N64′s 15th Anniversary!

Happy B-day N64!

Today is September 29th, 2011, exactly 15 years since the US launch of the N64. A system that I bet many of you out there loved a great deal during your childhood. While the graphics and the wonderful cartridges may not be up to today’s standards, they did make a splash in their own time. So, it is with that idea that I am listing the Top 5 best and Worst Games of the system. Mind you, I am purely basing this off of what I remember. This might mean that horrible but unremarkable games will miss the list. As always, I would to see your lists and hear about your memories! On to the lists!

TOP 5 BEST GAMES OF THE N64:

1. Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
While it’s true that the Ocarina of Time was a far more groundbreaking game, Majora’s Mask was a far more polished and entertaining game. The game mechanics were improved, that annoying fairy wasn’t there anymore (only to be replaced by a slightly less annoying fairy), and the graphics were superior to its predecessor. In many ways, Madrid’s Mask was a refinement of Ocarina of Time. However, it didn’t have quite as a compelling story. In fact, this was the game’s main flaw. To be honest, I could care less if Link stopped Majora or not. It was good–superficial fun. I loved being able to turn into multiple creatures. I love the boss battles and the fact that you could replay them after you beat them! How awesome was that? I also liked how creative it was to have the same three days repeat into infinity or when you beat Majora. And in the end that’s what makes this game such a great memory for me.

2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
A close second to our first game is its predecessor, the Ocarina of Time. This was this was an amazing game when it was released. The legend of Zelda was a great 3-D adventure game and had a fantastic story too! This was completely new and fascinating. Unlike its sequel, I really wanted to see Link succeed. I cared about this strange little green dude and the people he met. And God dammit I wanted to be Ganondorf! Hell, I can still member when that godforsaken cartridge lost my game right before I was going to beat him! I wanted to crush that game so bad. Good thing I didn’t, but I can play again.

3. Mario Party 3
When I picked up this game in the bargain bin, I didn’t expect how much fun it would be! I wasn’t even looking for Mario party. I actually confused it with Super Smash Brothers! However, once I got that baby home I couldn’t stop playing. If it was just a board game, it would be great, but it’s not. It’s a party game too! Mario party 3 proves that you don’t have to have cutting-edge graphics for a game to be great. The silly costumes and ridiculous situations combined with outrageous mini games meant hours of simple guilty fun.

4. Pokemon Stadium 1 +2
I list these games as a unit because they really all are the same game with a few modifications. In most cases, this would not work–however–it really doesn’t hurt this game. Still, I didn’t feel that they were significantly different from each other enough to mention them separately.

Anyway, Pokémon Stadium was fantastic! It allowed me to take the Pokémon from my Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal and play mini games, trade, battle, and store them. To do this, they introduced a new peripheral, insert name here. The thing with temperamental and often didn’t function properly, but it was so awesome to be able to play with your Pokémon that it didn’t matter. I can remember hours of battling Pokémon with my friends. Memories that I will cherish forever. Which is why these two games are in the number four slot.

5. Mario Kart 64
This game was the first N64 game I ever played. It was shortly after the Nintendo 64 have been released. I was over at a friends house. When I was younger I never had access to counsels such as the super Nintendo or the Nintendo. The only way I can access them was by playing and other people’s houses. We were just getting old enough to purchase our own counsels and I hadn’t purchased the N64 yet. I had never even touched the strange controller before. I couldn’t even control my cart very well. So, I stopped trying and I waited for my friend. And when she went in for the kill–I got her with my shells! She never want to play that game again.

WHAT DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST: Super Smash Brothers, Golden Eye 64 – If I had a top ten list, these guys would certainly be on it. As is, it comes down to the fact that I didn’t enjoy them as much as the others and I do not have quite as strong memories of them. So, they have been booted off the Top 5 List, but they are worth playing again!

TOP 5 WORST GAMES OF THE N64:

1. Starfox 64
Yup, there are worse games than Superman 64! Yes, technically Star Fox was a groundbreaking game and was well loved but I hated it. I never played it–you couldn’t make me–it was too damn annoying! Back when it came out, my brother started playing it over and over again. He wouldn’t stop! All I heard was those annoying voices constantly whining and begging and telling you to do barrel rolls! All I wanted to tell them was, “Shut the fuck up!”
Now, I am sure that it was far more annoying to listen to Star Fox 64 than to play it, but it doesn’t matter to me. I just hate so much!

2. Superman 64
Now, I am sure most people would agree with me that Superman 64 was a God awful game. You don’t need to play it to know that. All you have to do is watch someone play it and you will understand. Which is why it occupies the second slot of this list. It is a thoroughly unremarkable game in a horribly vanilla wrapper. It handles like crap, the story doesn’t make sense, and everything looks the same. And one has to question, how Superman going through rings would save the day? Is virtual reality that different? Or did some idiot I think he could make a lot of money off of the Superman name? I’m willing to bet it was the latter.

3. Hey You Pikachu!
This game had a fantastic concept and it tried to push game technology beyond its limits. Sadly, those limits pushed back. Hey you Pikachu was a game that you controlled solely by using your voice. You took little, wild Pikachu and guided him to the world of Pokémon by solely talking to him. Little Pikachu hung on your every word and obeyed your every command. Or so they thought it would!

Hey you Pikachu relied on voice recognition technology that simply wasn’t there yet. Even today, voice recognition technology is not good enough to control a game. For instance, I am writing this text using my MacSpeech Dictate software. It is a pretty good and decently expensive dictation software. Despite that, I have had countless issues with the understanding what I’m saying. This is after training it and lots of practice.

This was impossible with Hey You Pikachu. It made playing this game irritating and boring. I can remember my friends and I swearing as Pikachu to see if he would notice. He didn’t really. In fact, it was quite happy! Which didn’t entertain us for long.

4. Pokemon Snap
The other Pokémon game that has earned its spot on the top five worst games it’s got to be Pokémon Snap. It is a wonderfully boring game. All you do is run on a set track and take pictures of Pokémon. And that’s it. Nothing more to it. It works fairly well for what it is and it looks beautiful, but is just plain boring. Mind you I was a teenager when playing this game. So, maybe young children would have preferred this. As it is, it has earned its spot in the top five.

5. Mario Party
The final game in this list is Mario Party. I know, I have Mario Party 3 on the top five best games of the council. So what is Mario Party doing on a list of crap? Well, I really did like it that much. And I slightly hated it more than super Mario 64. Plain and simple that is why it’s on this list.

WHAT DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST: Any movie/series based game and Super Mario 64 (Sorry guys – just didn’t like it). These games, I just didn’t like. Granted, most movie games I never really bother to play – so I could be wrong, but let’s be honest, they suck! They are a cheap cash-in product and we should burn them. Hell, let’s burn all the games on this list!