Ridge Racer 64 - All N64 Games

[Ashley]

21 hours ago, Cube said:

The one time I did get close to a fish, it felt entirely unresponsive. It doesn’t react to the lure, it just casually swims through it and attaches. Then it never seems to fight, there’s no pulling involved, the fish doesn’t jump out of the water, it just strangely glides towards the boat.

Sounds like you caught a fish with ennui 

Just a shame you weren't playing this... On Wii.

[Dcubed]

Speaking of the 64DD… did you know that Mario Party 2 was originally going to be a 64DD expansion pack disk for the original Mario Party? It’s true! The necessary hooks for the 64DD are even still there in the final retail version of Mario Party 1!

The fact that such a large chunk of its minigames are also just modified versions of minigames previously seen in Mario Party 1 (something that no other mainline Mario Party has done since), is another big telltale sign of this game originally being an expansion pack.

Ultimately though, I think that Mario Party 2 benefitted from being released as a standalone cartridge; because it meant that the game had more freedom to develop its own identity.  I doubt that we would’ve gotten the Item mechanic if it had remained a mere content expansion disk…

… and really, you can’t talk about Mario Party 2 without mentioning the Item mechanic, because it was one of the most important gameplay additions the series has ever seen.  It’s a simple concept, spread across the board are various shops and spaces that can potentially yield powerful items that allow you to strategise and either help yourself or screw over your frenemies.  Ranging from the venerable Mushroom (allowing you to roll two dice in one turn), to the all powerful Magic Lamp (which takes you straight to the Star Space), to the devilish Boo Bell (which summons Boo and allows you to steal coins or even stars from other players!).  It can’t be overstated how important an addition this was, as it completely changed the dynamic of the core board gameplay.

Unfortunately, Mario Party 2 hadn’t quite dialled in the Item mechanic fully quite yet, as you only get but a single item slot to work with… and no way of throwing away unwanted items.  This has the unfortunate side effect of making Skeleton Keys borderline completely useless, while the Plunder Chest becomes overwhelmingly stupid broken powerful; capable of shutting down the Item game entirely.  It wouldn’t be until its sequel, Mario Party 3, for the Item mechanic to reach its final form; granting a generous three slots for each player and a much vaster array of items at your disposal (some being amongst the best that the series ever saw; but that’s a discussion for another game later on).

The board selection is smaller this time than in the original Mario Party, but the designs are arguably stronger; with more branching paths and events that can shuffle coins and space placements around strategically.  The likes of Western Land and Horror Land remain fan favourites to this day (both being remade in Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario Party Superstars respectively for a good reason), but the first game’s mean streak has been reduced somewhat.  No longer do 1 v 3 minigames result in the losing team having their coins stolen from them, while board events are typically less disastrous than before; and Single Player minigames have been exorcised entirely (probably for the best; as they did slow down the pace somewhat).  However, Mario Party 2 also introduced another staple mechanic that the rest of the series would adopt… Battle Minigames, a new subset of minigames that pools a set amount of coins from each player into a pot that gets divvied out depending on placement.  Naturally, the results of such a minigame can be utterly game changing for the winners and losers respectively; potentially ruining one person’s plans, while opening up many doors for another to run away with the game.

Single player options remain thin on the ground, but the Mini Game Coaster is a surprisingly enjoyable little endurance marathon of the full selection of 60 minigames played back to back.  It’s naturally very similar to the Mini Game Island mode from Mario Party 1, but the removal of the branching paths now requires mastery of every single one of those 60 minigames… even the ones you hate (I’m looking at YOU Mecha Marathon!).  Quite why future games after this ditched this endurance mode (with the sole exception of Mario Party: The Top 100) is beyond me.

But ultimately, that’s Mario Party 2 in a nutshell.  It’s expansion pack (not Pak!) origins belie some truly game changing additions to the series, making it a pretty important entry in the series canon.  But it does lose some of the more ornery elements of its progenitor; not necessarily a bad thing; but it does give this game a bit of a different flavour to the first Mario Party.  I’d argue that it’s a bit overrated amongst the mainline Mario Party titles (I blame the fact that it was the only Mario Party game that kept getting re-released on the various Virtual Console services, for whatever bizarre reason), but the importance of its additions can’t be denied; and its boards are all solidly designed.  It remains one of the better entries in the series to this day, and a must play for anyone looking for an endlessly replayable social nightmare of a multiplayer video game.

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, Cube said:

while some of the better games from the first game make a return

That can't be entirely true, because Bumper Balls is there.

An absolute waste of a minute that ends in a draw every time. Might as well just skip the minigame when that shows up and get back to the board.

Still, this is better than the first Mario Party. Items bring a lot to the game, even if the 1 item limit makes some items way too powerful. (Oh cool! A Magic Lamp, I'll just buy that and... Oh wait, one of my opponents has a plunder chest...)

A bit overrated though. The next one is miles better!

[Cube]

Viewpoint 2064 

• JP release: N/A
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Racdym
• Publisher: Sammy
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

For starters, I do like how they used “2064” to mark this as an N64 name, it feels much more natural like that. I didn’t even notice what the game was doing with the name to start with.

Viewpoint 2064 is a sequel to the Neo Geo arcade game Viewpoint, a side scrolling shoot-’em-up, which notably had an isometric view instead of scrolling vertically or sideways. With a behind-the-ship 3D perspective, Viewpoint 2064 may look a bit like Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64), and even has a similar level progression where you end up on different routes, but it plays much more like a more traditional shmup.

For starters, you move in a 2D manner, moving left and right as the screen automatically scrolls forward at a set pace. You can move into the screen a little bit as well, but you can’t move up and down. The on-screen cursor is also initially confusing, as it does move up and down, but your guns don’t fire upwards. The cursor is more for the lock-on, which can target enemies that are “in the air” from your perspective.

Appropriately, Viewpoint also likes to play around with its viewpoint. Throughout the stages, there will be times where the camera changes to a different angle, usually for a section where you have to dodge obstacles. These sections can provide a bit of spectacle, as well as a nice change of pace. The game looks nice up close, but the draw distance is quite poor, with the game looking its best when you can see a background.

The game ended up getting cancelled due to “development difficulties”, however, this prototype seems very well made. It’s unfinished but very playable, with the main issue being that some levels have no enemies. Through the various routes, there are 15 stages in total. This seems like an interesting take on the shmup genre.

Fun

Should it be finished?

Give it better graphics and finish off the levels, and I think it would be an enjoyable game if released now.

[Dcubed]

Ooh! Didn’t know that Sammy ever got a sequel made for Viewpoint on the NeoGeo!

I wonder if this game was ever in development for the failed Hyper NeoGeo 64, before getting ported over to the N64 instead…

[Cube]

Monopoly
 

• NA release: 18th December 1999
• JP release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Mind’s Eye Productions
• Publisher: Hasbro Interactive
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

Monopoly is an atrocious board game. I’ve played many, many board games, and none are as horrible as Monopoly is. Most of the game is just autopilot – roll dice, move, do the obvious action (buy property/pay rent). The only actual choices are more involving trading, which is heavily dependant on who is playing.

This is simply an N64 version of that terrible board game, and this conversion of Monopoly into a video game is fairly mixed, so I’ll talk more about what this version does rather than the game itself.

Visually, it’s pleasant. Instead of just a board, it’s in a field with buildings representing the properties around it, with a day and night cycle to signify the endless nature of Monopoly. You can pick between the standard US board and the standard UK board (even though this game was never released outside the USA), but the style doesn’t change – it looks more British than anything, which makes sense, as the developers were British.

The pieces move around the board with some animations that start off nice, but grow tiresome very quickly, as it massively slows down the game. Even if you turn these off, the animation of your piece warping is still too long. It makes the game drag even more than usual.

Trading is also very confusing, with a very awkward menu that makes it a nuisance to sort anything else, far more hassle than trading in the physical board game. The CPU players will also refuse to trade, unless you want to massively overpay for stuff. This means that making sets is extremely unlikely to happen, making the game grow stagnant and grind to a halt, as players just circle the board, staying at the same level.

There are a few options to adjust gameplay, such as starting with properties. You can even turn on some awful house rules, such as putting money on free parking, which does nothing but drag out the miserable experience even longer.

Monopoly is an alright conversion of a dreadful board game.

Worst

Remake or remaster?

There are unfortunately many newer versions of Monopoly.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play the N64 version of Monopoly.

[Glen-i]

8 minutes ago, Cube said:

You can even turn on some awful house rules, such as putting money on free parking

Man, that house rule is an utter blight! It's so awful. And yet so many people swear by it!

Edited November 8 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

Interesting fact... Mind's Eye Productions are the developers behind Sky Digital's early 2000s line up of dodgy Digital Broadcast TV games... About as British as it gets.

So you have a British institution of a terrible board game, made by a British-as-hell developer, with an option to specifically play the British version of Monopoly... only released in America 

There's an untold story here I'm sure.

Edited November 9 by Dcubed

[Cube]

11 hours ago, Dcubed said:

So you have a British institution of a terrible board game, made by a British-as-hell developer, with an option to specifically play the British version of Monopoly... only released in America 

I do find it strange when video games end up not being released in the country they were made in.

 

Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling
 

• NA release: 22nd December 1999
• JP release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Point of View
• Publisher: THQ
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling is possibly the most sterile game I’ve ever played. It does a good job at what it sets out to do – be a simulation of professional bowling – but that’s all it is. There’s no fun, and the presentation is extremely bare-bones. Get a strike, and you’ll sometimes get a short animation of your bowler silently putting one of their hands in the air. There’s no fun animation, no big letters saying “STRIKE”. Nothing.

For how it plays, it’s absolutely fine. Aim, add spin, then do a golf-style power/accuracy. In a way, it’s too good, as you’ll become fairly consistent at getting strikes by the end of your first match.

There’s a few different modes of play, such as a single match, tournaments, a career mode where you play multiple tournaments, a mode where only strikes count, and an enticing “Cosmic Bowling” option. Instead of picking visually different lanes, you instead select the oil pattern of the lane, something which only means something to the professionals. There’s very little variety to how the game actually plays, no challenge mode with different pin setups, no fun bowling minigames.

The only hope for something different is Cosmic Bowling….

…Cosmic Bowling is just regular bowling with garish colours.

Poor

Remake or remaster?

There are better bowling games.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling

[Cube]

Penny Racers 2: Chaotic Grand Prix
 

• JP release: 24th December 1999
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Locomotive Corporation
• Publisher: Takara
• Original Name: Choro Q 64 2: Hachamecha Grand Prix Race
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

The second game on the N64 that is based on the Japanese Choro Q toy cars. This one never made it out of Japan, which is a shame, as it solves some of the issues with the first game and ends up being a charming, if basic, kart racer.

The biggest changes are to the speed and handling, with the game being much faster and cornering tighter. The strange mechanic that made cars roll over when doing a big turn is also gone, making for a much more fun game.

The biggest complaint I have is with the warning icon that flashes up whenever you encounter an obstacle, or sometimes just a big turn. It’s right where you’re looking, and actively distracts you from the actual hazard it’s supposed to be letting you know about. I wish this could be turned off.

You also don’t have a weapon by default, you have to assign one to your car. That said, the weapons are quite easy to avoid, so while they can be used effectively, you might still opt to choose a different part that increases your speed instead. Choosing new parts for your car is still a key point of the game, and the top three in a race can take parts from the bottom three.

For the most part, this is a much nicer version of Penny Racers, the greater sense of speed and better handling make this an enjoyable racing game.

Fun

Remake or remaster?

There have been a surprising amount of Choro Q games on various platforms, but perhaps a collection of some of the main ones would be nice

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Penny Racers 2.

[Cube]

Robopon 64
 

• JP release: 24th December 1999
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Red Company
• Publisher: Hudson
• Original Name: Robot Ponkottsu 64: Nanatsu no Umi no Caramel
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

Robopon (short for Robot Ponkottsu, essentially “Robot Trash”) is a game that was very much inspired by Pokémon, launching on the Game Boy Color with Sun and Star versions, followed up by a Moon version. The GBC game did end up getting released in North America, but only the Sun version – although both versions of Robopon 2 on GBA (Ring and Cross) did come out in North America. The N64 game, however, was only ever released in Japan, and Robopons could be traded with the GBC games.

In Robopon, you play as a kid on a quest to find seven parts of a goddess called “Caramel”. You have a fish-shaped ship to sail around a small ocean in, which has a strange maze-like structure in it. From what I can tell, the aim of the game is to get through the maze structure, which requires defeating bosses (signified by a tower on a small island) to get passes.

The process of growing Robopon (you plant seeds in a flower bed) is quite complex, and there is a ton of maintenance and training (which involves playing minigames) to boost stats. I couldn’t defeat the first boss and, from reading some reviews, the game is essentially grinding, doing maintenance, battling the owners of random ships floating around, growing items to enhance stats, or get new Robopon until you get a team to defeat the next boss, then repeat. Oh, and if you don’t clean your ship on a regular basis, rats will appear and eat what is currently growing.

One of the English reviews I’ve read said that all the tedious stuff can be skipped by importing Robopon from the GBC game.

The battles themselves are very simple. You choose an ability with B, then press A when a meter is full to perform that attack. You can move around, but the only reason for doing so is to collect power-ups that randomly get dropped down, as your position has no impact on attacks. When a move is performed, you’re teleported to a set place for the animation, then it cuts to the opponent to show the damage, a lot like Pokémon Stadium, it’s just more disjointed here because you’re actively moving around the arena.

The few Robopon I saw had interesting designs and are nicely detailed, but are just random. Some of them are human, some are robots, and others are strange animals. There’s no consistency to the designs in any way, and many feel like they belong in different games.

While the battle system is fine, this is an RPG that’s all grind and no adventure.

Poor

Remake or remaster?

Bung them in a collection, perhaps.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Robopon 64.

[Cube]

Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku
 

• JP release: 25th December 1999
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Konami
• Publisher: Konami
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

There’s no good way to translate “Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku”. Mononoke are a kind of vengeful spirit, but can also be a term for a shapeshifting creature, while Sugoruku refers to one of two board games, in this case a very simple roll and move board game. This Goemon version of Sugoruku adds in a card and combat system, with the goal being to defeat your opponents by reducing their health to zero.

The game doesn’t explain its mechanics (they’re just in the manual), but it’s simple to figure out. Each turn has a structure: draw a new card, optionally use a card, roll and move, battle (if on the right spot), take another action (use a card, place a spirit, or level up one of your spirits), then end your turn, discarding a card if you have too many. Most spots are empty, but you’ll want to place down your spirit cards, which add the respective creatures to the board. When your opponent lands on one (or you land on one of theirs), a fight commences.

Here, you can attach a single weapon card to use in the fight to help improve the stats of your spirit card. While they’re the actual creature on the board, here they’re represented by the card, and there are some quite nice animations for attacks and to show the different kinds of damage affecting the cards. When you win a battle, you’ll also damage your opponent directly, and then gain a lot of money from them. If the losing spirit is on the board, they’ll be replaced by the victor.

As money is mainly used to level up monsters, victory is pretty much decided very early on in the game, as the winner of the first fight is in a better position to level up their on-board spirits, so the rest of the game is you and your opponent just circling the board for ages until another battle is triggered. It’s all very dull.

Poor

Remake or remaster?

Only as part of a Goemon collection, which is something that needs to happen due to a few great games.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Goemon Mononoke Sugoruku

[Cube]

Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: Royal Road Succession
 

• JP release: 28th January 2000
• NA release: N/A
• PAL release: N/A
• Developer: Asmik Ace, AKI
• Publisher: Asmik Ace
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

If you’re a fan of AKI’s wrestling games on the N64 and don’t mind the lack of famous Western wrestlers (aside from a few unlockables like Andre the Giant), then Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 is something very much worth checking out. While the first just felt like a Japanese version of WCW vs. nWo: World Tour, this feels like an actual sequel to WWF Wrestlemania.

In particular, the game engine has been made much smoother, with the game being extremely fluid, eliminating any jankiness from the previous games. There’s also a new grapple system, as each wrestler tries to overpower the other, and a ton of different modes. The create-a-wrestler has a lot more to it (especially if you like masks), and this is Aki’s biggest roster, although not many are licensed (although the unlicensed ones still have their signature moves, taunts, and their clothing is conveniently available in the edit mode).

There’s a lot of different modes and features, including the Royal Road Succession (this game’s Road to Wrestlemania). These games aren’t personally my kind of thing, but if you do enjoy them, this one is well worth checking out and using a bit of Google Lens to navigate menus.

Great

Remake or remaster?

A new call-back game to Aki’s would be good.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Virtual Pro Wrestling 2

[Cube]

Blitz Shogi 3: Championship Series
 

• JP release: January 2000
• PAL release: N/A
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Random House
• Publisher: Seta
• Original Name: Mayjinsen 3
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

A Shogi game for the Aleck 64 arcade system. In this, you challenge the computer in a shogi match. When it is your turn, a timer counts down – run out and you need to pay another credit. If you lose a match, you get a 30 second penalty and try again. Apart from the colourful background, the interface is basic, not showing you possible moves and bringing up a message if you place something in the wrong place.

There’s not a great deal of information online about this game, so I used the help of a Shogi website to help win a match. Unlike other Aleck 64 games that have anime girls as your only opponents, this one seems to be more appropriate and you get a line of text and move on to your next opponent, each one seems to have their own board design. That said, things might change if you get through multiple matches.

You only start with 3 minutes of time per credit, which is really very little time at all. The Shogi AI itself is also the same one as in Strongest Habo Shogi, so this is essentially a more colourful version of that game.

Fine

Remake or remaster?

Better digital versions of Shogi exist.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Blitz Shogi 3

[Cube]

Vigilante 8: Second Offence
 

• NA release: 1st February 2000
• PAL release: 25th February 2000
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Luxoflux
• Publisher: Activision
• N64 Magazine Score: 69%

This was one of my multiplayer favourites as a kid, although playing it again now, and I remember this having more stuff than it actually does. It’s a more refined version of the vehicle fighting of Vigilante 8, with the biggest improvement being the levels, as they feel far more open, yet also more interactive. The AI also engages with you a bit more, instead of dashing to health the moment they get hit.

The singleplayer mode has been overhauled slightly, too, as each character now has a quest. For the most part, it’s playing all the levels and blowing up opponents, there are just some slightly different objectives like finding hidden objects.

That said, the number of characters and levels don’t quite feel like enough. It’s still a really fun game, it just feels the same as the first.

Fun

Quote

So, what we have here is a slightly tweaked version of an okay-ish game that we’ve all seen before. It appears that Activision are trying to offer more Vigilante 8 for your money, and fair enough, but shouldn’t they really have done that first time round? There’s nothing wrong with Second Offence as such, it’s just pretty average. And, as your Dad might point out, there’s no bigger crime than mediocrity.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #40

Remake or remaster?

A remaster that combines everything from all the games would be great.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Vigilante 8: 2nd Offence.

[Cube]

Ridge Racer 64
 

• NA release: 14st February 2000
• PAL release: 4th July 2000
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Nintendo Software Technology
• Publisher: Nintendo
• N64 Magazine Score: 91%

Ridge Racer was a massive success on PlayStation, and Namco were not very interested in the N64. Instead of working on an N64 version of Ridge Racer, they allowed Nintendo to develop and publish their own Ridge Racer game, a task handed to one of Nintendo’s new American teams, Nintendo Software Technology, known for Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Wave Race: Blue Storm, and the cancelled Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

One thing the team nailed was the feeling and aesthetics of Ridge Racer. There’s no attempt to put a Nintendo flair or spin, no use of Nintendo’s character. Instead, there’s a load of Namco easter eggs, and overall a game that you would never guess that Nintendo made themselves. It works extremely well for this game, something that was clearly the plan, as the box downplays Nintendo’s involvement.

Ridge Racer 64 is heavily based on the first two games in the series (the popular Ridge Racer Type 4 was already out on PlayStation). The one thing I really dislike is the style of game this is, with it being a “enemies are ahead and you have to catch up”. This one is especially odd as all the racers start at the start line, they just impossibly zoom off to get into position. I managed to win some races easily, while others I was stuck in 12th the whole time, I could never figure out why this happened.

That said, the actual racing feels amazing. The cars are incredibly smooth to control, and drifting – which is something I understand to be an important part of the franchise – is an absolute joy. While you can pick drifting methods from Ridge Racer or Ridge Racer Revolution, the default is its own drifting method. You can drift for an immensely long time, doing 360 degree spins as you do. It plays wonderfully.

But Ridge Racer 64 has another big weakness: the tracks. The three tracks are great, but there are only three. There are slight variations, but they don’t feel different enough. To make matters worse, two of the tracks are from previous games, so there’s only one new track in the game. They do look amazing, and free from fog and pop-in, it just isn’t enough.

With the options to have regular races and some more tracks, I would love this. The actual racing is amazing, it’s just a shame there’s not a lot around it.

Fun

Quote

All that really matters is that Ridge Racer 64 is one of the fastest, most technically accomplished and downright gorgeous racers ever to grace the N64. Fledgling codeshop NSTC can be chalked up next to Acclaim, Rare and Nintendo themselves on the list of developers who can delve into the N64’s innards, poke about with their special programming contraptions, and produce some truly staggering results.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #40

Remake or remaster?

The game got a remake on DS, but a remaster/sequel with some additional racing modes and tracks would be lovely to see.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Ridge Racer 64.