here at the moment.

Oh, it seems we have had something (sort of) similar before - http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...-64-games-list

[Gameguy]

The N64 controller, painful to hold? What? I couldn't disagree more, it's quite comfortable, and certainly is vastly superior to anything from Sony... Sony's controllers are all far too small, and that dpad-above, analog stick-below design is terrible. It makes using the analog stick a bit uncomfortable, and the d-pad's no good either thanks to that awful missing center. And the analog sticks are RIDICULOUSLY inaccurate too, anything from Nintendo is better.

As an adult the controller isn't that bad, I just remember playing the system as a kid when it originally came out at kiosks. I really hated the controller as it didn't feel right, all I remember now is what it was like back then.

As for the analog stick, I tend to dislike the quality of it because I compare it to the Vectrex stick. Something that came out over a decade earlier, and is much better quality. I haven't ruined my joysticks but I've come across plenty of controllers that are ruined like this, certain games really force you to push the joysticks as far as possible and playing these games often causes wear. It is a design flaw so I blame Nintendo for that mistake. Besides the controller the rest of the built quality is really good, it's harder to find damaged N64s compared to damaged PS1s.

[sneekyweezel]

Doom 64 is totally awesome, especially on watch me die difficulty. Super Mario 64= awesome too! The Tetris 64 rules as well. The James Bond also.

[o.pwuaioc]

Doom 64 is totally awesome, especially on watch me die difficulty.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought so!

[Rob2600]

Best and Worst N64 games?

Based on review scores, here are the Top 50 and Bottom 25 Nintendo 64 games:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...-64-games-list

[BydoEmpire]

Best:
Paper Mario - my #1 N64 game of all time, also the last one I bought for the system
Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
007 Goldeneye
Jet Force Gemini - except having to replay the whole f'ing game to get the 'real' ending. Hate that.
Space Station Silicon Valley

Personally, I loved the controller. Never had any issues with it. I never bought any games for the n64 I hated, so I'm not sure I can do a "worst" list. It'd be a bunch of stuff I never played and only heard about.

[FrankSerpico]

This thread has made me want to give Aidyn Chronicles another look

[Ed Oscuro]

Doom 64 is totally awesome, especially on watch me die difficulty.

Indeed, although it plays much better if you can use a keyboard + mouse combination. That's a bit of work to set up in an emulator (i.e. using Darkman's DInput plugin) but nowadays you have the possibility of playing the DOOM 64 TC, Absolution, or its successor - a real port based on DOOM source code, DOOM 64 EX. I've been meaning to play that for a while.

Still feel bad I never picked that one up at retail, I can still see it behind the glass case. I coulda swore it had a red or black cart release though...

This thread has made me want to give Aidyn Chronicles another look

Be prepared for a lot of grinding.

Reading about the game online recently, I found out that there are lots of very interesting character development paths. Depending on who you have in your party and when, different cutscenes will trigger during your journey. It is also mostly open-world, which is really amazing for the time. The downsides, aside from the obvious ones (sometimes poor graphics, poor framerate, poor variety of battle types and arenas, etc.), include a bug whereby you can't follow up a particular interesting plot sideline, and nobody has seemed to figure this out. I also would warn you that if you're playing on an emulator, the psuedo-random generation of hits and dodges means that you can seem to be "stuck" with a savestate where a player is stuck before a killing blow (and yes, it's permanent, restart if somebody dies) or one of the spells which takes a character out of the fight, but sometimes, if you mash the buttons or turn the stick a bit, it might turn out differently. Anyway, the bottom line is that even on an emulator you need to keep the regular save file up-to-date, and you need also to be careful with savestates.

Also be sure you know which player and equipment stats are useful. There are some "core" stats which make melee combat work well, and as far as I got in the game I still didn't have any use for magic. Anyway, I shouldn't reveal more than this, but if you do get into the game, keep both eyes wide open

[SOL BADGUY]

Project64 is one of my favorite emulators, you have the cheats in the cheats section all ready to go. It had hidef settings to make games look as sharp as you want them to be. I just wish more work would be done on it, they released a 2.0 version, but the only difference people have really heard is that the code is cleaner. :S

[A Black Falcon]

Did you read anything I wrote beyond the first sentence? I didn't say it was painful to hold the controller (I called the one-hand-cradling method awkward, but I didn't have any problem using a two-fisted approach like with a Dual Shock).

You hold the N64 controller with one hand on the middle prong and one on the left, unless it's a dpad-only game in which case you hold it on left and right. And with either of those methods, it's comfortable.

I said it was painful to try to push the analog stick from the side, and again, this is at issue because the analog stick doesn't have a good grip surface at all. It doesn't have any kind of rubbery texture, just a few raised rings (which, again, don't score any points for comfort). BEHOLD!

What are you talking about, "push the analog stick from the side"? The N64 analog stick is no less comfortable to use than most any other analog stick, except maybe that large flat one on the Saturn 3D Controller which is quite comfortable, but has a very minimal range of motion... you're right that the N64 analog stick isn't rubberized, but the three rings give you plenty of grip. Other than the wear problem, it's a great stick.

About the other issues, those may be true, but I would rather deal with wobbly PS1 dual analog stick slop than having my thumb slip off the N64 stick due to its poor design. And of course the modern controllers are a leap beyond both of those controllers, in stick grip area as well as accuracy and reduction of the dead zone.

My thumbs have never had that problem. But as for accuracy and dead zone... maybe that is true for degraded N64 analog stick, but when new they're great. I prefer the feel of the N64 analog stick to the ones on the GC and Wii... those are good too, but I really like the feel of the N64 stick. And that's why I have no interest in any N64 controller with a Gamecube-style stick on it.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's a nice big lump of "well I never had that problem." Well, good for you. I wish everybody was that lucky.

[Aussie2B]

The problem with conversations about the N64, which always degrade when someone chimes in about how much the controller supposedly sucks, is that the naysayers can't even fathom that other people have different-shaped hands and different experiences with the N64 controller and controllers in general. For me personally, the N64 controller is quite possibly the most ergonomic I've held, The shape of the grips, the placement of the buttons/stick, it's all pretty much spot-on for me. My launch day controller still has a well-functioning stick too, basically the same as it's ever been, since I'm not one to mistreat my controllers and grind the stick like crazy. There are some flaws with the controller in my eyes (namely the stiff, low quality D-pad, although it thankfully isn't used by most games), but my opinion of it overall is pretty high. I don't think I have oddball opinions and I don't think I'm an exceptional case. There are plenty of people who feel the same. That said, being a woman, I have fairly small hands. I don't know what it's like to hold a N64 controller with large hands or hands that are otherwise shaped differently, and I never will. For that reason, I have no problem accepting that others may have had vastly different experiences with the N64 controller and others, and I wish the haters could show the same respect and not spout their opinions and experiences as concrete, universally applicable fact. I've been on the other side of the table, of course. I don't even have that favorable of a view on well-loved controllers like the Dual Shock and 360 controller, and while I'm happy to share my personal problems with them, I can respect that plenty of people thoroughly love them. Even with a controller I loathe, like the Dreamcast's, it may be hard for me to comprehend how someone could have any kind of positive view of it, let alone love it, but all I can do is shrug and accept that everybody's different. I'm not going to pop into every Dreamcast topic and start arguing with Dreamcast fans to try to convince them that the controller sucks.

[Ed Oscuro]

I used the N64 controller for years and years. I had that system and used it regularly well into the PS2 era, and I've got a huge box of different style N64 controllers. I think I know which end plugs into the system by now.

The problem with conversations about the N64, which always degrade when someone chimes in about how much the controller supposedly sucks, is that the naysayers can't even fathom that other people have different-shaped hands and different experiences with the N64 controller and controllers in general.

So if we split the difference between a modern-style Dual Shock or Xbox controller being "almost the most ergonomic," as far as you're concerned, then it's no big deal for you either way.

Then we get people who find the analog joystick in the N64 an absolute disaster and indeed uncomfortable to use at times, whereas the Xbox sticks seem to work for everybody. That's a much bigger difference.

A standard joystick should be comfortable for everybody to use, not just the special people.

Basically, you're saying "I feel that my slight comfort improvement is more important than somebody else being able to use the thing comfortably at all." Cool story.

Before you jump into the thread and start saying that people are denying other people their personal opinions, maybe you better take a look at the earlier posts. Your accusation that people are just hunting down N64 threads to troll them is completely wrong. Sol Badguy states, in the fourth post, that he didn't understand why there was any dislike of the N64 controller, and a few of us brought up some reasons. Not "you're wrong to like the N64" reasons, but reasons based on simple observation without attempting to overstate things. Certainly nobody said that it was wrong to personally like the N64 controller. I didn't come to DP just to take part in an echo chamber. Opinions (and facts!) can be respected for what they are, and we certainly don't need people coming into threads saying "stop what you were talking about because IDONTLIKEIT" - that doesn't help things at all.