Top Nintendo 64 Games

Top Nintendo 64 Games

Blast Corps

This little gem of a game is well known among N64 aficianados, but flew largely under the radar for most players. In Blast Corps, you took control of a variety of construction vehicles, trucks, and robots... yes, robots. The premise was innovative, as you cleared the path for a transport vehicle, making sure it doesn't hit any obstacles along the way. This is one of those titles that you just have to play to understand its appeal, so if you have a Nintendo 64 around collecting dust, hit up eBay or your local flea market and try to get your hands on a copy of Blast Corps.

Mario Tennis

Sports games featuring Nintendo's cartoonish characters are incredibly popular these days, with variations of soccer, baseball, and several other games available on the GameCube, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. Arguably, this whole trend started with Mario Tennis and Mario Golf for the N64. The graphics were colorful, and instead of making use of official licences (so that you could throw Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and Monica Seles into the mix), you could have the ultimate deathmatch between Donkey Kong and Shy Guy. The action is fast and furious, with a sense of control that could rival the best of Virtua Tennis and Top Spin. And of course, there's a good selection of mini games to keep you entertained between multiplayer sessions.

Goldeneye 007

Speaking of multiplayer, one of biggest draws on the N64 was Goldeneye 007, featuring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. The team that brought us this title is the same as the group that later brought us the Perfect Dark series. Of course, part of the appeal is the story mode that takes you to exotic locals, hooks you up with some glorious guns, and lets you blast your way through to some evil head honcho. That said, the main appeal were the multiplayer deathmatches. I can't count how many after school afternoons I spent at my buddy's place, surrounding by my chums as we snipered eachother off, left proximities mines to surprise one another, and ran around like idiots waving a white flag (Capture the Flag was always a joy). This was before the days of hopping into a LAN Counterstrike game, before it was feasible to have a real deathmatch using some variation of the Doom engine... for me, anyways. My computer was kind of ghetto. Yes, I take donations.

Mario Kart 64

Before there was Mario Kart DS and such a thing as the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, there was a little gem of a racer that went by the name of Mario Kart 64. While I spent a few afternoons fragging my "friends" at will in Goldeneye, the weekends were filled with fast-paced circuit racing and shaking-of-the-fist battle mode brawls. It was literally an art to master the hopping, smoking boost, only to get your lead taken away by a rogue spiked shell. A good selection of courses mated with eight of our favourite Nintendo characters (I'm a Wario, I'm a gonna win! Ha ha ha!) made for an excellent racing game. For a less violent means of relieving your aggression, shooting a trio of red shells at a fellow Nintendo fanboy always resulted in absolute ecstacy (Battle Mode was great). I can still remember the shortcut on Rainbow Road.

Mario 64

Quite possibly the best title to ever grace the Nintendo 64 was one of the two launch titles. Sure, Pilotwings 64 was utterly forgettable, but Mario 64 was the first game that featured a three-dimensional environment wherein our favorite pudgy plumber in red overalls could romp around and jump on a goomba or two. The non-linear nature of the gameplay was a sharp departure from Mario titles in the past, the control scheme was fresh yet intuitive, and the graphics were spectacular for the time.

As per usual, you get a good mix of environments here, from the lava-filled volcano stage to icey mountains, grassy plains to underground caverns. There is more of a puzzle element in Mario 64 than before -- almost RPG-like -- but not enough to turn away people who aren't into that kind of thing (e.g., me). Collect your 120 stars, battle Bowser (how many times?) and save Princess Peach (yes, again).

Other Favourites

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