Cube
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Posts posted by Cube
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WCW vs. nWo: World Tour
- NA release: 2nd December 1997
- PAL release: 12th February 1998
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Asmik Ace, AKI
- Publisher: THQ
- N64 Magazine Score: 70%
It took a while for the N64 to get its first wrestling game, although it ended up getting a LOT after this one. It’s quite difficult to judge these properly as WWF No Mercy (the first wrestling game I ever played) essentially invalidated all the other wrestling games on the console and set the standard going forward.
For the first on the N64, it does a good job. The gameplay works well enough, although putting the special moves on the control stick is a very odd choice (you move around with the D-pad). You punch, kick and grapple. That said, individual matches do go on for far too long – upwards of 20 minutes.
But there’s not much to the game. There aren’t that many wrestlers and there are just a few basic modes, the first of which is a 5v5 where they duke it out one at a time. If one wrestler wins, they fight the opponent’s next.
QuoteThere’s none of the speed or agility of your average beat-’em-up. Rather, the game chugs along at the same leisurely pace throughout, with every wrestler moving at the same speed (and all appearing to skate around).
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #12
Remake or remaster?
The genre itself has evolved.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get WCW vs. nWo: World Tour
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Heiwa Pachinko World 64
- JP release: 28th November 1997
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- Developer: Shouei System
- Publisher: Amtex
- N64 Magazine Score: 12%
Pachinko, from what I understand is a “totally not gambling” gambling machine popular in Japan. It seems to be a mixture of a pinball machine, 10p machine and a slot machine. As you buy tokens and win prizes instead of cash, it skirts around gambling laws in Japan.
You buy balls and then use a dial to aim them into the machine, where they tumble down and activate the various parts of the slot machine, hoping the hit the jackpot.
You can walk around three pachinko parlours. Even though these are built in 3D, it controls like a Myst-style point and click game as you turn 90 degrees and only stand in specific locations. The graphics are terrible with really bad tiling everywhere and humans that look like barbie dolls with shrunken heads.
The machines don’t fare much better. As they’re based on real machines and not designed specifically for the N64, they try to fit in far more detail so they just look like a blur. You can tilt them for a slightly different view at the vomit-inducing mess.
Also, while pachinko is really simple, the controls are terrible. The only actual control is the dial, but all the variation is within one segment of the analogue stick, meaning you have very little control.
And, at the end of the day, this is the kind of thing you’ll find in a crummy seaside arcade but with the tickets and prizes removed. What little fun is removed, the whole risk is removed and the whole point – winning prizes is just there. A game version could have cosmetics or something, perhaps a room to decorate, but there’s nothing.
It’s a pointless game.
QuotePachinko World 64 is not only supremely, supremely dull – to such an extent that the more familiar game of pinball starts to look intoxicatingly good fun -but it’s also cretinously programmed.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #13
Remake or remaster?
No. Just…no.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Heiwa Pachinko World 64
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"Releasing simultaneously worldwide in 2025".
A rather odd choice of words. Are Z and A two different games, or is there something else its releasing simultaneously with?
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Family Stadium 64
- JP release: 28th November 1997
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- Developer: Namco
- Publisher: Namco
- Original Name: Famista 64
- N64 Magazine Score: 68%
Yet another Japanese only baseball game, this time from Namco. This one, however, features a different style of batting and some other fun features – such as a Namco-themed stadium.
Instead of very specifically aiming the bat, batting in this game is focused far more on timing, with you just moving slightly to the side and swinging at the right time. I was able to get to grips with this a lot more, and even scored some runs.
Once the ball has been hit, the game switches to a completely different 2D visual style. This works surprisingly well, with your players running and diving for the ball. I felt more in control of the game and based on that, I was able to enjoy this one.
Family Stadium also has a bunch of minigames, which serve as great practice and training for each individual part of the game – one for hitting far, one for hitting specific targets, one for catching balls and so on. They’re fun and can be played solo or with others.
There are also a couple of minigames which aren’t really related to baseball (or practising one element of it), but are still fun. There’s one where you have to pump up a balloon before an opponent, one where you have to trace a picture and, what seems the most random, a 2D snowball fight minigame.
Family Stadium is the first baseball game that I’ve had some fun with – although I’m not sure if those fully into baseball would agree that it’s better.
QuoteIt gives you an incentive to play rather than having you punished every time for the faintest whiff of an error. And despite its pudgy performers and hyper-cute surroundings (including Pac-Man’s Castle Stadium), it’s actually quite a serious baseball sim.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #11
Remake or remaster?
Sports games evolve over time – although minigames should be brought back for them.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Family Stadium 64
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Chopper Attack
- JP release: 28th November 1997
- NA release: 16th June 1998
- PAL release: 1st September 1888
- Developer: Seta
- Publisher: Seta (JP), Midway (NA), GT (PAL)
- N64 Magazine Score: 81%
Chopper Attack (or Wild Choppers) is a game that’s clearly inspired by the [Terrain] Strike series of games. It’s a helicopter shoot-’em-up across eight missions. Each mission will give you certain enemies to destroy, although some you have to wipe out everything.
The controls make use of the N64 controller well – the C-buttons move while the analogue stick aims (although there’s no option to disable inverted aiming). There is, however, one important feature of a helicopter missing: controlling altitude. You’ll automatically move up based on terrain. Enemies don’t have the same limitations, so you have to awkwardly try to aim at them – a big problem because the crosshair isn’t pointing at where you’ll fire.
Enemies range from other aircraft to tanks, with soldiers also trying to take potshots at you. One really frustrating enemy is a giant Rambo-like man that grabs of your helicopter, messing your controls and missiles up. On top of your shield, you also need to keep an eye on your fuel – take too long to finish a mission and you’ll fail.
You also have an assortment of weapons to choose from. Your performance in one level will affect how much money you can spend on weapons on the next. Those range to ground or air missiles, to other non-homing bombs and cluster missiles.
The missions rarely set themselves apart and the graphics are just ugly, coming across very poor for an N64 game. It’s all really muddy, blurry textures and levels are brown or grey. The story barely exists, even though the game treats the briefings in a very serious manner. You shoot one group of enemies and then a second group of enemies. The last mission is only available if you play on hard.
Like Aero Fighters Assault, aliens are suddenly involved, so your helicopter is sent to the moon on its own to save humanity. The moon doesn’t play or look any differently, and the alien ships are just random geometry.
Chopper Attack is a game where you can have a bit of fun with the gameplay, but only in short blasts as he game has no variety.
QuoteChopper Attack isn’t great to look at. Its basic design if formulaic and predictable, and it’s hardly the most challenging game on the N64. And yet, somehow, its constituent ingredients mix and conspire to make it greater than the sum of its parts.
- James Price, N64 Magazine #20
Remake or remaster?
Just a standard emulated re-release is fine.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Chopper Attack
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Sumo 64
- JP release: 28th November 1997
- PAL release: N/A
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Bottom Up
- Publisher: Bottom Up
- Original Name: 64 Ōzumō
- N64 Magazine Score: 90%
N64 Magazine gave this Japanese-only sumo wrestling a rather impressive 90%. Even so, I was surprised as to how much I actually enjoyed this. Unfortunately, there is no fan patch for this game but thankfully Google Lens did a pretty good job at translating the dialogue – it was a bit odd in places, but I got the general gist of it.
And, surprisingly, there really is a lot of dialogue, as this has a fully fledged story mode – not just pitting you against other fighters like every other fighting game, but a proper story about you joining the professional Sumo wrestling and your life outside of the ring. You’ll encounter good or bad events based on how you perform in the matches.
Each match is extremely short but very fast paced. The game suggests optimal moves, but you can also do your own thing. To be completely honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing most of the time and there was a lot of button mashing, but I did deduce that there was a rhythm to the fighting, and performing moves in time to your opponent’s bar flashing is what triggers your finishing moves. The matches are only on average 30 seconds but extremely frantic and they are surprisingly a lot of fun.
As you defeat higher ranked opponents, you’ll gain stars which let you achieve a higher rank, with your goal being to be the best Sumo wrestler. After each tournament, you can also play a minigame.
There are five minigames: sleeping, eating, training, jumping and fishing. The first four are short, enjoyable distractions while I couldn’t figure out the fishing at all. They’re a nice, relaxing change of pace for a quick breather before the next tournament. Sleeping has you rolling around a little island collecting stars, eating has a judge calling out food you need to grab before your opponent, training is a “simon says” and jumping has you moon jumping high in the air, bouncing off trampolines and clouds as you pop balloons.
Between some individual matches and tournaments, you’ll progress in the story. To begin with, it seems like a bunch of random events as your character interacts with a few different girls (eventually going on dates with all of them), rivals and a few other characters. I am not sure how much your performance in the game affects the outcome, but one girl (Akira) eventually suggests marriage – which was surprising as my main character had stood her up on two dates. On one, he overslept, on another, he forgot and had a date with someone else.
The only direct choice was choosing your response to the marriage, although I suspect that saying you want to concentrate on your Sumo for now has the same end result, as if you say yes, Akira suggests waiting until you’re at the top anyway. However, the encounters and dialogue are charming on their own.
As you approach the high ranks, the story becomes more plot focused as you get attacked and then discover a “Dark Sumo” illegal gambling ring. You shut it down (you still have no input on this, it’s just dialogue) and the leader vows revenge – which he does on his wedding day as he kidnaps your wife.
The ending is both utterly absurd and wonderfully charming at the same time as you have your final fight with this villain and his “ultimate body”.
Sumo 64 is a combination of really enjoyable short fighting mixed with charming dialogue (which would probably be even better if it got a proper translation). If you understand Japanese or are willing to point your phone at your TV a lot, this is a surprisingly great game.
QuoteThe animations are simple but delightfully accurate with for example, wrestlers sweeping aside their long skirty bits (technical term) as they squat down for the ‘off’ and cheering crowds throwing their cushions in the air when their favoured wrestler wins. Even better, the announcer calls every player’s name, rank and tournament record (wins and losses) and then delivers a running commentary during every bout.
- Max Everingham, N64 Magazine #11
Remake or remaster?
There is another Sumo game in this series on N64, so a compilation of both with a proper translation would be grea
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Sumo 64
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Automobili Lamborghini
- NA release: 22st November 1997
- PAL release: 1st December 1997
- JP release: May 1998
- Developer: Titua
- Publisher: Titus
- N64 Magazine Score: 67%
Another car racing game, and this one is a mixed bag. It’s an arcade-style racer but everyone begins on the starting line (so it’s not a catchup game), and it has an “arcade” mode with a timer and a tournament without. But parts of the game just don’t quite gel with other parts.
One thing I was surprised about was that, despite the name, this game isn’t entirely about Lamborghinis. You start off with two of them, plus a bunch of cars which are Lambo-inspired in different colours. However, you then unlock other cars from other manufacturers: Farrari, Bugatti, Porche, Dodge and McLaren.
When playing in the Lamborghinis, I found the game to be immensely difficult, and once racers got ahead, there is generally no way to catch up. Once I’d got other cars, the game was much easier. So it seems like the Lamborghinis in Automobili Lamborghini are the worst cars in the game, which is surprising considering the tie in.
The handling is very arcadey, and it felt rather nice to turn around corners. It’s possibly my favourite handling in a car game so far on the N64. This then feels really odd due to the pit stop mechanic where your tyres will wear out and you’ll need to play a pit stop minigame. This bit of “realism” feels really at odds with the rest of the game – although you can turn it off.
There are only six tracks, none of which are memorable and the game overall just has a really dull feeling to it, it never feels speedy or exciting. The Japanese version (called Super Speed Race 64) has a few extra features, such as fog and night time racing, but it doesn’t help the overall experience.
QuoteSubsequently, Lamborghini never feels very fast. You may well be taking a corner at 120mph but it may well be 20mph for all the difference it makes. Perhaps only the first, and easiest, oval-shaped course comes close to producing a sweat.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or Remaster?
Nothing really needs doing with this, it doesn’t do anything specifically interesting, although a collection of the Super Speed Race series of games would be good for preservation.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Automobili Lamborghini
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In terms of design, Treecko is by far the best, with Mudkip also being good. Torchic looks more like a "early, easy to catch" Pokémon with its very simple design rather than a starter.
For the middle and end evolutions, they all look rather awful, with the exception of Grovyle.
I do remember Treecko and Torchic being big parts of the show, from what I remember, Treecko leaves when it evolves, while Torchic's penis-shaped evolution stays around a while. Mudkip was just comic relief (I think Brock had one, but out of his water Pokémon, I remember a lilypad one more).
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Diddy Kong Racing
- PAL release: 21st November 1997
- JP release: 21st November 1997
- NA release: 24th November 1997
- Developer: Rare
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 90%
Pretty much all racing games on the N64 so far have the same problem: there’s not a lot of progression for a single player, and you can do everything in a couple of hours. Some of them focused on being great in multiplayer (like Mario Kart 64) but there wasn’t a lot of choice for singleplayer.
Which is where Diddy Kong Racing comes in, as it has a very meaty singleplayer campaign with an adventure mode where you find tracks within its hub world.
It’s a neat area to explore, although a lot smaller than I remember it being. You’ll find four doors with balloon requirements (which you get from winning races or finding them in the world), with a fifth world hidden until you defeat five bosses. They start out simple at first: you have to win each race individually then defeat the boss in a race. Do that, and it gets much more challenging.
You’ll be tasked with finding 8 coins in each race. However, finding them isn’t enough as you still have to win, and then defeat a harder version of the boss. Diddy Kong Racing is a difficult and brutal game and you’ll need to learn its tricks (such as letting go of the accelerator just before boosting) to have a chance of winning. Once you defeat a boss a second time, you then complete in a tournament across the four tracks. There’s also a key hidden in one level of each world to unlock a battle mode challenge. Oh, and also time trail challenges.
Once you’ve done all that and defeated the evil Wizpig, it’s time for Adventure Two. This is a mirror mode version of the game, although the silver coins are now in more difficult places. Of course, this amount of content wouldn’t be anything if the game wasn’t fun to play.
And thankfully, it is fun. Levels use three vehicles: car, hovercraft and plane. The car and plane are very easy to use, while the hovercraft is more difficult. When you repeat tracks (or choose to play outside Adventure mode), some levels let you pick your vehicle – with some restrictions on a per-level basis – and it’s great having multiple types of vehicles racing alongside each other.
One let-down in DKR are the characters. None of them are bad in terms of a design perspective – and this is the first appearance of Banjo (without Kazooie, although some of his voice clips sound like her) and Conker, but they’re a bit too varied in terms of ability, so the game’s difficulty will vary a lot based on who you pick, with Pipsy being the best for hitting boosts (plus the silver coins).
The weapon system sets itself apart from other kart racers. Instead of giving you random items, the balloons providing items are colour coded for specific items. Collecting one of the same type you already have will also upgrade the item.
Diddy Kong Racing is still a great game, and the only kart game that’s come close to it for single-player is Sonic Racing Transformed (which also had three vehicle types, but it was specific to the part of the track you were on). It set itself apart from Mario Kart 64 and I actually prefer this one.
QuoteAnd if re-thinking the whole racing game ‘thing’ wasn’t enough, Rare have set a whole new standard for in-game graphics. Even the simplest tracks positively bulge with background extras, from lumbering dinosaurs to beautiful timber-framed houses to wallowing whales.
- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or Remaster?
If not a sequel, then Diddy Kong Racing deserves a remake. It would look gorgeous with a Mario Kart 8 style sheen to it and some updates to the control and balance would be great, with some additional options. While it would be nice for all characters to return, I’d still be very happy with the game even if they had to replace most of them. The Switch seemed perfect due to the system’s portability and how it doesn’t have its own Mario Kart.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Diddy Kong Racing
Re-releases
2007: Diddy Kong Racing DS (Banjo and Conker replaced with Dixie Kong and a tall, teenage Tiny Kong, coin challenges replaced with tapping balloons).
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They didn't develop the (awful) Battletoads reboot.
It is strange that you can now buy more Rare games on PlayStation than on Switch.
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18 hours ago, Dcubed said:Hey buddy, you're gonna have to update this post now
If they put it in the eShop, it will be a significant enough change to be worth changing it.
Pro Mahjong Extreme 64
- JP release: 21st November 1997
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- Developer: Athena
- Publisher: Athena
- N64 Magazine Score: N/A
Another Mahjong game, and this one is the most basic one yet. There are a couple of main modes, either gambling or pro, and the interface is pretty much non-existent, making it the hardest to understand in order to play, and somehow the controls feel unintuitive – quite an achievement for something so simple.
The “selling point” of this Mahjong game is that it features 16 real players. This means that if you’re not interested in the 16 professional Mahjong players from 1997, you’re competing against images of old men who all look like they’d rather be somewhere else – quite a contrast to the colourful and varied cast of the other Mahjong games.
Remake or Remaster?
Nothing needs to be done with this. Clubhouse Games is a good Mahjong game.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Pro Mahjong Extreme 64
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So, a couple of games to possibly get on Xbox, but nothing for the Switch. Shame Endless Ocean isn't a proper game, just randomly generated levels.
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Aero Fighters Assault
- NA release: 21st November 1997
- JP release: 19th March 1998
- PAL release: 12th April 1998
- Developer: Paradigm
- Publisher: Video System
- N64 Magazine Score: 58%
I very rarely suffer from motion sickness in video games, but Aero Fighters Assault was so nauseating that I got a pretty bad headache as a result. The game has a very choppy framerate and the levels are so bland that they’re extremely disorientating. These are things that you need to take care of in an aircraft fighting game like this.
While this is the first jet game on the N64, it’s important to note that the PlayStation had received two Ace Combat games to set an example of what this genre should be offering, with some solid campaigns. Aero Fighters Assault has an extremely bare bones plot that doesn’t give you much of a clue of what is going on, even with the manual. Phutta Morgana (not sure if it’s a person or organisation) has melted the ice caps and flooded most of the world and has “totally immobilized the world’s ground units”. With the navy focused on rescuing people, it’s up to a squad of four pilots to save the world (even though it seems like the world has already lost).
There are seven main levels to play through (plus a couple of bonus ones). In most of them you have to destroy a massive boss vehicle. The biggest challenge is finding it due to the game’s terrible radar, but you can ignore other enemy craft for the most part – they present more danger to your teammates and you’ll miss out on a bonus star if they’re shot down (although good luck finding them when they’re in trouble, they don’t appear on the radar). One level has you defending a space shuttle from ground units and one you have to kill all enemy aircraft. There are no actual dogfighting manoeuvres, so if an enemy gets behind you, your only real tactic is to just fly as far away and hope they give up.
The final mission gives you the intel “Lar has been sent to Earth to destroy all humanity”. After flying through an ice cave, you enter a spaceship and destroy an alien eye. Was this eye leading the organisation? It’s never explained, but with how awful the game is to actually control, the lack of actual story is probably the most entertaining part of the game. There’s also not much excuse for such a dreadful feeling flight game as the developers worked on Pilotwings 64. Another thing that I noticed was the poor hit detection for collisions – many crashes seemed like I missed the object I blew up on.
Aero Fighters Assault is a bare-bones game and didn’t do anything special when it came out – other games in the genre had already set much higher standards. Time has also done the game no favours and it comes across even worse now than it probably originally did. For me, it was an utterly horrible experience, and that isn’t even counting how it made me feel physically ill.
QuoteYou’re only allowed to be shot down once before you have to restart the level. Other than that, though, you can crash your aircraft as many times as you like, so boss disposal is simply a matter of firing as many missiles as you can, then crashing into the side of the lumpy metallic beast before you take too much damage. You then reappear next to where you ‘died’, and can repeat the process until the boss explodes. In fact, crashing as soon as you take a hit is the best method of survival.
- Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #16
Remake or Remaster?
The earlier games in the series had a good reception, so having a collection would be quite nice, with this included just for the sake of preservation. The third game is currently available on Switch.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Aero Fighters Assault
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The translation thing is unfortunate - still, luckily it's just a minor part of the game, I just found it amusing after Duke Nukem. I've updated my thoughts based on what @Dcubed said.
San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing
- NA release: 7th November 1997
- PAL release: December 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Midway
- Publisher: Midway (NA), GT Interactive (PAL)
- N64 Magazine Score: 82%
When I hear the name “San Francisco Rush”, I think of one of this game’s sequels, 2049, as it was something N64 Magazine loved. I never saw a lot of discussion of the original. After playing this, I can understand why it got good reviews when it came out, but I can also see why it isn’t talked about too much.
San Francisco Rush still has remnants from the arcade game – such as the annoying checkpoint/timer system, but at least all the other racers start alongside you and feel like opponents. The tracks are quite interesting in this game. There are six of them (plus a hidden one that wasn’t fully finished – but is actually really fun) and can be played mirrored and/or backwards. They’re also not all basic loops, as some have different routes you can take – you can even go in the opposite direction to other racers on some parts.
The tracks also have hidden shortcuts and collectables to find, and even a hidden stunt area. These are best done in “practice” mode where you are given a lot more time. It makes the tracks feel much more real and exploring them is almost great – but the game respawn system is really annoying. When you crash (or don’t move for a few seconds) your car is whisked up and you’re taken to where the game thinks you should be, so if you’re going a different route to what the game intends, it will ignore it and put you on the “proper” one. What’s odd is that I’ve crashed and the respawn system put me in a higher position than I already was. This applies to practice mode, so if your car crashes in the stunt area, you’ll have to drive all the way back.
A lot of the shortcuts are also high risk, and some barely save any time but are just a ton of fun to do, jumping over rooftops and spinning in the process. The game is let down a little bit by the modes, though. The main circuit mode just chooses some random tracks (with backwards/mirror also being random) rather than set cups. There are some extra cars to unlock by winning (and by finding the collectables), but when the game only supports one other person, you expect a bit more.
That said, San Francisco Rush is a very solid foundation to build upon, so I’ll see more as I reach the sequels.
QuoteThe handling is too heavy – on every car -never allowing you to confidently manoeuvre through corners and ensuring you come a cropper at important junctures when you can’t afford to. And yet, it is a good game. A very good game. It’s fabulously inventive, for starters.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #11
Remake or remaster?
A new Rush collection would be quite nice – or even a game that combines the features, cars and tracks of the first three games in a new package.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing
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Puyo Puyo Sun 64
- JP release: 31st October 1997
- NA release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Compile
- Publisher: Compile
- N64 Magazine Score: 80%
My main experience with Puyo Puyo is Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine – a game I couldn’t enjoy because of colourblind issues, so I was dreading playing this one. However, in the options, you can adjust the colours of the different Puyo, even going as far as completely greyscale and relying on the (a bit too minor when the game goes fast) different shapes completely.
With the options set to how I like them…I actually really enjoy Puyo Puyo. It’s geared towards a 1v1 setup, as creating sets of four will send bad beans to the opponent’s screen – but if you score combos, you’ll send a load at once. This creates a risk factor as you can try to set up elaborate combos (something I’m not good at) but wait too long, and your opponents will scupper your plans with some bad blocks.
The story mode has you battling lots of colourful characters as you get amusing little snippets before each match, with some nice animation. It’s all very silly, but also quite entertaining – and there’s more swearing in this than Duke Nukem 64 (while the voice acting is in Japanese, a few words are in English, including the swearing).The story mode has you battling lots of colourful characters as you get amusing little snippets before each match, with some nice animation. It’s all very silly, but also quite entertaining, with lots of unfortunate events happening to absolutely everyone. Of course, every problem in life can be solved by a Puyo Puyo battle.
There’s also a good amount of different modes. Puzzle Puyo is essentially a training mode, giving you a guide to help you set up combos, and you can then test out these skills in a mission mode, which gives you tasks but you have to figure it out yourself. There are also endless, tournament and versus modes, giving you plenty to deal with.
I have not played any later Puyo Puyo games so I don’t know how this compares, but I found this to be genuinely entertaining and it was a blast to play.
QuoteIt’s Puyo Puyo, still one of the finest competitive puzzlers to ever come between friends and have them growling under their breath at each other.
- Zy Nicholson, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or remaster?
A collection and official localisation of the earlier Puyo Puyo games would be nice.
Official ways to get the game.
While there are newer Puyo Puyo games, this particular version is not available anywhere.
And some completely random trivia - the name of Puyo Puyo Sun in this Saturn Power review - they called it Ijidkijidk Sun, mistaking the Japanese on the box for English characters.
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1 hour ago, bob said:How are you playing these games if there's no official way of getting them?
Good old fashioned piracy. Although I did only use a legitimate website dedicated to archiving the digital history of humanity.
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If there's one person that would never steal a game, it's the Nintendo-approved version of...
Duke Nukem 64
- NA release: 31st October 1997
- PAL release: 14th November 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: 3D Realms / Eurocom
- Publisher: GT Interactive
- N64 Magazine Score: 86%
Duke Nukem 64 is a port of Duke Nukem 3D, a PC game from a 1995. It still retains that “DOOM” feeling, although the levels are much more 3D. That said, it still has the sort of “puzzles” involving pressing random buttons and trying to figure out what has changed. On top of this, you are sometimes presented with a series of buttons and need to guess the correct combination to progress.
From a technical standpoint, Duke Nukem 64 has some graphical changes, with much better 3D explosions but lacking proper sky effects. One major problem is the sound: other than on the title screen, there’s no music whatsoever. It makes the game feel incredibly empty and lacking in atmosphere.
But those aren’t the biggest changes to the game. In order to release on the N64, Duke Nukem 3D is heavily censored. The voice acting has been completely redone to get rid of swearing, and women have been covered up with more clothes, with lots of posters changed completely. Some levels have been changed as a result, with an adult video store being replaced with a gun shop and a chapel being removed.
The thing is, all that stuff is pretty much what Duke Nukem was about, the N64 version is just very toned down. There’s no reason to play Duke Nukem 64, stick to the main version. Especially as the main feature for the N64 version – co-op – has now been added to Duke Nukem 3D.
QuoteThe mixed news for someone that has played Duke Nukem before is that, apart from the censorious changes enforced by Nintendo, the levels in Duke Nukem 64 remain largely unchanged.
- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or remaster?
The proper version of Duke Nukem 3D has been remastered and updated over time, so stick with that version.
Official ways to get the game.
Duke Nukem 3D is available on Steam.
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21 minutes ago, Josh64 said:I'm just wondering if games like that could end up in a Player's Choice if the Switch 2 isn't gonna be around in the next year or so
Or at least some complete editions, like Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8 and the Splatoon games.
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I'm not as familiar with the newer Pokémon like these, but I have seen the anime that covers them.
In terms of designs, the initial evolution of each one is great.
Chikorita has some good evolutions, and from what I remember, had a full arc in the show. Bayleef razor leaf is a great aspect of the design, and this middle evolution is far more iconic than any of the other middle or final evolutions of these starters.
Cyndaquil's evolutions...exist. They're both very boring.
And as for poor Totodile, he has some really ugly designs to look forward to.
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Extreme-G
- NA release: 27th October 1997
- PAL release: 9th December 1997
- JP release: 29th May 1998
- Developer: Probe
- Publisher: Acclaim
- N64 Magazine Score: 87%
This is one I played a lot when I was younger. An extremely fast futuristic racing game on tron-like sci-fi motorbikes. It’s a proper competition-based racing game (where all the racers start at the same place, not an overtaking arcade racer) and has a bunch of weapons thrown into the mix.
The biggest criticism about Extreme-G is probably the handling, which does not manage to keep up with the speed of the bikes. To counter this, the developers added a bunch of things to ease the frustration. Walls don’t slow you down that much (they do slightly damage your shields) and the sides of the track have a kind of “energy barrier” that keeps you on the track. Respawning after falling off is also very quick. Even using the cheat to make the game even faster, making mistakes in races never feels annoying.
There are weapons dotted across the track that you can pick up, which come in lots of slight variations. These have a smaller immediate impact on racers than the likes of Mario Kart, but do whittle away shields (you also have a laser you have access to at any time to do extra damage to shields). However, the weapons are difficult to use effectively and ones like the cannons are more likely to harm you than your opponents.
Extreme-G has a good amount of tracks (compared to other racers at the time on N64, at least), although they do tend to blur a bit together due to the winding nature of them. There’s a track set around some lava games that’s the most difficult track in the game (by a massive margin), and the final track is a futuristic forest with Santorini-inspired buildings and UFOs flying around and looks absolutely gorgeous.
On top of the standard league mode, there’s time trial, practice and a shoot-’em-up mode where you have to blast drones. The multiplayer also has a battle mode in unique arenas, so there’s a good amount of stuff to do in the game.
Extreme-G is still a lot of fun, and manages to feel different to both Wipeout and F-Zero.
QuoteAnd, if nothing else, Extreme G is wonderful to look at. It marries Blade Runner and Alton Towers to awesome effect and, speed-wise, beats Wipeout at its own game.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #9
Remake or remaster?
An Extreme-G collection would be wonderful to see. Just do some minor improvements like properly implemented widescreen and customisable controls, perhaps even add weapon icons to the HUD. Unfortunately, IP owners Throwback Entertainment seem uninterested in the franchise, only re-releasing the poor PC port of the second game, lacking analogue steering or proper controller support.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Extreme-G
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22 hours ago, Dcubed said:Are you gonna cover the Sculptor's Cut version of Clayfighter as well @Cube?
Unfortunately, yes. It counts as different enough.
Madden Football 64
- NA release: 24th October 1997
- PAL release: December 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Tiburon
- Publisher: EA Sports
- N64 Magazine Score: 92%
So, American Football. I know almost nothing about it and this is my first proper experience with it. While Baseball is quite easy to understand (especially based on Rounders and Cricket), American Football seems to have very specific rules and even my basic knowledge of Rugby did not help me out at all.
I can understand why sports games mainly target fans of the sport, but considering this game was released in Europe, I do find it odd that there’s no proper introduction or tutorial to entice new people into the sport. That said, I did learn some new things.
American Football is very stop-start. Every couple of seconds, with a bad pass or with a single tackle, the game stops, players regroup, discuss tactics, pick a plan and then wait for a new kick-off. You never seem to be able to play long enough to get used to the controls or actually enjoy the gameplay. I also found it interesting that wasting time by waiting as long as possible to choose tactics is a key part of the game, as the CPU player did it to me towards the end of the match.
American Football players also seem to spend most of their time just standing around, while the referee runs with the ball far more than the players. Even in this game (where you would expect that to skip these bits), I seemed to watch the referee more than the players. He’s clearly the most athletic person on the pitch.
It also seems that flopping over is a huge skill. Any slight touch will cause anyone with the ball to hit the ground instantly. Even if I barely scraped an opposing player (who does not make any kind of tackle animation), my player will pitifully fall over. I’m not sure if that’s the sport or if that aspect of Madden 64 is just broken.
N64 Magazine seemed to think it faithfully recreated American Football, though, rating it as one of the best games on the platform. I didn’t enjoy anything about this, but I found this more difficult to understand than any of the Japanese-only games.
QuoteBut it’s the gameplay that counts, and Madden manages the difficult task of combining the complex strategic elements of American football that make it such a compelling sport, with the action packed athleticism and glamour.
- Tim Tucker, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or remaster?
These games evolve over time.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Madden 64
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NFL Quarterback Club 98
- NA release: 24th October 1997
- PAL release: December 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Iguana
- Publisher: Acclaim
- N64 Magazine Score: 86%
Another American Football game released on the same day as Madden 64, and it feels mostly the same. This done does seem a bit quicker without having to watch the referee as much, and all tackles looked like actual tackles instead of players just flopping over for no reason. Based on that, I would say that this is better, but I don’t know the sport at all.
I did get some enjoyment out of this one, too. The cheats add some quite funny options, such as making players move like old electronic American football games, making them spin around or making them all bum shuffle. I have no idea if this is a good American football game, but I got a couple of laughs from it.
QuoteThere’s also a good deal of effort put into the management aspects of the game, that you can indulge in if the fancy should take you, including the ability to join in the annual player draft, trad real-life superstar players, plus indulge in the disturbingly Frankenstein-ian “Create your own players” option
- Tim Tucker, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or remaster?
These games evolve over time.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get NFL Quarterback Club 98
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Microsoft announced today that four games, all over a year old, will be coming to Switch. Two are more "indie-like" and two are live service games.
Very likely Hi-Fi Rush, Penitent, Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
Hi-Fi Rush is a lot of fun, but I'd love for Sea of Thieves to get a proper offline mode. The game looked amazing on my old PC, so it should look great on Switch.
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ClayFighter 63⅓
- NA release: 23rd October 1997
- PAL release: 19th November 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Interplay
- Publisher: Interplay
- N64 Magazine Score: 24%
The Clayfighter series are parody games that supposedly make fun of other fighting games. Previous entries made fun of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, while this one tackles Killer Instinct. When I think of a parody fighting game, it brings up the idea of a creative and funny game that has over-the-top moves that is enjoyable but likely quite simple. Clayfighter 63⅓ is none of those things.
Clayfighter aims for a claymation style, but this is completely spoiled by the very low quality sprites and extremely poor animation. On top of that, none of the characters were anything I wanted to play with, being a mixture of generic things, things 6 year olds find “gross” (fat, snot) and racist caricatures. Oh, and Earthworm Jim. Every character also has extremely annoying voice clips, a complete waste of the talent they hired (which includes legends like Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen and Dan Castellaneta).
The arenas are slightly more interesting than fighting games. They’re not as deep as Mace: The Dark Age, but you can hit your opponent through doors and reach other arenas. Unfortunately, the camera is terrible and you can end up fighting behind scenery. The fighting itself is also really dull, being incredibly slow and clunky, with button mashing working very well.
The game is also very light on content, with just one mode of fighting random opponents (with no attempt of putting it inside a story) and…options. No practice or additional modes and not very many options. It’s an atrocious game devoid of anything fun or amusing.
QuoteIf only there was a decent combat system to base the whole thing around. If only it was fast, fluid and exciting. If only there was a game that was genuinely fun to play then perhaps the alleged ‘humour’ wouldn’t grate so much.
- Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #9
Remake or Remaster?
No. A remake was in development for DSiWare and WiiWare, but never made the light of day. Thankfully. Oh, and it was going to be called “Call of Putty” so you know the humour would have been non-existent.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get ClayFighter 63⅓
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J.League Eleven Beat 1997
- JP release: 24th October 1997
- PAL release: N/A
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Hudson
- Publisher: Hudson
- N64 Magazine Score: 52%?
The fourth different football series for Japan, this one has a much more cartoony/anime style, and I think it suits he N64 quite well. It’s much better than Dynamite Soccer but at the same time, because it’s simply a decent game, there’s really not a huge amount to say about it.
Eleven Beat keeps things nice and simple, but also functions quite well. The CPUs mistakes in this game felt more natural than other football games and you have a few different kinds of passes and shots. When defending, you do control two different players, but at least you have a cursor to show which ones.
The modes are just a few basic ones, along with a practice that’s just got your team on the pitch. There’s also a “Red Vs Blue” mode where each team can pick the players they want from all the teams, or let a lucky dip decide.
Eleven Beat is a simple but fun football game, but not much more than that.
QuoteAt least Dynamite Soccer had a speed-up button. Elven Beat doesn’t and, as a result, feels about as exhilarating as a George Graham slide.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Mgazine #10
Remake or remaster?
I do think a fun anime-inspired twist on Football could be fun to see today, especially as games can fully pull off the anime style now.
Official ways to get the game.There is no official way to get J.League Eleven Beat 1997
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Tommy Thunder (Prototype)
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Player 1
- Publisher: Player 1
- N64 Magazine Score: N/A
Tommy Thunder was a game in development by Player 1. It eventually moved to the PlayStation before getting cancelled. A fan or Robotron happened upon an open FPT while trying to find out when Robotron 64 was released and found some files, eventually cracking them 10 years later and discovering this very early prototype of Tommy Thunder.
This prototype mainly seems to be a test of the level design, as you can just move around and enemies don’t harm you – you also walk on water. That said, the level itself is very impressive in scope, with a few underground areas. This map was also just one “block” and the developers were trying to figure out a way to load new chunks of the level on the fly – this is something open world games do now, but was extremely ambitious for the early N64.
From the very few quotes about the game, it seems like this game was going to be a 3D, open world Metroidvania. You would find weapons as you explored, and equipment (such as anti-grav boots) would alter how you can move throughout the environment, opening up new areas in previous sections. The game never made it past prototyping stages and the company eventually closed down after putting all of their eggs into the Sega Dreamcast.
Should it be finished?
With retro-inspired games for this era gaining popularity, it would definitely be interesting to see a “what if” take on if the developers could pull off what they wanted with Tommy Thunder.
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Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth - All N64 Games
in General Gaming Discussion
Posted
Wheel of Fortune
With a score of 17% from N64 magazine, I was expecting something truly atrocious from this. Yet, despite the wonky looking graphics, it does a good job at what it’s supposed to do. It’s your own episode of Wheel of Fortune in an N64 cart.
Wheel of Fortune is essentially a fancy game show version of hangman. You spin the wheel and guess a letter. If it exists in the words, you’ll get the money corresponding to the wheel and if you’re wrong, play passes to the next contestant.
The wheel is a big element of luck and some of them can make you lose a turn or take away all the money you’ve earned that round.
The N64 version is a little bit ugly, but still creates the feel of a studio pretty well. With options for pass and play or having different controllers, it’s also an easy game to play with others, including non-gamers. I got quite a bit of enjoyment from this with my girlfriend, and she even asked to keep the game handy as it’s fun for a quick round every now and then.
Remake or remaster?
I’m surprised that there isn’t a Jackbox-style service for classic game shows. There could be some options such as different studio designs from the past (and region-specific) as well as choosing themes and adding your own answers into the mix.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Wheel of Fortune