N64 Top Five: An Alternative List

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.