Dcubed Posted March 26 Posted March 26 Here's another mediocre N64 3D fighting game that got a fun Matt McMuscles video! 1
Jonnas Posted March 26 Posted March 26 I'm sure there's a lot to say about that shitty fighting game, but... I can't get over "Nextream". Why the fuck did they not spell it properly? "Nextreme" already works as a pun! I was looking at that boxart, dumbfounded, wondering if they meant to make a pun with "stream" for some reason, and then it's just a misspell of the stupidest possible wordplay they could come up with. I can't get over that. I think "Nextream" might be the worst pun I've seen in my life. ... Incidentally, if a game with this cover had come out on the SNES, I'm sure it would already be on the NSO by now. 1 1
Cube Posted March 27 Author Posted March 27 Power Pros Baseball 5 JP release: 26th March 1998 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Diamond Hear Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: 78% One simple change makes this a huge improvement over Power Pros 4: when the ball is pitched, a target appears on screen for you to aim at. It still needs incredibly quick reflexes, but you now have a chance of hitting the ball. The computer is still completely perfect, though, catching pretty much everything you hit while they always hit a large gap between your players. Another new feature is the scenario mode, which gives you a bunch of in-progress games and you need to try and win from that position. It’s very similar to the scenario mode from International Superstar Soccer. The RPG mode also returns, but there’s just an immense amount of text involved in it, so it’s difficult to keep track of what is going on. Interestingly, there’s still no N64 baseball game that has released in the USA. Quote Although the text remained a mystery, we soon formed a bond with our adopted baseball kids. When the one who wears too much mascara and the twins with the inflatable heads were missing, presumed electrocuted, it felt like a beloved Tamagotchi had expired on us. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #17 Remake or Remaster? I would like to see an English version of one of the RPGs in these games. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Power Pros Baseball 5 1
Dcubed Posted March 27 Posted March 27 (edited) Bloody hell, I never realised how utterly dire the platform was for western-developed sports games... Pretty much nothing of note until 1998, two whole years into the console's life. A console with not a single Baseball or American Football game in the US for two whole years is just utterly dreadful... even the SEGA Saturn had managed much better! Granted, sports games would come eventually, but they'd come far too late. Thank God that the N64 had ISS for Europe, that was its big saving grace as far as traditional sports games go and it was a belter, but it's also only one game and one sport. Edited March 27 by Dcubed
Cube Posted March 28 Author Posted March 28 @Dcubed Madden 64 and Quaterback Club 64 came out in October 1997, so just over a year after the US launch Battle Puzzle Balls: Fighting Spirit! JP release: 26th March 1998 PAL release: 1st September 1998 NA release: 29th September 1998 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: 47% Original Name: Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama: Tōkon! Marutama Chō Battle Puzzle Balls is a collection of three games, two puzzlers and then a bonus minigame. It features a cast of random characters including a “magical girl” that might be a vampire, a mad scientist, a rockstar, a baby and an axolotl. The first game is a variation on Puyo Puyo. In this version, a group of three will make them disappear (instead of four) and the “bad blocks” sent from your opponent can be turned into regular balls. Unfortunately, there are no colour options and I couldn’t tell apart the green and yellow – these also lack the slight shape variation from Puyo Puyo. The second game has the same linking and chain rules as the previous, but instead of balls coming from the top of the screen, you have a pair of wings that can pick up one of the balls, swapping it with another. The green is a darker colour in this game so I could tell the difference, so I was able to do fairly well at it. The final mode is a very basic bowling game. A cursor swings up and down the screen and you press A at the right time to bowl. It’s like a rather naff java version of bowling. This is mainly just a less fun version of Puyo Puyo. Quote One criticism of this version is its apparent ability to cheat. Achieve a thunderous rection and your opponent seems to suffer very little. Indeed, after scoring a ten-hit chain (that’s TEN-hit), our opponent had three lines of glass blobs added to his side, which he promptly got rid of and, seconds later, dumped – with five over lines – on our side. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #15 Remake or Remaster? Other puzzle games need more attention. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Battle Puzzle Balls: Fighting Spirit! 1
Cube Posted March 29 Author Posted March 29 Air Boarder 64 JP release: 27th March 1998 PAL release: November 1998 NA release: N/A Developer: Human Entertainment Publisher: Human (JP), Gaga (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 62% Air Boarder 64 is a trick-based skateboarding-style games, but on hoverboards. The fascinating thing about Air Border is that this came out before Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The unfortunate thing is that the developers of Air Border never seemed to figure out what the player is supposed to do in a game like this, instead opting for a bunch of random modes. You have a trick mode (spoiled somewhat because you have to hit gates in a certain time), a time trial, coin collection and free play. It all feels like the developers were testing different things, but none of them really feel like a completed feature, seeming a bit disjointed. The five levels also feel like they’re each from a completely different game, with zero cohesion in theme or level design. You have the starting skate park, a forest level, a bit of a city during winter, a few islands connected by a massive bridge and one where you’re tiny in a house. Like the modes, these also feel like they were testing random ideas and couldn’t work out a direction for the game. None of them take advantage of the fact that you can fly up walls, either. Even though it feels more like a lost prototype than a final game, I can’t help but find this game fascinating, and the core movement and tricks are enjoyable. It’s not a good game but, even with its complete lack of direction, it’s not terrible, either. Quote And that’s just it. This plainly hasn’t been playtested enough. The courses are lovingly designed, especially the Giant House level, but the events don’t do them justice. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #16 Remake or Remaster? It would be interesting too see this tried again, using what the Tony Hawk series did with the genre. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Air Boarder 64 3
Jonnas Posted March 29 Posted March 29 It's always fascinating to see what a messy (or non-existent) direction does to a game. Usually leads to really polarizing titles, or reviews that insist on trying to separate the "good" from the "bad". In this case, I wonder if this game would've acquired a highly-specific fanbase, if Tony Hawk hadn't eventually shown up. 1 1
Cube Posted March 30 Author Posted March 30 Rampage: World Tour NA release: 30th March 1998 PAL release: June 1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Game Refuge, Saffire Publisher: Midway (NA), GT (PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 54% Some arcade games are great for playing for hours, making home console ports good ways to play. Others are fun for 10 minute bursts and you see how soulless they are if you sit down for much longer. Rampage is one of the latter games. You take control of one of three monsters (not-King Kong, not-Godzilla and a wolf monster) and smash buildings and eat people. Being a monster is fun to start with, but the fun only lasts for a few minutes as you smash up the same few types of buildings again and again. There’s zero variety – once you’ve played the first level, you’ve pretty much experienced the whole game. It all feels a bit clunky, too, smashing buildings feels a bit awkward as you have to jump onto them to start the process, movement just isn’t fluid and there aren’t many ways to take out a building. Everything already felt dated when it came out on the N64, and time hasn’t helped it out. That said, Rampage World Tour is an accurate port of the arcade game, which itself is an accurate update of the original. If you really, really wanted to play Rampage at home, this provided that experience – it just didn’t do anything else. Quote The ‘World Tour’ of the title amounts to only a minor change of scenery to indicate the general area of the world you’re currently trashing – snow for Moscow, sun for Madrid, Stonehenge for Liverpool (?), etc. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #16 Remake or Remaster? You can throw all the Rampage games in a collection. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Rampage World Tour 1 1
Glen-i Posted March 30 Posted March 30 How this series got a movie continues to baffle me to this day and will do so for the rest of my life. 1
Cube Posted March 30 Author Posted March 30 Morita Shogi 64 JP release: 3rd April 1998 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Seta Publisher: Seta N64 Magazine Score: N/A A sequel to Strongest Habu Shogi, this looks a lot more basic, with a completely 2D interface instead of the 3D tiles and viewpoints of the previous. There are less modes and features as well, however it does have a few advantages. While it still doesn’t highlight possible locations for moving tiles, trying to move them will move them directly to the next legal position, so you don’t need to be told off for trying an illegal move. The other significant feature isn’t one I can test. The game cartridge came with a built-in modem, enabling online play against other players in Japan. As I don’t quite understand the game of Shogi and struggle to remember which tile is what, I can’t really judge this one properly. Remake or Remaster? Clubhouse Games on Switch does the job. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play Morita Shogi 64 1
Dcubed Posted March 31 Posted March 31 (edited) Very interesting little anomoly of a game... and one of the very few N64 games to use a custom cartridge! I imagine that it must've originally been in development for the 64DD (which also had a built-in modem), before being shoved onto the cartridge format; because adding online play with custom hardware in 1998 is a ridiculously ambitious move for such a small publisher! Speaking of which... Seta are also the developer/publisher responsible for the Japanese only Tetris 64; a game that I won't go into too much detail about here (lest I steal Cube's thunder), but it too came with a rather interesting hardware accessory! Seta really liked using weird and custom hardware didn't they? They were also responsble for Hayazashi Nidan Morita Shogi 2 for the SNES in 1995... which came with a custom-made ARM7TDMI CPU (in fact, it's an earlier version of the same CPU archtecture that would later go on to power the GBA; albeit running on the Ver 3 instruction set, rather than the more advanced Ver 4 instruction set used by the GBA) that that was orders of magnitude more powerful (and expensive!) than the console's own CPU, or any other custom cartridge chipset ever made for the SNES! In fact, it wasn't even emulatable at all until it was finally added to the cycle accurate BSNES emulator in 2012! Edited March 31 by Dcubed 1 2
Cube Posted March 31 Author Posted March 31 @Dcubed There's another odd cartridge I'll be "playing" too. GT 64: Championship Edition PAL release: 14th April 1998 NA release: 31st August 1998 JP release: 30th October 1998 Developer: Imagineer Publisher: Infogrames (PAL), Ocean (NA), Imagineer (JP) N64 Magazine Score: 67% Racing games that go for “realism” really don’t age as well as sillier and more arcade-style racing games, and GT 64 when it came out was already just a cheap cash-in to make itself look like Gran Turismo on the N64. Due to this, GT 64 is a truly horrid experience without a single redeeming feature. Before each race, you need to qualify for starting position. The default is a 3 lap time trial which sounded horrible, so I selected “special stage”. This is a 1 lap time trial, but with a warm up lap before it. The racing itself is very stiff and janky, and the CPU racers feel more like obstacles than rivals. There’s also no music, with the only sound a really horrible engine noise – I ended up muting the game. You race across three tracks, and then race across slightly different versions of those three tracks – with the difference between “shot and long” feeling less unique than the different routes in their previous game, Multi-Racing Championship. Then you can play the three tracks two more times in mirror mode. Cruis’n USA had some mild bouts of enjoyment, this is just pure tedium all the time and the worst racer on the N64 so far. Quote So in making GT 64, what have developers Genki done? Um, well, changed the handling, worsened the visuals and cunningly made it look like they’ve upped the number of tracks to 12 (when, in fact, they’ve only really kept it to three). Whoops. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #17 Remake or Remaster? Nothing for this one. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play GT 64 2
Cube Posted April 2 Author Posted April 2 All-Star Baseball 99 NA release: 14th April 1998 PAL release: 1st August 1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Iguana Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: 84% The N64’s first baseball game that was actually released in America (and Europe). This follows similar control schemes as most of the Japanese baseball games, aiming the bat with the stick. One notable thing is that this is entirely in 3D, and doesn’t switch to a different style when the fielders are chasing the ball. Like Power Pros 5, it also has an indicator to show where the ball is heading towards, but this is initially confusing as it moves as the ball curves, and I did manage to hit the ball a few times and even get a home run. The computer still feels like they’re far too skilled, especially when catching balls, though. There’s a nifty cheat that allows for playing in an alien stadium (which deforms players to look alien-like) but there aren’t a lot of modes. This seems like a decent baseball game, but that’s coming from someone who has yet to win a baseball match in a video game. Quote All Star Baseball is absolutely incredible to look at. Not just because it’s entirely high-res – though that obviously helps -but because everything that could be right visually is right. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #19 Remake or Remaster? Like other sports games, the genre has evolved. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play All-Star Baseball 99 1
Dcubed Posted April 2 Posted April 2 Those graphics look really good for N64! Huge step up from other baseball games we’ve seen. Wonder who made… ahh, it’s Iguana… that explains everything. 1
Cube Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside NA release: 27th April 1998 PAL release: 10th June 1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Left Field Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 90% Licensed sports games aren’t what you expect to be published by Nintendo, but here we are with NBA Courtside, a licensed basketball game and one that does a really good job with the sport. The graphics were particularly good on the N64 at the time, with some really nice reflections on the court. At first, it seemed like a very back and forth game like other baseball games, with you and your opponent taking turns to score, but I eventually learnt how to properly tackle and defend (players you aren’t directly controlling move to sensible positions) and was able to go on the offensive and win some matches. Controls are fluid with a lot of options to adjust to your liking. NBA Courtside is a very solid basketball game, one that is enjoyable for non-Basketball fans and probably great for those who are into the sport. Quote NBA Courtside is the most satisfying version of any rule-heavy American sport we’ve ever played. Not that the likes of Madden and Quarterback Club aren’t excellent games – it’s just that NBA Courtside is the only one that has ever managed to recreate the whole spectacular experience, rules and all, and still leave you feeling as if you’re really in charge of everything that’s happening. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #18 Remake or Remaster? Sports games evolve over time. Official Ways to get the game There’s no official way to play NBA Courtside 1
Dcubed Posted April 3 Posted April 3 (edited) This was the beginning of NOA’s partnership with Left Field Productions; which lasted from 1998-2002, ending with NBA Courtside 2002 for the GameCube. They put out some… throughly ok games. The partnership quickly fell apart when Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln left NOA and when Iwata took over from Yamauchi. While I can’t say that their loss was massive for Nintendo as a whole? They certainly helped to fill a sports-shaped hole in the N64’s library and it’s a shame that they couldn’t do the same for the GameCube, as it could’ve really done with their support… Edited April 3 by Dcubed 2
Cube Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 Bomberman Hero JP release: 30th April 1998 NA release: 31st August 1998 PAL release: 23rd October 1998 Developer: Hudson Publisher: Hudson (JP), Nintendo (NA/PAL) N64 Magazine Score: 66% Coming out a mere six months after the first Bomberman game on N64, this Bomberman game seems like it was developed as a separate take on Bomberman rather than a sequel to Bomberman 64 (it actually started out as a Bonk game). This focuses solely on platforming rather than the more puzzle-orientated Bomberman 64, but unfortunately doesn’t so much with it. Bomberman Hero is made up of a lot of short, linear levels, ether played from side to side or up into the screen. You collect gems, kill enemies and try to get to the door. The main challenge is from the poor depth perception and rather naff jump, with the difficulty of the first level and final level being pretty much the same. Very few levels stand out, and the ones that do (one that adds a lot of fog and one on moving platforms) do so because they’re particularly bad. There are a few types of vehicle levels, which all feel like slow and boring copies of Star Fox 64. Move into the screen, firing off torpedoes while avoiding enemies. Bosses are a particular nuisance, not so much that their attacks are difficult to dodge, but rather because they have a lot of health and take ages to defeat – the last world before the ending being comprised of repeated boss sections before the final boss. Like Bomberman 64, there is a hidden final bit of story, but the game is far to dull to hunt for all the collectibles required to do so – and it’s just more of the same, really dull gameplay. It’s nowhere near as tedious as Bobmerman 64, it’s just a really boring and average platformer. Incidentally, despite Bomberman being legendary for multiplayer, Bobmerman Hero has no multiplayer whatsoever. Quote Oh, it’s okay: the switch from the 3D to pseudo-2D adds something appealing to the way the game plays and at least this version is lively – unlike Bomberman 64 which was emptier than David Beckham’s head. In fact, it’s livelier to such an extent that there’s possibly too much going on, slowing down sections of the game that should have been faster and snappier. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #17 Remake or remaster? Again, there are better Bomberman games to focus on – these can just be part of a larger collection. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Bomberman Hero. 1
EEVILMURRAY Posted April 4 Posted April 4 Here I was thinking Bomberman Generation on the Cube was the first of that ilk. Which I do recommend. I'd love to fire mine back up.
Dcubed Posted April 4 Posted April 4 40 minutes ago, Cube said: Coming out a mere six months after the first Bomberman game on N64, this Bomberman game seems like it was developed as a separate take on Bomberman rather than a sequel to Bomberman 64 (it actually started out as a Bonk game). I… did not know that! Suddenly this game makes a lot more sense now! I’ve not played this one as I’ve never really enjoyed single player Bomberman much (multiplayer is always a hoot though). But I’d definitely try it if it came to the N64 NSO service (and considering that it’s 2/2 with both the Wii and Wii U VC services? I think it’s a likely future candidate ). 1
Cube Posted April 5 Author Posted April 5 Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition NA release: 30th April 1998 PAL release: June 1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Taito, Probe Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: 80% Another colour match puzzle game, Bust-a-Move (or the much better named Puzzle Bobble in Japan) is a well renowned puzzle series, with this being a port of the popular arcade version of Bust-a-Move 2. Unfortunately, I had issues with this as quite a few colours looked similar to me. The game does use shapes as well – but they’re partly obscured by the puzzles, and the shapes spin around (and out of sync), so it takes me too long to properly check I’m aiming at the right colour. If it wasn’t for this, then Bust-A-Move 2 would be a puzzle game that I would enjoy, and on top of competing against more difficult enemies (with little animations before each “battle”), there’s also a puzzle mode – but this is also against a timer, so my issue with colours persisted in this mode. I’m sure this is a good puzzle game, but unfortunately my colourblindness gets in the way. Quote The fact of the matter is that you can start to play Bust-a-Move on Tuesday evening, stand up to go to the toilet five minutes later, and find out for some reason it’s now eight-o-clock on Wednesday morning. Capable of tardis-like time-and-space distortion, Bust-a-Move can take over your life and hoover up your spare time like a giant Dyson - James Ashton, N64 Magazine #17 Remake or remaster? It doesn’t really need a remake and the newest game in the series, Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! (they’ve moved to using the Japanese name worldwide) is out on Switch. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Bust-a-Move 2: Arcade Edition 1 1
Dcubed Posted April 5 Posted April 5 12 minutes ago, Cube said: There is no official way to get Bust-a-Move 2: Arcade Edition Not true. The Saturn version is available on Switch as part of City Connection’s S-Tribute series. The NeoGeo version is also available via Arcade Archives. And the enhanced Taito F3 Arcade version (Puzzle Bobble 2X) is also available via the Egret 2 Mini. Sorry Cube, but you’re triply wrong this time 1
Glen-i Posted April 5 Posted April 5 7 hours ago, Dcubed said: And the enhanced Taito F3 Arcade version (Puzzle Bobble 2X) is also available via the Egret 2 Mini. That's the one where you have to brutally murder a Bubble Dragon every time you start playing, isn't it?
Dcubed Posted April 5 Posted April 5 1 hour ago, Glen-i said: That's the one where you have to brutally murder a Bubble Dragon every time you start playing, isn't it? It most certainly is! 1
Cube Posted April 5 Author Posted April 5 Forsaken 64 NA release: 30th April 1998 PAL release: 1st May1998 JP release: N/A Developer: Iguana, Probe Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: 87% When it comes to remastered versions of games, I give play around with the remaster and the N64 version a bit to compare feel and features. While Forsaken Remastered is a great version, it’s based on the PlayStation/PC version and while it contains the N64 exclusive levels, it lacks a few features and the exclusive levels are bonuses, so it felt a bit to different to play – so I stuck to the N64 version (if you just want to play the game, then definitely play the Remaster). Forsaken is a spaceship combat game that takes place in cramped maze-like arenas. Naturally, this feels very disorientating, even though the controls (once you adjust them to your liking and get used to them) do a good job at allowing you to move in so many directions and there’s a lot of weapons to find and use. The third person mode is exclusive to the N64 version and looks neat with the see-through ships, but a lack of crosshairs makes it difficult to aim. It’s still a nice novelty, though. There’s a lot of levels, but unfortunately they all feel quite samey, and while enemies look different, they don’t feel that different to blow up. That said, Forsaken 64 is a decent game, there’s a lot of levels and a good multiplayer. A bit of variety and some more open levels would be nice, though. There’s also a lot of impressive background lore and detail on the characters, none of which is really carried through to the game, which is just a case of completing the objectives and going to the next level. Quote Forsaken is certainly the N64’s best ‘serious’ game since GoldenEye. Choose a Turok-emulating control system (number four worked best for us), spend a few hours to get to grips with the intricoes of combining vertical and horizontal movement, whilst simultaneously fending off attacks from every angle (six fingers and two brains would be a distinct advantage), and you will discover a game that, although not for the fainthearted, holds a genuinely rewarding experience for those who are prepared to persevere. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #16 Remake or remaster? The remaster is probably the best way to play Forsaken, even though it’s lacking the 3rd person view (it looked nice but isn’t practical), it plays a lot nicer and looks cleaner – although an “N64 playlist” to play levels in the order of the N64 game would be nice. Official ways to get the game. The remastered version of the PC/PS1 Forsaken is available on GoG and Steam. 1 2
Dcubed Posted April 6 Posted April 6 (edited) I haven’t got anything to add about Forsaken 64, but I do have something for you @Cube… I just bought Puzzle Bobble: Everybubble on Switch (it’s currently on sale) and you’ll be pleased to hear that it includes a colourblind option! Nice to see that Taito took the feedback to heart Edited April 6 by Dcubed 2
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