Anyone know anything about the Nintendo 64?

[JerseyDevil]

The expansion pak is required to play DK64 and Majoras Mask, they won't play without it. You can play Perfect Dark without it but not the whole game.

 

Playing DK64 and the complete Perfect Dark are worth the price of the pak, IMO.

[Ze_ro]

I think the expansion pak is worth the price... Yes, Donkey Kong 64 and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask REQUIRE the pak, and Perfect Dark won't be any fun at all without it (you can't play the single-player missions without the pak). There are also a fairly sizable number of games that will take advantage of the extra memory if it's there. In general, the games will use the pak in order to play in a higher resolution. Depending on the game, you might not even notice, but in others (like Quake 2) it's actually a pretty big difference. In some games, the higher resolution can actually cause some slowdown, so be warned.

 

I'm still amazed at what Conker's Bad Fur Day manages to do with the N64 without even needing the expansion pak at all.

 

--Zero

[Dones]

...Perfect Dark won't be any fun at all without it (you can't play the single-player missions without the pak).

Without the expansion pack you can only play multiplayer levels, and even with that you are limited to a few maps and modes and can only go 2-player.

[kevin242]

 

If you open the cover on the top of the N64 (I recall it is labelled "expansion port") - you should be able to see what kind of expansion pack is in your machine...

 

The default pak is black and the expanded ram packs have a red top on them...

 

You may already have one...

 

 

 

I do!!! Yea, some good news. Thanks for the info!

[hex65000]

I did not know that the expansion pack messed up Space Station Silicon Valley. I have gone through 3 copies of that damn game and couldn't figure out why it would just hang randomly. I thought it was a bad run of carts or my luck was just that bad.

 

There are games that don't require the expansion pack but do take advantage of it.

 

Vigilante 8 (1&2) : a personal favorite where twisted metal meets 70s disco-funk.

Gauntlet Legends : It's Gauntlet ; oh yeah....

Star Wars-Pod Racer : the box says you need it, but you can sneak by without it.

ReVolt : RC car racing.

Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, DK64 all rely heavily on the expansion pack.

 

Just get one and keep your options open.

 

I also enjoyed Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon. Oh so Japanese in nature.

 

Hex.

[ Needs to go back and shift more butt on Tetrisphere too... ]

[spacecadet]

also what are some standout games for this system?

 

Three freakin' words:

 

SIN

 

AND

 

PUNISHMENT

 

That's all you need to know.

 

Bangaio's good too, Ridge Racer 64 is great (one of the better versions of this game), and F-Zero X is also excellent. Obviously there's the Zelda games, though you can get OOT on the GameCube now (though not Majora's Mask).

 

To play Bangaio and Sin and Punishment, you will need an import converter, which should cost like $10. I threw out a bunch of em a little while ago (before I started posting here), wish I still had them now for whoever wanted em.

 

 Do you guys  

think the Nin64/library will ever have any value?

 

A few games, maybe. Sin and Punishment seems to be growing in stature as time goes on and you can't get it for any other system (increasingly a rarity these days); it also came out very late in the system's life and didn't sell many copies. But it's also dropping in price; probably just the low ebb as people are still dumping their N64 collections.

 

Most games will never be worth anything. The N64's library was mostly made up of "big" games, mainly from Nintendo, and it wasn't very popular in Japan, so it doesn't really have a lot of rarer niche titles like you see with more popular systems. Generally developers needed to have some sort of guarantee of sales to justify the cost of developing for it; it was more expensive to publish on than the PSX or even the Saturn because of Nintendo's licensing costs and the costs of the carts. So it doesn't have many rare games that are really worth owning.

 

  Also how does the  

N64 rate against the Dreamcast?  

 

No contest, DC blows it away in every category. Better games and more of them, better graphics, better controller (I don't much like the DC pad, but I *hate* the N64 pad). The DC was a generation later than the N64 (maybe a half-generation, but it seems like more... the N64 was sort of a "tweener", generationally).

[sega saturn x]

You cant really call the 64 a tweener it came out in 96 not 97 or 98. It only came out a year later then the saturn and psx.

[+kisrael]

You cant really call the 64 a tweener it came out in 96 not 97 or 98.  It only came out a year later then the saturn and psx.

Yeah, I definately think the DC was more of a "tweener"...

 

Also, having both N64 and DC, I can't say that I think the latter has the better library overall. Both are good systems tho, esp. for multiplayer.

[Lost Monkey]

 Obviously there's the Zelda games, though you can get OOT on the GameCube now (though not Majora's Mask).

 

Majora's Mask is available for the GCN as well.

[Stingray]

DK64 is worth the price of the ram expansion all by itself. It's one of the "must have" N64 titles IMO.

 

-S

[Avid Fan]

"Also, it breaks on a few games, most notably Space Station Silicon Valley (pity, that)"

 

What does that mean? Your expansion pak will break? Your system will break? The game? or does it jus not work with the expansion pack inserted

[Lost Monkey]

"Also, it breaks on a few games, most notably Space Station Silicon Valley (pity, that)"

 

What does that mean? Your expansion pak will break? Your system will break? The game? or does it jus not work with the expansion pack inserted

 

I would like to know too.. I've been scared shitless ever since I read that..

[+kisrael]

Man, I wish Nintendo would do a USA port of that puzzle collection w/ Tetris Attack for GC...I could stop hauling my SNES andor N64 around..

 

Anyway, re: SSSV, it freezes if the memory pack is in place, early on I think.

 

re DK64...it was pretty good. I'd agree it was worth the price of ram expansion, if not an N64.

 

It was a bit of a collectathon but I really liked the boss fights, and how you could skip to any boss fight once you beat it. In fact I made a all-boss FAQ for it, though GameFaqs turned it down...I still think it had some strategies and deeper descriptions that were missing from othe other "general" FAQs, but ah well.

[Flojomojo]

DK64 is worth the price of the ram expansion all by itself. It's one of the "must have" N64 titles IMO.

I agree ... but I'm never going to finish it. It's not particularly deep, but it sure is long.

[+kisrael]

I played it straight through in like 3 days, hint guide at my side, and that's like all I did.

 

At the end of that time...man...it really messed with my visual perception until I had a good night's sleep. Walking down the street, cars seemed to recede to quickly in the distance as they passed, and buildings somehow seemed "too tall" as they stood next to the sidewalk...very strange. I've taken illegal substances that have had less noticeable of an effect.

[Dones]

DK64 is worth the price of the ram expansion all by itself. It's one of the "must have" N64 titles IMO.

I agree ... but I'm never going to finish it. It's not particularly deep, but it sure is long.

 

I was once of those few who didn't like DK64. It seemed like RARE took the Banjo Kazooie engine and slapped the DK brand name on it. What turned me off this game was that horrible DK rap... oh my I still remember that devilish tune and can't shake it off! The horror....

 

Seriously what I dislike about the game was the exaggerated collect-a-thon of items. Basically you had to search every nook and cranny of every level four times (one for each character, a hundred items each per level). RARE really forced players into repetition torture on this one.

 

At least collecting stuff in Banjo was fun as opposed to DK64's tiresome shore.

[vdub_bobby]

I was once of those few who didn't like DK64.

I don't like it either - I got it after I had Zelda: OOT and I found the camera angles and controls extremely annoying and non-intuitive compared to OOT's.

 

I had some similar issues with SMB64, but I got more into that game, for some reason.

[+kisrael]

I was once of those few who didn't like DK64. It seemed like RARE took the Banjo Kazooie engine and slapped the DK brand name on it. What turned me off this game was that horrible DK rap... oh my I still remember that devilish tune and can't shake it off! The horror....    

 

Seriously what I dislike about the game was the exaggerated collect-a-thon of items. Basically you had to search every nook and cranny of every level four times (one for each character, a hundred items each per level). RARE really forced players into repetition torture on this one.

Few people? I thought it was always vaguely unpopular.

 

Definately didn't change the world the way the SNES Countries did.

 

The gameguide helped a lot. I was surprised though at how many more items I had than I needed to actually see the end of the game.

 

DK Rap...the music is ok, it's just the lyrics that are so frightening.

 

Aren't the cut scenes from this games based on a short lived DK CGI Cartoon?

 

Best boss by far is "King Kut Out" where the Kremlings hold up a 2D billboard of their beloved leader...at the time it felt straight outta the muppet movie.

[Dones]

I had some similar issues with SMB64, but I got more into that game, for some reason.

 

I remember how impressed I was when I saw Banjo Kazooie for the first time. It was like an unofficial Mario 64 sequel with improved gameplay and graphics. At the time Banjo's graphics were really a step up N64's generational curve. The dynamic use of MIDI music was pretty cool too.

 

Best boss by far is "King Kut Out" where the Kremlings hold up a 2D billboard of their beloved leader...at the time it felt straight outta the muppet movie.

 

DK enjoyed a lot of that british humor so charasteristic in RARE games. Banjo and Conker had a lot of it too. I can only imagine how many jokes went pass over my head while playing these games. Perhaps that is a good thing, if the jokes were too corny even for british gamers.

 

I remember reading back then on an IGN interview about RARE's preferential treatment from Nintendo (quite a contrast to what Big N said when they let them go). RARE devs mentioned having access to technical docs that allowed them to engineer custom made programming libraries that took advantage of N64's micro-crode capabilites. It certainly helped them flesh out better looking textures on their games.

[kemsted]

I dont think anybody said either of the Rampage games or Road Rash 64, but I would recommend them and all of the other games listed. Add me to the list of people who loves the controller too.

 

-kemsted

[kemsted]

I forgot the Extreme G games and the Army Men games.

 

-kemsted

[+kisrael]

I've been a fan of british humor for a long time, both subtle and coarse, and I'd say there's not a lot of subtle stuff going on w/ RARE. (In Conker that was made worse by some really awful voice work and writing.)

 

Bankjo-Kazooie...I'd heard so much about it that I was excitied to finally try it, but after Mario 64 and DK64, it just didn't do a lot for me at that point.

 

Oh oh oh -- Banjo, that reminds me...DIDDY KONG RACING.

 

EXCELLENT racer, and the best one player / co-op mode I've EVER seen in a racing game. Excellent deathmatches as well as having kart, plane, and hovercraft modes.

[Dones]

You could say RARE was N64's premier developer. N64 game portfolio would have been worse if it not were because of them.

[spacecadet]

You cant really call the 64 a tweener it came out in 96 not 97 or 98.  It only came out a year later then the saturn and psx.

 

The Saturn was launched in November 1994 - almost two full years earlier than the N64 (September 1996).

 

The DC was launched in 1999, only a year earlier than the PS2 (2000), 3 years after the N64 and almost 5 full years after the Saturn. Graphically, though, the N64 is much more of a tweener than the DC, IMO - DC games still hold up against PS2 and even Xbox games, whereas N64 games usually looked better than Saturn or PSX games but nowhere close to DC games. I'd definitely put the DC as the first console of the current generation (the fact that it failed in the marketplace doesn't change that). The N64 was somewhere between the current gen and the previous gen. Nintendo even said themselves that they were waiting out the 32 bit era at the time...

 

btw, I didn't even realize Majora's Mask was available on GameCube. I have OOT but I never got that Zelda Collector's Edition thing with Majora's Mask.

[Lost Monkey]

The Saturn was launched in November 1994 - almost two full years earlier than the N64 (September 1996).

 

The DC was launched in 1999, only a year earlier than the PS2 (2000), 3 years after the N64 and almost 5 full years after the Saturn.  

 

Why are you comparing the earlier Japanese release dates to the later US release dates? By your same logic, I can say that the DC's November 1998 release is only a bit over 2 years from the N64's September 1996 release...