Cube

Rocket: Robot on Wheels NA release: 17th November 1999 PAL release: 17th December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Sucker Punch Publisher: UbiSoft N64 Magazine Score: 88% When developing their first game, Sucker Punch had a lot of faith in Sprocket (the original name for Rocket, before trademarks got in the way). When pitching the game, they impressed some publishers, including EA who wanted to take them on board to make a PS2 game, which would mean getting rid of their earlier work. They stuck with their original plan and showed the game themselves at E3, with UbiSoft picking up the game for publishing. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a forgotten game. It was released in a period where the N64 got a lot of 3D platformers, in between big names like Rayman and Donkey Kong. Which is a shame, as it’s a fantastic game. Rocket: Robot on Wheels takes place in a futuristic circus theme park. You play as a simple unicycle robot who’s left in charge of looking after it, the night before opening. Unfortunately, a sly racoon called Jojo, who is fed up of being cooped up in a cage and being second fiddle to the star of the park, escapes and wreaks havoc. It’s up to Rocket to fix things before the park is over. Naturally, this includes lots of collectables across the game’s seven levels (plus the hub world, which is a level in itself). Rocket has an interesting move set. His wheeled movement feels good and is precise to control, with one key feature being his anti-gravity arm. He can use this to pick up objects and throw them around, which is a key part of puzzles. Throughout the game, you’ll unlock a few more abilities – although I was hoping for a few more. This does give the game a very unique feel, which extends to the rest of the game. The one major issue, though, is the camera. It moves a set amount each time you press a button, but if a wall is in the way, it will jerk around a much bigger amount until the wall is no longer in the way. If you try to adjust in a corridor, the camera will likely to a 180 turn. It’s frustrating at times, but the game is strong enough that it’s worth putting up with it. What Rocket excels at is giving you new stuff to do within each level. Not only does each level have a different structure and feel, but there’s lots of variety within each level as well. Take the first level – which is a quite small (but open) theme park. The outer ring of the level is a beach. There’s a couple of platforming segments – such as one that introduces Rocket’s ability to grab onto grapple points and swing- but the main important thing is the car you can find and drive around. Up the ramp is a building that houses a linear platforming challenge, and nearby is a roller coaster you have to repair. What’s great here is that, once you repair it, you can create your own rollercoaster. You can add heights, dips, loops, and even cross over parts of the track. There’s a challenge to get through five points in the correct order, plus other setups you have to do to collect tokens. The innermost part of the level houses some minigames (good practice for the throw ability) and a giant t-rex that needs to be repaired. There’s a lot packed in, and more than what I’ve described here. One big aspect of these levels is finding seven parts of a machine which will fix part of that level, which then has various effects. In most levels, it opens up a new significant part of a level, but others can have interesting effect, such as unlocking night/day switches that completely change the level from a lovely green area to a nightmarish lava filled world. Getting the machine parts and completing the challenge that follows will net you tickets, but there are a lot more. Each world has 12 tickets to collect. These are lettered A – L and the pause menu will give you hints on how to get them. There’s a lot of interesting things to do. The last one in each world, however, is trickier. For that, you need to collect 200 tokens in each world. These often come in sets of 5 and 10, but individual ones also exist. I was very impressed with how Rocket remembers which ones you had (a lot of games at the time reset the collectables), and as the levels don’t overstay their welcome, mopping up the remaining ones isn’t too much of a chore, making this a great game to 100% complete. There’s a ton of stuff I haven’t touched on (such as how unique each vehicle is), because there’s a lot of elements to Rocket: Robot on Wheels, but it all fits together extremely well. It’s a brilliant game, and especially amazing when it was this developer’s first ever game. It’s a shame that this got massively overlooked when it first came out, as it deserves way more attention. Fave Remake or remaster? Rocket would massively benefit from a remaster. Just spruce up the graphics a little bit (without changing too much), fix the camera, and perhaps add an slightly better finale to the game. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Rocket: Robot on Wheels.

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! NA release: 16th November 1999 PAL release: 4th February 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: Traveller’s Tales Publisher: Activision N64 Magazine Score: 71% There are some amazing film tie-in games, there are some terrible film tie-in game, but for the most part, they’re mainly alright but dull games – and Toy Story 2 is no exception. The nicest idea is something you’ll see very early on – the first person aiming mode from inside Buzz’s helmet (you can even sometimes see a reflection of his face), but outside of that, it’s just an average, clunky platformer. Toy Story 2 is split up into a bunch of simple levels. None of them have any sense of wonder or exploration, which is a massive shame as the perspective of playing as a small toy should easily lead to something special. Instead, each level consists of repeating most of the game objectives. Each level has four Planet Tokens to collect (with no story justification or explanation), but four are the same for each level: find 5 toys, collect 50 coins, destroy a boss, and complete a platforming challenge. The final one is usually a little puzzle, a race against RC, or collecting 5 objects in a short time, so there’s not much variety in the final one. It makes the game seem very dull and it just drags on. On top of that, you’re just playing a game that has places that look a bit like the places in the film – at no point does it feel like you’re playing part of the movie (even though a simplified version of the film is shown in stills). The whole game just lacks atmosphere. That said, the platforming functions just fine, and there are a few extra moves to find along the way – and in some cases, you need to unlock the ability and return to a previous level. The graphics look really ugly in some levels, but nice in others, however pop-in is always an issue. Toy Story 2 is acceptable as a film tie-in game, but it just feels like going through the motions. Fine Remake or remaster? Perhaps in a Disney 3D platformer collection. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing NA release: 16th November 1999 PAL release: December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Midway, Point of View Publisher: Midway N64 Magazine Score: 81% A boxing game centred around the famous “lets get ready to rumble” boxing/wrestling catchphrase. This starts off with a song that samples the original line (not the Ant & Dec song unfortunately), and takes a far more cartoony approach to boxing, with a big group of fairly stereotypical characters and a couple of inventive ones. Despite its looks and the colourful cast of characters, the core gameplay of Ready 2 Rumble seems oddly normal. You have a few punches and weaves, and filling up a “RUMBLE” metre lets you do a flurry of punches, but I was really expecting a lot more crazy stuff. It’s still decent, and something that’s fun in multiplayer, but it doesn’t quite fully gel with the style of the game. For singleplayer, the main mode is championship mode, where you pick a character and try to become the best, which includes taking part in some training minigames to boost your stats. A character creator feels like it would have been very welcome here, especially as the game suits odd designs. Ready 2 Rumble is a decent boxing game, but feels like it could be doing more with its premise. Fine Remake or remaster? Perhaps a collection of the games in the series. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Ready 2 Rumble Boxing.

NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC NA release: 16th November 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Midway, Eurocom Publisher: Midway N64 Magazine Score: N/A While there have been “NBA Jam” games on the N64, they’ve not been much like the original NBA Jam – instead, the actual gameplay sequel to NBA Jam was NBA Hangtime. Following on from that is NBA Showtime, which brings the format into 3D. This can often be tricky, especially for such a fast-paced game, but the developers did a great job at recreating the feel in an extra dimension. This means a very fast-paced, frantic arcade basketball game that manages to run extremely smoothly. While I wasn’t a big fan of Hangtime, I can appreciate that this keeps the same style of gameplay, and doesn’t need to compromise anything for making the game 3D. The features are still extremely light – with a basic create a character (or more choose from a list of characters and name them), and nothing outside just playing matches. Fun Remake or remaster? I think fans would like to see it return. A new game with the same kind of style, called NBA Superstars, been released in arcades, but there seem to be no plans for a home release. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get NBA Showtime.

Elmo’s Letter Adventure NA release: 15th November 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Realtime Associates Publisher: NewKidCo N64 Magazine Score: N/A Elmo’s Letter Adventure is a Sesame Street themed edutainment game, and one that’s rather quite bizarre due to how overly simplistic it is. The objective in each level is to find the same letter over and over again. You walk over and press any of the face buttons to select and repeat it. What makes no sense is how the skills required to play the game – even for how simple it is – far exceed the extremely basic letter recognition that is the game’s only task. The game tries to dress itself up in different settings and give Elmo different vehicles, but it doesn’t change the game in any way – you just move around on a flat plain (no moving up or down) until you find all the letters. Even the underwater levels are no different. Most levels are long corridors, but there are couple more “open” ones. Here is where the pop-in becomes an issues, as an area may look empty, but there are letters there. Once you complete a section, you’ll get a bonus game where you have to find the first letter of a word – the most advanced section of the game. You still get told what letter you have to find, though. Once you’ve completed all three missions, which takes a combined total of 20 minutes, you’ll get the end credits. The big problem is that the entire game is simply matching a letter to the one on-screen (or matching the sound of a letter), and by the time a child is old enough to work a games console, they’re already far past that stage. My 2 year old son has more advanced jigsaw puzzles than the level of education this offers. The few Sonic edutainment games I’ve played – including an unfinished one on the Master System – are far more advanced educational tools than this, featuring different categories, as well as catering for a wide amount of skill levels. They’re also much more enjoyable games than this. I couldn’t find any details on the pricing of this game, but considering the expense of N64 cartridges, I would guess a minimum of $30. And it doesn’t end there – soon I’ll be looking at Elmo’s Number Journey, which is this game with numbers. So not only was the game immensely simple – but they had to split it into two games for that extra greed. Worst Remake or remaster? This is some of the worst shovelware on the N64, so no. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Elmo’s Letter Adventure

Another theory is cloud-based game trials. Limited countries would make more sense with some kind of cloud streaming, so you can test out a game instantaneously, possibly something they plan for the Switch 2, but need to test it before announcing it as a feature. Or even crazier - the Switch will be able to cloud stream Switch 2 games, giving third party developers a massive potential user base from the very start of the Switch 2.

Perhaps they're testing the SNES mouse features (support for it was added to the NSO emulator code recently), and perhaps some sharing feature for Mario Paint?

40 Winks NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Reproduction Release: 15th April 2019 Developer: Eurocom Publisher: GT Interactive N64 Magazine Score: 71% 40 Winks is fascinating more for its cancellation than the game itself. I remember being really interested in it when reading about it in N64 Magazine, and I was excited when I read the review, even though it wasn’t an astounding one. Then the game never came. The PlayStation version came out first, and the initial sales were so low, that they cancelled production on the N64 version right before release. As review copies were quite timely (I do wonder what happened to those cartridges), this led to something interesting about the box art for the PlayStation version. Instead of choosing a quote from a review of the PlayStation version, it had a quote from a preview of the N64 version: “Move Over Mario…” from Nintendo Official Magazine. Very clever (but obviously didn’t help). 40 Winks is a 3D platformer that, unlike quite a few on the N64, gets the basics right. Movement and jumping feel good, and the camera allows for a good degree of movement, while also doing a good job at showing where you’re going. It’s a very solid starting point, but unfortunately 40 Winks doesn’t do a lot with it, keeping things very simple throughout the game. That said, it does have a lot of charm. You play as either Ruff or Tumble, as you have to save the dreamworld from the HoodWinks, who have captured all forty of the Winks and made Dreamland unsafe. You’ll need to get through the six worlds, each with its own hub and three levels, in order to make dreaming safe for everyone. This is achieved through three main collectables. The 40 Winks are the main ones, but are generally on the route along the linear levels. Along the way, you’ll need to collect cogs to unlock doors, which are the main way of progressing through the levels. The hardest things to find are the Dreamkeys, with four hidden in each levels. These unlock the boss fight, which you need to beat to get to the next area. The levels have some generic themes, but they’re also charming at the same time: spooky, underwater, alien, prehistoric, castle, and pirates. The levels are fairly straightforward, but keep things constrained, so platforming segments and enemies are all close together – no long walks across empty areas. So while the game is simple, it also isn’t frustrating, and is enjoyable the whole way through, there’s just nothing groundbreaking. You have a few attacks at your disposal. There’s a basic punch, a roll attack, a ground pound, and a “scream” attack which sends some light slightly forward. This special scream attack uses ammo but is absolutely useless, which is surprising considering the game makes a big deal (and its own type of collectable ) about it. Throughout the game you’ll find jack-in-the-boxes that give you time-limited costumes, such as a ninja, superhero, fairy, and caveman. These provide additional powers, and have switches with their icons on them. Quickly navigating levels to get to a switch or obstacle before your costume runs out is the main type of “puzzle” throughout the game. The N64 version did have a few exclusive features. The biggest one being 2-player co-op, which lets you play the full main game with another person (which makes a lot of sense for a game about a brother and sister – the one you don’t pick just doesn’t appear in singleplayer). It works really well, but has the downside of massive black bars. Another feature is anamorphic widescreen, although this is strangely only toggled via a cheat code. It works really well, and gives you a bit more of a view in co-op. The N64 version also supports the Expansion Pak for higher resolution and better lighting effects. It does lack a few small things, such as the opening FMV replaced with an in-game cinematic. 40 Winks isn’t really anything special outside of its cancellation, but it’s still a simple but enjoyable platformer, and doesn’t have major issues like a lot of platformers had at the time. Fun Remake or remaster? A proper re-release based on the N64 version with the FMV from the PlayStation version would be nice, with widescreen as an actual option. Official ways to get the game. The N64 version is available with the purchase of an Everdrive from Stone Age Gamer. The game is also available on Steam, except that it’s just the PS1 version in a badly configured emulator, one that doesn’t have memory cards set up so you need to use save states. But that’s what you get from games being held hostage by Piko.

Is also disappointing that the round design houses a rather obvious square screen. With it being LCD, it may also be a bit too bright at night to keep the time on.

NBA Courtside 2 Featuring Kobe Bryant NA release: 8th November 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Left Field Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 87% This is the best basketball game on the N64, and I don’t expect it to be beaten by any of the ones I’ve got left to play. Yet, despite that, there really isn’t a huge amount to say about it. This is a smoother, more refined version of the previous NBA Courtside, but doesn’t do that much new stuff. There’s an easier control option which automates some of the stuff you can do, but the “pro” control method was already simple enough to be easily understood. One significant addition for some is the ability to create a player and go through a whole season with them. It’s a great basketball game, and if you don’t have the original, this should be the one to try to get. Unfortunately, it was only released in North America Great Remake or remaster? I’m not sure what current basketball games are like to compare this to. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get NBA Courtside 2

Pro Mahjong Soldier 64: Mahjong Parlor Battle Challenge JP release: 5th November 1999 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Culture Brain Publisher: Culture Brain Original Name: Pro Shinan Mahjong Tsuwamono 64: Jansō Battle ni Chōsen N64 Magazine Score: N/A The translation of the title is a tricky one. Tsuwamono (ツワモノ) strictly translates to “soldier”, but from what I can tell, it’s also slang that, in this context, means something like a “strong or stubborn player”. Anyway, this is another Mahjong game on the N64, and the least interesting one so far. It’s the second one to feature 16 real players (this time including female players), and is just visually very dull. In terms of playing, this is the most awkward one. When you can take a tile, there’s a very slight fade on the tile for a limited time, so it’s very easy to miss taking one. The modes are also limited, with the main one playing six matches and seeing how well you do. It’s the weakest Mahjong game on N64 so far, and there’s only one left to go. Poor Remake or remaster? For digital versions of Mahjong, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics is a good version. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Pro Mahjong Soldier 64: Mahjong Parlor Battle Challenge

Hanafuda 64: An Angel’s Promise JP release: 5th November 1999 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Altron Publisher: Altron Original Name: 64 Hanafuda: Tenshi no Yakusoku N64 Magazine Score: N/A Nintendo has a long history with Hanafuda – they produced cards long, long before video games existed. While it doesn’t directly link to this game, it’s still worth noting. I have my own deck of Nintendo Hanafuda cards, and they look lovely, even if I have no idea what to do with them. Hanafuda are a type of playing card used for multiple games, such a set-matching card game where you are trying to build “seasons” of four cards. I didn’t quite get the hang of it, and there are lots of visual aspects of the cards – the printed ones look stunning. The main mode is a story mode. I didn’t get far due to my lack of skill at the game, but it involves a guy returning to a city based on a promise he made years ago. The first person he meets has a broken bike, so you fix it and she asks if you play Hanafuda. When you lose, you do get a little cutscene (she accuses you of going easy on her), which is nicer than just a game over. I presume that the story will eventually go into a romance direction, and it’s one of those where you have to win every time to progress. Outside of story, you can play different types of Hanafuda against CPU opponents, with various options you can change for each type. It seems to be a very well made Hanafuda game, especially with the main story. ? Remake or remaster? For digital versions of Hanafuda, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics is a good version. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Hanafuda 64: An Angel’s Promise

Earthworm Jim 3D NA release: 4th November 1999 PAL release: 17th December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: VIS Publisher: Rockstar (NA), Interplay (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 68% Earthworm Jim is known mainly for his two mediocre 2D platformers on the Mega Drive/SNES. These were both elevated due to their style and sense of humour, with lots of new stuff happening all the time. A completely new team handled his jump to 3D and brought about their own take on the franchise. In Earthworm Jim 3D, the titular Jim is in a coma, so you play as a representation of himself within his own mind, trying to find his marbles and save himself. You’d expect all sorts of crazy stuff happening inside his mind. Instead, we have a collection of uninspired levels: a few barns, a haunted house, a graveyard, an alien ship, and a beige death valley. The only one of any note is a level made from food, with lava baked beans – although even then, it’s not clear what most aspects of the level are supposed to be. This goes on in the level design too, with immensely bland levels that are both large and empty. There’s nothing fun to see. The levels are linear and the objectives are straight forward, with having to occasionally backtrack across areas now devoid of enemies. The platforming is equally tedious. Earthworm Jim is extremely slow, making the large, empty spaces take forever to get across. The jumping is extremely imprecise (and his hover move doesn’t even last a second) and it’s extremely difficult to judge where you are in relation to other objects. The terrible and unresponsive camera doesn’t help, either. The only decent point of the gameplay is that there are some interesting weapons you can use. The boss fights are especially bad. In these (they’re all the same), you race around on a pig that’s an absolute nightmare to control. Both you and your opponents are collecting marbles, and hitting your opponent will make them lose five of theirs (with the same happening to you when you get hit). The controls make it extremely frustrating to collect anything, let alone avoid the barrage of rockets fired at you. Even the final boss is the same thing. Earthworm Jim 3D is a deeply unimaginative platformer that gets the controls and camera wrong, and brings nothing new to the table to try and make up with it. The incredibly annoying sound clips from Dan Castellaneta (half of them are just his Homer voice) certainly don’t help matters, either. Worst Remake or remaster? If they’re going to throw together a collection of Earthworm Jim games, then sure, but there’s nothing really worth playing here. Official ways to get the game. A buggy, glitchy PC port is available on GoG and Steam.

Supercross 2000 NA release: 31st October 1999 PAL release: February 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: MBL Research Publisher: EA Sports N64 Magazine Score: 76% The Supercross series had been released on PlayStation for a while, with this being the first one to make its way to the N64. Even so, out of all the games I’ve played before (including multiple ports of PS1 games), this is the first one that distinctly feels like a PlayStation game. I’m not entirely sure what, but something about the graphics and controls just comes across as a PlayStation game. Supercross 2000 is a bike racing game. There are lots of jumps for you to gently float upwards from, thanks to the really moon-like physics, and the track is more of a “tunnel” of invisible walls that glide you down the correct path. The game as a whole feels really slow and clunky, and like you don’t have much control – which isn’t helped by how you can’t drive off the course by mistake. There is one nice touch in that the mounds of dirt get damaged as you race, but the floaty physics negate that a lot. The best tactic in Supercross 2000 is killing your opponents. The game massively favours you in collisions, so ramming into your opponents will send them flying with little impact on you. While the sport itself is on tight tracks to cause more collisions, I don’t think this is an accepted practise. Still, it’s the main thing that works in the game. There’s a surprising number of tracks in the game, alongside a stunt mode where you perform tricks in an arena, but the clunkiness and floatiness of the game makes it really dull to play. Fine Remake or remaster? Nothing special for this game. Official ways to get the game.? There is no official way to get Supercross 2000

Burnout Paradise It arrived at the perfect time for me. I had plenty of spare time, and was interested in online gaming. On top of that, it was before Party Chat existed in consoles, so you had to chat with those in the lobbies. Paradise was the ultimate online game for me, focused on just having a fun time with friendly competition. The main feature online is challenges, with a set of 50 or so for each number of players (50 for 2 players, a different set of 50 for for 3 players, and so on up to 8 players). These were things the host turned on and people would have to perform specific moves (sometimes in a specific location on the map). There were also game modes, like marked man and stunt, that you could just turn on at any point, no interruption to gameplay. Then free updates made it better, adding 10 timed challenges (with leaderboards) for each player count and a subtle but fun addition to challenges: it told you who performed the best in a challenge. Just for fun, which added to the "friendly rivalry" nature of the game. Many players were more than happy to help or participate in the games, and I made some good friends while playing it. I spent over 1,000 hours in the game and it's one of my favourite gaming experiences. Now. The core gameplay is still enjoyable, but the online community is nowhere near the same. The online challenges are now far more of a pain to do, and I'm not a fan of online gaming anymore. The singleplayer is just a small part of the game.

Resident Evil 2 NA release: 31st October 1999 JP release: 28th January 2000 PAL release: 9th February 2000 Developer: Angel, Capcom, Factor 5 Publisher: Capcom (NA, JP), Virgin (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 90% Resident Evil 2 was originally a game with the PlayStation in mind. It came on two discs, with heavy usage of large textures and full motion video. So it’s a marvel that Angel Studios, with help from multiple Capcom teams and Factor 5 (who did wonders with the N64 and GameCube hardware), got the massive 2-CD PS1 game onto a single 64MB Nintendo 64 cartridge. Of course, as a result of this, the Nintendo 64 version isn’t the ideal way to play Resident Evil 2. It does have a couple of exclusive things that weren’t included in later versions: extra written story files to find (which links to RE3, Code Veronica, and Zero) and a randomiser (which alters the location of objects), but for the most part, it’s heavily compressed port of the original. That said, it’s still Resident Evil 2, and it’s still a really good version of the game. It’s a classic survival horror game, and I’m absolutely atrocious at it. I read up about the difficulties (as some games I’ve played remove a lot of content on easy), and saw comments about how it’s very easy on normal – yet playing on easy, I died a lot and struggled to find enough ammo. There seems to be a lot of useless extra routes in the game. For example, the burning helicopter on the roof of the police building. You go on a long search and find a valve, using a load of ammo on zombies, then use the valve to put out a fire, getting…a box of handgun ammo, less than what I’d used up. I’m not sure if I missed anything else there, so I found it a bit odd. But for what it does, it does it very well. The pre-rendered backgrounds look great, and the tank controls aren’t too bad due to the camera angles. The controls are nice and simple, with the analogue stick alone letting you swap between walking and running. There’s a lot of hunting for objects and finding where they go, and the story and characters are very interesting. Resident Evil 2 is a really good game, but the N64 version is not one that you should choose to play. It’s fascinating, due to how much of a challenge it was to make it possible, so it’s an amazing game in terms of that, but you’re better off with the GameCube version. Fun Remake or remaster? The game has had a complete remake and a few different versions of the original, but a new “Resident Evil 2 classic” combining features of different versions would be really nice. The GameCube version was considered to be the best accessible version, although there’s a newer Japan-only PC port that has mods for making it English. Official ways to get the game. The classic version of Resident Evil 2 is available on GoG, based on an older PC version. It lacks the additional stuff from the N64 version.

Paperboy NA release: 31st October 1999 PAL release: March 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: High Voltage Publisher: Midway N64 Magazine Score: 62% Sometimes, a poor choice in name can give the wrong impression, and can lead to your game being forgotten. On Wikipedia, the N64 Paperboy game is buried as a footnote for the original Paperboy. Even though it shares the same name, it’s a completely unique game, and the third main Paperboy game (the only ones we got after were mobile games). They really should have called this Paperboy 3 or Paperboy 3D (or, if they really needed to, Paperboy 64). Paperboy is a silly and over-the-top paper delivery game. Your main task is delivering newspapers to certain houses, but that’s not all you do – throwing your newspapers at pretty much anything will get you points. People, animals, objects – committing assault and vandalism is very important. Some of these will not even get you points, but also bonus coins in order to unlock bonus modes. If you deliver all papers, you get given more houses (and time) for your next attempt. The controls take a bit of getting used to. Holding R or Z will bring up a targeting arrow (starting in different directions), and then you can fine tune your aim. Once you’re used to it, it works really well. However, if you start off the game on easy, you’re in for a horrible experience, as you’re stuck to a thin “path” and can only move slightly to the side (like the original game), and can’t turn around. But get to the later levels (or pick a harder difficulty), and you can now roam around the levels how you wish, and the game is much more enjoyable. The game doesn’t really have much depth to it, though, and compared to other full priced N64 games, this really wasn’t a good option at the time of release. It’s still a fun little game, though, and feels like something that would have been great on the XBLA (that just got the original game). Fun Remake or remaster? A re-release would be quite nice. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get the N64 version of Paperboy.

I would gladly buy this if Nintendo were sensible and made an offline version of it Shame that this will suffer the same fate as the Satellaview games.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape PAL release: 29th October 1999 NA release: 6th November 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Ubi Pictures Publisher: UbiSoft N64 Magazine Score: 73% With how both Rayman 2 and Tonic Trouble were developed by UbiSoft and released so close to each other, it’s amazing how different they are in terms of quality. It seems like the Tonic Trouble team spoke about everything they had trouble with during development, and the Rayman team were able to fix all of that, not sharing anything they did with the Tonic Trouble team. Rayman 2 resolves all the issues from Tonic Trouble regarding dull characters, messy incoherent graphics, random level design, bad controls, and poor camera for a thoroughly enjoyable platformer. Rayman 2 is much more linear than some of the other 3D platformers on the N64, but I think that it works in its favour, it helps give Rayman 2 a more distinct feel, with tightly made levels and some incredibly fun platforming along the way. Of course, there are still collectables in the form of lums and cages, so there’s still a lot of side passages to find – some can even take you down an entire new route that’s as long as a lot of levels. Rayman’s main attack surprised me at first, as he shoots out a ball of energy from his fist, instead of sending his fist flying. However, the more I played the game, the more it seemed right with the pacing of the game and combat. Rayman automatically locks on to enemies, and you can hold R to strafe. Jumping is extremely precise, and the game makes it clear where you’re going to land. The camera also works really well, getting into good places when needed, and allowing you to adjust it for most of the game. Rayman 2 also has a lot of action sequences to mix things up, such as water-skiing, riding on strange rocket animals, a mission where you get infinite flying, and some chase sequences. These are all enjoyable and keep the game exciting, with new things to discover throughout. The levels are also nicely varied, with some more puzzle-orientated, some about fast puzzling, some focused more on combat, so the game keeps itself fresh. Rayman 2 is still an extremely enjoyable game, with a lot to find and discover. Returning to levels for the final few lums is a bit annoying as you can’t quit the level once you find them all (you need to reach the end of the level), but it’s an overall great experience. Fave Remake or remaster? Rayman 2 has a lot of different versions. The Dreamcast version is considered to be the best of the original versions, and adds a hub world, while the game also got a remake on PS2 with debate over if it’s better – some people say the much larger hub world was too large. That said, it’s strange that there’s no modern remastered release. It definitely needs one. Official ways to get the game. The PC version of Rayman 2 is available on GoG and the UbiSoft Store. Re-releases 2000: Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Dreamcast / PlayStation) 2000: Rayman Revolution (PS2) 2005: Rayman DS (DS) 2011: Rayman 3D (3DS)

NBA Live 2000 NA release: 29th October 1999 PAL release: December 1999 EU release: N/A Developer: EA Canada Publisher: EA Sports N64 Magazine Score: 65% Another average sports game. This one doesn’t do much to improve the gameplay of the previous year, and the CPU is far too perfect at the game, being amazing at both offence and defence while you struggle with both. It feels slow, clunky, and isn’t much fun to play. The big selling point of NBA Live 2000 is the return of Michael Jordan to video games, with a 1-on-1 mode that you’ll have to complete in order to play as him. Something to appeal to people who are massive fans of Michael Jordan, but not something that makes the game better. Poor Remake or remaster? There’s better basketball games to focus on. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get NBA Live 2000

Super Robot Wars 64 JP release: 29th October 1999 NA release: N/A EU release: N/A Developer: AI Publisher: Banpresto N64 Magazine Score: N/A Super Robot Wars is a series of turn-based tactical games very similar to Advance Wars (or Famicom Wars, as it was originally called). It’s a kind of game that I’m awful at, even when I can read all the stats and options. As a result, I only got a few missions into this before I was completely overwhelmed by the enemy. Each turn, you move and/or attack with each of your units, choosing one of your abilities to attack while enemies defend themselves (counterattacks seem to be picked at random). Some of your units – all big mechs – can transform between different forms, and some can only move or attack in a single turn, not both. One thing I thought was a nice touch was the backgrounds. The foreground area has some nice 3D areas, and the 2D backdrop will change depending on the scenery close to you, so as you approach a city, you’ll see it in the background. That’s really all I can say about this one. There’s a nice visual style for the genre, but it’s not one I’m good at or know what makes one of these games good. ? Remake or remaster? A collection of the series would be nice. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Super Robot Wars 64

Carmageddon 64 PAL release: 22nd October 1999 NA release: 26th July 2020 JPL release: N/A Developer: Stainless Games, Software Creations Publisher: Sales Curve (PAL), Titus (NA) N64 Magazine Score: 8% 8% is the lowest review score N64 Magazine ever gave, and it went to Carmageddon 64. It’s a bit of a shame, as the concept could lead to a good game, but the N64 version itself has lots of its own particular issues. It’s based on Carmageddon 2, but with some significant changes to be allowed on the N64. Carmageddon is a vehicle slaughter game, where one of the aims is to run over pedestrians for points. For the second game, the pedestrians were renamed “zombies”, but kept the same. They still looked like regular people, they released a lot of blood, and they flew for ages after you hit them, bouncing off the ground. For the N64, this all had to change. The “zombies” are now very obviously zombies, and now turn into a green mist when you hit them. It completely lacks the impact and shock value the original had, which was the defining element of the game. Dogs and traffic were also completely removed from the game. You have three ways you can complete missions: destroy your three rival cars, kill enough zombies, or simply drive around the track and finish. The first two methods get tedious fast, and the third is ridiculously easy (as you don’t really have to worry about other racers). The handling is also atrocious and it never feels like you have control of a car, all of them feeling like an incredibly cheap RC car. This, along with the dodgy physics, are the main things that ruin what was left of the game. It’s a shame, really, as there a lot of tracks to explore, and plenty of vehicles to unlock – you can even change the zombies to dinosaurs. However, even if everything worked well, it would get repetitive quickly. It needed different kind of missions rather than just doing the same thing over and over. Worst Remake or remaster? I think the concept is worth trying again. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get the N64 version of Carmageddon 64, but Carmageddon 2 is on GoG and Steam.

A retro style game based on the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Noctiluca II: Murder Route JP release: 22nd October 1999 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Athena Publisher: Athena Original Name: Yakochu II: Satsujin Koro N64 Magazine Score: N/A I didn’t expect to be able to play much of Noctiluca II, as it’s a fairly simple choose your own adventure game with a lot of Japanese text. Google Lens did a decent job of translating the text, so I was able to discover multiple endings. There is an English translation of the game, but only in the form of a walkthrough on YouTube, so it doesn’t help that much with playing the game, unless you pick the same options – at which point you may as well just watch the video. After an explosion on a passenger ship forces you into a lifeboat, you come across a mysterious ship, which you and the people sharing the lifeboat decide to board. Everything is dark, and it takes a while to find someone on board. Luckily, he’s the captain, unfortunately, he’s been poisoned and shortly dies. You’ll discover mysteries about this ship, the original ship, and the group of people on board. The game is mostly comprised of static images and text, with the occasional sound effect and a couple of decent quality FMVs. Every now and then, you’ll be able to make a choice for your character, however, there’s not that many to make, and for some of them, the same action happens no matter what you put. On top of that, some of the actions may seem like nothing, but lead to a game over. At a respite in the story, another character asked to play a card game. I felt like being polite and chose the option to play a game. It turns out that we’re both addicted to card games, along with a third person that joins us. We hear some odd stuff, but carry on (the choice to play was the last choice) until a recue team finds us. They inform us that, in the three days we’d been playing card games with no breaks, everyone else was murdered. Time to start again. I did find out a lot more about what happened, who did it, and reasons why, and it’s quite an intriguing story. For the kind of game it is, it’s certainly an interesting novelty for the N64. Fun Remake or remaster? The series would be a good basis for a game with better presentation – seeing the characters would be nice. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Noctiluca II: Murder Route

WWF WrestleMania 2000 PAL release: 12th October 1999 NA release: 18th November 1999 JP release: 15th September 2000 Developer: AKI Publisher: THQ (NA,PAL), Asmik Ace (JP) N64 Magazine Score: 90% After doing well with the WCW vs nWo games, AKI and THQ managed to get the big wrestling license: WWF. Focusing on the big WrestleMania event, AKI brought over everything they learned from their previous games and improved upon it, making fights feel eventful without dragging on too long, and providing a decent amount of modes and features, including a basic create-a-wrestler. The main wrestlers have their intros, as well as a little, very compressed FMV for them, and they all look fine from a distance. When the camera gets closer, however, the wrestlers look like they’re constructed from parts poorly stuck together, and the faces look like masks, especially so in the case of The Rock, who has his eyebrow raised expression permanently pasted on the front of his face. WrestleMania features a decent singleplayer mode – with you picking a partner for tag matches to mix things up – and a good amount of modes for multiplayer. One mild annoyance is that the female wrestlers are all locked away at the start, and the only way to create a female wrestler is to unlock one and copy them. Overall though, this is where wrestling games started to improve a lot. Fun Remake or remaster? I’m not sure what current wrestling games are like. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get WWF WrestleMania 2000.