Cube

Army Men: Air Combat NA release: 18th Julu 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: The 3DO Company Publisher: The 3DO Company N64 Magazine Score: 83% The Army Men games like to use different genres – starting with an RTS, then delving into 3rd person shooters, and now a vehicle shooter – but the green plastic style, lumped with the “living in a giant’s world” concept, keeps the games feeling like they belong together. Air Combat takes on the Desert Strike style of game, but keeps things simple. But that simplicity is what makes Air Combat a lot of fun. Take the winch as an example: in Desert Strike, you have to carefully line it up to pick up objects. Here, you just lower the winch and it grabs onto anything, allowing you to move objects around with ease. The autoaim is also incredibly generous, although if you don’t pay enough attention, you may find yourself blowing up your own men. Throughout the game you’ll steal some great looking weapons from the Tan Army – a tank, a UFO, a bear that shoots lasers out of his eyes… Sadly, you don’t get to use any of these (not even the UFO, which would work in a similar way to a helicopter), and it’s something that could have helped add a bit more variety into the game. Even so, it’s still a good laugh. Fun Remake or remaster? A remastered Army Men collection would be great. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Army Men: Air Combat.

The first version of the PC port of Star Fox 64 is out (it currently does not support Lylat Wars). So far, it pretty much has the game running authentically with a few minor graphical upgrades: higher resolution, widescreen, not using LOD models, keeping characters heads in their ship during gameplay and things like that. It feels pretty good. It also has various cheats (you can enable expert mode form the word go if you want), a level select and some bug fixes (although you can choose not to use them if you prefer). Hopefully over time they'll be optional stuff such as adjusting fog/draw distance, texture packs, higher quality audio (the original recordings were recovered at some point, there's a romhack for the 3DS version that uses them), but definitely a good start.

I was going to spend 2025 playing GameCube games (and if I somehow make it though those, do Zelda games), but this Timmy situation is too concerning.

StarCraft 64 NA release: 30th June 2000 PAL release: 25th May 2001 (AU only) NA release: N/A Developer: Blizard, Mass Media Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 78% StarCraft is a big name in PC RTS games. The previous RTS port to the N64 tried to play to the console’s strength by completely recreating the levels in 3D, but StarCraft 64 takes a different approach, being a more direct port of the original PC game and the Brood War expansion. For N64 owners at the time, this was a great way to play StarCraft, but it also means that there’s not much reason to try out the N64 version now. The controls are well done, and feel more intuitive than Command & Conquer, with easy access to build menus, and the R button allowing for easy selection of units, but it’s more a case that it works well enough for the N64, rather than a fully tailored experience. But, while it doesn’t have anything unique about it, it’s not really a negative, as this provides the full StarCraft experience on a cartridge, and StarCraft is one of the all time RTS greats, with a detailed campaign with a gripping story and variation, as the game works well with just a few units or hundreds of units. Fun Remake or remaster? There’s an extremely well done remaster of Starcraft, keeping the core game exactly the same, and updating the graphics to be a cleaner version of the original style. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get the N64 specific version of StarCraft 64, but the original PC version is available on Battle.net for free, with the Remastered version also available to buy.

Mario Artist Communication Kit JP release: 29th June 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: N/A There’s not a lot that can be done with this software now, the main use for this was sharing your Mario Artist creations over Randnet. Without the internet, its main use is as a file management tool, providing a way to move data across the different Mario Artist games (although you could still swap discs for loading files within each game). It does include a number of files made by Nintendo staff, that can be sent to the various Mario Artist disks to use and modify as you see fit. I am curious how many creations had been uploaded to Randnet before the service was shut down, and all the work lost. It also seemed that you were limited to the spaces across the various game disks themselves, as no blank disks were sold for additional storage. ? Remake or remaster? There are fans trying to restore Randnet services, called Randnet+, which would be great to see. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Mario Artist Communication Kit.

Indy Racing 2000 NA release: 7th June 2000 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Paradigm Publisher: Infogrames N64 Magazine Score: N/A I don’t know a great deal of Indy Racing, but from what I can figure out, it seems to be a racing event using Formula 1 cars (or one of the lower powered kinds) on short ring tracks. Indy Racing 2000 takes an arcade spin on this, with easy handling and generous collision. And the generosity with the collisions is quite vital. The races begin with a rolling start, with a great sense of speed. However, it’s absolutely chaotic, with cars slamming into each other and spinning like crazy. This makes for an intense start of the race, which is far more exciting than the end, as the easy handling on the simple tracks means that there isn’t much to do. But it seems that that section of the game (which consists of “single race” and “championship”) is just one portion of Indy Racing 2000. On the menu is a “Gold Cup” which is nearly dismissed as just a different kind of tournament to the championship. I was pleasantly surprised, then, that this is actually a very significant – and pretty great – separate mode. Almost a different game. Here you work through different kinds of racing cars, from midget cars to sprint cars to Formula cars. However, the simple ring tracks are gone, and replaced with far more interesting tracks. They’re still nice and wide, but they feature some lovely background landscapes with some fun features like jungles and shipwrecks, and are a ton of fun for racing on. It’s rather baffling that these tracks aren’t available in the single race option, as it would be nice to pick a track to race on. Still, it’s interesting that the best mode of the game is pushed down as a little bonus. If you like racing games that try to blend serious and arcade elements, this is a good example. Fun Remake or remaster? A simple re-release to make it available in more regions would be fine. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Indy Racing 2000

I got a Steam Deck in Jan. It was mainly for my girlfriend, though, and it doesn't track UPlay games (she's mainly been playing Assassin's Creed games). My PC has mainly been used for emulation. Quake II was for the remaster of the N64 version.

Riqa PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Bits Studios Publisher: Bits Studios N64 Magazine Score: N/A Riqa was a game that was shrouded in mystery for quite a while. It was one of Bits Studios three big N64 projects. The other two – Die Hard and Thieves World – both ended up being relaunched into GameCube projects, while Riqa was fully cancelled, with only a few screenshots in magazines to show for it. However, in 2024 a developer uploaded some prototypes onto the internet, so we can finally see what it was like. Now that I’ve played it, it’s a massive shame it was cancelled. Selecting the first level (which I don’t think was supposed to be the first level), it has one of the three main characters – Riqa – assaulting an enemy base. At first, I kept dying pretty much immediately until I got used to the controls, which feel surprisingly modern. Movement is similar to a 3D platformer (no tank controls), moving in relation to the camera while the c-buttons move the camera. Hold R to lock on and you’ll change into strafe mode, which lets you evade enemy fire. Once I had this down, the game became a lot of fun. Going into the secret underground base, I was able to test out a few laser types for your blaster, including a cool shot that splits into three and ricochets off the walls multiple times. On top of the regular goons, there were also some little spider robots and some turrets. I opened a few ways with buttons and activated some machinery, but ended up not having anywhere to go. It’s difficult to know if I’m just missing something or it’s just not finished in a prototype, but there was a machine, a busted control panel, and an NPC I couldn’t interact with, so I suspect that had something to do with it. Level 2 is a very detailed tutorial explaining how the various aspects of the game works, including grabbing ledges, and explaining that holding R to strafe also means that you can’t walk off platforms, with the negative of making your jump shorter. While locked on, you can also use the C-buttons to target special areas (for shooting switches), or line up your next target. We also get snippets of the main story. Your mission is to give a warning to a warlord that an assassin is after him. However, he has already received a message saying that, with the description of Riqa as the assassin, so you have to kill all his men (or, optionally, stun) to let him know the truth. The area gets attacked, and there seem to be a few side quests in the game, as a prisoner asks you to deliver a letter to their mum, and there are some hidden emblems dotted around the level. There’s supposed to be a boss outside, but he never turns up. The next level that works has a load of electrical fences, although I had to just jump on top (and get damaged) to get past them. I can’t find much to interact with here, so again, I may be missing something, or that’s all that’s done at this point. Another level puts you in control of a new character – Kane – although he felt the same as Riqa. This mission involves going down a mine and avoiding sawblade machinery. I got a door opened and couldn’t progress any further – once again, there seemed to be an NPC that may have opened the way. Kane also had a working boss, a giant mining robot where you had to shoot the tanks on the back of it, although the game crashed when I shot one off. That was it for the latest prototype, but I decided to check out earlier ones. The earliest prototype is a small square room, and puts you in control of the final character, called Tak’ on the menu (with the apostrophe). You can blow up a statue of yourself, but that’s it. The movement still feels the same, and still fun to move around. Another prototype loaded empty voids until I got to level 6, where I got a very different kind of level – a village hub world of sorts. There’s no jumping or shooting here, and the NPCs make references to terrorists that you defeated, so it sounds like you liberated them, so they can go about their lives. Some hidden chests contain credits for spending money. The buildings on the left have a few shops and restaurants, along with an underground area connecting the two, with some teenagers complaining that the place is boring without the terrorists. The buildings on the right contain what seems to be a hotel lobby and a giant lift under construction. The building at the end of the street is a large office for the mayor of the town. It really does seem like Bits Studios nailed the core mechanics of the game, such as the shooting and movement, which also includes a slide that feels great to use. There are different ammo types, different armours, and secondary weapons such as grenades and tripwires. It all feels surprisingly modern, and I think this could have been something special – it just needed a game around it. Fun (Things did not go according to plan) Should it be finished? I’m curious enough by the design of the characters that I’d like to know more about them, and find out what story the game would have had.

There's something very....late Arrowverse about that trailer, especially with the costumes/designs of the additional characters. So Clark is inspired by Frodo and Superman is inspired by Kelvin McCoy. Meanwhile, Luthor is a mix of Shinzon of Remus and Agent 47.

Belgium doesn't deserve that much credit, it's just an anti-video game law rather than something to protect people - that kind of predatory stuff is still allowed in kids toys (and is quite rampant in it, using all kinds of addictive tactics to increase sales). Any laws regarding loot boxes should apply to the sales method in all mediums, not just video games. I think the main problem Balatro faces is how it has specific poker hands in it, so it has to tell you how they work. PEGI are being a bit too strict on this, really. For lootboxes, with various governments saying that they're not that big a problem (like the UK), they can't really decide for themselves that they're harmful. They don't need to accept bribes as, unfortunately, the law protects lootboxes in this manner. It's all that PEGI don't want to face a likely pricy lawsuit where they have to prove the harm caused by lootboxes to win.

PGA European Tour Golf PAL release: 29th May 2000 NA release: 15th June 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: Infogrames Publisher: Infogrames N64 Magazine Score: 80% Another Golf game, this one has four courses, and is otherwise very unremarkable. It has a few different ways to swing, with a traditional power bar method or an analogue stick swing like CyberTiger. What I found baffling was that the target line shows the ideal shot, but there’s no indication as to where on the power bar you should aim for. I either massively overshot or undershot on every hit, not figuring out how to accurately aim the ball. Putting was also even worse for this, sometimes a 25% power shot will send the ball flying off the other side of the green, while a 50% shot will have the ball fall very short. It’s just a rather tedious golf game that doesn’t come close to Mario Golf, which strangely remains the best “serious” golf game on the system. Poor Remake or remaster? There are better golf games. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get PGA European Tour Golf.

My attempt at starting up exercise again earlier this year went well.

I tried my best to like this, but the item management just frustrated me far too much. I understand having limited space for all the stuff related to survival, but for the puzzle items, it causes a lot of extra backtracking (and backtracking is already an issue without this anyway, I hate it when movement isn't enjoyable). I ended up throwing in the towel.

International Track & Field 2000 NA release: 28th May 2000 JP release: 13th July 2000 PAL release: 2nd September 2000 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: 86% While Mario & Sonic took over for a while, the original Track & Field is probably still the most iconic game themed around Olympic sports. This is quite simply an N64 version of the button-mashing classic, although it has a lovely presentation, with the events looking like a professional sports event being shown on TV. Everything looks pretty good and the transitions are great. I did, however, find it odd regarding which buttons were chosen to be mashed together – namely C-Left and C-Right rather than two buttons next to each other. It’s quite a distance to move your thumb over for repeatedly mashing, especially against the CPU players. You might think about using two thumbs, but even then you need to awkwardly have your finger on the Z button as well. Even mapping the buttons in a few different ways, I failed at absolutely every task due to how difficult the CPU is, coming last in everything except hammer throw, where I came 10th. Where this game really would have shone was the multiplayer, as now everyone is on a level playing field, feeling the same exertion and RSI as a result of the button combinations needed. There, mistakes can be laughed at more as well, as the game poorly indicates when you need to stop running to make a throw or jump, and the changing camera angles make it even more difficult to judge. Fun Remake or remaster? With Mario & Sonic and the latest Tokyo Olympic game, this genre is well covered. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get International Track & Field 2000