Top Ten N64 Games

The N64 takes a lot of abuse for its shallow library, and a lot of this is deserved. I would never pick the N64 library over the PS1 library, but I do think that the criticism it gets is outsized. First, the hardware involved is absolutely fantastic. Know what I never have to worry about? If an N64 I pick up on the secondary market works. They always work, marvels of technology. The design of the beast is slick and smooth, and very pleasing to the eye. Having a stock option for four players, along with 5-10 killer multiplayer games, unlocked countless hours of fun that EVERYONE has enjoyed at some point or other. It's still the single console I'd bring to a party, were there a party to be had. The controller is, well, flawed. But this mostly comes down to the useless L button and d-pad and fragile control stick, as the button placement is really excellent. But I do think it deserves a lot of credit for being really ergonomic in your hand, and developers mostly worked around the use case of comfort with the controller, so most of its weaknesses don't really show up in gameplay. To boot, it really has a fantastic top ten of games that can hang with most systems, to be honest. It really suffers in the 25-∞ range, where it's definitely extremely shallow. All of these games are either sports or racing games, and there's less reason to get a complete N64 set than there is for most consoles. If you own the Rare and first party titles, you're probably fine. But, let's be honest, most people are not remembering their 30th favorite Sega Genesis game, or Game Boy game, or PS1 game, or SNES game, or insert universally beloved console here. I don't think I could go thirty deep on games I love for any console, ever. SNES is closest. Ten excellent games means you had a reason to exist and be remembered, and the N64 clears that comfortably, with another ten very good games along for the ride (these are conservative estimates).

The 64 was the first console I ever bought with my own money, along with a copy of WCW vs. nWo World Tour. I absolutely adored my 64, and still played it regularly after getting my PS2 a few years later. It holds a nostalgic hold on me in ways other consoles don't, so my rankings will definitely diverge a bit from the "standard" rankings, but it's my list! So, with that homage being delivered, here's my top 10 N64 games!

Caveats-I've never played, or haven't played enough, to fairly evaluate the following games:

Star Fox 64
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Banjo Tooie
F-Zero X
Jet Force Gemini
Kirby 64
Star Wars:Shadows of the Empire
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibur (yes, this is the real title)

Honorable Mentions-The following are very good games, or games I personally enjoy:

Beetle Adventure Racing-Don' knock it until you've tried it.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron-It's X-Wing, only prettier, on a tv, and not as soul-crushingly difficult.
Banjo Kazooie-I enjoy this game, but it's not as good as its cousin later on in this list.
The Mario Party games-I think they could belong on the top 10 list, and I've played them a bit, but I couldn't pick one because I haven't spent enough time with each. There's no bad choice, though.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-I already gushed about this game in the top 10 PS1 games list, so I feel don't feel bad not including it here. But the N64 port is way better than it has any right to be, and actually is the version I grew up on.
Star Wars Episode I: Racer-This is a really fun game with a nice career mode.
Bomberman Hero-My ultimate hidden gem on the N64. It's completely ignored for the inferior Bomberman 64, and has a wonderful story mode with tons of hidden secrets, along with a top 5 soundtrack on the system. Seriously, go grab a copy.
NBA Jam '99-Sure, it has Keith Van Horn on the cover. But this is actually a really fun, if a bit broken, basketball game that is nothing like NBA Jam in the arcade or on previous generation consoles. Plus, Kevin Harlan slays as the play by play announcer.
All-Star Baseball 2000-This is an excellent, if forgotten, baseball simulator. It also has my beloved John Steiner and Michael Kay on the play by play.
WCW/nWo Revenge-One aspect of the N64 that does get plenty of love are the AKI wrasslin' games. This is the best of the bunch, in my opinion, and has every last WCW wrassler you'd ever want to play, including Goldberg, Sting, DDP and your personal favorite (save for poor Ric Flair).
Mario Tennis-What can I say? The console's pretty deep at the top!

Now, for the actual top 10:

10. Paper Mario

I really enjoy this game, even if it's inferior to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars on the SNES. It's got an adorable art style, and is a perfect entry point to people interested in getting into RPGs.

9. Diddy Kong Racing

This is an extremely good racing game on a system jam packed with them, but what makes it stand out is the excellent single player campaign that has yet to be matched in a kart racing game since then. It also has a superb battle mode that will have you cursing out your friends and relatives.

8. Mario Golf

The faithful reader of this blog will note that I write fairly regularly about golf games, and this was my first introduction to my favorite golf game series. It's wonderful, and I just wish I could put it higher!

7. Donkey Kong 64

This one, admittedly, got the biggest nostalgia bump from me. I got this game for Christmas from my aunt, brand new, and she immediately became my favorite aunt. It's like Banjo Kazooie, but with better visuals, bigger levels, more identifiable and beloved properties and characters, and WAY better bosses.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

This is the one that, in my opinion, gets the biggest nostalgia bump from other people. It's really good, and incredibly inventive. It translated the Zelda experience to 3D remarkably well. But they hadn't quite figured out 3D combat yet, and they knew it, shying away from combat for the vast majority of the game, and that drops it a few spots in my rankings. It's still an all-time classic, but it's definitely not the best game of all-time, and it's not even the third best Zelda game of all time. Sorry!

5/4. Goldeneye 007 & Perfect Dark

These are wonderful multiplayer shooters that are still really fun today. They get a big bump due to my nostalgia of playing these with friends and cousins.

3. Super Smash Bros.

Picking between this one and number two really hurts. This is one of my favorite fighting games of all-time, but I can see now how very imbalanced it is compared to the games to come later. It's another multiplayer staple for my friends and I, and it's the combination of the hook (what if Mario could fight Pikachu) and the flawless execution of completely novel mechanics that puts this one over.

2. Super Mario 64

It's the first game that introduced 3D to me, and it's still a tremendous amount of fun today. Sure, the camera is wonky, and there are exploitable bugs all over it. But it's crazy inventive, and much more fun than it has any right to be, given how much genre they had to create in one grand attempt.

1. Mario Kart 64

This was actually a very easy choice for me, as there's no N64 game I played more. I love this game, and playing it with friends gave us many hundreds of hours of fun blasting each other with shells, racing backwards on Toad's Turnpike, and trying to get that stupid shortcut through the waterfall. It's still my favorite Mario Kart game, and I really enjoy all of them. Team Yoshi!

That's my top 10 N64 games, so feel free to leave a comment if you feel that your favorite was snubbed! I think up next in this series will probably be Game Boy or 3DS, but we'll see where the spirit leads.

-TRO