Nintendo 64 - Discussion Thread

[Miss Doronjo]

While lately I have been reminiscing about the NES, I'd personally like to think that the Nintendo 64 was even more influential for me when I was growing up. So, the basic point of this thread is to allow us all to talk specifically about the Nintendo 64, and what we can remember, like, or dislike all about it. In case you don't know about the Nintendo 64, I'll give you a brief lowdown:

The Nintendo 64 was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996 and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. It was discontinued around the years 2002-2003. It was developed by Nintendo as a 64 bit playing video game console (hence it's given name, 'Nintendo 64'), with it's slogan, "Get N, or get Out!" Arguably, it's one of the best known video game consoles in the world, even today!

So, again, of course, you can talk about all of your experiences with the Nintendo 64 here. These are just questions to bounce some ideas: What do you think about the Nintendo 64? What games did you have for the Nintendo 64, and which ones were your favourite/least favourite? What were some of your memories for the Nintendo 64? Do you still own the Nintendo 64 today? How do you think the Nintendo 64 compares with Nintendo's later systems like, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo Wii U?

Do you have other thoughts you would like to share about the Nintendo 64?


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[tabor62]

I never played with the N64 much, but I really enjoyed Mario Party 1, 2, and 3 and Super Smash Brothers. I don't remember which Mario Party people didn't like out of the three, but I love all three of 'em, so go away :P

I have a dusty N64 sitting under my desk right now, but I rarely use it since the only two games that I have are Nightmare Creatures and Perfect Dark, neither of which I am interested in.

 

[Fenrir Reki]

I loved playing the N64. It was part of my early childhood. I used to play lots of games on it including Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Goldeneye, Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards, Mario Kart, and more.

I still have it in my closet complete with my library of 10-20 games, but i'm missing a darn power cord. If I could find it, I would happily reuse it.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

The N64 is a gem. At the time it felt like every big-title game was something new and unique. Everything was a revolution and a blockbuster.

The library may not have been as diverse or large as other systems, but what was there was solid and classic

 

[Miss Doronjo]

Which N64 games did you guys played, or own?

This list my list right here:

• Flying Dragon
• Super Mario 64
• Dr. Mario 64
• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
• Kirby 64
• Pokemon Stadium
• Pokemon Stadium 2
• Starcraft 64
• Perfect Dark
• Donkey Kong 64
• Diddy Kong Racing
• Banjo-Kazooie
• F-Zero 64
• Mario Party 3
• Pokemon Snap
• Megaman 64
• Mario Kart 64

Ah, yes, Legend of Zelda; Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Pokemon Stadium, and Donkey Kong 64 were my all time favs; I've spend the most time trying to beat those games... since, imo, they were the hardest games in my N64 game collection. XD

 

[Ragetendo]

I remember staying up all night with my uncle(hes not much older) playing Conkers bad fur days multiplayer and trying to find ways to beat einstein level bots

I have the pikachu edition N64 and i would play my red and yellow versions in dodrio tower all night.I love the console because it was the last of the inferior data storage device that is the cart to me carts represent retro and i miss the simpler days when games actually took skill to beat and were enjoyable...saddening...time to go listen to video game soundtracks lol

 

[Miss Doronjo]

I have a pikachu edition N64 too; I found it at a local flea market. :3
//Which reminds me; I've also played Pokemon Puzzle League... it was very hard. XD

Yeah, I also did find that the Nintendo 64 games were considerable harder to beat than the games for the Gamecube and for the Wii. (eg Ocarina of Time compared to Skyward Sword). It took a long while to practice a few of these games, like Diddy Kong Racing, and another while to find out what to do on certain adventure games like Majora's Mask.

I do love the N64's soundtracks though too. ^^ Liiiike the boss theme from Kirby 64:

 

[Ragetendo]

I have a pikachu edition N64 too; I found it at a local flea market. :3
//Which reminds me; I've also played Pokemon Puzzle League... it was very hard. XD

Yeah, I also did find that the Nintendo 64 games were considerable harder to beat than the games for the Gamecube and for the Wii. (eg Ocarina of Time compared to Skyward Sword). It took a long while to practice a few of these games, like Diddy Kong Racing, and another while to find out what to do on certain adventure games like Majora's Mask.

I do love the N64's soundtracks though too. ^^ Liiiike the boss theme from Kirby 64:



I love music from retro games from the nes to the n64. Only thing i didn't like about the N64 was the controller, to me SNES had a perfect controller.

 

[Algo Fonix]

I spent most of my 7th and 8th grade life with Ocarina of Time, Jet Force Gemini, and Harvest Moon 64. While I don't think it had a vast library of good games, the ones I did like are some of my all time favorites.

The controller was awesome and super comfy too.

 

[KingCharizard]

I still have my 64 and these are some of my favorite games.

• 007 Goldeneye
• Super Mario 64
• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
• Pokemon Stadium
• Pokemon Stadium 2
• Perfect Dark
• Donkey Kong 64
• Diddy Kong Racing
• F-Zero 64
• Mario Party 3
• Mario Kart 64
• WcW NWO Revenge
• Rayman

TBH the 64 had some of the best games out there and was very good for its generation.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I've played...

Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Donkey Kong 64
F-1 World Grand Prix
GoldenEye 007
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ~ Master Quest (GCN)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mario Golf
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party 2
Mario Tennis 64
Mickey's Speedway USA
Ms. Pac-Man: Maze Madness
Paper Mario
Perfect Dark (XBLA)
Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Stadium
Pokémon Stadium 2
Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (Wii VC)
Spider-Man
Star Fox 64 (Wii VC)
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Super Mario 64
Yoshi's Story

 

[Patrick]

I have this weird love-hate relationship with Glover. As a character, he annoys me for no explicable reason like classic Homer hates classic Flanders. And yet, it's one of those game experiences that, while slow, I always come back to. The music is really interesting too, atmospheric, if you will. I still own the game, btw.

Yeah, Kirby 64's Boss music is pretty... wait for it... boss. :P One of my favorites next to the one from Dream Land 3. If any song someone needs to get on top of remixing, as well as doing the one from Block Ball right...

Kirby 64 had some sweet music. Clearly, because they've been milking that miniboss theme ever since. My favorite stage is the pyramid, man that is so Kirby right there. It was a trip when they first did it in DL3, too. The idea of a freaking shopping mall level on Shiver Star, brilliant. Never thought I'd see that in Kirby. I really need to play K64 again to see if it's better than I remembered. I hated on it back in the day, but in retrospect, it's a lot better than what they've been doing, so I dunno. Still need to play Return to Dream Land to see if the series has picked up the slack. From what I've seen in videos, the surrealness of the series is back. God those GBA games were so bland...


What else... Pokemon Puzzle League, derivative though it may be (at least put Yoshi back in, he was a lot less tacked on in Tetris Attack), is a superior game by virtue of being a version of Panel de Pon. An annoying version, but one with the best mechanics at the time it was released. Better than the one on the Nintendo Puzzle Collection, which still rules for having better music and 4 player.

Oh, and Smash Bros. Can't forget that. I dunno why, but I really only liked this one. My three favorite (at the time, and technically still) franchise reps, Kirby, Pikachu and Ness kicked so much booty back then. The fact that they were all nerfed later didn't help with my perception of the latter games, but it's not the only reason. However, Kirby losing his grip when he tries so slam somebody in Melee is freaking unforgivable. Burning, cool ability that it is (Burning > Fire all day long), was so ineffective compared to his face plant slide in 64. Ugh, I could go on...

I also liked the original (non-remixed) music better in 64. The franchise remixes have been better since, but I prefer electronic melodic "video gamey" music over orchestrated tracks. Eh, that's just me, though.

Ah, I think I've typed enough for now, and there's still plenty of games I could touch on. Like Paper Mario. Long and short of it, N64 = good system.

 

[Miss Doronjo]

Ohhh, I forgot about Super Smash Bros. :3

Although I didn't own it; when I was about... 7, I used to play it all the time on a Play-House in a McDonalds. I used to play as Pikachu, Mario and Kirby myself! Although, I wasn't really that good at that game, I did use to use pretty cool un-official combos like... this air-combo I did with Mario. I've forgotten it now, but, it used to be my go-to technique! I used to play on the Hyrule, Venom, and Saffron City stages all the time, since they were all generally my favorites. :3

For nostalgic sake, I've recently played Dr.Mario 64 on a Nintendo 64 emulator. I remember how much I used to love that game; although, I didn't understand that you were supposed to zap the viruses, instead of just matching the color pills in a row. Dr. Mario had really, really cool music too! Like, Cube:



I loved listening to that. <3

 

[Spinosaurus]

I'm still bummed this game was never released in Virtual Console, or Europe for that matter. It's essentially Dr. Mario crossed with Wario Land 3, and I love both of them.

Is there any reason the game hasn't released in VC? It's actually my most wanted N64 game, and Dr. Mario is popular enough to warrant a VC release no? I mean, we got Super Mario Picross, but that's maybe because Jupiter knows we love puzzle games.

Cube is amazing, but I'd say Vs Rudy wins. It blows his boss theme in Wario Land 3.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

My guess wold be that on the various eShops, Nintendo's put out new Dr. Mario games and doesn't want to sacrifice the sales of new content

 

[FlameChocobo]

N64 is where my childhood is at. Playing some of the awesome games on the N64. Unfortunately, as memorable as it is, Nintendo 64 didn't have a lot of good games, but there are a few gems on the N64.

Games I have on Cartridge: 19
Games I have on the Virtual Console: 13

Right now, The game cartridges I own are.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Party
Mario Party 3
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong 64
Goldeneye 007
Perfect Dark
Jetforce Gemini
Snowboard Kids
Snowboard Kids 2
Chameleon Twist 2
Iggy's Wrecking Ball
Super Bowling 64
Castlevania 64
Mischief Makers
Goemon's Great Adventure
Pokemon Stadium Gold and Silver (Which I thought I sold, but didn't along with the GB Transfer. Looks like those barely escaped my teenage stupidity.)


Games I have on Virtual Console

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Star Fox 64
Super Smash Bros
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party 2
Paper Mario
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Pokemon Snap
Bomberman Hero
Yoshi Story
and Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordy Caliber

 

[C Payne]

Wave Race 64
1080 Snowboarding
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater/2
Super Mario 64
Super Smash Bros.
LoZ:OOT
Goldeneye 007
Ready 2 Rumble
WWF No Mercy
Any of the Mario Party titles

Those are among the ones I recall playing the most. Looking back, nostalgia definitely hits because of it being one of the earlier things to play in 3D. However, one thing I just can't get nowadays(likely because I haven't played the system in a long while) is how anyone managed to get used to playing with that ugly controller, haha. Maybe it's because I haven't used one in so long but just thinking about using it makes me wonder if they modeled it for people with 3 hands. XD

 

[TRIFORCE89]

However, one thing I just can't get nowadays(likely because I haven't played the system in a long while) is how anyone managed to get used to playing with that ugly controller, haha. Maybe it's because I haven't used one in so long but just thinking about using it makes me wonder if they modeled it for people with 3 hands. XD

It is two controllers in one. I haven't played any games that use both the Control Pad and Control Stick portions of the controller along side the main button area. Generally, Pad + button or Stick + buttons whatever was most appropriate. Back in the days before the second analog stick, it made sense. Now we have both a pad and stick on one controller, in addition to a second stick, and either the left pad or stick ends up being neglected or awkward to use.

 

[C Payne]

It's just one of those things that makes you say "wtf" when looking back.