Super Robot Spirits - All N64 Games

[Cube]

2 hours ago, Dcubed said:

I remember this game because it's the one that got bodied in magazine reviews of the time for being literally the exact same game as its predecessor.  In fact, IIRC, this is NOM's lowest scoring game of all time, scoring almost zero... wonder what they would've thought of the modern sports title?

This one got generally good reviews. We'll get to the one that got ridiculed for being the same game shortly, it only came out a few months after this one.

[Dcubed]

1 minute ago, Cube said:

This one got generally good reviews. We'll get to the one that got ridiculed for being the same game shortly, it only came out a few months after this one.

Oh? Is this not the same one? I wasn't aware that there was a 3rd game!

[Cube]

4 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Oh? Is this not the same one? I wasn't aware that there was a 3rd game!

There's Olympic Hockey ’98. Exact same gameplay.

[Cube]

Dual Heroes
 

• JP release: 5th December 1997
• PAL release: 12th April 1998
• NA release: 5th November 1998
• Developer: Produce!
• Publisher: Hudson (JP), Electro Brain (NA), Gaga (PAL)
• N64 Magazine Score: 50%

I don’t quite understand the name of this one – there’s no “dual” aspect to anything of this game. Did someone mistype “Duel Heroes”? Anyway, Dual Heroes is often stated as the worst fighting game on the N64, originally scoring 28% at N64 Magazine. However, Dual Heroes is quite fascinating as it has some really interesting features – which caused N64’s magazine score to bump up to 50% once they could understand what those features were in their English version review.

Now, the fighting mechanics are pretty atrocious. Fighters don’t feel very different and they all look like rejected Power Rangers with inflatable butts, with rather ugly designs. Special moves don’t feel very special and it’s quite simple that two of the buttons can be “Punch and kick” or “kick and block” and you can still have blank ones. There’s also a 3D move – which isn’t just a fancy dodge like Midway’s fighting games, but holding the button lets you move around completely in 3D. However, it also breaks the game.

When you move around in 3D, you move very fast. Human players will have difficulty landing a hit on you, and the AI can’t manage it at all. On top of that, in their attempt to try and hit you, they’ll often run off the edge of the map (if there are no walls). This means you can cheese any AI fight by running behind them, punching them and just running away until they throw themselves off or the time runs out.

Dual Heroes does have some fascinating features that I think modern fighting games should use. One is a “virtual opponent”. These are a list of opponents to play the game against – you don’t fight them directly, they pick a character from a game. They all have different tactics and will play in different ways, rather than one set way for each fighter to react.

On top of that, you can fight your own. There is a “robot” you can train by fighting against it – you have to teach it to use each character – and it will fight in your style. You can choose to have it fight the virtual opponents or (using memory cards) another person’s robot. This feature was implemented by the Super Smash Bros series, however it requires an amiibo of each character you want to use.

With online systems now, this robot feature (and virtual opponents) seems like great features that will be much better off with sharing things online (not to mention in a better fighting game).

Dual Heroes isn’t a good game, but it has some really great ideas that deserve to be tried again.

Quote

Nice idea, but it says something about a game when the most fun you can have is watching it play itself.

- Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #17

Remake or Remaster?

The game doesn’t need updating, but the ideas need to be tried again.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Dual Heroes

[Glen-i]

Wow, did not expect the Figure Player feature from Smash to show up in this thread! That's fascinating!

[Cube]

Chameleon Twist

• NA release: 9th December 1997
• JP release: 12th December 1997
• PAL release: December 1997
• Developer: Japan System Supply
• Publisher: Sunsoft
• N64 Magazine Score: 70%

While Chameleon Twist came out in America and Europe, I played a Japanese copy with an English translation patch. The western versions seem to be based on an earlier build, perhaps sent off to the localisation teams before the game was fully ready. The Japanese version has some more challenging rooms (for example, the screenshot above is just an empty room with collectables in the other versions), the multiplayer powerups added into the main game and some unlockable characters.

The story is pretty much non-existent. A regular chameleon sees the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland jumping into a pot and decides to follow, turning into the big headed thing in the game. From there, you go through the levels, killing everything in your path.

When you start the game, you’ll test out the moves. The tongue is very impressive as you can move it as it extends. I was expecting lots of puzzle use with it, but unfortunately the game isn’t very inventive.

The tongue is used for four moves. The first lets you swallow enemies to spit them out as bullets Then you can latch onto poles, from there, you can pull yourself towards it or spin around. Finally, you can push yourself upwards for a high jump that’s very awkward to use. You don’t gain any extra abilities and it doesn’t have the usage of Mario’s move set to keep itself interesting across the game.

Being able to move the tongue seems more like something added just to combat the terrible aiming in the game.

The biggest difficulty in Chameleon Twist is the camera. Moving it twists it in really strange ways and it’s very difficult to judge jumps and to target where you’re shooting. The game itself is quite simple – especially due to how few moves you have – although to get the boss rush mode, you have to find lots of the crowns hidden throughout the levels.

Chameleon Twist is a nice start for a game. The game needs a bit more variety and a much better camera – hopefully these are fixed in the sequel.

Quote

Ocean reckon that Chameleon Twist is aimed at ‘the younger player’, but we know children of five who can complete Super Mario 64. Chameleon Twist is not only too short, but at its hardest it’s never more than mildly taxing.

- Jonathan Davies, N64 Magazine #10

Remake or Remaster?

An enhanced collection of the two games would be nice.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Chameleon Twist

[Cube]

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero 

• NA release: 11th December 1997
• PAL release: 12th February 1998
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Midway, Avalanche Software
• Publisher: Midway (NA), GT (PAL)
• N64 Magazine Score: 9%

Traditional fighting games like Mortal Kombat aren’t platformers. In order to combine Mortal Kombat with a platformer, you’ll need to put in some serious work to bring out the strengths of both genres. Making B turn the character around does not solve any issues with trying to make a platformer out of Mortal Kombat. On top of being ridiculous for a platform game, it also makes fighting a nightmare.

With the hassle of using up to jump, levels need to be properly designed around this compromised way of platforming. MK Mythologies doesn’t cater for this, though, instead taking the most annoying tropes of the worst NES platformers and adds some of its own.

After you punch up the first enemy, you’ll walk down a corridor and be squashed by a pillar and be instantly killed. Fighting past the first enemy again, you’ll time your run and dash past it – only to be killed by a second pillar. The third time, you fight again and try to stop before the second pillar. It will clip you, but you’ll be alive – but the recoil will send you under the first pillar and you’ll be crushed and killed again.

The game is a trial-and-error experience, getting a bit further each time. I used save states pretty quickly but it was still incredibly frustrating. And that’s just the first level – the second is much, much worse.

Level two consists of lots of tiny platforms. The screen is too far zoomed in to see much, and the camera doesn’t scroll how you would like, so you have to make many blind jumps. Some platforms will also collapse. Another really frustrating things are platforms that move towards and away from the camera, so you can only jump on them when they’re in “line” with the 2D aspects – which is quite difficult to see.

As you slowly progress, you’ll encounter doors that need keys. You’ll need to explore elsewhere in the level to find the keys. Sometimes, these paths are hidden off screen. For example, there’s a bridge that collapses when you stand on it, get past and carry on and you’ll find a locked door. To find the key, you have to jump into the empty space under the collapsing bridge – something that usually kills you.

Oh, and sometimes getting to the door before finding the key for it means that you can’t go back to where the key is, so you have to die.

Even using cheats, I couldn’t bear to finish Sub Zero. The level layouts are atrocious and there’s really no enjoyment to get out of the game and progression just feels like you accidentally stumbled on the correct path and doesn’t feel rewarding.

This isn’t just one of the worst games on the N64 – it’s one of the worst 2D platformers.

Quote

Although we normally take pride in completing games before reviewing them at N64 magazine, I abandoned MK Mythologies: Sub Standard on level two, and would sooner be impaled on a spike than play it any more. It’s awful.

- Jonathan Davies, N64 Magazine #11

Remake or Remaster?

While making games to expand on the characters of Mortal Kombat is a good idea, every aspect of MK Mythologies would need to be completely redone to have anything decent.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero 

 

[Dcubed]

Worth noting that Matt McMuscles did a video on this travesty of a game...

... it actually has quite an interesting development history though! Worth a watch!

[EEVILMURRAY]

4 hours ago, Cube said:

After you punch up the first enemy, you’ll walk down a corridor and be squashed by a pillar and be instantly killed. Fighting past the first enemy again, you’ll time your run and dash past it – only to be killed by a second pillar. The third time, you fight again and try to stop before the second pillar. It will clip you, but you’ll be alive – but the recoil will send you under the first pillar and you’ll be crushed and killed again.

The game is a trial-and-error experience, getting a bit further each time. I used save states pretty quickly but it was still incredibly frustrating. And that’s just the first level – the second is much, much worse.

Level two consists of lots of tiny platforms. The screen is too far zoomed in to see much, and the camera doesn’t scroll how you would like, so you have to make many blind jumps. Some platforms will also collapse. Another really frustrating things are platforms that move towards and away from the camera, 

As you slowly progress, you’ll encounter doors that need keys. You’ll need to explore elsewhere in the level to find the keys. Sometimes, these paths are hidden off screen. For example, there’s a bridge that collapses when you stand on it, get past and carry on and you’ll find a locked door. To find the key, you have to jump into the empty space under the collapsing bridge – something that usually kills you.

So... Dark Souls then?

[Cube]

Snowboard Kids

• JP release: 12th December 1997
• NA release: February 1998
• PAL release: 16th March 1998
• Developer: Racdym
• Publisher: Atlus (JP/NA), Nintendo (PAL)
• N64 Magazine Score: 86%

In the tutorial, Snowboard Kids makes it clear that this is a racing game without a brake button – it also lacks an acceleration button. Gravity does all the work, leaving you to focus on turning, items and tricks. It has a charming visual style and nice slopes to snowboard down.

The turning mechanics are quite unique to Snowboard Kids, as tilting backwards allows for sharper turns. If you hold A to prepare for a jump, you will be unable to turn until you’ve finished jumping – you can also perform tricks to earn coins.

These coins (along with those on the tracks) are used to collect weapons and items, and you have one slot for each. I quite like this mechanic, although I found them to be quite unbalanced – some weapons, such as the parachute, sends people flying into the air and keeps them there for a bit too long. There’s also an unavoidable pan item that squashes all of your opponents.

This seems to create a situation where one player will often end up in front, with the other three pelting each other, unable to catch up with the leader. It’s a shame as I do like the game’s mechanics, as well as the levels.

Instead of lots of similar looking snow tracks, Snowboard Kids mixes things up with other themes, with the cutesy style managing to not make snowboarding on desert slopes look odd. There are six tracks to start with initially, with three more to unlock.

When you reach the end of the slope, a chair lift will take you back up to the top – however, the barrier will only open if a chair is ready. If second place isn’t ready, they’ll bonk off the railing just after 1st place enters and 3rd place can sneak in while they recover. It’s a nice little mechanic.

There are a few minigames to try out as well. One has you rushing down a slope quickly using the hard-to-steer fan items, one is a target practice challenge and the last is a stunt run – although that doesn’t work very well.

Snowboard Kids is a charming game. It’s not one of the best games on the system, but it’s still worth checking out.

Quote

Snowboard Kids’ strengths though are its subtle handling – where diagonal pulls back on the analogue stick see your snowboard’s edge catch the snow, dig in and pull you around – and it’s incredibly competitive racing.

- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #14

Remake or Remaster?

A remaster of both games combined would be nice – perhaps even throw in the tracks from the very different DS game.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Snowboard Kids

[Helmsly]

Snowboard Kids was a lot of fun. I'd love that game and it's sequel to come to NSO

[Cube]

Flying Dragon

• JP release: 18th December 1997
• NA release: 31st July 1998
• PAL release: 25th July 1999
• Developer: Culture Brain
• Publisher: Culture Brain (JP), Natsume (NA/PAL)
• N64 Magazine Score: 73%

A fighting game that feels like it was built with home consoles in mind. This features a more cartoon style than most and adds RPG elements into the mix in the form of items to equip and upgrade. This is a very promising system, but ultimately the fighting itself lets it down.

To progress, you repeatedly play tournaments. You’ll get experience for your items as well as money to buy new ones (which can include new special moves). While some of these include clothing, it only affects your stats, not the visuals of your character. As you play more matches, these will “evolve” into new items.

It creates a good incentive to play the story mode repeatedly, even if it does feel the same every time – not even the text dialogue at the start of each match changes. There are a bunch of other modes, such as practice and multiplayer modes, so there are plenty of things to do – it’s just that the gameplay itself isn’t up to scratch for it.

But Flying Dragon also includes a second fighting game.

An additional mode, called “Virtual Hiryu” is also available as a much more traditional fighting game. This features a different cast of characters in a different visual style – more generic taller characters. This lacks the RPG elements but does have other features such as a “grading” system telling you what to do.

The fighting feels very similar and still isn’t very good – this one felt even easier to cheese with button mashing, too. In a way, this feels like they didn’t have enough confidence in their main mode and wanted a “normal” way to play as well.

Flying Dragon has some interesting features, and is essentially two games in one – the second containing more features and options than most other fighters so far on the N64. It’s just unfortunate that it’s not that fun to play.

Quote

As it is, there’re some fantastic options which are far outweighed by a frustratingly slow, peculiarly uninvolving series of 60 second rounds.

- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #27

Remake or Remaster?

In Japan, the “Hiryū no Ken” series that this is part of has many games, so a collection to preserve them would be good.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Flying Dragon

[Cube]

Nagano Winter Olympics ’98

• JP release: 18th December 1997
• NA release: 29th January 1998
• PAL release: February 1998
• Developer: Konami
• Publisher: Konami
• N64 Magazine Score: 32%

The first Olympic title on the N64 – and, curiously, the last one on a Nintendo platform until Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Olympic video games are usually collection of simple games based around Olympic Sports, often catering for multiplayer – and while Nagano does the first, it doesn’t really focus on multiplayer.

There are 10 sports – some with a few variations and are slow and tedious at best, and outright uninteresting at worst. The Skiing and snowboarding slaloms are best, but they’re both slow with some slight turns as you go through gates. The halfpipe is probably the worst, which has you copying input commands before you jump and your snowboarder doing a trick.

The AI is also insanely good at the game, so unless you manage to master the unclear and terrible controls, you’ll be happy if you make it to 15th place. The snowboard slalom is an odd exception, as I fell over a few dozen times and still won by a significant margin.

The massive let down in the multiplayer side is the complete lack of any simultaneous events. You all have to take turns setting records. Speed Skating is against an opponent, but in multiplayer you all race against a CPU player. Only curling, which is a turn-based sport, has any kind of interaction between players. On top of that, from what I can tell, each player still needs their own controller.

Nagano Winter Olympics is a shoddy sports minigame collection with poor controls and a terrible multiplayer mode.

Quote

We tried playing single Nagano events until we were really good at them. We tried the seven-event championship mode. We tried multiplayer championships. At no time – not even for a second - did we have any fun whatsoever.

- Jonathan Davies, N64 Magazine #12

Remake or Remaster?

Both older and newer Olympic titles have done a much better job than this.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Nagano Winter Olympics ’98

[Jonnas]

On 07/03/2024 at 8:52 AM, Cube said:

Huh, turns out there are now three distinct fighting game series with a Min Min on the roster. What are the odds?

In a more serious note, the 32/64 bit generation was wild. Releasing two distinct fighting games (in then-recent 3D, no less) in the same cartridge? How does such a thing even happen?

[Cube]

Tamagotchi World
 

• JP release: 19th December 1997
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Hudson
• Publisher: Bandai
• Original Name: 64 de Hakken!! Tamagotchi: Minna de Tamagotchi World
• N64 Magazine Score: 79%

Tamagotchi World (or Discovered at 64! Tamagotchi Everyone at Tamagotchi World for the full translation of the name) is a board game-based video game. Players take turns rolling dice, land on spaces which help or hinder progression and every now and then take part in solo or 4 player minigames. It sounds a lot like Mario Party, but before Mario Party – it’s even made by Hudson Soft.

This isn’t just about moving around the board, you have to raise your Tamagotchi as well. After your move, you can input options based on the classic devices such as feed, play, heal and clean poop. You need to maintain your Tamagotchi’s status bars as well as gain points to level up – reaching the max wins you the game.

Sometimes your Tamagotchi will refuse what to do, so you’ll need to discipline them. You also have limited credits, which are refilled once you get back to the starting point. It’s an interesting mechanic that gives you a lot more to think about other than rolling and moving.

When players land on certain spots, a minigame will be triggered. There are only 10 minigames, but they wouldn’t feel out of place in Mario Party (one even has you spinning the analogue stick as fast as you can).

This is an interesting precursor to Mario Party, and the Tamagotchi elements, while still entirely luck based, make it more than just a roll and move game.

Quote

The signature part of the game is that your blobs are vital to success, but a but independent. Innocently they spread distress, dozing all the way through your turn, pouncing on each other’s food, falling violently ill at precisely the wrong moment and generally demanding attention unreasonably.

- Jonathan Nash, N64 Magazine #12

Remake or Remaster?

I feel like this is an interesting little bit of video game history and should be preserved – a Tamagotchi game collection, perhaps?

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Tamagotchi World

[Cube]

AeroGauge
 

• JP release: 19th December 1997
• NA release: 30th April 1998
• PAL release: 1st May 1998
• Developer: Locomotive Corporation
• Publisher: ASCII
• N64 Magazine Score: 10%

A futuristic racing game, on the same lines of Wipeout, F-Zero and Extreme-G. N64 gave AeroGauge an abysmal score of 10% so I was expecting something especially dreadful from it, but I kind of enjoy it. There are some ways where it’s near enough broken and, like many N64 racers, is light on content, but this is close to being a good game.

AeroGauge does have some extreme problems. The AI players are the biggest one due to how they’re essentially “perfect”, from all of them pulling off the boost start to just all doing the perfect route throughout the level. One slight mistake and you’ll spend the whole race in last place.

The boost start itself is needlessly complicated (hold A+B before the race starts, let go of B when “go” is said) as well as the in-race boosts (hold Z+A, drift turn, then let go of Z+A and press A), both feeling like cheat codes more than part of the game. These issues fundamentally break playing against the computer.

However, the racing itself is just a lot of fun. You don’t drive or hover, you fly through the levels. This separates it from the other sci-fi racing games, and the game managed to be quite exhilarating, even in the fairly pointless time trial qualifying rounds before each race.

Oh, and one of the unlockable vehicles is a Nintendo 64 controller, which is a really neat touch – especially as the analogue stick moves as you tilt it.

AeroGauge definitely has major issues, but there are some neat ideas here and it really needed a bit more development time.

Quote

oul graphics; cheating computer opponents that zoom away right from the word ‘go’; a tedious race structure, requiring you to pre-qualify for a pointless grid position; four of the most banal, confusing and badly designed tracks we have ever seen… We could go on. Aero Gauge is truly a game beyond redemption.

- Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #17

Remake or Remaster?

I would like to see another attempt at this. Fix the AI issues to make them more like real people, sort out the various boosts and some more tracks.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play AeroGauge

[Cube]

Irritating Eclectic Stick

• JP release: 19th December 1997
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Yuke’s
• Publisher: Hudson
• N64 Magazine Score: 65%
• Original name: Ucchan Nanchan no Hono no Challenge: Denryu Ira Ira Bo

Do you know that kids toy where you move a stick around a metal wire and if you make contact with it it makes a buzzing sound? In Japan, they turned that into a game show, and that game show got multiple video games. Only one of them got a release outside of Japan, which is Irritating Stick on the PS1. The N64 game Ucchannanchan’s Flaming Challenger: Irritating Electric Stick (for the full translated name), however, remained in Japan.

The game is incredibly simple: move a stick through a maze. There are some tight corners and moving obstacles, and you view the stick from the side so it’s just a dot (you can turn on an option to display the full stick as you tilt, but it gets in the way). The only control is moving the analogue stick.

While it’s very simple, the game does what it sets out to do perfectly. The controls are 100% reliable, with the stick stopping the moment you let go of the stick, so there’s no delay or deceleration to worry about, it’s entirely down to your skill. So while the game is frustratingly difficult – the frustration is aimed at yourself, as it’s your skill causing you to fail.

And I lack the skill to complete the game. Even if you removed the time limit, my precision is not good enough for this game. That’s not a fault with the game, though, just with me.

Irritating Electric Stick doesn’t do much – and there are only six courses (they will take a very long time to master, though) – but it does what it advertises so well that it’s a surprisingly decent game.

Quote

A ludicrous, insulting, expensive novelty, then, but one I like a lot.

- Jonathan Nash, N64 Magazine #12

Remake or Remaster?

A collection of Irritating Electric Stick on N64, Irritating Stick on PS1 and The Irritating Maze on Neo Geo, perhaps? They could even throw in some clips of the actual show.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Irritating Electric Stick

[BowserBasher]

The second image gives me Kuru Kuru Kururin vibes. 

[Dcubed]

9 hours ago, Cube said:

There’s no official way to play Irritating Electric Stick

I’m sure there’s a porn shop or two out there that would disagree with you.

[Cube]

Virtual Pro Wrestling 64

 

• JP release: 19th December 1997
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Asmik Ace / AKI
• Publisher: Asmik Ace
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

This is mainly a Japanese version of WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. However, despite releasing in the same month as the original version, this has a lot more stuff in it. Most notably, it contains a lot more wrestlers, with 5 additional wrestling leagues included. The game itself plays the same, though.

Another significant feature of this version is the wrestler edit. The features are quite basic – you can’t change anything about the wrestlers physical features, but there are 126 different costumes to choose from, each with two or three colours that you can change.

These don’t make the game significantly better, but there are some interesting changes that differentiate it from the original version of the game.

Remake or remaster?

The genre itself has evolved.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Virtual Pro Wrestling 64

[Cube]

FIFA: Road to World Cup 98

• PAL release: 20th December 1997
• NA release: 22nd December 1997
• JP release: 12th April 1998
• Developer: EA Canada
• Publisher: EA Sports (PAL/NA), EA Victor (JP)
• N64 Magazine Score: 83%

This game brings back a lot of memories from my childhood. I had this game on PC and played it a lot – even doing some 90 minute matches. I was into football at the time (I stopped caring not long after). After seeing how dreadful FIFA 64 was, I was worried that this was going to tarnish my memories. Luckily, it seems that this time, the N64 got a solid port.

Every single thing has been improved upon from the previous year. The players actually look human now (in N64 style, anyway), the gameplay is fast and fluid and there is actually team management and a HUD that lets you know player names and a massive amount of both international and league teams. The N64 version does have some setbacks – Song 2 by Blur is cut back, and the commentary is heavily reduced, but the core gameplay is spot on, and it’s just a ton of fun.

This version of FIFA also included a 5-a-side indoor pitch, for an even more frantic and fast-paced game and a lot fewer interruptions due to the ball bouncing off the wall. This mode solidifies the core feature of this particular FIFA: fun. The gameplay is relatively simple, but it’s just enjoyable.

This extends into some of the “unrealistic” things you can do in the game. One of the tackle buttons is just an outright foul that you’ll never get away with, and you can even use it on the goalkeeper for an instant red card – however, you can set the referee strictness to zero. You can also pass back to the keeper and run as much as you like.

Even though I’m not a fan of football now, I still had a ton of fun playing this. It may not be as technical as ISS, but it’s just enjoyable.

Quote

But the overall improvement in FIFA is astounding. In fact, such a leap would have been unimaginable almost a year ago when we were plodding through the sewage-like mess that was FIFA 64.

- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #10

Remake or remaster?

While the genre has evolved a lot – I think a “throwback” game based on this one would be interesting to see, focusing on the same simple gameplay and sense of fun.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get FIFA Road to World Cup 98

[Dcubed]

This is the best that FIFA ever got... but don't take my word for it, these are the words of Bruce McMillan, the series' executive producer over at EA...

https://www.timeextension.com/features/the-making-of-fifa-road-to-world-cup-98-the-greatest-fifa-of-all-time

Time Extension did a great interview with some of the game's original developers just a few weeks ago, well worth a read.

But still.  Even at FIFA's very best, it still doesn't hold a candle to ISS64/98/2000

Edited March 13 by Dcubed

[Cube]

Yoshi’s Story

• JP release: 21st December 1997
• NA release: 10th March 1998
• PAL release: 10th May 1998
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo
• N64 Magazine Score: 86%

Yoshi’s Story is an incredibly cute game that just oozes charm. On a quest to save their magical fruit tree from Baby Bowser, the Yoshi’s journey across a book across six worlds, eating a lot of fruit along the way.

In each level, your goal isn’t to make it to the end, it’s to eat 30 fruit. Fruit is also health – apart from chillies, which the Yoshis hate (shame, they’re delicious). Getting the 30th one ends the level no matter where you are, so if you’re after finding the super hearts or just more points, you’ll want to hold off. The platforming is great (other than some blind jumps) and there are lots of little secrets to discover.

The biggest issue with Yoshi’s Story is the game’s structure. In a similar style to Star Fox 64, you only play a portion of the levels – one from each of the six worlds. So reaching the Baby Bowser (who is ridiculously easy to defeat) does not take long at all if you’re munching up fruit whenever you see it. I feel like it does Yoshi’s Story a massive disservice, and many people will miss a lot of the game due to this.

In order to unlock more levels, you need to search the levels for giant hearts – needing to find three each time if you want the fourth stage in each world. There’s also an additional challenge of only eating melons – there are exactly 30 in each level. This all adds to the replayability, but as much as I love the game, I just really hate its structure.

Quote

But those appreciative of the art that is game development will rightly sit back, look at Yoshi’s Story and admit that it’s incredibly good fun. And that, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about.

- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #15

Remake or remaster?

A remake would be amazing. The different graphical styles (craft, wool, inflatables) would pop even more with added detail and they could provide different ways to play to change the structure of the game.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no way to buy a new copy of Yoshi’s Story, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

Re-releases

2007: Wii Virtual Console

2016: Wii U Virtual Console

2021: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only)

[Dcubed]

This game gets a really unfair bum rap, usually being reviewed for what it isn't (A straightforward sequel to Yoshi's Island) rather than what it is (A score attack focused action platformer).

For better or worse, it's a very experimental game; with some outright strange level design and gameplay structure.  It was probably the wrong game at the wrong time, and I don't just mean that because it's Nintendo's one and only sprite-based game released for their shiny new polygon pushing 3D powerhouse; but because it was seen as a slight game when Nintendo desperately needed a sprawling and meaty adventure title to impress their early 1998 audiences (it only squeaks into 1997 in Japan on a pure technicality).

When playing this game, you can tell that it was viewed by its developers as a bit of a game design playground of sorts, it's gameplay structure is outright bizzare, with its stages not even having a defined ending; only being completed whenever Yoshi has had his fill of fruit (though there are always exactly 30 melons to find; eat melons only for the best score!).  Even the basic controls can be described as experimental, with a lot of focus being placed on what the N64's analog stick can bring to the table with very fine and granular movement and aiming controls (the d-pad goes completely unused here), while the enemy designs and level gimmicks come across as drug fuelled nightmare spawn... I mean...

Just LOOK at this menagerie of monstrous designs

...UGH!!

This bizzaro world concept also spreads to the music too, as Kazumi Totaka decided to coke up and thrust out some... experimental stuff...

... oh shit! That's a fan mashup, how did that one slip in there!? Lemme try that one again...

... some smooth Wave Race 64 vibes goin' on with that last one there... I see what you did Totaka

Anyway.  I can dig Yoshi's Story.  It's a weird game that came out at an unfortunate time, where people wanted something grander and more contemporary, but I still have a soft spot for it

If I do have any critisism to level at this game, it's that it doesn't have a huge amount of depth as a score attack game.  There's a simple and obvious critical path to achieving a perfect score (eat 30 melons) and once you've done that? The game is clocked; there's no further capacity to chase higher scores.  It's still enjoyable despite this, but there isn't much longevity as a pure score-attack game.  Its DS follow-up (Yoshi's Touch N' Go) would end up being a far more compelling pure score-attack game, probably in response to the scoring limitations seen in its N64 predecessor.

Despite the above, the game still stands out as being totally unique, both within the N64's library and within Nintendo's catalogue as a whole.  And despite its gameplay structure never making a return, it would ironically end up being perhaps the most influential game within the entire Yoshi series (indeed, it's the game that turned what was once considered to be "Super Mario World 2" into its own entire franchise!)

Edited March 14 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

My word, I've only just realised that "Jungle Fever" just reuses the Yoshi voice throughout.

Somehow makes it even funnier!