Anyone know anything about the Nintendo 64?

[kemsted]

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

 

How many and what games did they release, and is there a complete list of released N64 titles?

 

-kemsted

[hex65000]

Yeah, you can hit Digital Press and download their PDF rarity guide/Checklist. It at least covers the US releases. The list says there are 297 titles in the N-64 library.

 

It's incredible the number of those that are sports or wrestling though. I've broken the 100 mark a while back, and I'm still finding things I don't have yet. It's starting to get down to the big ticket games I suspect...

 

Hex.

[ Oevy ; no, I don't know what it means... it's something that just came to me one day -- godzilla was involved]

[+kisrael]

It's a matter of opinion and doesn't really matter in the long run anyway, but I think rather than International Release Dates or Graphics, I look to "who did they seem to be competing against?"

 

Maybe because I got into modern games "late", but to me it was always N64 vs PSX, with Saturn a terribly distant also ran. I think N64 had better graphics and for me better games, but the PSX was in the same league.

 

Where as DC's compeition was...I dunno, it's like they were ALWAYS competing against Sony--vs a hugely established PSone base, vs. rumors of how cool PS2 was going to be, then a little vs PS2, but that didn't last very long. So given how Sony has more or less defined the last two generations of consoles, and DC was fighting the PSX and the PS2, it feels like more of a tweener.

 

DC's graphics are more like PS2, but I really don't know if it had the ability to make really big worlds ala GTA like I think all 3 of the current consoles can. Thus, to me, adding to its "Tweener" status.

 

It's a little subjective but I think the questions of generations is mostly a marketing and competition one, so it makes more sense to look at that rather than release dates.

 

Damn. Maybe I should try to get into 4 player DC homebrewing...

[~llama]

I got an N64 for Christmas 1996 (I was 9 at the time), after my grandmother waited in line for an hour at the Funtronics counter in Sears and paid $200 for it... and Super Mario 64 remains one of my favorite games for the system. Mario Kart 64 is amazing too, loads of replay value. The original Tony Hawk Pro Skater is, IMHO, one of the must-have games for this system too. Much better graphics than the PSX version and cool use of the uber-weird N64 controller.

 

If you like racing games check out Cruis'n World, the sequel to the original Cruis'n USA which was one of those "Ultra 64" games.

[Stingray]

I got an N64 for Christmas 1996 (I was 9 at the time)

 

Thank you so very much for making me feel like an antique.

 

-S

[JerseyDevil]

I got an N64 for Christmas 1996 (I was 9 at the time)

 

Thank you so very much for making me feel like an antique.

 

-S

 

I second that. In 1996, I was 31.

[Dones]

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

 

How many and what games did they release, and is there a complete list of released N64 titles?

 

-kemsted

 

RARE released 11 games:

 

Banjo Kazooie

Banjo Tooie

Blast Corps

Conker's Bad Fur Day

Diddy Kong Racing

Donkey Kong 64

Golden Eye

Jet Force Gemini

Killer Instinct Gold

Mickey's Speedway USA

Perfect Dark

 

 

A complete N64 release list can be found at gamefaqs.com

[~llama]

I got an N64 for Christmas 1996 (I was 9 at the time)

 

Thank you so very much for making me feel like an antique.

 

-S

 

If it makes you feel any better, the N64 wasn't my first game system like so many kids these days... and I have a VCS, NES, SNES, and six or seven really old computers because i was born about 20 years too late.

[Ze_ro]

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

The question has already been answered (ie, it won't physically BREAK anything, it just won't play), but it's also worth mentioning that if you DO get an expansion pak, try to stick with official Nintendo ones. The third party expansion paks are known to occaisionally overheat. Heck, even the official Nintendo ones get awfully hot. Also, a number of the third party ones can be rather ugly, sticking out of the slot and such, while the Nintendo ones fit nicely in place under the cover so you don't even see it.

 

Damn. Maybe I should try to get into 4 player DC homebrewing...

Give it a try, you might enjoy it. I'm sure you'll find it infinitely easier than programming the 2600!

 

--Zero

[sega saturn x]

You know when ever i look for games for the N64 i run in to the same problem i have with the snes. I find the same games over and over most are way overpriced and i have no idea why so many of the carts i find are damaged. What cooks my goose is how damaged carts cost as much as regular ones! I have been to a ton of games store and its the same where ever i go. And forget ebay you find the the same 12 games over and over. So my advise is instead of hunting carts get a list mark off ones that sound or look good and focus on thoughs. Scan ebay or even ask if any of your fellow AA'rs will sell you a copy.

[Lost Monkey]

You know when ever i look for games for the N64 i run in to the same problem i have with the snes.  I find the same games over and over most are way overpriced and i have no idea why so many of the carts i find are damaged.  

 

What do you mean when you say "damaged"? I always find the N64 carts are marked up with names and video store stickers, but I don't think I've ever seen any with broken plastic etc... Every used N64 game I've bought at EB looked great on the front, but since they are in those shrinkwrapped trays, you can't see the sticker/sharpie covered back of the cartridge..

[sega saturn x]

Yeah sorry by damaged i mean pen marks, stickers, marker etc.

[hex65000]

Some of us take the time to get all of that crap offa there. If you're talking about Game-Rob(stop) then yeah, their N-64 carts are beaten with a stick usually and of all the cart-based games I have more N-64s that turn up as deaders than other platforms. I suppose it all has to do with complexity of the device and junk like that. However, I'm a pretty stubborn guy when it comes to deaders. It's not like I can make them MORE dead.

 

Hex.

[ Last seen reliving the joys of Reactor . . . ]

[Flojomojo]

You know when ever i look for games for the N64 i run in to the same problem i have with the snes.  I find the same games over and over most are way overpriced and i have no idea why so many of the carts i find are damaged.  What cooks my goose is how damaged carts cost as much as regular ones!  I have been to a ton of games store and its the same where ever i go.  And forget ebay you find the the same 12 games over and over.  So my advise is instead of hunting carts get a list mark off ones that sound or look good and focus on thoughs.  Scan ebay or even ask if any of your fellow AA'rs will sell you a copy.

That's one of the hazards of getting into a system late or re-buying a collection you sold off. I'm happy to say that the vast bulk of my excellent 50+ N64 game collection was bought new or in reasonably fresh condition. Something about this system really clicked with me. Maybe it was sentimentality over using cartridges, maybe it was the crisp diagonals with fuzzy textures and fogging, or maybe it was because it had a Star Wars game right after launch. Or maybe it was the once-excellent review site, http://ign64.ign.com/. Check out some of the reviews of the N64 games there -- very well written, better than anything else out there for the system, and way better than their current work in my opinion.

[Dones]

Yes IGN64.com is a great place to go for reviews.

 

There is another device the original poster might be instered in: the DexDrive is a memory card manager that came for the N64 and PSX. It connects to your PC through a serial port (no usb back then ). I don't know if Interact is still in business, but there are free homebrewn tools available that let you operate the device. You can make backups of your games and download saves from places like gamefaqs.com.

[sega saturn x]

You know it may sound like i hate the N64 (i really dont) i just hardly ever play it. The first and foremost reason being a lack of good 2-D games. From what i have played and seen i know its got some good 3-D games but i never understood why buy games for the psx or n64 when the new systems do it so much better. The n64 more then the psx since a good portion of the n64's games are now re-done on the game cube or other system's. My biggest problem with buying games for the n64 is why buy mario Kart 64 when i can get double dash. To me it alwsy felt like the nintendo 64 games were just games leading up to there cube versions. Thats the main reason i never really tried all that hard to get games for it but hey thats just me do what feels right.

[Shannon]

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

 

-S

 

I'd have to disagree. If your gonna play a collecta-thon try the banjo-kazooie series. They are far superior and more interesting.

[RARusk]

"The first game to use the rampack was Rogue Squadron."

 

Wrong. That honor belongs to "Turok 2: Seeds of Evil" which was a pretty good game for the old N64 along with it's sequel "Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion". Whenever I do any RGB experiments on the N64 I use the Turok 2 cart because when it's high res is turned on it becomes the best looking game in the N64 library (IMHO even better looking than SW: Rogue Squadron).

 

"Doom 64" is also pretty good. I liked "Road Rash 64" too. One of my favorite little tricks I liked to do is, if you stopped just right at the finish and was parked next to another rider and you had the cattle prod or tear gas, you could zap the other rider as much as you want and still get credit for every zap since you had to hit another button to proceed to the next screen. Graphics kinda sucked but still a good game.

 

"GoldenEye" is THE very reason I have an N64. "Perfect Dark" is also pretty good but it tends to slog down a lot because RareWare pushed the machine to it's absolute max. And I loved "Conker's Bad Fur Day". I am eagerly anticipating the Xbox version. The current demo for the Xbox version rocks.

 

If you like the GTA games you may want to check out "Body Harvest" since it was done by the same company, before it became Rockstar North, and it has a similar feel.

[shep]

Yeah sorry by damaged i mean pen marks, stickers, marker etc.

 

That stuff doesn't bother me as I just play the games. I got three games off ebay and two of them had rental stickers on em...didn't bug me at all.

[sega saturn x]

Stickers are my nemesis i just got a copy of shadow dancer of ebay that had stickers under the plastic cover. I was so pissed and they took me for ever to get off. The i discoverd that the game had a sticker to i didnt bother getting that one off.

[Stingray]

Stickers aren't so bad, since they can almost always be carefully removed. Permanent marker on the other hand really chaps my hide. I've never felt the urge to write anything on any of my games. Why do so many people feel compelled to do this?

 

-S

[vdub_bobby]

Stickers aren't so bad, since they can almost always be carefully removed. Permanent marker on the other hand really chaps my hide. I've never felt the urge to write anything on any of my games. Why do so many people feel compelled to do this?

 

-S

Well, when you're eleven you tend to swap games a lot with your buddies and if you want to ever see them again you write your name on 'em. Or your mom makes you, for that same reason; it's probably her $50 you're leaving at the neighbor's house after all

[sega saturn x]

That's sad but true and this happens with more n64 games then any other system i have ever owned. This proves to me that the n64 was in fact aimed at children. I see psx with names on them some times not often but i never see saturn games with names (i have also never met any kids how ever owned a saturn).

[Stingray]

Gee whatever happened to the good old days of just ignoring what your mom tells you to do?

 

-S

[George Gray]

That's sad but true and this happens with more n64 games then any other system i have ever owned.  This proves to me that the n64 was in fact aimed at children.  I see psx with names on them some times not often but i never see saturn games with names (i have also never met any kids how ever owned a saturn).

 

I dunno...I buy used Playstation games and junk often. Quite often, it is in poor shape. The jewel cases are scratched to hell, the booklets are often missing or, at least, in sad shape (written on, ripped, bent) and the CD's are often dirty, scratched and sometimes scribbled on. I see this mostly with crap I buy at Gamestop. The N64 carts, the Playstation stuff and even some of the XBox stuff always seems to be dirty, scratched and generally in something other than good shape. EB Games, however, does a nice job. I have NEVER purchased an N64 cart there that was dirty, written on or in other than good shape. They even put them in sealed boxes (which begs the question, why not resell them in the same boxes they originally came in, if available? I've traded many N64 carts with the box, manual and stuffing. Is it really that hard? Sheesh.)

In fact, everything for sale at EB Games always seems to be in great shape. I guess Gamestop gets all of the leftovers.

I think people in general just don't take care of this stuff as well as we old timers did. I don't think it is just children. But, you may have a point. I only look at Nintendo when buying games and systems for my kid. Well, I would buy him the retro sticks too...they are safe to play, unlike X-Box and Playstation 2.