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Custom Robo JP release: 8th December 1999 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Noise Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 83% Every now and then, a game I would have never expected to like will surprise me, making me very glad that I’m doing these playthroughs. I always dismissed Custom Robo as the kind of JRPG that I don’t like, and magazines that reviewed it made a lot of comparisons to Pokémon. However, I ended up loving Custom Robo, and would absolutely love for Pokémon to try this style of combat. Custom Robo was only released in Japan, as well as its sequel and the GBA game – it wasn’t until the fourth game, on GameCube, that the series made its way elsewhere (and only the most recent game on DS was released in Europe). Luckily, there’s a decent fan translation to play the game in English. The main story is mostly what you’d expect – walking around a 2D environment, speaking to other people to battle. However, Custom Robo’s story is very linear, with no side quests or exploration, so each playthrough will be fairly similar. The story is a simple story about a young boy who gets a Custom Robo – a tiny robot designed to take part in friendly battles – competing in tournaments within his town (which handily is home to the main Custom Robo tournament). There are some additional stories, and the characters you meet along the way are interesting, so there’s a lot of charm here. The main greatness of Custom Robo, however, is the battles. In Custom Robo, you control your tiny robot in holographic arenas. The robos are fast and nimble, and you automatically face your opponent at all times, which means you can focus on manoeuvring and dodging. Your abilities include your gun, your “pods” which launch a kind of homing missile, and a bomb that you automatically aim where your opponent is (although you can manually adjust it to account for them moving). You also have a high jump, and can perform a few dodges in mid-air, there’s a lot of options at your disposal, but with extremely simple controls. The arenas themselves are also important. Hiding behind obstacles and popping out or jumping up to shoot, getting high ground, circling around moving obstacles or dangerous areas to impact your opponent. The arenas start off simple and get more imaginative as you go on – with the best being the “unofficial” ones your encounter along your journey. Another interesting element is that when robos recover from being knocked down, they have a brief invincibility period where they can fire – preventing anyone from being permanently trapped in the combo, and letting them go on the offensive. What I especially love about Custom Robo is the lack of levelling up or grinding. Every robo’s health is 1000HP, with different body types (which you unfortunately don’t get to use in the main story) having their own abilities. What you do collect as you go on, however, is different weapons. But there’s no “best” weapon. Your main gun, for example, fires in different ways. There’s a powerful magnum that does a ton of damage, but fires in a straight line and is quite slow. There are some homing weapons that aren’t as strong and aren’t useful if you need to defend yourself as they take a while to hit. My favourite weapon wasn’t particularly strong, but fired in an arc and could hit over walls. The bombs and pods are equally varied, with some relentless but slow pods, or fast ones that require a quick dodge to avoid. Some weapons also hit next to an opponent, with you planning on them dodging or moving around. Because of all this, everything feels balanced in a wonderful way, and you’ll encounter opponents that will force you to rethink your strategy. In a single battle, one combination may have an advantage, but there will be other combos that will in turn have an advantage over it. However, it’s never hopeless, sometimes you have to rethink your strategy and use what you’ve picked in a different way. As an example, I favoured a weapon where I could do a short hop near a wall, and hit an opponent behind another wall. Then, I encountered an opponent that had bombs and pods that exploded above my head, which I kept jumping into. I had to go for a more hit-and-run approach to win the fight. It’s nice that you can outright see the advantages, instead of it just being numbers. The setup for each match is also worth mentioning. When you carry them around, your Custom Robo is in a little cube. At the start of each match, you aim a little cannon to try and land in a section of the arena you want, while also reacting to where your opponent is landing on. Your robo, in cube form, is then fired out. Each side has an icon to show the orientation of your robo, with a face signifying the top, and feet showing the bottom. You have a bit of control over your robo to try and land right side up, as this means your robo will be able to start quicker – with robos landing on their head starting stuck in the ground, and having to wiggle to make a start. The combat in Custom Robo was something that I never got tired of doing. It avoids everything I personally dislike about combat in a lot of JRPGs, and I really like how customisation works in it. In the story mode, you get drip fed these parts as you progress, letting you experiment a bit on your journey, and at the start of each battle, you can pick your setup and try it out before starting the fight. There are some other modes, though, such as a challenge mode and free battle (which supports multiplayer). These let you pick different robot bodies for even more possible combinations. I do wish the story itself was a bit more free form, but that’s only a mild issue with how much I enjoyed playing the game. Fave Remake or remaster? It still plays extremely well. A collection of the five Custom Robo games with official translations for the first three would be amazing. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Custom Robo

But that’s not possible

Requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Better than nothing? Has some nice features though.

At least @Hero-of-Time put the correct Final Fantasy on top. But you gotta give credit, it did go for a more Steampunk vibe. Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack is a collection of two rhythm games that originally released for the 3DS. These original releases were Japan only, but the Switch ports came out worldwide. Said ports came out in 2020. As the subtitle suggests, these games have plots. They follow Don and Katsu, two sentient taiko drums with no indoor voices as they save the world from, stuff. Really, it's an excuse plot for the game, an RPG format where battles are replaced with rhythm games! Also, Kirby and Phoenix Wright are here, don't question it. My god, I can't believe Kirby RPG has existed for 8 years! Anyway, the best way to describe the game is Donkey Konga with a Taiko drum. Which makes sense, Donkey Konga was a spin-off of this series in the first place. But if you've played any of those games, you'll have a good idea how this plays. I mean, there's not much to say, it's a solid rhythm game. It's a very Japanese centric soundtrack, and I do wish harder difficulties wouldn't tighten the timing of hitting the notes. It's already hard enough with more notes flying at you... If you're craving more Donkey Konga, this series is likely the best you're getting. If you want more rhythm games? Go for Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line first.

(I'm out for the weekend, so I'll post two games) Mario Artist Paint Studio JP release: 13th December 1999 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Software Creations Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: N/A As this is the first 64DD game, I’ll talk a little bit about the device itself. It was an add-on to the N64 which would have provided a slot for a new kind of media: 64DD discs. These were sort of large floppy discs, 64MB by default – the same as the largest (and most expensive) N64 cartridge. One key element was that there was a lot more space to save data, allowing for much more complex stuff that could be saved in a game. It was also going to come with an Expansion Pak to increase the N64’s RAM (which ended up getting released on its own). But it kept getting delayed, and many projects (such as Ocarina of Time) were changed from being 64DD games to regular N64 games. It finally released in Japan only via a subscription (with a later limited release on its own), ending up with 10 games – and that includes a web browser, a disc for sharing creations online, and two expansions. Even though they first talked about it in issue 1, N64 Magazine ended up not covering it that much, with it getting a whopping 3 and a half page article once they got their hands on one. Mario Artist Paint Studio was one of the two launch games bundled with the 64DD, being a sequel to Mario Paint on the SNES. Like the SNES game, it also came bundled with a mouse. I’m awful at any kind of art software, and this is no different. It offers a good amount of features – including a lot of backgrounds and stickers (including Nintendo and Rare characters), but it feels a bit cumbersome and sterile, lacking the fun nature of the original Mario Paint. There are a few touches here and there that harkens back to the original – such as the fun animations representing the cursor speed and music options – but it all feels more muted. One colossal advantage it does have over the original is being able to save multiple pictures. It can also connect to the Game Boy Camera to insert some photos. There are some interesting additional features, such as the 3D worlds. Here you can watch three scenes play out – an underwater world, dinosaurs, and strange robots in space. You can play with the camera, watch different creatures, make the image full screen to watch, or even enter the world as a little man to explore and look around. You can also mess around with the worlds. Once you’ve selected a creature, you can then edit its texture, either by picking from a load of colourful random textures, or loading up the texture itself in an editor and manually editing it. It expands Paint Studio into something that’s also a basic introduction to how textures work in video games – the whole Mario Artist series seemed to be aimed at different parts of creating games, which would have likely culminated with the announced but cancelled Mario Artist: Game Maker. One thing about the 64DD is connectivity between games, so Paint Studio would gain more usage as the different parts of the Mario Artist series cropped up, as your creations could also be imported into that, as well as SimCity 64. It was an ambitious project, and it’s a shame we never saw the final result of the entire package. However, there’s one more interesting thing to talk about, something that was completely removed from the final game, but was later found in an earlier build. Just start creating a drawing then click on the “coffee break” icon. Now you can play a new version of Gnat Attack, the flyswatter minigame from the original Mario Paint (which had versions in some WarioWare games and Super Mario Maker). There are four stages that take place in a few rooms of a house, with the last being a boss, before the game loops. It’s really good fun, and I have no idea why it was taken out of the final product, as it seems to be complete. Fun Remake or remaster? I would love to see a fully realised version of the Mario Artist package, but without the cancelled parts of it, there’s not a huge reason to re-release this. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Mario Artist: Paint Studio -- Doshin the Giant JP release: 13th December 1999 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Param Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: N/A The second 64DD launch title was Doshin the Giant, a game that got a bit more attention when the GameCube version came out (and made it outside of Japan). The various Doshin projects are the works of developer Param, who made nothing else. The purpose of Doshin the Giant seems to be to show how the 64DD could enable a game’s world to change over time, allowing you to manipulate it and watch it grow without needing a memory card. You start Doshin the Giant as fairly small yellow giant. The tribes on the various islands you discover will request you to do things for them (usually bring plants over, or create more land for them), which will generate hearts, allowing you to grow. As you help the tribes out, they’ll start to develop buildings and eventually build a monument to you. Controls are simple, as you can grab objects to move them (keeping A held down, or else you’ll throw it straight away), as well as holding onto land and pull it up, providing it’s lower, and stop to lower land. At the end of each day, Doshin will die (I think) and you’ll get some stats before being booted to the main menu. Start a new game, and you’ll be a new Doshin at the starting size, however, the world will be the same as how you left it at the end of the previous game. The game is quite freeform in what you can do, however, I found that it got more and more difficult to impress villagers, so I was unable to achieve the size I got in the first day. Although it’s not all about being good – it’s entirely up to you. While you can cause some damage (such as accidentally squishing villagers once you’re a certain size) as regular Doshin, you can switch to an evil version of him, which gives you a different set of powers. You can send out shockwaves and demolish land, and causing terror will make you grow just as hearts do. Interestingly, evil Doshin also has better powers at manipulating land, as you can easily lower and raise vast amounts of land at ease, but it can be difficult to use this to help out, as the villagers fear you (note: after playing the expansion and GameCube version, I now know that good Doshin can do the same thing). There’s a checklist of different monuments to get the villagers to build, but I could only get them to build the same one over and over. I’m probably missing something, as the text is quite fast and hard to use Google Translate for, so I’m looking forward to discovering more when I play the GameCube version. Overall, Doshin the Giant does come across as more of a tech demo to show off what the 64DD can do, but it’s still a wonderfully unique and charming game. Fun Remake or remaster? I’d love to see a new Doshin game. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Doshin the Giant.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the latest game in the Shantae series. It's a Metroid style platformer developed by WayForward and released on all modern platforms in 2019. Shantae (Half-human, half-genie), her uncle, and two of her best friends have been invited to Paradise Island for an all expenses paid vacation. Shantae soon discovers that five other half-genies have also been invited. The small print turns out to be that Shantae and the 5 other half-genies take part in Paradise Island's brand new "Half-genie festival". They agree, but during the festival, every half-genie except Shantae mysteriously disappears. Suspecting foul play, Shantae explores the ruins underneath the island to try and find them using her powers... Yeah, that. Thank you. Like most of the Shantae games, this one consists of a big interconnected area where most of it is inaccessible until you unlock more abilities for Shantae to use. I'm sure all of you have played a Metroid game, you get how it works. Shantae distinguishes itself by also having Zelda style dungeons. Granted, it's closer to Zelda 2 because of the side scrolling nature of the game. Seven Sirens specifically takes notes from Castlevania with the monster card system. Whenever you kill an enemy, there's a chance they'll drop a card of themselves. There's 50 of these cards, and you can activate three of them at a time to give Shantae some kind of passive ability. None of them are required to finish the game, but they add an extra layer of customisation. Even if a certain one that replenishes magic over time is way too good. One thing to note about this is that in 2021, a pretty sizable update was added to this game that included 4 extra difficulty modes. Alongside the 2019 Legacy Mode, there's Beginner Mode, which makes Shantae invincible and crazy strong. Definitive Mode rebalances enemies to be harder, makes boss patterns faster, but adds extra dialogue, and quality of life features to make 100% completion far more reasonable. Full Deck Mode gives you all 50 monster cards from the start, and Rule Breaker Mode removes the three card activation limit, and lets you have every one you find active all at once. Rule Breaker Mode sounds like a lot of fun, but this was my first time playing this game, so I went with Definitive Mode. I'm glad I did, the extra map features were very much appreciated, especially the one that hints at what dance you might need in each room. Considering that there's a lot of invisible goodies with not much in the way of hints to help signpost them, I can't imagine trying to find everything in this game with the original release (Legacy Mode). Hmmm. The Screen Clearing Blast is my favourite character. Honestly, I don't know why it took me 5 years to play this. I like all the Shantae games, and this one is no different. I'd put it right in the middle of the 5 games in terms of quality. It's great. But Risky's Revenge and especially Pirate's Curse outdo it.

Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: Royal Road Succession JP release: 28th January 2000 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Asmik Ace, AKI Publisher: Asmik Ace N64 Magazine Score: N/A If you’re a fan of AKI’s wrestling games on the N64 and don’t mind the lack of famous Western wrestlers (aside from a few unlockables like Andre the Giant), then Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 is something very much worth checking out. While the first just felt like a Japanese version of WCW vs. nWo: World Tour, this feels like an actual sequel to WWF Wrestlemania. In particular, the game engine has been made much smoother, with the game being extremely fluid, eliminating any jankiness from the previous games. There’s also a new grapple system, as each wrestler tries to overpower the other, and a ton of different modes. The create-a-wrestler has a lot more to it (especially if you like masks), and this is Aki’s biggest roster, although not many are licensed (although the unlicensed ones still have their signature moves, taunts, and their clothing is conveniently available in the edit mode). There’s a lot of different modes and features, including the Royal Road Succession (this game’s Road to Wrestlemania). These games aren’t personally my kind of thing, but if you do enjoy them, this one is well worth checking out and using a bit of Google Lens to navigate menus. Great Remake or remaster? A new call-back game to Aki’s would be good. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Virtual Pro Wrestling 2

Backwards compatibility confirmed by Furukawa himself

Well you did play Bayonetta.

October is over and that means so is my spooky game marathon. I also played a few other games in between all of those as well. Vampire Survivors I played a lot through the DLC at the very start of the month. I spoke about it in the thread but it was due to trophies being broken and then finally being fixed that got me playing it again.. Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare I wasn’t a fan of this at all. It started off pretty decent, with the game having a very Resident Evil feel to it thanks to a mansion to explore and puzzles to solve. Eventually the game just feels like it runs out of ideas and the puzzles just go out the window and it instead has you traipsing through corridor after corridor, with enemies popping up left and right. I had to go through the game twice due to it being like Resident Evil 2 and having 2 different characters to play as. Unlike Resident Evil 2 that used this system quite well, this one doesn’t really do anything special with it. Little Nightmares 2 Thoughts haven’t changed since the last time I played it back a couple of years back. The game got a PS5 update and so I decided to platinum it again. Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed Loved this. I played a couple of games online but spent most of my time just playing against the bots. Being able to play as both a Ghostbuster and a ghost meant the gameplay was varied enough to keep things feeling fresh. Very surprised by this one. Gungrave: G.O.R.E I didn’t think I would get to play this due to Sony secretly kicking it off the PS+ list this month but I managed to play and platinum it before it happened. I loved the original game on the PS2, as well as the anime that was released in the early 2000s. The game is a pure definition of run and gun. It’s like playing a 3rd person version of contra. Completely over the top but fun enough to warrant a couple of playthroughs for the platinum. Ghost Hunter I loved this back in the day but playing it again some 20 years later I don’t think it holds up that well. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals and effects that are being pulled off for a PS2 game are amazing, but the gameplay is pretty bland, as are the environments. Spidersaurs Really enjoyed this one. It’s been on my wishlist for a while, and it was recently reduced to £6. Anyone who has played any of Wayforward’s games should know just how good their cartoony visuals are. The gameplay is stupidly fun as well, with the game being essentially their take on the Contra franchise. Ghoul Boy I had a couple of quid left in my PS wallet and seen this was in the Halloween sale. It’s an indie platform game that has a spooky setting, with the main character hacking and slashing his way through zombies, skeletons and ghosts. What was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be, with some checkpoints being very harsh with their placements but it was enjoyable enough. Crow Country I’m still not sure what to make of this one. It’s an indie game that takes inspiration from Resident Evil. It certainly looks the part but it just lacks something that made me really enjoy it. I think the map had something to do with it. I found traversing though a lot of the areas a little confusing at times. The respawning enemies didn’t help either. Bayonetta 1-3 I had played the first 2 games back on the Wii U but had yet to play any of them on the Switch. I could have gone straight to the 3rd game which I have never played at all but with it being the spooky season, I decided to do the trilogy. My thoughts remain the same about the first two games (fun enough but very overrated) and so will just speak about the 3rd game. Awful game. I hated the new design and look of the characters. The first two games struck a nice balance between realistic and a more anime type style but here they push for a more realistic look, and it doesn’t pay off. Bayonetta has been toned down about (thank goodness) but Viola unfortunately makes up for the lack of sass due to how annoying she is. Thankfully, she plays pretty well and feels a bit like Vergil from the Devil May Cry series. Also, the game is very bland and dark. The heaven and hell settings of the first two games allowed for some contrast between the light and dark levels, but here everything is very doom and gloom. Story wise, the narrative is a mess. It’s like the jumped on the MCU bandwagon of multiverse shenanigans and, just like Marvel, didn’t really pull it off. The levels themselves felt very disconnected and it was if they had a bunch of ideas but couldn’t merge them all together in a cohesive way and so went with the alternate realities setting instead. The Kaiju style battles are a miss for me as well. They are so slow and don’t really add anything to the game other than dragging it down even further. I honestly didn’t start enjoying the game until around chapter 11 where there was a Panzer Dragoon type stage. From that point on until the end of the game I actually did have a little fun and there was one section that did get a good laugh out of me. I will say that playing these back to back you can definitely notice a difference in the voice acting between the two actresses. I certainly prefer the first. Looking back at the whole situation, I wonder if when she was asked to do a cameo it was for when a certain set of Bayonettas show up? It would make sense that it was going to be for that. Overall, it was a meh experience and once again highlighted that the series is a poor imitation of Devil May Cry. Final Fantasy 1-6 With the physical release of the game finally being made available for purchase this month, it was time to play through the early games of the series. It was nice to finally finish Final Fantasy III. It was the only game in the main series (outside of the MMO’s) that I had never finished. It was also nice playing through Final Fantasy VI again. I had only ever played through the PS1 version of the game and had to endure the long load times between random battles and so this was a much better experience. It’s probably been 20 years since I played through it and I certainly enjoyed it more than I originally did back then. I still find it overrated though. Having played through them all I can understand why Final Fantasy VII was such a big thing when it first released. Sure, the graphics helped but it is such a change when compared to the first six games. 1 through 6 do feel really similar, what with the fantasy/sword and sorcery setting and so Final Fantasy VII was probably seen as a breath of fresh air at the time. One thing that did hit me when playing through these is just how many times the party needs to be switched. 2-6 have you constantly switching party members, with some being killed off or others disappearing for large parts of the game. It got pretty annoying and FFV was even worse with how many times I had to keep switching jobs for certain situations. Trophy wise, I pretty much had to 100% every single game. All hidden items needed to be found, all beastiary entries had to be entered and all treasure chests opened. It took some doing but the platinum was achieved for each and every one of them. The RNG for some of the enemies or items needed was a bit of a nightmare at times. From best to worst, this was probably how I would rank them all. Final Fantasy VI Final Fantasy IV Final Fantasy Final Fantasy III Final Fantasy II Final Fantasy V Busty month. lots of games played and finished but I still didn't get through everything I wanted. I was planning on playing Luigi's Mansion 2 HD but unfortunately I ran out of time. Hopefully I will get through it this month.

Bloody hell! My heart skipped a beat when I started reading the thread title, I thought it was a sequel to Wii Music. And now I'm disappointed. Nah, this is actually quite cool. Took 'em long enough though, jeez.

It's available. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nintendo.znba https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nintendo-music/id6466376604 They have the Wii channels music. https://m.nintendo.com/shared/en-GB/GB/officialPlaylists/4bf4aa80-f0c5-4bbf-baf9-3c9d81bc1088

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness NA release: 8th December 1999 JP release: 25th December 1999 PAL release: 3rd March 2000 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: 75% Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness is a bit of an odd game. It’s sort of a new game, but also isn’t. In a way, this is an attempt at re-doing Castlevania 64, listening to feedback from that release, and addressing it without creating a full sequel. The levels feel a lot more simplified, less routes to get lost in, and it’s generally a more linear experience. There are also save points everywhere, and the game lets you move the camera, albeit using the D-pad, which is a bit awkward on the N64 controller. But there is a ton of new stuff as well. At the start, you can only select a new character called Cornell, although there is a variant of the Konami code (only discovered in April 2024) to unlock all characters. His story is set 8 years before the first Castlevania 64. Once you complete his story, you can play the original two campaigns, Carrie and Reinhardt, who have re-worked versions of their original campaigns, along with another new character called Harry, who has a shorter game that you need to complete in fewer than 7 in-game days. Because the original game cut me off before the end of the game, due to playing on easy (which, thankfully, no longer stops you from playing the full game), I really didn’t realise how many levels at the end of the game focused much more on platforming, and Cornell’s journey even more so. The second half of his game feels completely different from the first, and the game’s wonky jumping and grabbing edges is one of the issues that hasn’t been addressed. The first game focused on combat and puzzles, while the first time playing this will be mainly platform-based. If you’re going to play a version of Castlevania 64, it may as well be this one. Fun Remake or remaster? A remaster that improves upon this and also gives the option of playing Carrie and Reinhardt’s original levels would be nice. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

...That's a trick question, right? Banjo-Tooie is a 3D platformer game developed by Rare that originally released on the N64 in 2000. It's the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, and was just added to the N64 NSO app. It's quite important that you know I played that version, by the way. 2 years have passed since Banjo (The bear) and Kazooie (The bird) pushed an old woman off of a tower. Said old woman is Gruntilda, and she's been trapped under a boulder outside of Banjo's house for the past two years. This can't possibly be a bad thing, so Banjo is playing Poker with his pals. But oh no! Bad thing! Two of Grunty's sisters break into the Spiral Mountain area with a massive tank and free her from her rocky prison. Her skin has kind of decayed, and now she's a skeleton. Being the calm, non-vindictative type of person, Gruntilda decides the best course of action is to total Banjo's house, and kill Banjo's friend, Bottles. That last bit isn't very important, he was no-one's favourite character in the first game anyway. So it falls to Banjo and Kazooie to traverse the nearby Isle o' Hags, find Grunty, and make sure we don't get a third game. *sigh* Now I'm sad. Being a Rare game from the 90's, the game is naturally chock full of jokes and a crapton of innuendo, even by 90's Rare standards. I still find it funny. The characters are great, and the dialogue is a joy. The humour is also noticably darker then it's predecessor. The main goal of the game is to explore 8 different worlds and collect golden Jigsaw pieces (They're called Jiggies), there are other things to collect as well. Music Notes are used to learn new abilities for Banjo and Kazooie, and then there's less important ones that offer various benefits. Banjo-Tooie is a bit of a deceptive game. If you've played the first game, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Tooie is similar fare. But the surprising (and most divisive) thing is that instead of the more straight forward progression of Kazooie or Mario 64, Banjo-Tooie is more like a Metroidvania. Even in the first world, it's impossible to get every Jiggy on your first visit (Normally), as you'll need abilities from later stages to complete some tasks. As well as this, the worlds are noticably larger, and they even connect to each other at times. People give it a lot of flack for this, but I much prefer it this way. I find it weird that in this era of massive open worlds, Banjo-Tooie is seen as inferior to Kazooie for this reason, but Tooie has far better level design anyway. Every Jiggy feels like a more signifcant achievement compared to Kazooie, and Banjo has an impressive repertoire of abilities (They start with every ability from the first game, Samus would be appalled). The reason that I said that me playing this on the NSO app is important is because Banjo-Tooie is a very ambitious game. It really pushed the N64 to it's limits, the lighting in particular is amazing for the time, and it didn't utilise the Expansion Pak. This meant that the framerate was prone to cratering all the bloody time. The emulator used in the NSO app means that games with uncapped framerates or drops run a lot more smoothly. Banjo-Tooie really benefits from this, as almost the entire game now runs at a steady 30 frames per second. Eurgh... no, you can keep that game. To be fair, the Xbox Live Arcade version of this also has an improved framerate, but that was an amateur job, as this meant that cutscenes (Which utilise musical cues) desynced. The NSO version doesn't suffer from that issue, as it restores the original framerate in cutscenes. Also, the NSO version's HUD isn't ugly as sin, the controls aren't borked, Breegull Blaster sections that require you to aim up aren't literally impossible, you're allowed to use in-game cheat codes and still save, and it has online multiplayer. Yeah, it's no contest. The NSO version is the definitive Tooie experience. It's beautiful. Canary Mary is still the literal worst, though... Special shout out goes to the many, many ways that you can sequence break certain things, mostly courtesy of the "superbanjo" cheat, a deceptively simple cheat that makes Banjo run faster. I love this cheat, it makes the game even more fun! Here is just some of the nonsense you can do. Fair warning, there are some spoilers here. Speaking of, the bosses are so much better then Banjo-Kazooie! Like, I honestly think they're among the best of the 3D platformer genre. The minigames are also really great too. Anyway, that's my 100% completion time. Pity I didn't break 10 hours... So that's Banjo-Tooie, my favourite single-player N64 game ever, and it's been an utter joy to play such a good version of it. Give it a chance. Go in expecting more of a 3D metroidvania than a 3D platformer, and you might just like it.

Tarzan NA release: 15th February 2000 PAL release: 21st April 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: Eurocom Publisher: Activision N64 Magazine Score: 35% It’s probably difficult to make licensed tie-in games. A lot of the development is while the film is being made, and the developers don’t always get much help from the film studio regarding characters or story. There’s also the nature of translating the story and set pieces into stuff that can be played. Add to this strict release dates and usually low budgets, and there’s only so much that can be done. This game, based on Disney’s Tarzan, doesn’t even try to tell a story. There’s no text between levels, no cutscenes. So instead, it’s just a story about a young boy that murders every animal in the jungle, who then grows up, still kills every animal he encounters, kidnaps a woman, and then another man tries to put him down at the end. Tarzan is a “2.5D” platformer from before the brief period where the term was popular. The level bends and moves into the camera at times, which gives it a bit of extra depth, but the levels all just blend into each other. You can throw fruit at enemies or find a knife to stab them (which, oddly, does no more damage than your infinite supply of fruit). One big issue with Tarzan is jumping near edges. One trick good platformers do is have slight leeway when jumping close to an edge, you can run part way off before jumping. Tarzan lacks that, and is made even worse because the edge isn’t well defined – due to the 3D geometry, the edges aren’t straight, and it’s difficult to tell which part is the actual “edge”. On top of countless animals to kill, there’s also a ton of collectibles. These only unlock extras, and searching for them is immensely dull, an issue with the entire game. The only semi-enjoyable level was Terk going through the campsite, with some nice music (the game has some good MIDI versions of tracks and songs from the film, including some Phil Collins stuff). Incidentally, there’s no enemies in the level. There are a few different set-pieces for variety. You can grind along long branches (it’s all automatic, you just spin around the outside of the tube) and there are a few Crash-style “3D” sections: two are annoying “run towards the camera from danger” and the other is a badly made Crash Bandicoot level. It makes you very glad the entire game isn’t in 3D. Tarzan is a very boring 2D platformer with a slight bit of flair, but no identity or personality. You could throw any license into the game and it would make as much sense. Poor Remake or remaster? Unless it’s part of a comprehensive Disney platformer collection, not really. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Tarzan on N64.

This will never be topped in all of gaming history

Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku JP release: 25th December 1999 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: N/A There’s no good way to translate “Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku”. Mononoke are a kind of vengeful spirit, but can also be a term for a shapeshifting creature, while Sugoruku refers to one of two board games, in this case a very simple roll and move board game. This Goemon version of Sugoruku adds in a card and combat system, with the goal being to defeat your opponents by reducing their health to zero. The game doesn’t explain its mechanics (they’re just in the manual), but it’s simple to figure out. Each turn has a structure: draw a new card, optionally use a card, roll and move, battle (if on the right spot), take another action (use a card, place a spirit, or level up one of your spirits), then end your turn, discarding a card if you have too many. Most spots are empty, but you’ll want to place down your spirit cards, which add the respective creatures to the board. When your opponent lands on one (or you land on one of theirs), a fight commences. Here, you can attach a single weapon card to use in the fight to help improve the stats of your spirit card. While they’re the actual creature on the board, here they’re represented by the card, and there are some quite nice animations for attacks and to show the different kinds of damage affecting the cards. When you win a battle, you’ll also damage your opponent directly, and then gain a lot of money from them. If the losing spirit is on the board, they’ll be replaced by the victor. As money is mainly used to level up monsters, victory is pretty much decided very early on in the game, as the winner of the first fight is in a better position to level up their on-board spirits, so the rest of the game is you and your opponent just circling the board for ages until another battle is triggered. It’s all very dull. Poor Remake or remaster? Only as part of a Goemon collection, which is something that needs to happen due to a few great games. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack - N-Europe Multiplayer (08/11/2024) Thanks for the games.

Viewpoint 2064 JP release: N/A NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Racdym Publisher: Sammy N64 Magazine Score: N/A For starters, I do like how they used “2064” to mark this as an N64 name, it feels much more natural like that. I didn’t even notice what the game was doing with the name to start with. Viewpoint 2064 is a sequel to the Neo Geo arcade game Viewpoint, a side scrolling shoot-’em-up, which notably had an isometric view instead of scrolling vertically or sideways. With a behind-the-ship 3D perspective, Viewpoint 2064 may look a bit like Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64), and even has a similar level progression where you end up on different routes, but it plays much more like a more traditional shmup. For starters, you move in a 2D manner, moving left and right as the screen automatically scrolls forward at a set pace. You can move into the screen a little bit as well, but you can’t move up and down. The on-screen cursor is also initially confusing, as it does move up and down, but your guns don’t fire upwards. The cursor is more for the lock-on, which can target enemies that are “in the air” from your perspective. Appropriately, Viewpoint also likes to play around with its viewpoint. Throughout the stages, there will be times where the camera changes to a different angle, usually for a section where you have to dodge obstacles. These sections can provide a bit of spectacle, as well as a nice change of pace. The game looks nice up close, but the draw distance is quite poor, with the game looking its best when you can see a background. The game ended up getting cancelled due to “development difficulties”, however, this prototype seems very well made. It’s unfinished but very playable, with the main issue being that some levels have no enemies. Through the various routes, there are 15 stages in total. This seems like an interesting take on the shmup genre. Fun Should it be finished? Give it better graphics and finish off the levels, and I think it would be an enjoyable game if released now.

Speaking of the 64DD… did you know that Mario Party 2 was originally going to be a 64DD expansion pack disk for the original Mario Party? It’s true! The necessary hooks for the 64DD are even still there in the final retail version of Mario Party 1! The fact that such a large chunk of its minigames are also just modified versions of minigames previously seen in Mario Party 1 (something that no other mainline Mario Party has done since), is another big telltale sign of this game originally being an expansion pack. Ultimately though, I think that Mario Party 2 benefitted from being released as a standalone cartridge; because it meant that the game had more freedom to develop its own identity. I doubt that we would’ve gotten the Item mechanic if it had remained a mere content expansion disk… … and really, you can’t talk about Mario Party 2 without mentioning the Item mechanic, because it was one of the most important gameplay additions the series has ever seen. It’s a simple concept, spread across the board are various shops and spaces that can potentially yield powerful items that allow you to strategise and either help yourself or screw over your frenemies. Ranging from the venerable Mushroom (allowing you to roll two dice in one turn), to the all powerful Magic Lamp (which takes you straight to the Star Space), to the devilish Boo Bell (which summons Boo and allows you to steal coins or even stars from other players!). It can’t be overstated how important an addition this was, as it completely changed the dynamic of the core board gameplay. Unfortunately, Mario Party 2 hadn’t quite dialled in the Item mechanic fully quite yet, as you only get but a single item slot to work with… and no way of throwing away unwanted items. This has the unfortunate side effect of making Skeleton Keys borderline completely useless, while the Plunder Chest becomes overwhelmingly stupid broken powerful; capable of shutting down the Item game entirely. It wouldn’t be until its sequel, Mario Party 3, for the Item mechanic to reach its final form; granting a generous three slots for each player and a much vaster array of items at your disposal (some being amongst the best that the series ever saw; but that’s a discussion for another game later on). The board selection is smaller this time than in the original Mario Party, but the designs are arguably stronger; with more branching paths and events that can shuffle coins and space placements around strategically. The likes of Western Land and Horror Land remain fan favourites to this day (both being remade in Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario Party Superstars respectively for a good reason), but the first game’s mean streak has been reduced somewhat. No longer do 1 v 3 minigames result in the losing team having their coins stolen from them, while board events are typically less disastrous than before; and Single Player minigames have been exorcised entirely (probably for the best; as they did slow down the pace somewhat). However, Mario Party 2 also introduced another staple mechanic that the rest of the series would adopt… Battle Minigames, a new subset of minigames that pools a set amount of coins from each player into a pot that gets divvied out depending on placement. Naturally, the results of such a minigame can be utterly game changing for the winners and losers respectively; potentially ruining one person’s plans, while opening up many doors for another to run away with the game. Single player options remain thin on the ground, but the Mini Game Coaster is a surprisingly enjoyable little endurance marathon of the full selection of 60 minigames played back to back. It’s naturally very similar to the Mini Game Island mode from Mario Party 1, but the removal of the branching paths now requires mastery of every single one of those 60 minigames… even the ones you hate (I’m looking at YOU Mecha Marathon!). Quite why future games after this ditched this endurance mode (with the sole exception of Mario Party: The Top 100) is beyond me. But ultimately, that’s Mario Party 2 in a nutshell. It’s expansion pack (not Pak!) origins belie some truly game changing additions to the series, making it a pretty important entry in the series canon. But it does lose some of the more ornery elements of its progenitor; not necessarily a bad thing; but it does give this game a bit of a different flavour to the first Mario Party. I’d argue that it’s a bit overrated amongst the mainline Mario Party titles (I blame the fact that it was the only Mario Party game that kept getting re-released on the various Virtual Console services, for whatever bizarre reason), but the importance of its additions can’t be denied; and its boards are all solidly designed. It remains one of the better entries in the series to this day, and a must play for anyone looking for an endlessly replayable social nightmare of a multiplayer video game.

Mario Party 2 JP release: 17th December 1999 NA release: 24th January 2000 PAL release: 13th October 2000 Developer: Hudson Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 87% I’m really not the best person to talk about Mario Party. I really personally dislike the board game parts of it, especially the roll and move aspect. That said, I can clearly see that Mario Party 2 is much improved from the first game in many areas. For the boards, there is a bit more interactivity and routes to take, plus item shops so you can buy items to boost future turns. One thing I did find odd is that the Stars seem to be placed much closer to players, especially at the start of the game. One new addition to the boards that I hated was the Koopa Bank. If you move past the space, you lose five coins, and if you land directly on it, you get all the coins. What I particularly disliked was that it was generally plonked right at the start, so people will tend to lose coins on their first turn. One really nice touch, however, are the costumes. For each board (except the final, unlockable one), characters will wear outfits that matches the theme of the board – it’s a shame this lovely feature never cropped up again. What Mario Party 2 excels in, though, is minigames. The minigames involving spinning the stick have been completely removed, while some of the better games from the first game make a return; sometimes with some visual or mechanical changes, sometimes exactly the same. One nice touch is that some minigames are also altered for the singleplayer minigame mode. That said, a few of the duller minigames really felt like they went on for far too long. Toad in the Box (jump up at an extremely fast spinning box and hope for five Toad symbols) and Honeycomb Havoc (collect 1 or 2 fruit, avoid honeycombs) feel like they should be much shorter. At the end of the day, Mario Party is a great way to spend a couple of hours with friends, as the randomness and taking turns means that people of different skills (and people not fully paying attention) can get a good laugh out of it. Mario Party 2 is still considered by many to be the best Mario Party. Personally, I would still love Mario Party to have a more involving board mechanic. Fun Remake or remaster? A perfect Mario Party collection would include all the boards, have different rule sets, and let you mix and match minigames. Official Ways to get the game There is no way to buy a new copy of Mario Party, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Re-releases 2010: Wii Virtual Console 2016: Wii U Virtual Console 2022: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only)

Regardless of what Switch 2 turns out to be, I'm already happy. I've been using the Switch to build up a fair collection (to the point that I refused to buy cheaper alternatives on GOG or Steam), so it's nice that I'll be able to bring it forward. Really happy that this includes NSO as well.

Not just a win, but he won the popular vote too. I can't believe that one side had literally the worst person to ever exist - literally the worst candidate ever (I don't think this is even hyperbole - he is a convicted felon, a rapist, a child rapist, a racist, can barely talk, can't read, and is circling Death's drain), and still there were millions who were like "nah, I couldn't possibly vote for a woman". Fuck.

Bassmasters 2000 NA release: 16th December 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Mass Media Publisher: THQ N64 Magazine Score: N/A Looking at other reviews of the fishing game Bassmasters, it got a few high scores, but then IGN gave it a 3.1. Quickly reading a few of them, I think I know why: IGN had played In-Fisherman Bass Hunter 64, while the others haven’t. This feels like a very primitive game after Bass Hunter, from the graphics to how the game works. The biggest issue with Bassmasters is finding fish, a task even more difficult than in Bass Hunters. The biggest issue is that you can’t see them from above the water, due to the water being a mostly opaque, flat texture. The fish finder also feels useless in the game, as it would detect fish, but when using the underwater view (which you can’t use while driving the boat), there would be none in sight. The one time I did get close to a fish, it felt entirely unresponsive. It doesn’t react to the lure, it just casually swims through it and attaches. Then it never seems to fight, there’s no pulling involved, the fish doesn’t jump out of the water, it just strangely glides towards the boat. You’ll get a much more realistic and involving fishing experience from Ocarina of Time. Oh, and the one fish I did find wasn’t a bass, so it didn’t count. There are a few bonus modes, such as a casting minigame where you have to aim for moving rings, and one where you fish from shore. Here, there are fish nearby, but even then it’s a massive pain to aim for them (as you can’t see any of them), and they don’t move around that much or react to the lure. This would have been a poor game on its own, but after Bass Hunter 64 (and the minigame in Ocarina of Time), this is just atrocious. Worst Remake or remaster? There are better fishing games. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Bassmasters 2000.

If we weren't sure you were American before...

Asteroids Hyper 64 NA release: 14th December 1999 JP release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Syrox Publisher: Crave N64 Magazine Score: 53% Considering that the original Asteroids just consisted of a simple black background with a white outline, it’s a very impressive feat that the N64 version of the game manages to look worse. The background is a dark and generic starfield, there’s a planet in the corner, and as the asteroids are “realistic”, it’s often difficult to spot them against the background, especially once they get smaller. Asteroids Hyper 64 uses the same throttle forward and spin around as the original, as you blast asteroids into smaller chunks until they’re completely destroyed. This adds some simple power ups, as well as new asteroids types which, despite having abilities like being able to regenerate, you’ll be very glad as you can actually see them clearly. It really doesn’t provide as much variety and new additions as Space Invaders does, and feels more like a side mode of a game, rather than its own complete game. It gets dull very quickly. You can unlock the original Asteroids, which is by far the best part of this game. Poor Remake or remaster? Not for this version, although I think Asteroids deserves it’s own type of game like “Pac-Man: Championship Edition”, a bit closer to the original game than Asteroids: Recharged is. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Asteroids Hyper 64

It runs Doom.

One can’t help but sit and wonder at all the possibilities and wasted potential of the 64DD… Just imagine if it were the default medium to begin with? The landscape of today could’ve been vastly different… Of course, the correct answer would still have been to go with CDs, but perhaps the 64DD disk could’ve been the middle-ground that Nintendo wanted oh so badly… So many games could’ve turned out so differently, the amount of cut content and changes that the likes of Pokemon Stadium and Ocarina of Time had to go through was insane; and the development issues and subsequent abandonment of the 64DD was something that cost Nintendo years of lost development time with over a dozen releases. The sheer number of cancelled N64 games was just ridiculous, dwarfing basically every other system Nintendo put out (including the Wii U!), and the 64DD was a big reason why that list is so huge. Nintendo bet big on the project and they came up craps. The whole debacle was one of their biggest blunders with the N64 hardware as a whole. The fact that it actually got released (albeit in a very limited manner) is still incredible to me; it’s the kind of concept project that you would think would’ve forever stayed on the cutting room floor.

I enjoy using Reddit but its definitely never been a place where I could have proper conversations. You get about 3 posts in then start to get lost.

Traditional messages boards >>> Reddit style threads

I imported the Gamecube Custom Robo game for the very same reason. Seen the trophy in Smash, was intrigued about the franchise and so bought the game.

Here's a newly made fan trailer for a character who didn't get into the official release. @RedShell you should give this a viewing.

Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate NA release: 7th December 1999 PAL release: 28th February 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: Saffire Publisher: Titus N64 Magazine Score: 81% In 1999, two Xena games were released. The PlayStation got a hack-n-slash adventure, while the N64 got a fighting game. The plot of this game is easily what you’d expect: there’s a powerful object, and random characters have to compete for it. This means that Xena (or your character of choice) will have to slice her way through friends in order to win the object. One small touch with the characters is that when Xena faces Gabrielle, Gabrielle is renamed as “Hope” (who is Gabrielle’s half-demon evil daughter that magically aged and looks exactly like Gabrielle), but none of Xena’s other friends get the same treatment. It’s also strange that this also happens when playing as Gabrielle – you’ll just be renamed when you fight Xena. The Talisman of Fate is a fairly simple fighting game. This isn’t a bad thing, though, and manages to turn this game into something quite enjoyable. Instead of trying to be a deep fighting game, it instead focuses on speed and excitement, giving you jump and duck buttons for more movement options. It does mean that button mashing works quite well, but it works really well for a tie-in game that will likely have a more casual audience. The game’s biggest weakness is lack of modes, although still not as lacking as some N64 fighting games. One thing that they did attempt to do was create a 4-player mode, but changing target (pressing A) is a bit clunky. It’s a nice try, even if it doesn’t fully work. Xena is a decent fighting game, which makes it one of the better fighting games on N64. Fun Remake or Remaster? How about a collection of Xena (and Hercules) games? Nothing special, just a re-release of the games. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate

We've had this conversation before, and we're never gonna agree with this. But I'm gonna have to remind everyone that me, a person who just two days ago, beat Tooie's final boss while only getting hit twice, couldn't even beat it on the XBox because Breegull Blaster's controls were that bad. EDIT: No, actually, there is something that confuses me. What do you mean by "smoother controls"? The most complex button combination this game asks is holding the crouch button, pressing a different button, then continuing to hold crouch while moving around. Which is exactly the same as what the XBLA version asks of the player.

"Superbanjo" might just be one of the greatest cheat codes in gaming history. So simple, so effective! You can't do that on the XBox version (Unless you don't want to save). Anyway, @BowserBasher and @S.C.G. The mini games are all unlocked from the get-go. So we'll be playing Tooie tonight at 8:30pm. It's got it all; quiz shows, Mario Party style mini games, a Goldeneye rip-off... I don't think @Dcubed can make it tonight, so there's a free spot going if anyone wants it.

New trailer announcing platforms. It will be on PC, Xbox Series, PS5 and....Nintendo. With some googly eyes resting on the Nintendo logo. This seems to be what multiplatform games have been told to do by Nintendo for announcing titles coming to the next console. Edit: On their Discord, they specifically say "Nintendo (More on that as soon as we can!)"

Woah, you unlocked a memory I had all but forgotten! I've played this game! It was when you listed some of the powerups, specifically the one that rockets the ship upwards, that it all came back to me. I think it was the PlayStation version I played, because I don't remember there ever being an N64 port. I was rubbish, so I never got very far.

Space Invaders NA release: 30th November 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Z-Axis Publisher: Activision N64 Magazine Score: 73% Like Paperboy, this is another sequel to a classic game that annoyingly just uses the original name – although in this case it’s only outside of Japan, where it was called Space Invaders X (on other platforms, the N64 version wasn’t released there). This Space Invaders has a lot of features not present in the original, while still keeping the core gameplay very similar to the original. One large difference is special abilities for both enemies and you. Different enemy types, which have distinctive but hard to remember designs, will react in different ways – some shoot quicker, others dive bomb you when they die. More are introduced as you make your way through the game. You also have special abilities. Hit four enemies in a row and you’ll power up for a bonus shot (which is picked at random), which causes effects like the missile moving sideways after hitting one invader, lasers that take out whole rows, and a “kamikaze” attack which sends your tank flying upwards to smash through enemies (before safely landing on the ground). As you reach each new planet, a new power is introduced, which you’re most likely to get each time you charge up your special attack. On each planet you’ll play through 10 rounds, each with a new layout of enemies and shields. After 5 rounds, you’ll play a bonus minigame of shooting down UFOs for points and power ups – including vital shields to stop you exploding in one hit. The different special abilities of both you and the enemies do help keep things interesting. After the 10 rounds, you’ll reach a boss fight. The bosses contain the most variety. Some require spamming your slow missiles as fast as possible, others require careful aiming, and others needing frantic dodging. I also love how the final boss (unless you play on higher difficulty levels for a few bonus planets) is the strange alien monster from the artwork of the original game. This version of Space Invaders is a solid variation on the original game. Fun Remake or remaster? This hasn’t been included in any Space Invaders collections, and it really should. Perhaps rename it to Space Invaders X for clarity, though. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get this version of Space Invaders.

That's where I'm at! I'm obviously really excited to see what Nintendo have in store for us and as much as I'd really have all of that information thrust upon us right now I'm feeling relaxed by knowing I'm never, ever going to be stuck form something to play ever again 😅 When I think about the Switch successor, I then also remember a random game I already own that I haven't even started yet.. and then another.. and another..

Nuclear Strike 64 NA release: 30th November 1999 PAL release: 3rd March 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: EA, Pacific Coast Power & Light Publisher: THQ N64 Magazine Score: 82% The [BLANK] Strike series of isometric helicopter shooters was a big part of my early childhood, playing games like Desert Strike and Jungle Strike on my Mega Drive. They were great to play around with for a while, but I don’t remember having long sessions with them – more something to turn on every now and then. With Urban Strike, the series made the leap to 3D on the Saturn and PlayStation, with Nuclear Strike being released on PlayStation a year later. It took a few more years for the game to be ported to the N64, with clear graphics, but the game not taking advantage of the system, as there’s no analogue movement. One thing that is nice is that you can hop into different vehicles – such as a hover craft, tank, plane, and other helicopters. These play similar to the helicopter, but the slight differences make them feel like a nice change of pace, even if you are doing the same things. This is a great game to play a scenario a day, or something like that, but not great in long spurts. I did find that the graphics have aged poorly, due to the heavy reliance on textures. It makes the game feel like you’re playing with miniatures atop a blurry printout of a satellite photo. I can’t help but think that a simpler graphical style would have worked a lot better. Nuclear Strike is an enjoyable, albeit repetitive, game. Fun Remake or remaster? A new game in the series – as a lower budget digital game – would be great. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Nuclear Strike

Well... I can't get in right now. Says that the number of current online players exceeds the maximum supported by the game. Not quite sure how they managed to have more players than expected, considering that they artificially capped the number of participants at 10,000, but there ya go! BTW, something worth noting. I took a cheeky look at the Intellectual Property Notices tab on the Home Menu and I reckon that this is an internally developed first party EPD game. It has all the same tech notices as what the games made on EPD's own in-house engine tend to have (Immersion, Havok, FSR 1.0 etc), so it seems to be running on the same engine as the likes of BOTW, TOTK and Splatoon 3... So whatever this is, it seems to be a proper EPD game!

F-Zero X OST has been added to the service.

Blitz Shogi 3: Championship Series JP release: January 2000 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Random House Publisher: Seta Original Name: Mayjinsen 3 N64 Magazine Score: N/A A Shogi game for the Aleck 64 arcade system. In this, you challenge the computer in a shogi match. When it is your turn, a timer counts down – run out and you need to pay another credit. If you lose a match, you get a 30 second penalty and try again. Apart from the colourful background, the interface is basic, not showing you possible moves and bringing up a message if you place something in the wrong place. There’s not a great deal of information online about this game, so I used the help of a Shogi website to help win a match. Unlike other Aleck 64 games that have anime girls as your only opponents, this one seems to be more appropriate and you get a line of text and move on to your next opponent, each one seems to have their own board design. That said, things might change if you get through multiple matches. You only start with 3 minutes of time per credit, which is really very little time at all. The Shogi AI itself is also the same one as in Strongest Habo Shogi, so this is essentially a more colourful version of that game. Fine Remake or remaster? Better digital versions of Shogi exist. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Blitz Shogi 3

Getting freaky.

Open beta announced and new trailer dropped.

NBA Jam 2000 NA release: 30th November 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Acclaim Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: 80% Sports games evolved as the N64 got older, with more realistic looking players, better animation, smoother gameplay, and better visual effects. NBA Jam 2000 didn’t get the memo, and brings us a clunky game with gormless players that don’t look like they’re even standing on the court. On top of that, the first message that pops up when you start the game is a notice: this game requires two Controller Paks to save properly – and each mode uses the entire 123 pages of an official Controller Pak, so neither can be used for any other game. That is due to a proper “Jam” mode, which brings back the 2-vs-2 arcade style, similar to the older NBA Jam games. In the previous N64 NBA Jam game, it was just the regular game with different settings, now it’s more of its own thing (but still not a good excuse for the Controller Pak issue). Compared to NBA Showtime, which came out before this, this is antiquated in both looks and how it plays, being slow and clunky. Showtime didn’t get released in Europe, so I think N64 Magazine were much kinder to the game due to that. So while you have the “deal” of having two games in one, the “sim” mode is nowhere near as good as the NBA Courtside games, and the “Jam” mode is embarrassing next to NBA Showtime. And is it really a good deal once you add in the cost of two Controller Paks? Fine Remake or remaster? Better basketball games exist Official ways to get the game.? There’s no official way to get NBA Jam 2000

Finally we get crossover DLC that actually makes sense! Excellent.