Nofi’s ode to Mario 64 the other week got me feeling all nostalgic, but left me with a niggling feeling in the back of my head (that might have been the beer though). We all know about the N64’s big hitters – Mario, Zelda, GoldenEye 007; but what about the great games that never really get mentioned anymore? The N64 was far from a three horse race, so here’s my top five list of classic ‘alternative’ N64 games.
Space Station Silicon Valley
Space Station Silicon Valley landed on the N64 in 1998 and became an instant classic – which hardly anyone played! Brought to us by DMA Design (who went on to become none other than Rockstar North) the game revolves around the reappearance of a space station filled with animals that had gone missing 1000 years ago. Danger Dan and his robotic sidekick ‘Evo’ are sent to check it out, but unfortunately crash land – trapping Dan and reducing Evo to a crawling microchip.
It’s then we find out that all the animal inhabits have merged with the station’s technology – creating some interesting abominations (think jet powered fox). The central theme to Space Station Silicon Valley is the fact Evo can hijack any animal and use their abilities to solve puzzles and progress. A steam powered Hippo blocking your way? That’s cool, hijack a motorized Polar Bear and have a fight; or subsequently lure over a wheeled dog to distract it. Sure it didn’t look great, and had a number of glitches – but it had the foundations of something great, and a remake would be something very special.
Blast Corps
Nukes eh? Pesky things and the main threat in Rare’s 1997 classic ‘Blast Corps’. Two defective nukes have been scheduled for destruction, but in transit they develop a leak, causing an emergency protocol to kick in on the transport vehicle meaning it will go directly to the detonation site – the only problem is the buildings and people in the way, and that’s where you come in. Taking control of various vehicles it is your job to smash these buildings down – clearing a path for the nukes.
The range of vehicles is impressive; from super powered dumper trucks, to dune buggies, to huge mechs with jet packs; all with different special abilities to master -destruction has never been so much fun. The game was also incredibly tense, as the nukes were normally not far behind you – and when they appeared on screen you knew you were in trouble. Good job Rare.
Beetle Adventure Racing
During this previous Nintendo based article I bemoaned the lack of good racing games on the N64. Oh how foolish I was – I completely forgot about ‘Beetle Adventure Racing.’ The big stand out point of this game was the fact all the cars were VW Beetles. Sure there were different stats, but they were about as useful as a condom with air holes.
It sounds like a recipe for tedium, but it was incredibly good fun, and well remembered for its ‘shortcuts’ that actually took longer than going the normal route (hence the ‘Adventure’ in the title). The tracks were big, varied and enjoyable – and two player split screen racing and four player arena deathmatch sealed the deal. A real hidden gem.
Forsaken
Set on a post apocalyptic Earth, you play as a scavenger desperately trying to survive whilst harvesting as many goodies as you can before your rivals get them, or the Earth’s automated defence weapons get you. The game allowed full 360 degree movement, meaning attacks literally could come from anywhere as you piloted your jet-bike around large arenas.
Every weapon had three levels of upgrades, giving a noticeable jump in power – which is great because the game was rock hard with insane enemies and limited ammo. Forsaken also featured one of the best four player deathmatches on any console, with bots filling in for any missing friends.
Wrestlemania 2000
In my opinion this is still the best wrestling game ever created, and one that absorbed my younger years. Featuring 50 WWF stars, the game allowed you to edit them to your heart’s content, or dabble in one of the best ‘create a wrestler’ modes in existence. I’m fairly sure this was the first wrestling game that let you perform ‘The People’s Elbow’ as well – an important detail to any wrestling fan.
As it was based on the WCW vs. NWO Revenge engine the game had some horrendous collision detection, and none of the wrestlers’ arms/legs seemed to join to their bodies properly. This was offset by some amazing animation and the inclusion of taunts, allowing you to ‘flip the bird’ to the crowd. This was the golden age before wrestling games became stale and over complicated – I’d take Wrestlemania 2000 over its modern equivalent any day of the week.
So there we have it – my list. I’m aware there are some awesome games that have been missed (Body Harvest anyone?) but that’s where you come in – let me know your top five alternative N64 games.
Dunks
Diddy Kong Racing absolutely destroyed my life. Love hate game. That thing got soul distressingly hard at points….
Dan Lee
Ha god yes – looked cute but underneath beat the heart of a monster :op
Dunks
So right Dan. I remember having moments thinking that this just isn’t possible!
aerobes
I understand completely. The amount of time me and my friend put into that is frightening. The game just kept on giving though! We got there in the end, 100% :) (probably knocked a few years off each of our lives though).
Dan Lee
Respect for that! Good stuff
Dunks
If there ever was a game you had to take turns with a friend it was DEFINITELY this one. just to have a break from the beat downs and watch where you could maybe try something different!
Dany2Step
the big octopus!
FUCK YOU!!!
10 begin race
20 get took over
30 pause>restart
40 GOTO 10
aerobes
So many moments like that but I absolutely love the fact that the irritating memory of up to 40 races has stayed with you because it proves my point of it being hard and not unfair. :)
Dany2Step
uh i was going for bad impersonation of dos script but to be honest it was clearly more than forty restarts.
Dunks
Also San Francisco Rush was great fun…
Dunks
Rare definitely had a certain magic in the days N64. Shame about how things have been for them lately…
Dan Lee
I quite liked the xbox 360 Banjo Kazooie game – but they seem to be very Kinect focused at the moment *big sad face*
Dunks
It did look good actually…
yogdog
it’s a great game, loved building tanks on it.
I still play it and have competitions with my brother to see who can make the best vehicle :)
yoza123hughes
Forsaken and the like where the reason i bought a my Diamond Monster 3dfx graphics card. They where the days.
JJ UK
What a great idea, and not a bad list to boot! It’s hardly an unsung hero but Quake II springs to mind on my ‘alternative list’. I also had a rally game with stunning graphics on the cars, which were truly incredible seeing as they were on N64.
Pokemon Stadium was and still is a brilliant game although obviously there’s nothing alternative about it, it’s just it wasn’t mentioned in the top 3 so I thought I’d give it a shoutout
aerobes
Top Gear Rally was it? Even if it wasn’t, I remember that game being pretty good!
Dan Lee
That was one of the first N64 games I played – it was on a demo pod in Virgin Megastore :op
JJ UK
I really can’t remember, thought that name doesn’t ring any bells. It’s also awkward to look and check as now my N64 stuff is all boxed up and put away.
Dan Lee
May have been V-Rally 64?
JJ UK
That certainly sounds familiar. That was probably it actually. I remember that if you crashed too much or did something wrong like stop and start, then your engine could brake down. Not sure whether you played it but if that’s what V-Rally 64 included then that’s the one.
dude90
Kinda wished I had the N64, my gaming started with PlayStation.
Raven336
resident evil 2, jet force gemini (does that count?) and keith kechuks hockey game was pretty good too
Dan Lee
Loved JFG – another One of Rares gems
EntitledToOpinion
This list just isnt a list without Super Smash Bros.
No greater game for the N64, although it did have an equal…. Wipeout!!
ericzap
Mario Golf. Good looking, easy to pick up, devilishly hard to master. To this day I haven’t even unlocked all the courses or characters (damn you Metal Mario!). Couple that with a surprisingly good mini golf mode and you have an amazing game and one of my favourites from that gen.
shields_t
I absolutely loved the N64’s Duke Nukem game, it was enough to get me by for those few months until Duke Nukem Forever was released, er, oh.