Ashley Posted November 30 Posted November 30 5 minutes ago, Cube said: With this being a Kirby game (of which I’ve somehow played none of before) I wish I had known this before making you an admin 1 5
Glen-i Posted November 30 Posted November 30 Spark Cutter is by far, the most effective power combo in that game. The cutest Sith Lord Seriously, if you didn't need specific powers to get some Crystal Shards, I would use nothing but. It's way too good. Also, this game has Checkerboard Chase, an absolute top-tier multiplayer minigame. And I know people who'd agree! Everyone's dead, Dave. 1 3
Dcubed Posted December 1 Posted December 1 (edited) Insane that it took an entire year to come out in Europe after the US release. NOE really hated Kirby all the way up until Kirby Returns to Dreamland on the Wii in 2011 for some bizzare reason; as these kinds of delays were sadly the norm for the Kirby series all the way up until RTD came out (With Dreamland 3 outright not getting an EU release at all until it came out on the Wii VC). It’s not even like it had much text to translate either! There’s hardly any localisation involved with most games in the series, NOE just had a weird grudge against the series for some crazy reason. Anyway, Kirby 64 was the last of the Dark Matter trilogy (consisting of Dreamland 2, Dreamland 3 and Crystal Shards). These games were all directed by Shinichi Shimomura (who mysteriously vanished and went missing not long after Crystal Shards came out; he remains a missing person till this very day!), and all feature a similar gameplay structure which eschews the High NRG action of the Sakurai directed Kirby games in favour of slower paced level design that encourages exploration and puzzle solving. They also tend to feature a smaller number of copy powers that are augmented by something else (notably the Animal Friends in KDL 2 & 3, and the Copy Power Mixing mechanic in Crystal Shards). They’re also characterised by having optional collectables in each stage that require you to solve optional puzzles that involve specific copy powers and tasks to complete in each stage; along with some darker undertones that link in with a shared lore involving the recurring baddie, Dark Matter. The Dark Matter Trilogy tends to be a bit of an acquired taste compared to Sakurai’s Kirby titles, or the more modern Kirby titles. And Kirby 64 is certainly no exception. While I personally consider it to be a bit lower on the rung of Kirby titles, owing to its glacial pacing and sloooooow AF movement mechanics (including a bizzare limitation on Kirby’s ability to fly); I still very much enjoy Crystal Shards and can appreciate what they were going for here. I love the Copy Power Mixing mechanic, and I’d love to see it make a return proper; but I can totally understand why they’ve never attempted it again (outside of some very limited mixing in couple of future titles), as it becomes exponentially difficult to implement as you increase the number of copy powers. I also need to say that it feels like an odd choice to doggedly stick with 2D sidescrolling gameplay with the first (and only) N64 entry; given that almost every other N64 sequel went out of its way to bring their respective sequel into the world of 3D gameplay. But HAL were notably struggling with the transition to 3D, so this was likely a necessary compromise to get something out during the console’ lifecycle. It wouldn’t be until all the way until 2022 when Kirby would finally get a true 3D entry with 3D platforming gameplay; and while Forgotten Land (a very fitting name!) turned out excellent, it’s shocking that it took so long for that gameplay to finally be realised. Forgotten Land actually takes after Kirby 64 and the rest of the Dark Matter Trilogy in many ways (most notably the slower exploration and puzzle focus in its gameplay and level design); so they were clearly onto something back on the N64. Kirby 64 isn’t for everyone (not even amongst those who are already Kirby fans), but it’s certainly an interesting game, both for what it does and what it doesn’t do. It and Forgotten Land also share some interesting lore connections too… I’m looking at YOU Shiver Star… Edited December 1 by Dcubed 1
Cube Posted December 1 Author Posted December 1 Daikatana JP release: 31st March 2000 PAL release: 26th May 2000 NA release: 1st August 2001 Developer: Ion Storm, Kemco Publisher: Kemco N64 Magazine Score: 67% John Romero’s Daikatana was supposed to be the next biggest thing in video games. A new, much more cinematic, first person shooter from the creator of DOOM and Quake, without any higher ups getting in the way of his creative vision. This was more story-focused, with other characters fighting alongside you. Then it came out and it just fizzled away, with many claims of it being one of the “worst games ever”. The N64 version of the game is very different, including different level design. Music was cut back, and the voice acting removed. The characters that were supposed to fight alongside you just vanish when you have control of the game, only popping back up in cutscenes. Interestingly, the last change is seen as favourable – on PC they had very low health and were very dumb, meaning they would constantly die, and result in a game over. I played Daikatana on N64 when I was younger – I think my cousin had it. We got around two minutes into the game, and couldn’t work out how to get past a door that looked like you needed to crouch under it, but there’s no crouch in the button config – which is rather robust, and includes multiple aim options (such as turning off inverted aiming, and disabling the camera snapping back to facing forward). I encountered the same issue playing now, and when I looked it up, it turned out that pressing A and R makes you crouch. The most baffling thing about the game not explaining this, is that a few moments later you’re presented with a locked door and a button. As you approach, the game pauses to explain that the door is locked, and the button next to it can be used to open it. There’s a few other moments where you get an overly long cutscene explaining the obvious. As the main big ideas for Daikatana were mainly in the cinematics and presentation, the N64 is left with just a really, really boring Quake clone. The levels’ design is all over the place, with some over before you know it, and others that are maze-like with buttons that do things elsewhere. Even though this is a time-travelling adventure, the enemies are boring to fight, and the weapons – although very varied – are rather dull to use. You see, the weapons include sci-fi guns, crossbows, regular guns, and magic staffs. It’s really cool having weapons from different time periods, it’s just a shame they all lack a punch. How they managed to make an explosive ballista you carry around boring, I have no idea. One interesting note with the weapons, is that the PC version has one particular weapon that can be used throughout most of the game, yet on N64 you can only use it for a very brief period at the end of the game: the magical sword Daikatana. You still have it on you for most of the game, and will use it in cutscenes (which have some of the worst animations I’ve ever seen in a game), but for some reason you can’t use it in gameplay. Is Daikatana one of the worst games ever? It’s not even close. It’s just a game that was hyped up, and turned out to be painfully average. Fine Quote Daikatana tries to combine RPG-style character skill-building with traditional first-person shooter thrills, but it looks like this conversion is just a heavily simplified port of the PC original. And that’s probably why Kemco’s game has beaten its parent to the shops. The levels are small, textures bland, colours muted and muddy, and you’ll only ever encounter one or two enemies at a time. Compared to Activisions fine port of Quake II – and forgetting for a minute the all-out brilliance of GoldenEye or Perfect Dark – Daikatana ends up looking more like Hexen. And yes, for all its basic faults – which, bafflingly, include the inability to surface out of water unless you find a ramp leading to dry land – Daikatana can be curiously enjoyable. Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #41 Remake or remaster? There are some interesting ideas in Daikatana. It would need a complete remake, but I think it could be turned into something very enjoyable. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get the N64 version of Daikatana, but the PC version is available on GoG – be sure to get the unofficial 1.3 update as well. 1 2
Cube Posted December 2 Author Posted December 2 Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing JP release: 31st March 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: HAL Publisher: Nintendo Original Name: Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 Kettehan! N64 Magazine Score: N/A Shigesato Itoi’s most famous contribution to gaming is the Mother/Earthbound series. However, he also loved the concept of a game that allowed fishing to be casual, but also needed skills of people who were into fishing. No. 1 Bass Fishing was originally on the SNES, with Satellaview compatibility to download extra content to take part in online tournaments, with some real-life prizes. The N64 version (sometimes referred to as the “Definitive Version”) is a remake that brings it into 3D. No 1 Bass Fishing is a game you play at your own pace. The aim is to collect big fish to amass acorns (currency) to buy new stuff, and you can do this at three difficulty levels. Easy makes it easier to lure and catch fish, but the bigger fish will be much harder to find. You can also pick between when you’re allowed to fish – either weekdays or just weekends, based on the in-game clock. You can walk around a little village, or take a boat onto a lake. The difficult part is finding a fish. You’ll need to learn about the lake’s conditions and where fish are likely to be, either from talking to the animal NPCs, or based on your own knowledge of fishing (which, for me, is zero). One of the marketing parts of the game is that it’s like real life fishing: a child can catch a few fish by being lucky, but it takes someone who knows what to do to be able to catch them consistently. Being a child when it comes to fishing, I was able only able to catch one fish. The controls are quite easy, and you don’t need to do technical stuff like managing tension. The lure camera helps you track the fish’s progress (as well as seeing around the lure when looking for fish). For what the game sets out to do, it does it well. It’s just that a game for families where the kids will play a bit and then get someone that knows about fishing to help them out is a very niche market. Fun Remake or remaster? With some more difficulty settings, this could do well on Switch – it has some Animal Crossing vibes. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing 2
Cube Posted December 3 Author Posted December 3 All-Star Baseball 2001 NA release: 31st March 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: High Voltage Publisher: Acclaim N64 Magazine Score: N/A For All-Star Baseball 2000, I noted that the CPU didn’t seem way too good, a rare thing for a baseball game on N64. This seems to revert back to the unbeatable (to me) CPU players. Hitting the ball is once again incredibly hard outside of the hitting practice (it baffles me, how different practice is to the actual game), and the CPU will catch it almost every time. I did test out an easier batting method, where the aiming is removed. I was expecting the game to automatically assist you in hitting the ball, but it doesn’t do all that much. Timing is also not that important, as I decided to test it out with save states – no matter the timing of my button press, the ball always landed in the exact same place. Fine Remake or remaster? Newer baseball games likely do a better job. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get All-Star Baseball 2001 1
Cube Posted December 4 Author Posted December 4 Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs NA release: 14th April 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Climax Publisher: Crave N64 Magazine Score: 73% Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs is a sort of port of the 1998 PC game Battlezone. It’s a hybrid of a vehicle-based first person shooter and a real time strategy. It’s very ambitious kind of game to port to the N64. However, it’s not a direct port, as the was mostly rebuilt for N64. It features the standard campaigns from the PC version and a short additional campaign of its own. The game’s menu is rather confusing, it has what looks like a difficulty menu of Arcade, Pilot and Commander; yet these are different moves. Arcade is its own separate mode of killing waves of enemies. Pilot and Commander follow the same campaign, but with objectives based on either driving or more focused on giving orders (although you still do a bit of both in each campaign). When it comes to piloting the vehicles, the controls are solid. You move using the C-buttons, aim with the analogue stick, shoot with Z, and use the jump thrusters (often used to slow down descents). Aiming is quite difficult, though, as your weapons are all quite slow, so you need to adjust your aim to try and hit your fast-moving targets. It does have a good sense of speed. You can also jump out of your vehicle and walk around, this is mainly to use the most powerful weapon in the game: the sniper rifle (which you carry on your person and has very limited ammo). For the RTS side of the game, you unfortunately don’t swap views to issue troop orders. You have to be close to what unit you command and issue orders with the D-Pad. It’s a bit out of the way, but it gets the job done. It is a limited system, as you can’t queue tasks or issue multiple orders at a time, which is definitely a faff when you have to drive away from the units to complete objectives. While it sounds promising and the core systems work well, the missions themselves are still structured like an RTS game, although a bit simpler. This means enemy units take time to build up and to get to you. So when you have to defend an area, you can be waiting 5 minutes for an enemy to show up. In a typical RTS, you’ll be doing multiple tasks at once so you’re not just twiddling your thumbs, but this is just one thing at a time. The graphics also get in the way. There’s an immense amount of fog, which is made worse by a useless radar (which is your only map). You have to follow waypoints which seems simple enough, but then a giant mountain will appear out of nowhere, and it can sometimes take half an hour to figure out the way past it. Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs is definitely an interesting game and the core gameplay was translated really well to the N64, but poor level design really hampers the experience. Fine Quote So what we have, in the end, is a game that tries hard, in fact probably tries too hard to do too much, and it suffers as a result. there’s plenty here to enjoy, but it takes a concerted effort and even then, Battlezone never really takes off. Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #40 Remake or remaster? There’s a remake of the PC version called BattleZone 98 Redux. Hopefully the N64 levels get added in at some point. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get the N64 version of Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs, but a remake of the PC version is on GOG and Steam. 3
Cube Posted December 5 Author Posted December 5 Yosuke Ide’s Mahjong Cram School JP release: 21st April 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Seta Publisher: Seta Original Name: Ide Yosuke no Mahjong Juku N64 Magazine Score: N/A This is the last Mahjong game released for the Nintendo 64, and it offers a polished presentation, featuring 3D graphics with your opponents standing around a table. It features a cast of characters to play against and a campaign mode that lets you unlock more opponents as you progress. Your opponents will also occasionally share their thoughts on their current situation or explain their next move, adding a bit of personality to each match. The interface is the most user-friendly of the Mahjong games on the N64. A helpful menu appears when you’re able to take a tile, clearly showing the sets you’re working on. Another nice feature is the ability to press a button for the top down 2D view you get in all the other mahjong games. The display of your tiles on the bottom part of the screen also match up with the 2D view, which is a nice little touch. Though I’m still not very good at Mahjong, this seems like a nice package for fans of the game. Fine Remake or remaster? Clubhouse Games will do the job for most people. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Yosuke Ide’s Mahjong Cram School 1 2
Cube Posted December 6 Author Posted December 6 Rantarō the Ninja Boy 64 Game Gallery JP release: 21st April 2000 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Culture Brain Publisher: Culture Brain Original Name: Nintama Rantarō 64 Game Gallery N64 Magazine Score: N/A Rantarō the Ninja Boy is a Japanese anime about a young ninja. The N64 game, based on the show, is a collection of simple puzzle games where you recreate pictures of animals and characters from the series. There are three main modes in the game. The main mode is a block-pushing challenge, where you move blocks onto the correct parts of a picture while avoiding obstacles. You can also use a hookshot to pull blocks towards you, adding a tiny bit of variety to the gameplay. Another mode features pieces of the image falling from the top of the screen, and you need to move them into the correct column. There’s also a basic jigsaw puzzle mode with a 4×4 grid of squares. As a simple puzzle game aimed at children, it serves its purpose. However, it feels more like a throwaway PC compilation rather than something that stands out. Poor Remake or remaster? Nothing interesting here. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Rantarō the Ninja Boy 64 Game Gallery 1
Cube Posted December 7 Author Posted December 7 Rat Attack! PAL release: 21st April 2000 NA release: 12th September 2000 JP release: N/A Developer: Pure Publisher: Mindscape N64 Magazine Score: 70% Rat Attack! is a very simple game. It’s a traditional arcade-style game where you control a cat and draw boxes to capture rats before dropping them off in a trap once you’ve captured a certain number of rats, you move on to the next level and repeat the process. It’s a decent concept and is enjoyable enough. The graphics are ugly in a way that’s hard to describe, and the 2D rats make it difficult to determine their position at times, meaning you’ll accidentally walk into them and lose health. As the game progresses, you’ll reach new areas, which introduce new obstacles like fans, dogs and the dreaded hoover. On top of catching rats, you also have to make sure they don’t eat all the objects in the room, if they do, then it’s game over. The game gets quite frantic and is very difficult at times. A decent enough game, even if there isn’t a lot to it. Fine Quote Whilst we never thought that Rat Attack was going to be a blinding slice of videogame action, when the review copy rolled into the office this month, we found a surprisingly little slice of frantic puzzling mayhem. Which is nice. Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #36 Remake or remaster? With clearer graphics and a bit more variety, this could be a fun little downloadable game. Perhaps even a “demake” with a classic arcade style to it. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Rat Attack. 1 2
Cube Posted December 8 Author Posted December 8 F-Zero X Expansion Kit JP release: 21st April 2000 NA release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: N/A One of the big possibilities for the 64DD was the ability to add new content to games. Each time the device got delayed, more and more of these plans were shifted. These projects ended up being abandoned, reworked into an N64 cartridge game, or transformed into a sequel (Mario Party was designed with the 64DD in mind, but the add-on eventually became Mario Party 2). As a result, F-Zero X ended up being the only N64 cartridge game to get an expansion via the 64DD. As I’ve gone over the brilliant gameplay before, I’ll focus on what was added in this pack. First up is the ability to make new ships choosing different body, cockpit, and wing designs, change colours and add some basic patterns, as well as picking the stats for the vehicle. You then have to replace one of the current ships with the new one (you can do this multiple times). It’s quite basic, but also a nice extra, and a feature that did end up returning for F-Zero GX. The colour of the ship didn’t seem to load during races for me, but that’s likely an emulator issue. The Expansion Kit also came with two new cups, featuring some great tracks. These tracks are challenging without feeling cheap, and also have some fun designs, such as a track shaped like Japan (with great Japanese-style music), a star, and one called “Big Foot” that’s…a big foot. They’re a ton of fun to race on, and seem to have a bit more spectacle, with parts of tracks crossing near each other. Another small but welcome addition to the tracks is that the Rainbow Road track in the original game now has new music, a wonderful rendition of the Mario Kart Rainbow Road music. But the key feature of this kit is the track editor, letting you create your own courses to race on. The editor is very fiddly to use at first, and not particularly intuitive, but once you get to grips with it, there is a surprising amount of stuff that can be done. All the different styles of track are here, including half-pipes, full pipes, and cylinders, and you can also add in loops and apply track types to that, alongside adjusting heights and widths of the track. It’s very robust. You can also add a bit of visual flair, picking the ground and sky designs, and adding billboards and buildings to the sides of the track, plus pick the music. You can then assign them to the six slots to create a cup to race on, and the tracks really do feel like proper tracks – the parts all blend together well, and it doesn’t come across as a bunch of parts one after the other. It’s amazingly well done. The editor also lets you do things that the game doesn’t quite like – I made a very wide cylinder and the camera went through it, and I also made a track with a very steep decline and all the CPU racers had died after the second time round. Still, it’s great that the editor at least lets you try rather than preventing you from doing it altogether. The F-Zero X Expansion Kit takes an already great game and makes it even better. The track editor is definitely a highlight, but the two new cups are also great, with the vehicle editor being a nice add-on as well. It’s a massive shame that Nintendo have never used the complete version of F-Zero X on either the Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online. Fans have made a combined cartridge version that runs on original N64 consoles, so it’s definitely doable without needing to emulate any 64DD features. I feel like Nintendo’s dislike of acknowledging its failures is the main reason this will never have an official re-release. Fave Quote If there’s one thing worth buying a 64DD for, it’s this. Requiring the original F-Zero cart, the Expansion Kit adds more championships to the main game but also includes a complete track editor, so you can concoct your own rollercoaster-style courses. It even enables you to create your own vehicles. N64 Magazine #40 Remake or remaster? A re-release would be great. I think a remake of F-Zero GX with tracks and features from F-Zero X and this would be phenomenal, though. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get F-Zero X Expansion Kit 3 2
nekunando Posted December 8 Posted December 8 It would be great if they could bring this, and other DD games, to NSO! 2
Dcubed Posted December 9 Posted December 9 (edited) The holy grail of retail 64DD releases. Would Death Race to have this on NSO. Edited December 9 by Dcubed 2
Cube Posted Monday at 07:51 PM Author Posted Monday at 07:51 PM The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask JP release: 27th April 2000 NA release: 26th October 2000 PAL release: 17th November 2000 Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 96% The development of Majora’s Mask was a mess. Nintendo knew they wanted to build upon all the work they did on Ocarina of Time, but the main people involved had different ideas. Shigeru Miyamoto originally planned for a 64DD expansion that reworked the dungeons. Eiji Aonuma protested this, as he thought his original dungeon designs were great, so he was given an impossible task: create a new Zelda game in one year, while Miyamoto worked on his idea separately (which, due to the failure of the 64DD, ended up instead getting released as a bonus disc on GameCube). The development was brutal, and parts of that even make it into the game, with its dark and depressing narrative. Because of the rushed development, it seems that ideas were thrown into the game without being vetted. Really, Majora’s Mask should have been a disaster, yet something magical happened instead: all of these rushed ideas gelled together into something special. It’s still deeply flawed in some ways, but the uniqueness of it shines through all of that. While Ocarina of Time was a game that involved time travel, Majora’s Mask is a game about time. Link gets mugged by a skull kid wearing a mysterious mask, and ends up in the twisted land of Termina. Here, the moon is on course to crash into Clock Town in only three days. A lot of the core elements are built around the three day cycle, with things being reset at the end of the three days as you travel back in time to the start of the first day. This system allows for the characters to have a schedule. They’ll move around, and some side quests require talking to specific people at the right time. This makes the world feel much more alive, and the re-use of many character models from Ocarina of Time doesn’t feel like an issue as the characters now have personalities. To help keep track of this, you have a notebook which details important encounters. There are some frustrating elements to the system, though. Sometimes it can feel like you’ve wasted a lot of time by trying to complete a portion of the game where you don’t have access to everything you need, or you started the quest too late, as you then have to reset your progress in the quest when you travel back in time – consumables also vanish, so you have to waste a bit of time collecting some arrows and bombs each time. Rupees aren’t an issue, as you can store them in a bank (as your balance is written on your bank card, the bank remembers your amount), but losing other consumables doesn’t seem to add anything to the game. That said, it’s really only arrows that matter. Overall, though, I think the time mechanics of the game work wonderfully, and the flaws are an acceptable cost for the way it makes the world feel alive, and the unique way the game makes you think at handling tasks. I do think it leads to people looking up guides more, as there’s less room for figuring it out yourself when you have to worry about a time limit, particularly in dungeons. Majora’s Mask only has four main dungeons, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s another thing that contributes to what makes Majora’s Mask unique. These four dungeons do feel much bigger and more difficult than the ones in Ocarina of Time, and have some vast open segments, such as the second dungeon having a large central room. They feel like complex machines rather than a series of rooms, and a few side quests also involve the dungeons. Once you’ve completed the dungeon, the overworld area around the dungeon also changes – it does what people were expecting Zora’s Domain to do in Ocarina of Time. The area changes and there’s a lot more dialogue, some minigames, and additional quests. Because of the time reset mechanic, you’ll have to defeat the boss again to make the changes happen again, but you can skip right to the boss when you enter a dungeon after you’ve defeated the boss once. So much of the game is now in the overworld, which feels so much more like a living world. One large part of the game is masks, the key ones being the three main transformation masks. These allow Link to be a Deku Scrub, Goron, and Zora, each with their own movement mechanics and abilities. They’re all an absolute joy to use, with the Deku’s spin providing great movements, especially when hopping, the Goron’s roll being difficult but satisfying to roll, and the Zora’s swimming abilities making underwater sections an absolute joy – the swimming is so much fun, that the area you get it is a large ocean because they know people will just swim around for a while. The only slight annoyance is that these take up one of your three item slots, and there are far more items overall in Majora’s Mask. The version I’m playing adds the transformation masks to the D-pad (along with the Ocarina of Time), which is a simple but effective solution that would even be useful on an N64 controller. But there are also a ton of additional masks to unlock during the game, some are required, but a lot are optional. They’re very mixed in terms of what they offer. You have functional ones like the blast mask, which is a respawning bomb strapped to your face (and handily causes no damage if you have your shield up), and the bunny hood that makes Link run faster. Some are glorified keys, opening up doors and paths. A few can be used for a heart piece, and one in particular makes a single part of a side-quest easier, but you can’t get it without completing the side-quest first. That said, while some have little use, the journey of getting the masks is rewarding in itself, so it’s more of a unique extra reward rather than directly giving you a heart piece or rupees. You can also find new dialogue from each mask by talking to NPCs, so it’s all rather cosy. Majora’s Mask is a special game. It has some very interesting mechanics that, while flawed, provide an extremely unique and unforgettable experience. With a longer development cycle, I think some of this would have ended up being watered down, and the game would lose some of what makes it so great. Fave Quote In the face of all that, looks aren’t important – but Majora’s Mask happens to be just about the best-looking game on the N64, too. There are more of the prequel’s beautiful rolling fields, ice mountains and glistening stretches of water, but this time the Expansion Pak multiplies the amount that you can see, so Majora’s Mask is teeming with boss-sized dragons, groups of sword-wielding lizards, and flocks of 30-or-so skittering bats. And, once again, the Zelda engine shows off its remarkable ability to bathe scenery in the changing light of night and day, with ruddy clouds in the evening sky over Zora Cape’s golden ocean, and a bluey-white glow on the ice floes of Goron Plains as night begins to fall. Stunning stuff. Mark Green, N64 Magazine #49 Remake or remaster? An official remaster would be amazing. Majora’s Mask 3D looks amazing, but messes up the movement of multiple transformations as well as a host of other unwelcome changes, and the graphics don’t always match the tone. Spruce up the original with some better textures, add camera control, use the d-pad for masks and perhaps add in a few extras (like more mask-related dialogue), but don’t mess with the core stuff. The two fan-made ports are brilliant. Official Ways to get the game There is no way to buy a new copy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak. Re-releases 2009: Wii Virtual Console 2015: Majora’s Mask 3d (Virtual Console) 2016: Wii U Virtual Console 2022: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only) 4 2
Glen-i Posted Tuesday at 06:27 PM Posted Tuesday at 06:27 PM Eh, Majora's Mask is better. Wait... 1 1
Cube Posted Tuesday at 07:40 PM Author Posted Tuesday at 07:40 PM Bass Rush: ECOGEAR PowerWorm Championship JP release: 28th April 2000 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Visco Publisher: Visco N64 Magazine Score: N/A The fourth N64 bass fishing game that I’ve covered, and it seems to be the most basic so far. Instead of being able to freely explore the lakes, you pick points from a menu, where the area is a flat water texture, a wall with a photo on it (which you can actually hit with your lure), and sometimes a few objects. You can’t rotate at all, only awkwardly shift slightly to the side. You do have a lot of lures and stuff to choose from (including lots of “PowerWorm” lures). Underwater is much nicer in terms of graphics, featuring some good looking fish and plants, and the view being obscured by the water is really well done. Catching a fish, though, is extremely difficulty, and I was unable to catch any. With so few features and just one basic way to fish, this is the least interesting of the fishing games on N64. Poor Remake or remaster? There are better fishing games. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Bass Rush 1
Dcubed Posted Wednesday at 11:54 AM Posted Wednesday at 11:54 AM (edited) Majora's Mask is the best game in the Zelda series, and perhaps also the best game ever made. It is also the polar opposite of what modern Zelda has become, eschewing breadth in favour of depth. The sheer amount of detail in the game's world and NPC scheduling design is nothing short of astonishing. It's crazy that the game was made at such a breakneck pace, but in the end? The game actually benefitted from the short development cycle that turned its "rough edges" into meaningful features. On 12/9/2024 at 7:51 PM, Cube said: With a longer development cycle, I think some of this would have ended up being watered down, and the game would lose some of what makes it so great. Majora's Mask 3D proves this statement to be absolutely true. It had a longer development cycle than the original game had, and every single thing they added ended up making the game worse. Aonuma had a chip on his shoulder for many years about the things he didn't have time to do with MM, but he never seemed to understand what truly made the original game so appealing; so when they went back and changed up all the bosses and expanded the Bombers Notebook? It actually took away from the game's open-ended design and cheapened the overall game as a result. While modern Zelda appears to be a poisoned well that will probably never truly recover back to the heights of the series' past, we'll always have the original games to remind us of how, in many cases, less truly can be more when it comes to game design. Edited Wednesday at 11:55 AM by Dcubed 1
Glen-i Posted Wednesday at 06:24 PM Posted Wednesday at 06:24 PM 6 hours ago, Dcubed said: It had a longer development cycle than the original game had, and every single thing they added ended up making the game worse. Come on, man. Everything? You know that's not true. Gyro controls are magnitudes better then aiming with the N64's stick. Bottom Screen map, as well as the touch screen item buttons. And the Bomber's Notebook has a very handy alarm feature, and is easier to read. It's also expanded to include characters tied to Pieces of Heart, which is very helpful for going for 100%. As for actual gameplay stuff, the Twinmold fight is wayyyy more interesting, and the Troupe Leader Mask actually has a use now. Goron Link doesn't completely suck in a fight. The double magic meter is given after the first dungeon, which is much appreciated, seeing as Snowhead is heavy on the magic. And you can fish, as Fierce Deity Link. Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely faults, but this claim that everything is worse in the 3D version is just dumb.
Cube Posted Wednesday at 07:28 PM Author Posted Wednesday at 07:28 PM Power Pros Baseball 2000 JP release: 28th April 2000 NA release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Diamond Head Publisher: Konami N64 Magazine Score: N/A Another year, another Power Pros. This time, they’ve ditched numbering the sequels in their own way, and are doing the standard sports thing of naming it after the year. It mostly feels the same, although fielding feels and looks more natural. It has the standard features, including the RPG, but one new mode (unless I managed to miss it in previous years), which is a kind of management mode where you listen to dialogue and play matches. Fine Remake or remaster? They just need to add the story/RPG stuff to the latest game and translate it. Official ways to get the game. There’s no official way to get Power Pros Baseball 2000
Cube Posted Thursday at 08:30 PM Author Posted Thursday at 08:30 PM Excitebike 64 NA release: 2nd May 2000 PAL release: 8th June 2001 JP release: 23rd June 2000 Developer: Left Field Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 90% The Excite games are known for being a bit arcadey and a bit silly, but Excitebike 64 takes a different approach, being a much more serious game, complete with sponsorship deals with makers of Motorcycles and motorcycle equipment. That said, the original Excitebike is a very tactical game, as your bike positioning is hugely important, and Excitebike 64 very much keeps like that, using the analogue stick to adjust your bike in mid-air, and timing your turbo to get the most out of big air, which helps you maintain speed while cooling off your engine. One thing I like about Excitebike 64 are the tracks, with a good amount of tracks, and a mixture between stadium-based dirt tracks and more traditional video game courses in a varied array of environments, with multiple routes, shortcuts, and the like. These courses had some difficult turns (including some on cliffs) and some very big jumps that you need to be going full pelt to make it over. I did find the game to be extremely difficult, though, and even on the low difficulties you need to master all the game’s mechanics to be able to do well against them. There’s no easing in to the game, other than the game having massive rubber banding on the two CPU racers at the back, which feels more like the game taking pity on you more than anything. Stick with it, though, and you’ll be able to progress. One place where I think Excitebike 64 shines is the “special tracks”, which sounds like it would be some silly tracks but are instead different game modes entirely. There’s one in a vast open desert where you have to race to checkpoints, forming your own path through the sand dunes; another is an extremely difficult hill climb, showing off the physics of the game. There’s also a football game and a stunt arena. Also included is the original Excitebike, as well as a 3D recreation of the original game, which is a lot of fun. Rounding things off is a decent track creator, which gives Excitebike 64 a lot to offer. I do wish that the special tracks and stuff had a bit more to them, to turn them into more fleshed out game modes with some more arenas and tracks, but they’re still a wonderful addition, and give you a lot to do in the game. Great Quote So, as we tentatively predicted, Excitebike 64 is something a bit special. Another satisfyingly deep racing game for the N64, and, with Left Field, a developer who’s able to give Nintendo a serious run for their money, with breathtaking results. When you’re buying a game this month: think once, think twice, think bike. Mark Green, N64 Magazine #43 Remake or remaster? A sequel in this style would be great. Especially with more fleshed out bonus modes. Official Ways to get the game There is no way to buy a new copy of Excitebike 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak. Re-Releases 2005: iQue 2016: Wii U Virtual Console 2023: Nintendo Switch Online (Subscription Only) 2
Jonnas Posted Friday at 12:22 AM Posted Friday at 12:22 AM Excitebike is exactly the kind of game that wouldn't appeal to my younger self, and yet it somehow did, when I saw it in action in a videogame programme on TV. I was fascinated by the look of that game, and the track builder. Somehow, I never found it in me to scratch the itch and play it. It's there on the NSO, I'm just waiting for the right time to dive into it. 1
Dcubed Posted Friday at 09:10 AM Posted Friday at 09:10 AM (edited) Excitebike 64 isn’t really an Excitebike game. It shares almost nothing in common with its NES & SNES predecessors (at least concerning the main game, outside of the throwback mode). That being said, it’s a well made generic western-developed dirtbike racer that fills a hole in the N64’s library. Edited Friday at 09:11 AM by Dcubed 1
Ashley Posted Friday at 09:57 AM Posted Friday at 09:57 AM On 11/27/2024 at 9:29 PM, Ashley said: Another for the list 47 minutes ago, Dcubed said: generic western-developed dirtbike racer 1 2
Cube Posted Friday at 10:23 AM Author Posted Friday at 10:23 AM It's also the fourth generic western-developed dirtbike racer on the N64. 1
Ashley Posted Friday at 12:07 PM Posted Friday at 12:07 PM I still remember the adverts from the early 00s saying if you're looking for generic western-developed dirtbike racers then the N64 is for you.
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