RFGen's Top 20 N64 games

[Crabmaster2000]

Really really great to see so many people adding their comments for this one! Lots of cool thoughts on these games. I think some of you misunderstood the list though as Donkey Kong 64 is a bottom 20 N64 games contender. Also very surprised to see Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corp so high. Those are not great games (and I have a lot of love for Jet Force Gemini).


1. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - I surprised myself when formatting my list that this came out as my number 1. I knew I really loved it, but I’ve never really stacked it head to head with other N64 games. This is one of the greatest licensed games, one of the best Star Wars games and one of the best air combat games. Lots of new lore added to the franchise, with a great dose of familiar nostalgia hits thrown in for good measure too. Get to fly missions as multiple iconic ships from Star Wars across a really impressive variety of awesome locations. The missions you get rewarded with for getting medals on each stage are just some of the best rewards off all time for your hard work. What a masterpiece!

2. Goldeneye 007 - My personal favorite FPS game. I like the classified folders with info pre-mission. I like the objective based levels. I like the ability to play each level at the difficulty level you’re ready for at that time. I like every stage having its own time based target to unlock a neat or silly secret. Just a joy from start to finish whether I’m in the mood to play it short and sloppy or really sink in and 100% it.

3. Super Mario 64 - The game that showed the rest of the world how 3D platforming was done. And it’s still one of the best examples in the genre! Camera issues aside this is still an incredible game that’s a joy to play.

4. Resident Evil 2 - One of the greatest horror games ever. Very cool story, limited resources, sparse save rooms, legitimately scary enemies, multiple campaigns and some cool rewards for mastering the game.

5. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time - The template for 3D adventure games for decades now. Still holds up great and has some wonderfully simplistic story telling, great dungeons, clever puzzles, amazing atmosphere and some of the most iconic music of all time.

6. Star Wars Episode 1 Racer - One of my favorite racing games of all time. I don’t know if any game has ever captured the feel of a movie scene so perfectly before. So many great tracks, amazing vehicles upgrade system and a true sense of speed and danger.

7. Pokemon Snap - I don’t know how to make this game sound fun by describing it. It just is. Taking pictures of Pokemon (I’m not a huge Pokemon fan) should be the worst. Think of is like an on rails shooter if you have to, but just give it a try.

8. Banjo-Kazooie - One of the all time greats when it comes to 3D platforming. Just enough collectables to keep it obtainable and not overwhelming like many of its contemporaries (and even it’s sequel). Amazing use of music and sound. Fun progression of power ups and a great sense of humor.

9. Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask - This is a great kind of sequel/spin off. Just try something totally off the wall different, but in a familiar framework. Very unique and special game that will have you stressed as you play, but ultimately very rewarding.

10. Star Fox 64 - Probably the best on rails shooter of all time. Awesome theme, cool music, great controls, neat style varied paths, individual level rankings and different types of vehicles make each playthrough different enough that it calls you back to try again even after you beat it.

11. Mario Golf - Simple is best with sports games on console and Mario Golf keeps it easy to understand and hard to master. Lots of great courses and some interesting modes to play around with.

12. Killer Instinct Gold - For a system with very few fighters (and even fewer good ones), they were fortunate to get a great sequel to Killer Instinct with Gold. It does what a sequel does best and doesn’t mess too much with a good thing. Just adds a few new characters and makes it looks and sound even better.

13. Perfect Dark - Slap a heavy coat of sci-fi paint on Goldeneye and you get some Perfect Dark. Cool mission based levels with a good mix of action and stealth. Through in a  few extremely memorable weapons and a goofy alien sidekick and you’ve got a classic!

14. Beetle Adventure Racing - A racing game themed around Volkswagen Beetles sounds so so very dumb. The really amazing track designs make this game really shine though. Very inventive courses with amazing shortcuts for those looking out for them.

15. F-Zero X - I don’t think there is a bad F-Zero game, but this one is probably the weakest imo. Doesn’t quite capture that feeling of fast like a lot of the other games in the series.

16. 1080 Snowboarding - The first of many great racing games to appear on my list. It’s got a small cast, board selection and tracks, BUT everything that is included is great. No crap to cut. And it’s got some fun unlockable characters and boards that take some serious skill to open up.

17. Goemon’s Great Adventure - Super goofy and colorful action heavy game that messes around with some other genres in small doses. Very fun and very funny.

18. Hybrid Heaven - A neat little Christmas RPG! The combat is the selling point here where you use wrestling moves in a turnbased combat system! You can disable opponents apendages by breaking them which in turn limits their attack options and vice versa when they are used on you. It’s got some really awful dialogue to go along with it’s bizzare sci-fi story. If you’re in the mood for a good gaming “B-Movie” this should scratch that itch.

19. Kirby 64 - The Kirby formula of using power ups in different parts of the games to open up new levels and secrets is very addictive. This Kirby game is just a little slow pace and rough to go back to compared to most of the others which is why the lower rank.

I also made a mistake and should have Mario Kart in number 9 and the rest bumped down one spot.

[bickman2k]

Here's my list.

1. Super Mario 64 - Weird that the best game was a launch title... Defined how 3D games were controlled. Still a lot of fun to play.

2. Super Smash Bros - Launched a series of fighting games with easy controls to pick up, but so much underneath it.

3. Paper Mario - A fun start to a new series that included platforming, puzzles, and RPG mechanics that is still a fun play.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - While not my favorite in the series, it's still a solid title in the first 3D entry.

5. Mario Kart 64 - Great 4 player fun, expanded battle mode, an easy "just one more" title.

6. NFL Blitz 2001 - Really, the series could be all over this list, but this is the version I played the most. A very close arcade conversion with 4 player support makes it a blast for a group!

7. Star Fox 64 - Increased game play speed, huge bosses, and plenty of variety make this a must have title. Oh, and thanks for the Rumble Pak.

8. Pokemon Snap - An on rails shooter (get it?) where you take pictures of Pokemon. Lots to explore, plenty of secrets and unlockables that give you additional replay value.

9. Gauntlet Legends - Another great arcade conversion that hits the N64 complete with 4 player support. So much fun with a crowd!

10. Banjo-Kazooie - A solid Rare platform collect-a-thon that controls solidly and has a lot of great and varied environments.

11. Shadows of the Empire - One of the best opening levels in gaming. A nice mix of levels that show off a lot of different Star Wars environments and characters.

12. Donkey Kong 64 - The game that brought the Expansion Pak to the N64. Refined some of the Banjo-Kazooie enhancements to make another solid 3D platformer.

13. Mario Golf - A fun arcade style golf game with Mario characters. More 4 player fun!

14. WCW vs NWO World Tour - I didn't watch a lot of wrestling growing up, but I really loved the N64 wrestling games. 4 player fun!

15. Mortal Kombat 4 - A solid port of the arcade game.

16. Mario Party - DANGER! DANGER! Your palms and analog sticks are in for some pain!

17. Wave Race 64 - Pretty good water physics, a good soundtrack, and just plain fun.

18. Space Station Silicon Valley - A quirky puzzle platform game that is just weird enough to keep your attention.

19. Duke Nukem 64 - While this is stripped down and censored version, it does have 4 player Dukematch and some new weapons and levels.

20. Tony Hawk Pro Skater - The starting point in a fun series of skateboarding games.

[bombatomba]

1. Super Mario 64 – Man, what a great game.  Before release I grasped at every bit of info I could of this game waiting on release of the N64, so much that I didn't notice until a month later that there really wasn't anything else to play!  The movement just feels so natural, and the one big complaint against the game (the camera) still manages to feel better than most other 3D platformers.  Much like the contributions of the original Super Mario Bros back on the NES, Super Mario 64 is the defacto standard for what a 3D platformer should be.

2. DOOM 64 – My second favorite original DOOM console port, and the dimmest (visually speaking) game I have ever played in my life.  I am sad to say that while I have owned this game for decades, I couldn't play it properly until I finally attached my N64 to an LCD less than ten years ago, but it was worth the wait.  While not as atmospheric as the PSX port, DOOM 64 stands above some of the others simply because the it just looks and plays better than the others.  Recently bought it on Switch and playing through it all over again is a joy.

3. Paper Mario – I passed up this game because I wasn't a big fan of Mario RPG on SNES.  Now I really regret not playing it more when I had the chance, because man did the price jump!  At the time I was like, "I only want the edgy stuff on the console that loads a lot!" and nonsense like that, so naturally I avoided it.  While not overtly goofy, Paper Mario provides the perfect gateway to Mario & Luigi (which I played first), and I find the art so charming and attractive.  I do wish they had more "paper" style puns, but that would come later, I guess.  Now I get my Paper Mario kicks on the 3DS with its many sequels and spin-offs, but it stings a little to know that I could have been having this kind of fun twenty years ago.

4. Goldeneye – Goldeneye, much like Super Mario 64, is not just a N64 standard, but a standard of its genre (at least back in its day).  Up until this point FPS games on console tended to follow the same template of trying to juggle how to handle verticality (or "looking"), and the results were usually substandard.  Try and explain this to a PC gamer (who had always had superior controls) and they would laugh.  Until Goldeneye.  This game actually let me feel like I was controlling a secret agent, and Agent 007 would glide effortlessly through levels, quickly neutralizing enemies with his signature silenced pistol.  Visually it hasn't aged as well (unless you are emulating), but I find Goldeneye fun to this day.

5. Nightmare Creatures – I am one of the people that can, without fear or discrimination, say that I loved the first Nightmare Creatures game on PSX.  So what does this version offer?  Analog control and an increased draw distance, while not compromising on the atmospheric soundtrack, which is all I really need.  It still retains all of the annoyances and quirks that detractors have used against it, and thus isn't a game that one could recommend to people.  But I totally dig it!

6. Perfect Dark – Perfect Dark, like Conker, is another game that I picked up very late for super cheap (in fact, for the same price at the same place), and look what we have here; we have a coherent story, voice acting (though sometimes a bit muffled) and quite frankly fantastic gameplay that feels like an evolution of Goldeneye, and playing Perfect Dark after the masterpiece that was Goldeneye (and many of the mediocre to good shooters the N64 had to offer) really made you realize how much higher the bar could be set with something simple as presentation, which was the same thing that we on the PC had played with the original Half-life.  Excellent game, really top shelf.

7. Conker's Bad Fur Day - This is such a weird adventure game that got people to care about it by being gross.  I didn't get a chance to play it until a couple years after it was released (when it was about $5) and was blown away that it was even a thing.  I mean...  wow.  I don't think there is even a PG-13 way of describing what even happens in this game.  Given the time it came out (and the console) it feels very much like a swan song from a dying company, and includes everything from heavily inebriated and belligerent animals, well endowed flowers, operatic feces, and tons of movie references and fourth wall breaking.

8. Forsaken 64 – An amazing port of the PC 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) shooter with the strangest marketing (that anyone working a game store at the time could testify to).  It gave me the ability to place this amazing game when I didn't have the PC to run it on, and man is it fun.  Makes me dizzy sometimes as you fly through tunnels, dodging and juking to avoid and return enemy fire, but a ton of fun.  Not too much to say about it, but maybe avoid if you are sensitive to motion sickness.

9. Body Harvest – This is a fun, though not terribly good, action-adventure game.  It is a little bit harder to classify than some games of its day, but for the most part you are moving around the stages, moving constantly from vehicle to vehicle to see what they can do, and kill aliens.  This is one of the titles where the gameplay outclassed the graphics, meaning that at the time I had no issues forgetting what a muddy mess I was looking at, mainly because I saw a new car or tank to play with behind a building.  I guess it was no mistake then when I latched hard onto the same kind of think when DMA Designs (later Rockstar North) would develop the GTA games.

10. Mario Kart 64 – What is there to say about this?  It's Mario Kart, but with hills and power slide boosts.  And four player split screen deathmatch.  Used to play a lot of this at one point in my life, and it was the only non-single player game that I would play.  The main races are fun, but for me, nothing beats that four player deathmatch.

11. Vigilante 8 – While a great many of my N64 experiences were really about circumstance (I was working in a game store with little to do but games), Vigilante 8 was a game I sought out. See, I had bought, played, and loved a quirky combat-driving sim on PC called Interstate '76, and when I heard that the characters and cars had been ported to a new game on consoles, I knew I had to check it out. Of course this game is really nothing more than the N64 answer to Twisted Metal (and people would love or hate it based on that) and not my beloved alternate 1970's take on Mechwarrior, but for me the immediate recognition of the license was enough to hook me and keep me coming back.

12. Blast Corps – This game took a genre that I dislike (puzzle games) and made it about stuff that I like (blowing stuff up) using a variety of construction/destruction vehicles, many of them real life. Most people like the dragon-punch robot the best, but my favorite is the large truck with the sides that pop out.

13. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D – Star Wars flight sim on console, which is basically all that needs to be said.  Not super complicated but still has plenty of fun stuff to keep players from putting it down for too long.  I loved it because of the license and the feel of the ships (though wished they had more), liked it because of the punishing difficulty, and hated it because of the V-wing missions.  Just die in a lake, stupid V-Wings, seriously.  Not worth a single gold medal.

14. Goemon's Great Adventure – Supposed to be the sequel to the Mystical Ninja game, but who the heck knows.  What I do know is that this game features a lot of 2.5D gameplay, and while it still isn't great, it is still fun enough to see through to the end, and not because terrible dialog!

15. Resident Evil 2 – Although my collection would speak otherwise (RE2 for PC, N64, and PSX), I don't like RE2 all that much.  But this port was something special, if nothing due to the level of skill that it took to cram two discs of content onto a single cartridge.  Even to this day it blows my mind (and I think speaks heavily to the skill of the developers) to play this game and know the storage medium was the source of ridicule from the fans of the "disc consoles."

16. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire – This game didn't age all that well, I don't think, but when it came out many people (including me) tricked themselves into thinking it was wonderful.  We loved the brand so much that we went crazy at the mere mention of new content.  Much like Super Star Wars on the SNES before it, I ate up Shadows like it would disappear at any moment, caring nothing for any faults.  As far as I cared, it look and sounded great, and let me fight IG-88!  Who cared if I had to do weird acrobats to destroy an AT-ST with a blaster (because I ran out of missiles).  I finally got to find out what Han Solo's tiny blurb in Empire Strikes Back (bounty hunter in Ord Mandell) was about!

17. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Confession time, I don't like the last half of this game at all and have never beat it on my own (though I like it enough to pick up the 3DS remake and pick it up every now and then to play).  The first time I walked into Hyrule field it felt grand, like it was exactly what I wanted: an open world Zelda game.  The sense that I could roam the land as if I lived here was real, and although I have a real love/hate relationship with this title, it was but another brick in the wall to build my love of open world-style games.

18. Turok 2 – When it was released Turok 2 was a stunner of a game.  Working at a game store, I remember the complaints against the original, but when we got our paws on part 2 everything just ceased.  It just looked so darn good!  I even remember gaming magazines in awe, showing screenshots with captions like "This is really what the game looks like" and stuff like that.  Not my favorite controls though.

19. Jet Force Gemini – I really have mixed feelings about this game.  On one hand, it can be a lot of fun, with enemy AI taking falling back and taking cover.  But on the other hand, I don't really feel like I ever got a good bead on what exactly is happening in this game.  It's quirky, but as I move from area to area, killing bugs and searching the landscape for allies and ammo, I sometimes get a bit dizzy, and in a game like this that is bad, because Jet Force Gemini is HARD, and with limited continues I don't think I will ever see that ending outside of YouTube.  Won't stop me from trying though.

20. Mystical Ninja – This isn't a great game in any way, but it features some of the most exceptionally badly and hilariously translated dialog of any game in recent memory.  In fact, why haven't more people talked about this?  Slightly open world obviously inspired by Mario 64 (but with no camera controls) and some seriously wacky characters make this a game that you should at least try for thirty minutes.  I couldn't stop laughing.

[shaggy]

1. Goldeneye 007 It's Goldeneye and four player fun.  Enough said!
2. Blast Corps  When I saw this game in Nintendo Power I knew I had to get it.  In this game you need to clear the landscape so a run away missile can get from the bottom of the screen to the top.  It doesn't sound exciting but it is!  I hunted down a copy and it is still worth every single penny.  This is a hidden gem on the N64 and you NEED to go get this game.
3. Diddy Kong Racing
4. Jet Force Gemini
5. Banjo-Tooie
6. Super Mario 64
7. Resident Evil 2
8. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire When I got my N64, this was not one of the first games I bought but my brother did get this.  I played this at his house and loved it!  Needless to say, I borrowed his copy until i beat it.
 The graphics at the time were not bad (they don't hold up today), the gameplay was really good, and I enjoyed every aspect of this game.  A great Star Wars title.
9. Perfect Dark
10. Mario Party
11. Conker's Bad Fur Day
12. Banjo-Kazooie
13. Donkey Kong 64
14. Turok: Rage Wars
15. Zelda: Ocarina of Time
16. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
17. Shadowgate 64
18. WCW vs. NWO: World Tour  I'm not that interested in wrestling games but I played this at my brothers and it became an instant favorite.  This was at a time when wrestling games became more involved and included different move sets and being four player made it all the more fun.  We had TONS of fun playing four player and is recommended for four player fun!
19. Gauntlet Legends
20. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero  I know this game does not get a lot of love but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It has its flaws and every one is warranted but I liked getting some backstory on the character and playing an action/fighting game.  This game isn't for everyone one, and if this was the 90's I would tell you to "rent" this one, but if you have a chance, try it out and see if you like it.

You'll notice 9 out of my 20 games are Rare games.

[bombatomba]

I don't think I've ever played either Shadowgate 64 or Gauntlet Legends.  I did not do a slow crawl through the library of the N64 like I'm doing with the GB, and I wonder if I did would have still picked the same games?

[blcklblskt]

Here's my list:

1.) Star Fox 64
-One of my favorite games of all time due to its incredible replayability, tight controls, addictive gameplay and of course, "amazing" voice acting. I try to play through this at least once a month

2.) Pokemon Snap
-Another one of my favorites. This is a pretty unique rail-shooter that I'll take down from the shelf at least once a year to wipe the game save and replay the entire game through again.

3.) Banjo-Kazooie
-In my opinion, the pinnacle of that generation's 3D platforming games. Great graphics and tight gameplay, along with great music and sound effects make this a great game.

4.) Super Mario 64
-Super Mario 64 packs in a great art style, incredibly nuanced movement physics, awesome music and an endless amount of lore in terms of development secrets (did you know those black dots in the smoke cloud when Mario gets burned were actually supposed to be transparent smoke clouds? There was a bug in the code that went unnoticed for 20 years that caused this issue! https://www.retrorgb.com/...fixed-after-24-years.html) into a 4mb cart. I'm very excited to see what Nintendo does with their Super Mario collection upcoming for the Switch, and I'm hoping they include rumble like the Shindou version in Japan did.

5.) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
-A game I imagine will be tops on many lists, this is the first Zelda game I can remember watching my dad play through when I was a kid. I still hum Epona's Song constantly.

6.) Paper Mario
-One of my favorite art-styles on the Nintendo 64. Although the game can be a bit too easy, it's still fun to play through every once in a while

7.) Beetle Adventure Racing!
-My dad has always been into American cars and has never shown an interest in racing games featuring foreign cars. I was definitely surprised when he brought this game home and we all absolutely loved it. There are a ton of secrets in each level, and this game was a constant in our multiplayer sessions.

8.) Blast Corps
-Another unique title that I still enjoy playing. A bonkers story, annoyingly-addicting sound bytes, and fun and unique gameplay make this one of the must-plays on the console.

9.) Wave Race 64
-I'll echo what everyone else will likely say about this title - great water physics! Another early title for the Nintendo 64 that blew me away visually. The game also has fun gameplay and the upbeat announcer always make me laugh. If you can import the Japanese-only Shindou (Rumble Pak) version, it's a fun addition to the game that I wish came out over here.

10.) San Francisco Rush 2049
-Along with the other games in the Rush series on the console, my brothers and I played these games constantly. I really enjoyed the customization aspect as well as the stunt mode. Whenever we went to the arcade, we'd always make sure to play the arcade cabinet version of this game.

11.) Mario Kart 64
-Continuing with the multiplayer theme of the console, this was another title that received heavy gameplay when I was growing up.

12.) F-Zero X
-A racing game that didn't get much playtime growing up due to its difficulty, I enjoy playing this one occasionally as an adult. From a technical perspective this is one of the few 64 games that ran at 60 fps so its interesting to how much detail had to be chopped in order to get it to hit that target. After getting an Nintendo 64DD, I had to pick up the Expansion Disk for the additional tracks and the track editor. The expansion disk definitely make me a bit sad wondering decades later what could have been had the 64DD not been DOA.

13.) 1080 Snowboarding
-A fun "extreme sports" game that appealed to the skateboarder my youth.

14.) Pokemon Stadium
-Along with Pokemon Stadium 2, seeing my Pokemon in 3D was immensely cool as was the ability to play my Game Boy games on the 64. These have great collections of mini games.

15.) Diddy Kong Racing
-I loved the variety in this game along with the hub world. This is another great racing game for the console.

16.) Resident Evil 2
-Being a (mostly) Nintendo family growing up, I wasn't used to watching FMV sequences in video games. Visually, this game was good enough to give me nightmares as a kid, and the zombie sound effects spooked me. This was the first game I can remember where my mom made us play in the basement while my dad was playing. Good times.

17.) Conker's Bad Fur Day
-Another one of the games I wasn't allowed to watch my dad play. Going back years later made it obvious, and I'll play this game when I'm in the mood for a more adult version of Banjo Kazooie.

18.) Gauntlet Legends
-I've mostly played this game in single player, but it does support up to 4 players. I've never been a huge fan of hack and slash games, but I think the settings and relative simplicity of the game are what drew me in. This game makes me wonder if the unreleased Dragon Sword would have given this game a run for its money.

19.) Pokemon Puzzle League
-Another game with FMV for the 64?! This is a Tetris Attack clone that looks great on the N64 and plays very well.

20.) Hydro Thunder
-Another multiplayer racing title. Also the only console version that supports 4 players if I recall correctly. Of Midway's racing series on the console, I've always enjoyed Rush more (both in the arcade and at home), but Hydro Thunder is still a fun title to play when friends are over.

Honorable mentions: Get an RGB mod/HDMI mod with de-blur! It makes an immense difference!

And a couple of Japanese-exclusive games:

Sin and Punishment
-A Japanese exclusive (unfortunately) which looks incredible, is incredibly fun, and thankfully doesn't require much knowledge of Japanese to have a great time.

Custom Robo
-Although Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2 are Japanese-only, there is an English-language patch available for the first game that works on an Everdrive 64. I'm a big fan of Custom Robo and the various nuances that go into creating each robo, and being able to play it in English makes it that much more enjoyable.

Bakuretsu Muteki Bangai-O
-Another Japanese exclusive, also by Treasure, that makes use of the D-Pad and Joystick controller layout. One of the few 2D games on the Nintendo 64, it looks great today and plays great. I have to try the Dreamcast version at some point.

[jcjeremy518]

The game I like to play the most from list put together is Super Mario 64