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Glover 2 JP release: N/A NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Interactive Studios Publisher: Hasbro N64 Magazine Score: N/A I had quite a few issues with the first Glover. The levels felt disjointed, being random platforms in voids of bottomless pits, and the entire game being an escort mission for a ball that was far to easy to lose or pop. It was still a nice concept, and could have been something good with another attempt. After playing the prototype of the unfinished Glover 2, we very nearly got a game that alleviated my issues with the first, and would have been a great game. In the prototype, the first hour and a half of the game is fully playable, while a level select lets you see the rest of the game, with levels in varying states of difficulty. Glover 2 starts with Glover helping his brother make a spell, by grabbing ingredients and rolling them over to a cauldron. As the game is no longer about escorting a crystal transformed into a ball, it frees it up to be more of an adventure. Gathering ingredients to create spells is one of the main methods of progression in Glover 2. After the first spell goes wrong and the pages of the spell book are taken, it’s up to Glover to try and save the day. The first part of restoring spells is gathering runes, which are hidden across the map and as rewards from helping NPCs. After this, the ingredients are revealed, and you need to locate them and take them to a cauldron. The first spell creates a bouncy ball, like the first game. You collect magical energy and can use it to spawn this ball whenever you want – losing it is not longer an issue (you can lose/break ingredients, and have to return to get a new one). Glover can also use other objects he finds – a shovel to dig up onions, an axe for chopping trees, a lawn mower for racing, and a speedboat. This gives Glover a wide array of abilities to find and use throughout the game, on top of all the spells he can learn. One of these spells is a possess spell, which lets you throw an enemy into a cauldron to become them and use their powers (not dissimilar to Space Station Silicon Valley or Super Mario Odyssey). One of the last areas you can get to naturally in the prototype is a gambling den, where you can play pool and snap to unlock goodies. Walking out of this area crashes the game, so it’s then up to using the level select to explore the rest of the game. Some of the later levels are very early versions, with placeholder textures, and many buttons and objects not working, but others are near complete. You can get a good idea about what the rest of the game would have been like. After the Gambling den, you would move onto a boss in a sewer (who just bops up and down in the prototype), and lead to a farm. You need to reach a high up area by flooding the farm, by making a large wall cry (the farmer is not happy about this). This lets you reach parts of the runes, and more objects to use as ingredients, too. A harbour with a boat you can sink follows next, then a boss fight/race which is only partially complete. A little town-like hub world comes next, which is where the rest of the game stems from. Here, there’s a large moving/twisting robot that you need to use to access different areas, and some NPCs with quests to complete. The textures aren’t finished, but everything seems to be working. There’s a museum area you can access, as well as a factory that seems to be a gauntlet for near the end of the game. Another fairly complete area is a snow/village area. This is a group of maps where you get to transport bombs, take someone’s eye to a telescope, and rebuild a snowman, although there is a lot of empty space: more runes were likely planned to be hidden. There’s a minecart ride into a mine where the objective is to get a crystal and transport it for a spell. One fascinating level starts with Glover being kidnapped and attached to a ball and chain. You can use Glover’s throw (which is much easier to use than the first game) and the ball will pull Glover up. After escaping a cell, you use a guillotine to snap the chain and revert back to normal. It would have been nice to use the ball and chain mechanic a bit more, but it’s just another example as to how the gameplay changes up throughout the game. The final area of the game has you preparing a space ship to get to the moon, where you would encounter the final boss. There’s lots of markers in the boss room to give an indication as to what the fight would have been like, but no actual fight. The game also has a multiplayer mode, with an area and races. You can also load into the main levels with extra players, although I’m not sure if that was something they were planning. It works fine with two people, but the physics go a bit crazy with four. Glover 2 was shaping up to be a great platformer. The parts that work are a lot of fun, and the progression sounds interesting, as you’re always working to gain new powers, rather than getting a number to unlock a door. I do think that, if it was finished, it would have been among the best N64 platformers – and I didn’t like the first game that much. I felt that the concept had a lot of promise, and needed another attempt – and this is exactly the kind of attempt I wanted. So why was Glover 2 cancelled? Well, the reason is both stupid and tragic. When the first game came out, 150,000 sales were a good amount for a well received first party title on the N64. Nintendo pointed out an offer where the cartridges were slightly cheaper if they bought 300,000, and an executive went with that. A year or so after the game released, Hasbro Interactive were stuck with 150,000 copies, and Glover was deemed to be a financial failure because of this, so when they were looking at gutting projects, Glover’s bad name caused it to get the axe, even though the development of Glover 2 was going nicely. Great Should it be finished? Yes, this game really deserves it. Sadly, Piko Interactive hold the rights to it and, while they promised to finish the second to boost sales of their terrible PC port of the first game, progress doesn’t seem to be happening and they seem to be too busy being rude towards others on social media than actually making it.

Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals JP release: 1st October 1999 NA release: 12th July 2000 PAL release: N/A Developer: Locomotive Publisher: Takara (JP), Bay Area (NA) N64 Magazine Score: N/A Sometimes, when games are released on both N64 and PS1, they’re mostly the same game with some differences based on the hardware. Sometimes, though, they’re completely different games with a similar basic core idea. Both are 1 on 1 fighting games, but the PlayStation version tries to do something interesting: they take place in 3D arenas so navigation (and using vehicle mode) is important. The N64 version, on the other hand, is more of a traditional 1 on 1 fighter. And a complete mess. The battlefield here is just a flat space with a 2D background. You can still move around in 3D, which really completely breaks the game as melee attacks don’t “lock on”, making it almost impossible to hit anything. Most of your projectiles will miss, too. You can swap between different modes. Beast mode is melee only, so is useless for attack. Vehicle mode is very fast, but you’re not going to hit your opponent. Robot mode is the only one of any use, as the left C is a lock on shot attack that you can charge up for significant damage. Get a quick shot in at the start of the match, time your charges right, and you can wipe out anything. To counter this, the N64 version introduces a new mechanic: if you stay in robot mode, a bar will deplete. When it’s empty, you can no longer attack in robot mode. The only way to recharge is to swap to beast mode. So the only valid tactic is shooting in robot mode, then switching to beast mode to run around until you can carry on shooting in robot mode. Another notable change in the N64 version is the scale of the characters. In the PS1 version, they’re different sizes to account for power and manoeuvrability (and the actual show). For the N64, everyone is resized to be roughly the same size. There are a few really simple minigames, but none of them are very good, with the best one being a simple quick draw. This might be the worst fighting game on the N64. Worst Remake or remaster? If we can somehow get a collection of all Transformers games, then at least this can be part of something that has Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals some good games.

Destruction Derby 64 NA release: 30th September 1999 PAL release: 12th October 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Looking Glass Publisher: THQ N64 Magazine Score: 65% Along with Wipeout, this is another Sony owned series that made its way to the N64, this time licensed out to Looking Glass Studios and THQ. Like Wipeout, this is another Psygnosis series that, despite a lot of love from fans, has been left abandoned by Sony. Instead of being a port of the PlayStation games, this is a whole new game. It’s a bit more colourful than the PlayStation games, but I think that works really well. Destruction Derby is a game about smashing other cars. There are multiple starting points on the track, with cars moving in opposite directions. To keep the game flowing, there’s a checkpoint system and a time limit. I usually hate this in racing games, but it makes a lot of sense in Destruction Derby. The goal isn’t simply to be the last person standing, but to score as many points as possible. Your main scoring is from smashing into other cars and totalling them, although you also get points for reaching checkpoints, so you are rewarded for staying alive, but with diminishing returns, as you get less and less time the longer the match goes on. This creates a great risk/reward system, as you want to smash into others, but you also don’t want to blow up too early. Cars low on damage emit smoke, so you can target those specifically. It’s an immense amount of fun. There are also some events that take place in small arenas. No time limit, it ends when only one car is left (although they may not have the most points). Lots of chaos here, although I personally preferred the races. There’s also a good amount of multiplayer modes. One thing that surprised me is how good the handling feels. It’s kind of a shame that there’s no standard race option (where you can still destroy opponents) – this could have been a really great racing game as well. Still, this is a ton of fun. Great Remake or remaster? A new Destruction Derby would be great. I think it would work best with slightly cartoony graphics, and keeping the game simple and fun. More realistic games like Wreckfest just aren’t the same kind of fun. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Destruction Derby 64

Dimps (yes, the handheld Sonic guys) were the main developer for the original, Japan Studio just provided a bit of support. Dimps got permission from Sony to use the IP themselves and are doing the remaster themselves, which is why Namco are publishing. The developer of Wild Arms could potentially do the same thing, though.

Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko NA release: 28th September 1999 PAL release: December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Crystal Dynamics Publisher: Crave N64 Magazine Score: 22% Gex 3 actually addresses a few of my complaints from Gex 64. The levels have more interesting themes and aren’t repeated, and the humour is more relevant to what is actually happening on screen. The voice acting is also different, depending on if you have the North American or European version of the game – I personally preferred Danny John-Jules’ version of Gex, but I think that’s purely because the game now makes me think of Cat from Red Dwarf. While the humour is more relevant to the game, it’s still not that funny, and still has moments of just being random. In a snow level, Gex made a comparison to Hoth, which works, then later on randomly said “Live long and prosper”, which had no relevance to anything. The more interesting worlds – which include a fairy tale land, gangster world, a Victorian mansion, and the north pole – also don’t extend into the actual level design, with many levels feeling like a couple of tiny areas that your have to replay in a few different ways. Gex’s moves are slightly more refined, yet also more generic, feeling less lizard-like than the previous game. It’s still difficult to judge jumps, and the camera, while you have more control of it, can often be in really frustrating locations. I think this is an improvement over the previous game, but it’s still just an average platformer. Fine Remake or remaster? There’s a remaster in the works, hopefully it can make the game more playable. The latest trailer for it didn't look very promising, though. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Gex 3 at the moment, but a remaster is on the way.

All the games tell us is that she's the daughter of the general (who is a green army man). She had her own game on PS2 called Portal Runner.

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes NA release: 28th September 1999 PAL release: September 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: The 3DO Company Publisher: The 3DO Company N64 Magazine Score: 67% There’s something inherently charming about playing as toys in a human world. The Micro Machines games are a great example of this. Army Men takes the concept of playing with little green army men in a variety of genres, with Sarge’s Heroes being a third person shooter. Micro Machines managed to pair up the charm with extremely solid gameplay, so was Army Men capable of doing the same? Unfortunately, no. Being an early third person shooter, Sarge’s Heroes relies on very heavy auto aim. As long as your gun is in the general direction of an enemy, you’ll hit them. This is something that is mainly necessary due to the game’s controls and camera, which take ages to catch up with your character – you’ll spend a decent amount of time firing randomly just in case an enemy is there, as your camera looks at Sarge in the face for 10 seconds before turning around. It’s a shame, as the levels themselves are quite enjoyable, especially those set around the house. A lot of the game takes place in the world of Army Men, which sadly doesn’t look quite enough like a toy world, yet the levels themselves are still well designed. The plot is cheesy in a good way, involving portals to another world (the house), and you have to rescue your kidnapped squad, who sadly are a bit of a pain to escort and don’t have their own big moment, with them getting ready to rescue you right after you finish the game. Sarge’s Heroes is a fun, colourful game, but the core gunplay doesn’t really hold up, and the controls and camera are a nightmare. I also found that 3DO referencing themselves so much in the game was a bit off-putting (interestingly, they replaced it all in the Dreamcast version). I would be interested in seeing this franchise return, though. Fun Remake or remaster? It would be nice to see a remake of Sarge’s Heroes (or perhaps both games combined), with graphics that make the Army world levels look more like army toys, and some modernised control options so you can aim would make it a lot of fun. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes

Somehow, the Wii U returned. (Surely if it's dual screen, then one of the screens will be detachable and usable in TV mode?)

Michael Owen’s WLS 2000 PAL release: 24th September 1999 NA release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Silicon Dreams Publisher: THQ N64 Magazine Score: 84% While I’ve tried to be as accurate as I can with dates for this list, information online for PAL release dates is often wonky. Many sites list this as coming out on the 10th November 2000, which is after the American reskinned version of it (which I will be covering separately). However, N64 Magazine reviewed the game in an issue released early September 1999, saying that it was going to be released on the 24th September, so I have gone with that release date. Michael Owen’s WLS 2000 – also known as RTL World League Soccer 2000 and Telefoot Soccer 2000 elsewhere in Europe, is a port of the World League Soccer series, with this one being N64 exclusive. However, it’s just a rather clunky and mediocre football game. It has plenty of league teams from different countries, but that’s really about it. It looks more like a very early N64 football game, and passing and tackling are both difficult to aim. Oddly, the menus are also rather clunky. Even just playing a regular single match is overly complicated, making the whole experience feel very cheap. It doesn’t come close to ISS or FIFA in terms of quality or enjoyment. Fine Remake or remaster? The genre has evolved from this. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Michael Owen’s WLS 2000.

With how the Switch's library hasn't resonated with me very well, I'd probably look at getting one when the console after is announced. I'd also personally like a cheaper model with no screen.

WCW Mayhem NA release: 23rd September 1999 PAL release: 24th September 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Kodiak Publisher: EA N64 Magazine Score: 78% With AKI & THQ getting hold of the WWF license for the upcoming WWF WrestleMania 2000, EA stepped up to grab the WCW license they left behind for their own wrestling game. Instead of trying to directly compete with them, EA decided to go for a more arcade-style gameplay with their fast-paced WCW Mayhem. WCW Mayhem is very quick, and fun for a quick blast. There aren’t that many moves to pull off, though, so you will see most of the game pretty quickly. There aren’t a great deal of modes, either, with the biggest variety being the ring designs. You can also take the fights backstage, something I initially didn’t realise, as most wrestling games punish being outside the ring. Here you can find some overpowered weapons for some quick pins. The create-a-wrestler mode is rather basic, too, with most of the options being some silly designs that only really work if you use the full skin and nothing else. The core game is fun in its simplicity, but there isn’t much here. Fine Remake or remaster? There are other wrestling games to focus on. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get WCW Mayhem

I wonder if the person that decided to not announce the game until launch is one of those being let go - that choice was a bit of a disaster. Especially so for a game that takes a bit of time to get to grips with.

WinBack JP release: 23rd September 1999 NA release: 30th September 1999 PAL release: 7th July 2000 Developer: Omega Force Publisher: Koei (JP/NA), Virgin (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 83% When you play a third person shooter these days, you expect there to be a cover button – one that “attaches” you to a wall so you can pop out to shoot an enemy, and pop back into cover to evade bullets and reload. However, when WinBack came out (with slightly different names depending on region), this was a completely new concept. It’s a little bit clunky, but for the time, it worked extremely well. The problem WinBack has, is that the novelty of the cover system was the main interesting thing about the game, so as it became a “standard” thing in games, there’s not a great deal else going for it. Which is a shame. WinBack has you taking control of a building that has been overrun by terrorists. It controls a powerful space laser, and you must get it back before it fires again. The plot is fine with some good twists, but the game struggles with coming up with reasons for your squad to split up (as there’s no friendly AI in the game, so you only meet up in cutscenes). About half way through, the main character (Jean-Luc) is deep in thought for a moment when the rest head off, and it takes the rest of the game to catch up, shooting through waves of enemies and solving puzzles (by hitting switches) that the rest of your squad seemingly had no access to – perhaps they have the ability to climb over small objects. The level design is also just grey. There’s nothing interesting to look at throughout the game, just warehouse-like buildings. You’ll go back and forth through the same sections in different levels, and some different sections are nearly identical to previous areas. WinBack doesn’t really have much of its own identity, other than silly bosses that crop up. WinBack was originally great because of its gameplay, as it provided a unique way of shooting. It should definitely be remembered for this concept, and it still plays absolutely fine, but it’s just a bit boring. Fun Remake or remaster? WinBack got a remaster on PS2. It got criticised for terrible voice acting (the original had none) and for graphics that were a bit jarring – a strange mix of higher detailed models and stuff that was clearly from the N64. An updated release that adds a few graphical effects, control options and the like would be nice. Official ways to get the game. There is no way to buy a new copy of WinBack, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

Not a sacking but somewhat similar. The entire video games publishing staff at Annapurna have quite due to disputes. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-12/annapurna-video-game-team-resigns-leaving-partners-scrambling?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcyNjE3NzQyOSwiZXhwIjoxNzI2NzgyMjI5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTSlBZWklUMEFGQjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.BpoA_wBJDrNbDbgj_LjnVUJQg6SM_vsIzWUEM6v85xE

Road Rash 64 NA release: 22nd September 1999 PAL release: 17th December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Pacific Coast Power & Light Publisher: THQ N64 Magazine Score: 69% In the Road Rash series, Road Rash 64 is a bit of an odd one. This one wasn’t developed or published by EA, instead being made by Pacific Coast Power & Light (a really odd name for a gaming company) and published by THQ. It also seems like they took what was actually a small, but memorable, element of the earlier games – the fighting – and made it the sole focus of this version. Road Rash 64 is a case of a game you know is bad, but is still really enjoyable, and something that is even more so in multiplayer. You have a few attacks with the C-button, and there are a bunch of weapons to use. You can even sacrifice your weapon by jamming it into an opponent’s wheel, making them fall over. That said, as savage as the crashes look, it’s only a minor inconvenience as you’re back to racing very quickly. Road Rash 64 is really best played with as many opponents as possible, the most traffic, the most cops (which join in with the fighting), and the most pedestrians (which the game encourages you to run over – and there’s even a multiplayer where it’s the sole objective). When the game is incredibly crazy and you’re enjoying the chaos, it’s a lot of fun. However, when it comes to actually racing, the game is a bit of a let down. Racing skill is rarely a factor, and there’s a lot of rubber banding to help with the chaos and fun. There’s also no structure to the tracks, they just start and end abruptly. The finish line is a couple of flags on tyres, and when you’re in the middle of fighting, it’s extremely easy to not notice it at all, so you’re in the middle of smashing someone and the race just ends. This is partly because the tracks are just portions of one large map, so multiple courses will use the same parts. However, this means that there isn’t much variety to it, and most tracks are fairly straight lines that have little to tell them apart visually. Out of curiosity, I did turn around at the start of one of the races and you can drive around the entire island the game is set on – it’s a shame the game does absolutely nothing with this. Road Rash 64 is a complete mess – but that’s what makes it fun. Fun Remake or remaster? A Road Rash collection would be very nice. That said, the odd licensing of this game may make it impossible to include. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Road Rash 64.

So it seems like this version of the game is a rip off done without the consent of the original creator. It was originally removed because the original creator hated that people were addicted to his game. Now it's being used against his will to push purposefully addictive and predatory practices. Which makes this announcement surprisingly dark and depressing.

I played it for around 4 minutes. I like how they ignore how Flappy Bird is very much inspired by a Cheep Cheep from Mario.

NASCAR 2000 NA release: 13th September 1999 JP release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Stormfront Publisher: EA Sports N64 Magazine Score: N/A There really isn’t much to say about this, so I’ll keep it short. This is a slightly better version of NASCAR 99. It’s still very much the same game, and there aren’t many more features. The most noticeable difference to me were the crashes, they’re much better this time round, with cars rolling over and getting slightly more deformed. Fine Remake or remaster? These games are still being made. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get NASCAR 2000

Bangai-O JP release: 3rd September 1999 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Treasure Publisher: ESP N64 Magazine Score: 84% Treasure are well known for their shoot-’em-ups, and this one is an example of why. It’s an extremely fast and frantic “twin stick shooter” (of course, that term came about much later than this game) that oddly feels more modern because it’s more retro. Essentially, this does what more modern “retro-style” games do: it uses 2D graphics but takes advantage of the hardware by doing a lot more with it: in the case of Bangai-O, that was to have an immense amount of bullets on-screen. Bangai-O is unashamedly arcade-like in style. Everything you destroy gives you points – not just enemies, but buildings and houses as well – and everything drops behind fruit, which you need to collect for even more points. You fire bullets at an incredibly fast rate (using the c-buttons to fire in octagonal directions), and they also home in on most enemies and objects (there are a few exceptions). Each of the 40+ levels is a score attack challenge for you to figure out the best way to get the highest score. The levels manage to mix things up as well. Some are all about attacking enemies, others are more difficult to navigate and find your way round, while others are puzzles. Some of them have you trigger a chain reaction of events, and you need to quickly make it to the end of the section to make it past – fail, and you’ll be stuck and have to retry the level. They’re all short enough that it never takes long to try again, alleviating the frustration around it. Bangai-O is a ton of fun. The original publishers didn’t have much faith in it initially, as they only ordered 10,000 copies. The game did later get an enhanced port on Dreamcast, which wasn’t limited to Japan and also had an international release, so it at least managed to get a bit more recognition. Fun Remake or remaster? An HD version of this would be great to see. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Bangai-O

Premier Manager 64 PAL release: 31st August 1999 NA release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Dinamic Publisher: Gremlin N64 Magazine Score: 82% Premier Manager 64 is the only English football management game on the N64, based off Premier Manager Ninety Nine on PC/PS1. That said, this gave me more of an appreciation for J.League Tactics Soccer, as it’s an immensely more interesting game than this. The most shocking difference for me was how matches are played out. In Tactics Soccer, you watched the match and could change some basic stuff on the fly, with more complicated stuff by pausing the game. In Premier Manager, you watch a screen of stats and pause the game to change tactics. After a match is over (or if you choose to just skip it), you can watch highlights, which does use a 3D engine. This is based on Actua Soccer 3 – a game that didn’t get an N64 release. As the engine isn’t used for gameplay, they didn’t refine it as much as they really needed it to, so it runs horribly. It also presents you with virtually zero information, which is really odd. The big selling point of Premier Manager 64 are the teams included – not just the Premier League, but divisions 1-3 as well, with loads of players with correct names. Again, the PS1 version offers more, as that also includes Italian teams. You can jump straight into any team, but the game recommends starting as a Division 3 team and working your way up. That sounded too tedious for me, though, and there’s really not a huge amount to do between matches, either. Poor Remake or remaster? The Football Manager games fulfil this niche now. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Premier Manager 64.

https://www.gematsu.com/2024/09/astro-bot-free-dlc-coming-in-2024-adds-speedruns-and-new-vip-bots DLC will include speedruns and new VIP bots.

Tonic Trouble NA release: 31st August 1999 PAL release: 24th October 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Ubi Pictures Publisher: UbiSoft N64 Magazine Score: 55% The most surprising thing about this game is that it’s not just a terrible Rayman knock off – it’s one developed by UbiSoft themselves. The completely lifeless and dull Ed was even made by the designer of Rayman. Tonic Trouble seems like it was a stepping ground for Rayman 2, a way to test out 3D platforming and game engines. However, due to delays, Tonic Trouble ended up coming out less than two months before Rayman 2. The level design in Tonic Trouble is completely unappealing. For the most part, it consists of random small rooms with “portals” connecting them. It feels like lots of miniscule individual levels instead of a connected world – everything is completely disconnected, especially as rooms don’t stick to the same style within each level. Because of this, it never feels like you’re exploring or discovering anything new, it’s just enter a new room and do the next tedious challenge. Sometimes, you don’t even appear somewhere with the return portal behind you, it’s a bit of a mess. There are a couple of exceptions: a few long corridor areas. These are generally sections with lots of incredibly slow moving floating platforms, or one level focusing on the glide ability, but even there you need to load new rooms, as the game can’t cope with all of it in one go. The biggest issue with Tonic Trouble is the camera. There are three options and none of them work. In many places, the camera is locked and attempting to move it results in a loud, annoying sound effect. The locked placements are never logical, either, and make it impossible to see gaps between platforms. It makes platforming an absolute nightmare – which is a major issue in a platformer. One really odd example of camera placement was going though a portal and being put in a short corridor with a portal in front of you. The camera is locked, so you obviously go forwards. Turns out, this portal takes you somewhere a few rooms earlier. Even worse is that you have to re-do a boss fight to get back. What you’re actually supposed to do is go backwards, which leads to a larger part of the room. It’s quite baffling. On top of all this, Ed just doesn’t control very well, and his powers are quite uninteresting. You start off with just a jump and being able to eat popcorn to turn into “super Ed”, who is much stronger and can attack. This only lasts for a short time, though, and is usually only used to get through a door. You don’t get any more transformations until very late in the game (and they all just have a limited use). This really should have been more of the game, giving it more of its own identity. You get a stick for a basic attack and being able to activate switches, a blowgun for shooting (which is unwieldy, but luckily the game gives you an obscene amount of ammo), and a fish bowl to swim underwater. The most significant move is probably the glide, which controls better than Ed on foot, but still isn’t great – and like with other abilities, it gets used heavily for one level, then is barely used. Tonic Trouble is a very tedious platformer that has no idea what it wants to be. It seems to be a melting pot of ideas that formed its way into a game, with all the refinements going to a different project instead. It seems clear that this was given much less attention, once UbiSoft decided that a 3D Rayman was the right thing to do. Poor Remake or remaster? Perhaps if there’s a classic Rayman collection, this can be a included as a bonus, with a better camera. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Tonic Trouble.

It has a reminder of what the current mission is in the top left, which to me makes it sound like there are a lot of different game modes, which I think would make sense for Crazy Taxi. Although I'm not quite sure how these "missions" work regarding online. It kind of gives me the vibe of the "fake online" that Forza and mobile games do, using random usernames for CPU opponents. Having actual other opponents in these missions would make winning them just very random.

Shadow Man NA release: 31st August 1999 PAL release: 3rd September 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Acclaim Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: 93% This was a game I was looking forward to. I read about it so much in N64 Magazine – who loved the game – but it was too “mature” when I was a kid. Shadow Man also got a wonderful remaster treatment from Nightdive, so I decided to give that version a go. Despite enhanced textures and controls, it still has the feel of an N64 game, so I stuck with that version. Shadow Man is based on the Shadowman series of comics that Activision purchased (the game title adds a space for some reason), and revolves around a plot where five evil beings (which are merged with serial killers, one of which has odd similarities to Harold Shipman) are bringing about the apocalypse. The story and world help create a great atmosphere, complete with voice acting that was pretty good, especially for the time. Shadow Man got compared to Zelda a lot and, while I can see why, a better comparison is a Nintendo franchise that skipped the N64: Metroid. Shadow Man is much more platform orientated than Zelda, with a big focus on navigation and exploration. There are weapons and movement abilities that allow you to access new areas, as well as getting to more Dark Souls – the main collectable of the game – in older areas. Jumping does feel a little but clunky, a little bit like the original Tomb Raider games. One small detail I like is that you have to put at least one of your weapons (you can hold one in each hand) away to be able to grab on ledges. With exploration being key, you would expect a good map to help you find your way around, but Shadow Man lacked that – other than a loose map of the overworld in the manual (added to one of the books you collect in the remaster). At first, I absolutely hated it, but as I started learning the levels, the more I actually enjoyed not having it. The world is incredibly well made, with rooms being memorable rather than just square rooms – which means when you unlock a shortcut to an earlier section, you realise quickly that it’s somewhere you’ve been before. This level design is part of what makes Shadow Man amazing to play. I wanted to explore every location of the world, to the point where, if it felt I was progressing in a level, I’d turn back to make sure I’d explored everywhere else first. Getting my bearings in each new area was satisfying as well. On top of this, there were many obstacles that you knew you would be able to bypass later, so when I got a new ability, I had a mental note of where I could return to to explore further. Combat is probably the weakest point of Shadow Man, with there not being much depth to it, but it is still enjoyable enough that it doesn’t hamper the rest of the game. There were a few points when hunting for the remaining Dark Souls where I ran past enemies in rooms I knew had no more secrets, and there are a bunch of interesting weapons to mix things up. The ability to mix and max weapons certainly helps, too. Shadow Man is a phenomenal game and deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. For being an early 3D Metroidvania game, it got so much right. It’s a wonderfully crafted game that has a ton of atmosphere. I absolutely loved this game and think it’s one of the best games of the era. Fave Remake or remaster? The Nightdive remaster is one of the best remasters ever done. The controls have been altered to make it nicer to play, the graphics are touched up but more recognisable, the new lighting makes the level design pop even more and it’s a wonder to play. There are also a few more areas based on the original plans for the game, which fit so well that you’d have no idea which parts they were from just playing the game. Official ways to get the game. Shadow Man Remastered is available on GoG, Steam, Xbox One/Series, PS4/5 and Switch.

Madden NFL 2000 NA release: 31st August 1999 PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: EA Sports N64 Magazine Score: N/A In a year where NFL Quarterback Club dropped the ball, a simple release would have been extremely successful for Madden. However, they decided to add a bunch of features to the game to make it their best one so far. A lot of these features are beyond my understanding – player stats that vary due to them having hot/cold streaks, create-a-play, multiple consecutive seasons with shared stats, and a bunch of other stuff like that. The arcade mode is a welcome addition to make it easier for people to get into it, as well as the challenge mode. The challenge mode gives you a ton of stuff – like certain kinds of passes, tackles, touchdowns – to try to achieve while playing the game. The rewards show that the developers were having a lot of fun with the game as there were a load of additional teams to unlock – not just “best of teams” or ones representing the developers, but silly teams. Ancient soldiers, cereal mascots, spacemen, cowboys, monsters and more could be unlocked for you to play as. And not just the teams, each came with their own themed stadium to play in. This added a bit more personality and colour to the franchise, and was an enjoyable addition. Fun Remake or remaster? Silly teams like this need to be brought back. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Madden NFL 2000