Randnet Disk - All N64 Games

[Cube]

Gauntlet Legends
 

• NA release: 31st August 1999
• PAL release: 1st December 1999
• JP release: 7th April 2000
• Developer: Atari
• Publisher: Midway (NA/PAL), Epoch (JP)
• N64 Magazine Score: 81%

While I have been a bit unfair to arcade ports for lacking in content, Gauntlet Legends is an arcade game that makes a lot of sense for a home console port. The arcade game used a password system to play the game across many sessions, so replacing this with a memory card save worked extremely well.

Gauntlet Legends is a simple hack and slash game where you fight though hordes of enemies, locating their spawner and destroying that. It doesn’t do anything unique for this genre, but it keeps things simple to make it a ton of fun in multiplayer.

Gauntlet Legends is very much designed with four people in mind, each being a different class (each class also has multiple options) so that you can unleash a variety of attacks. With others, you also have to decide between who gets treasure and who gets health, or potentially end up squabbling amongst yourselves, each levelling up separately. The game is a lot more dynamic like this, and is something that’s an immense amount of fun.

Play on your own, however, and the game’s flaws are very clear. The game is immensely repetitive. You fight through enemies destroying their spawn points, then blast every wall and hunt for every switch to find the hidden objects you need to progress.

Because Gauntlet Legends doesn’t adapt for different numbers of players, there are an immense amount of enemies. A lot of the time, the only valid tactic is to shoot them as they form a single line until they give up (they stop spawning after a while), sometimes using your special attack to move forwards a bit.

The N64 version of the game skips two worlds in the arcade game, but adds two in their place. The later PlayStation version had the N64 levels and all the original levels, but only supported two players.

Gauntlet Legends is a really fun game, but does require four people to be in the right frame of mind to play it.

Fun

Quote

Formulating strategies, slaughtering beasts, destroying the monster-spawning generators – doing your best to keep each other alive. It’s simple and nostalgic, but great fun all the same. The single player game, though, is a lonely and repetitive experience.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #36

Remake or remaster?

A Gauntlet collection would be great. Especially if, for this game, they can combine the best features of each version.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Gauntlet Legends

[EEVILMURRAY]

Loved that game, still have my copy where I evolved into an Anubis dude. One niggle was one level where there was a hidden secret I could see and couldn't get to. My mate and I plowed through that level so many times and couldn't reach it.

One day I tried solo and magically one piece of a bridge suddenly fell to my attack. We hit every bit of that bridge before as the secret was right under it 

[Cube]

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

[Cube]

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

Quote

The first time you visit, say, the Asylum Gateway, you’ll see perhaps half of it. Everything has been designed to be revisited: once you’ve got the Gads – themselves housed in sprawling temples – whole new areas open themselves up to you. Swimming beneath a lake of lava may reveal a tunnel; an unreachable door lurks tantalisingly beyond a walkway of red-hot coals; and fiery blocks prevent passage to places unknown.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #32

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.

[Cube]

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

Quote

It’s platforming at its most uninspiring, and isn’t made any better by the tedious level quests. Ed’s life revolves around scampering along pre-defined routes, pressing the odd switch and – very occasionally – thwacking an animated bad guy. The ugly purple chap’s ever-increasing range of abilities is never exploited – there’s one stage that takes advantage of his flying abilities, but otherwise abilities such as pogoing, swimming and pea-shooting are entirely wasted.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #33

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.

[Jonnas]

On 9/7/2024 at 11:50 AM, Cube said:

Shadow Man is a phenomenal game

I tried starting it a long time back (the GOG version, the remaster didn't exist yet), but got stuck in this one boss that... I think you're supposed to lose in a specific way? Haven't returned to it since.

It's marked as "Unfinished" on my backlog, and I definitely want to go back to it someday.

[Cube]

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

Quote

Indeed, it’s from here, that you start to notice just how much has been sacrificed for this 64-bit venture. Where, for example, are the Sky TV-style replays in the match highlights, where a red line maps out the route of the ball from your foot to the goal, along with the goalscorer, speed and distance? In face, where are the replays full stop? For a game with such a large proportion of spectacular goals, you’d think a replay would have been an obvious inclusion (which it was for the PlayStation version).

Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #31

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.

[Cube]

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

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The weapons, a homing missile and a green laser that bounces off the walls, are great. You just hold down the C-buttons to control the direction of fire and you unleash a continuous stream of destruction, vaporising anything you aim at – aliens, houses, skyscrapers, the works. Truly satisfying. Everything you blow up leaves a piece of fruit behind, and collecting them powers up your special attack, which you can use to shoot up to 100 missiles at once, complete with little white trails. The screen is constantly busy and the action rarely lets up.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #36

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

[Dcubed]

Worth noting that the original N64 version of Bangai-O is a very different game to its Dreamcast counterpart; as Treasure elected to heavily redesign the game when porting it to SEGA's final console.

It's a great game on Dreamcast, but I've always wanted to get my hands on the N64 version as well... unfortunately it just so happens to have had a very small print run originally; meaning that it's that dreaded combo of genuine rarity + good game + high demand = Get A Second Job!

Edited September 10 by Dcubed

[Cube]

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

 

[Cube]

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

Quote

And, for the most part, Road Rash is good fun. But – crucially – it never manages to be anything more than that. It’s nippy; the handling of the bikes is well-judge and, as well as having ten bikes on-screen, there’s a host of pedestrians, police and civilian traffic to deal with. Not bad at all. And yet, it all seems a little lightweight and uninvolving.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #36

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.

[Cube]

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

Quote

It’s just like being in the middle of a Holywood gunfight. Not that any of us have actually been in one, but WinBack certainly brought back memories of Butch and Sundance’s last stand, the end of High Plains Drifter and a few great episodes of 21 Jump Street.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #41

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.

[Dcubed]

So bizzare that Winback of all games ended up being a launch title for the Switch NSO service.

Also, this is an Omega Force game? Really!?

The variety of games that OF put out prior to hitting it big with Dynasty Warriors 2 (not the first one… which, believe it or not, is actually a traditional 1v1 3D fighting game!) is pretty remarkable.  I guess they mirror From Software in that regard; having an eclectic past before finally finding a single winning formula and milking it to absolute death.

[BowserBasher]

I played through that on NSO some time ago, one issue that bugs me after playing GoldenEye is that the fire button is on A. I mean come on the Z trigger is right there for that very purpose.

[Cube]

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

Quote

As a one-player game, Mayhem is short-lived. Matches are over too quickly, the stamina/energy bars seem stacked in your favour, and repeating one move is guaranteed to topple any fighter – we won the first ‘Hard’ belt on our first go within 15 minutes. But it’s a worthy multiplayer game, and although not as comprehensive, attractive or lasting as this month’s Wrestlemaina, its fast play makes it an enjoyable wrestler in its own right.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #36

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

[Cube]

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

Quote

Poor

If Konami’s masterpiece is the Brazil of football games then WLS 2000 is Holland, Croatia or any one of those dark horse teams that pop up at every World cup to claim a few scalps and embarrass the big boys. Unfortunately, then, the second best football game on the N64.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #33

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.

[Cube]

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

Quote

Sarge’s Heroes is packed full of neat ideas, and the move from the world of Army Men to our world is inspired. It’s just that the game is hobbled by maddeningly imprecise controls, an awful fun-killing camera and drab, basic, foggy graphics. So, despite its promise, Sarge’s Heroes is never more than mildly diverting.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #36

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

[nekunando]

23 hours ago, Cube said:

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.

I remember my younger cousin running around our garden shouting "He's like a man processed" (instead of "possessed") due to the commentary of Peter Brackley in this game 😂

We had picked it up for £9.99 in GAME at some point and actually had some decent fun with it as an alternative to ISS and FIFA.

I would have preferred a port of the Champions League game from PS1 at the time but the gameplay in this was pretty much identical!

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

I get the tagline, really, but... did they really need to add a non-plastic woman (by the standards of the time, at least) in the middle of all these plastic men?!

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I get the tagline, really, but... did they really need to add a non-plastic woman (by the standards of the time, at least) in the middle of all these plastic men?!

See, now that you've pointed that out, it's got me wondering if she's a real person, but just really, really small for some reason, or if she is also made of plastic, and the real person who owns these toys did a cracking job with the paint work?

[Cube]

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.

[Glen-i]

Just now, Cube said:

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.

"Plastic person, cracking paint job" it is then!

[Cube]

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

Quote

It’s a real mess, from the horrendously jerky intro through to the horrendously jerky gameplay. We can tolerate the occasional drop in frame rate, but a mere five minutes of staring in utter disbelief as the utterly loathable Gex twitched and spasmed around his vile world was enough to bring on a real humdinger of a headache.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #36

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.

[Glen-i]

Ah yes, I've played this one a little bit.

It's thoroughly earned it's spot on my "Reptile Based Game That Can't Even Get Glen To Like It" list.

And I was like 10 or 11 at the time, so my standards were quite lower then.

Still better then Skyrim, at least.

[Ashley]

20 hours ago, Cube said: