Email: My favorite N64 games

Hello Master!

Just wanted to say some words about the N64, the console I grew up with. I was born in 1994, my dad bought the N64 in 1996, on the holiday season. Basically it was the first console I saw, though my closest friend had a SNES, that was a pretty big deal for me. I remember spending days in his house playing games like Super Mario World, Goof Troop and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV.

I liked the N64 very much, although I don’t know if it was because I didn’t have another console at the time. All my other friends went through the PlayStation way, and I don’t remember caring about it so much. In fact, I would win a PS One as a gift, years later. Nice console, that hadn’t totally made me forget the N64.

Let’s start with the hardware.

First, I like that 90s aesthetic, the curves, the opaque colors. It’s somewhat bulky but I think it’s charming. It looks like a toy, but for me it’s not so embarrassing, because videogames ARE toys, after all. People these days want their consoles to look like some generic electronic device, like a VHS or DVD player. They’re just embarrassed to play with toys at their ages, I think, or they don’t want to remember that video games are toys.

Second, CARTRIDGES!

Pantera – Cowboy from hell guitar solo
http://www.youtube.com
Above: cartridges ROCK!

Third: The joystick is… well… the worst part. I have 4 of them and no one in a perfect state. That analog stick is a pain in the ass. It always hurt my fingers, and they are so fragile. I don’t like the joystick, at all, but I tolerated it because of the games I could play with it (that’s your theory, huh? Here’s proof). I’m glad that some guys are remaking it (go see it: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-10-n64-controller-kickstarter-success).

Modern N64 controller a Kickstarter success • Eurogamer.net
http://www.eurogamer.net
The N64 was an incredible console with some amazing games. But, let’s be honest, its controller was awful. The Next Gen N64 Controller.…

I haven’t had much experience with the N64 peripherals. Let’s skip to the games.

Games:

My N64 came with a Super Mario 64 cartridge. It’s the game I played the most on it. It was so much better than any of the other 3D platformers of the time. The stages were so big and with so much room for exploration. I loved it, but I think Super Mario Galaxy took its place into my heart.

The second game I played the most on the N64 was Star Fox 64. Man, I loved that game. I would go through its main campaign, like, a thousand times, on a daily basis. It had multiple ways to finish. You could go through the easy path, the normal path or the hardest path. You could also mix things up and do a bit of each. Every stage was awesome. There wasn’t a single one that I didn’t like to play, so each day I did a different path. My fondest memories of this console are with this game.

The third game I played the most is one called Killer Instinct Gold, the classic Rare fighting game. It’s my absolute favorite fighting game (not that version, I like the SNES version better). The way you could invent your own combos through some easy-to-learn- hard-to-master system had me spending hours testing combinations with each character. It was so fast and cool. So intense. And way better than Mortal Kombat, which, honestly, just is as popular as it is because of the fatality thing. Take that away from it and the game is nothing.

I played most of the N64 library through renting. It was not a difficult task, you could do it in a year, because there aren’t so much games for it. I will talk a word or two about those that I remember best:

Banjo-Kazooie: stay away from it. It’s a false game. It’s BOOORING.

Bomberman 64: I just remember that it was not as good as the SNES ones. I don’t even remember if it had a battle royale mode, at all.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day: boring campaign, super-cool 4-player multiplayer mode. Really nice to play with friends.

Goldeneye 007: really awesome. But everyone says that. Just reinforcing it.

Mario Tennis: one of the few sports game that I played on the N64. I don’t think Nintendo has ever put out a version that is better than this one.

Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness: hahhaha it was so odd and cool. You were Pac-man’s wife and you went through these stages with different themes (Egypt, Ice Cave, China, so on, so forth), all in the four-direction Pac-Man style gameplay. I enjoyed it considerably.

San Francisco Rush: LOVED how you could just stop racing and explore the courses to find new cars and things. I miss this game.

Super Smash Bros: now it’s been surely surpassed by its sequels, but at the time it was such a deal. I loved it very much and was so frustrated that my parents wouldn’t just buy it so I could play it as I wished.

Wave Race 64: I liked it better than Mario Kart 64, as a racing game.

Well, that’s pretty much it. I’m looking forward for your thoughts on this library.

Greetings from Brazil and sorry for any English mistakes.

I’m convinced now that if Nintendo makes a N64 Mini, they need to find a way to put in FOUR controllers in the box. N64 experience isn’t there without four controllers.