411 Games Top 5 11.19.09: Week 38 - Top Nintendo 64 Games

Posted by Todd Vote on 11.19.2009

Nintendo 64 is on tap this week as the 411 games staff breaks down our favorites from the last of the cartridge generation. Where will Goldeneye, Mario 64, and No Mercy fit in? Could Toddo possibly do a list without a Mortal Kombat game? You'll just have to come in to find out.

Welcome back everybody to a new week of the Top 5. Last week we covered open world games, and as per usual some agreed, some disagreed. Let's see what you all said.



Comment Time with Toddo!

I'm not usually one to argue with other peoples' opinions because they are, after all, opinions. But really, the rose-tinted way in which GTA 3 is held in such high regard over its vastly superior sequels - not least GTA 4 which, in terms of everything including (most crucially) gameplay mechanics is on a different stratosphere from anything that has come before it in the GTA series or any of its copycat rivals, is quire head-scratching. GTA 3 was a revelation, and it's still fun to play, but it's been totally blown out of the water AS A GAME by its successors. And since this is galled the 'Top Open World Games', I'd have expected a lot more objectivity. Otherwise, you should have just called it 'Open World Games I Remember Most Fondly'.

Also, to John Bateman - I have never once heard anyone, not a soul, try to claim that Assassin's Creed is a poor man's Metal Gear Solid set in a different time period. The two styles are completely different, as are the plots. So I can only assume that you fabricated this as a means to profess your hatred of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. And really, when you have to make things up in an attempt to justify your hatred of something, you really are digging your own grave. You might as well have just said 'I hate Metal Gear Solid' at the top and be done with it, because it had nothing to do with what you were discussing. In any case, it's laughable that an RPG fanboy, the most story-driven and pretentious and repetitive genre on the market aside from first person shooters, would have the audacity to call the brilliant and groundbreaking Metal Gear Solid series as 'an overrated interactive movie'. I'd still rather play that than any of the mindless turn-based manga claptrap that you're so fond of.
Posted By: Bimmy (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 07:03 PM

Bimmy's right. That's the first time I've read somebody associate MGS with AC. Seems like you just tried to throw in some hate for no reason. MGS 4 is arguably the greatest game of all time. I started AC six months ago and never finished it(although I rented it and don't actually own it).
Posted By: The Genocide (Guest) on November 14, 2009 at 04:36 PM

Calm down Bimmy. MGS is an over-produced interactive movie, and the fans of the game love that about it. There is nothing wrong with liking MGS, but we are all entitled to our own opinions. I think John was just referring to the similarities in long cut scenes on the two games and did get a dig on MGS by stating that Assassins Creed had actual gameplay( I found Assassins Creed boring myself after a few hours). Either way it is still his opinion and he is entitled to it. Aside from the opening statement of John's Assassins Creed post, did you have any other problems? Why make it all personal and assume that he is an RPG fanboy is beyond me. You think MGS is ground breaking, some of us hate it, deal with it and move on. Millions of people play MGS, so you do not have to defend the game. Thanks for reading though Bimmy, it's always appreciated. By the way if you disagree say so, but don't insult the guy.

And Genocide, you were more respectful in your response so I thank you for that. I just wanted to highlight this from your post: "MGS 4 is arguably the greatest game of all time. I started AC six months ago and never finished it(although I rented it and don't actually own it)." That very statement proves that we are all entitled to our own opinion, regardless of whether or not it is popular opinion. Lastly Genocide, I seen your suggestion of game soundtracks, and I like it. Look for it in a future edition. possibly next week. If you want to email me your top soundtracks, I'll include them since this is your suggestion.

This just in, I received an email from John defending himself on the MSG reference, so here is that:


at the GameCrazy where I often shop I often get into debates with a cashier named Tyson who worked there and when I put Assassin's Creed up as a good title for the 360 he knocked it down by saying it's Metal Gear Solid in old times, because the premise of stealth, sneaking around enemies, and silent unnoticed assassinations, as well as hiding bodies, is all similar to MGS. I dislike MGS4 because it seems like nothing more than a glorified interactive movie. ~John Bateman

So there you have it. End of discussion on MGS vs. AC. Might have been a bad way to get a dig in, but it is what it is. His opinion, and they all differ. It's just the way of things.

Superman = BEST N64 GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: Guest#1116 (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 10:17 AM

I'll have what this dude is smokin...

Sweet Lord how I loved all the San Andreas love this week.

It is truly the best GTA, almost untouchable, and the fact that anyone ranks GTAIV higher because they can watch random AI people have conversations in between the endless chase missions is just very sad.
Posted By: JP (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 11:51 AM

You know what, as good as GTA IV was, I always wondered why they didn't offer as much variety as San Andreas had. There was really no reason not to include some of the fun things that were found in GTA: SA.

the thing about assassin's creed was that it wasn't really THAT much of an open world. a lot of it was linear, like you couldn't really go back and forth between cities at will, and the life bar/sync gauge destroyed the 'freedom' oriented aspect of open worlds as Altair isn't actually supposed to kill every person he comes into contact with. he'd be punished with a momentary loss of life/sync. The fact that the story revolved around searching memories, really meant that not much could actually be deviated from what happened since it is a 'memory'. part of the joy from open worlds are the effect the user has on these worlds with their actions. Fallout 1 + 2 do this admirably, as every city you visit is mentioned again in the ending and the fate of the city is directly influenced by the player's actions. GTA also had parts of the environment change depending on the player's actions. I remember Vice City had a building collapse and stay that way for the remainder of the game. San Andreas had the awesome turf system for the beginning 1/3. Oh, and total props for someone mentioning the Way of the Samurai series. no other series (outside of all Elder Scrolls games before oblivion

) allows you to kill important plot characters whenever the hell you wanted and drastically changing the story.
Posted By: Shio (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 01:07 AM

Our own Dan Owen responded to Shio, so take it away Dan

"Shio, I think you are right about Assassin's Creed for the main story part. But once you've gotten though it all, you can just go back into the game and run rampant on the game's inhabitants and have access to everything. That's why I find AC to be a great open world game. During the actual story, though, I do agree that it isn't the greatest open world since it's really not that open at all. "

Open world games are above and beyond my favorite type of games. This list was quite hard but I think I have it down.

5. Simpson's Road Rage: the only racing game I've ever really enjoyed, mostly because it added a GTA element and topped it off with an almost Tony Hawk style to it (finding items, achieving certain feats)
4. GTA San Andreas: Great game, I loved how I could make my character look radically different, not just with clothes and hair but with working out to make me buff. I always went with the fro/hockey mask combo.
3. GTA 4 Liberty City: Yea I probably could've combined the 2 GTA games but I felt they needed to be separate. GTA4's story was amazing and made me really care about what I was doing.
2. Borderlands: Have not had much of a life since opening this up. The multiplayer is what puts this at #2 for me.
1. Oblivion: Greatest Game Ever Made. There I said it. I have fully completed the game with 2 characters and am playing with 2 more characters as we speak. Dumped literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours into this game. I love how you can play endlessly without touching the main story, just living a life inside the game. Absolutely Epic.
Posted By: stronelis (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 03:26 PM

Stronelis comes in with our only reader submitted list this week. so thanks for that, and thanks everyone for the kind words and kind disagreements with our lists. keep them coming.


This column is approved by Christina Hendricks


Welcome everyone to the Top 5. This week we cover a system that while not really a great idea at the time, I still hold it near to me. Yeah, I thought cartridges were the thing, and would surely outlast that CD phase that the Sony was trying. So, when it came time to choose my console for that generation, it was really a no brainer. Give me the Nintendo beast. Easy as pie. Little did I know at the time what the Sony PlayStation would go on to become.

I always said if I had a chance to go back and make a different decision, I would have. But you know what? After this weeks edition, I don't think I would. I am happy with my choice. Sure I missed out on a lot of great games for the PS1, but I certainly got my hands on plenty of great games with my choice of the N64. Several of the games still show up on all time best lists from nearly every gamer, so it wasn't all bad, right?

Let's get right to it with Armando Rodriguez. Be sure to check out Armando's Ultra Combo News Report after you finish up here.

Armando RodriguezHONORABLE MENTIONS

Killer Instinct Gold: Who cares if the arcade version was superior? The only thing that matters is that the game was fast, furious and super insane and that I kicked ass with Sabrewulf.

Mortal Kombat 4: If only because the return of Goro and the move to 3D where noteworthy for the time. Trilogy is still the better game, but I played this one quite a bit and it was one of the few games that made me and my friends break our usual "Super Sunday" rotation of MK Trilogy, Killer Instinct Gold, Golden Eye and Flying Dragon.

Mario Kart 64: Although I consider it one of the worse Mario Kart titles, I had a ton of fun with this game. Too bad it hasn't aged well.

Diddy Kong Racing: Basically the Mario Kart adventure game, this game was bigger and better than Kart in my opinion. Besides, you could also ride hovercrafts (awesome!) and planes (not so awesome!). It has aged better than Mario Kart by a lot. I still play it every once in a while.

Flying Dragon: I really wanted this one to be on my Top 5, but I cannot justify putting it ahead of Smash Bros. Basically two games in one, the first game was a basic 3D fighter, like a sub-par Virtua Fighter or Tekken. But the second mode, a super-deformed, cartoon-style fighter that had RPG elements was awesome. It played like any other 3D fighter, but the items you equipped your character with changed his stats, like power and defense and also unlocked brand new special moves. The capsule system from the DBZ Budokai games was RIPPED OFF from this game.

5.Super Smash Bros. - Released late in the N64 cycle, it became a fixture of our Super Sundays. Yes, I think the sequels have left this game in the dust, but back then, Mario vs Link or DK vs Yoshi was fresh and the gameplay mechanics where unique. It was not a balanced game by any means, but it did not have to be. This is not a game to be taken seriously, although I suffered a broken controller from an idiot cousin who could not accept defeat.



4.Mortal Kombat Trilogy: - Golden Eye and Trilogy where our bread and butter on Sundays. I can still kick ass with Cyber Smoke, Sub-Zero and Stryker. Hell, there was a point in my life that I was at least competent with every single character. Usually, after 5 hours of ass-kicking, we would settle for letting some of the spectators decide which fighters we where going to play as, which is why I became competent with all of them. This ranks as my favorite MK title of all time.

3.Golden Eye 64 - I wanted to place this game 1st, but it has aged so poorly that I cannot justify the decision. This is without a doubt the N64 game I played the most. I had a dozen friends nearby and usually Golden Eye was the centerpiece of our Super Sundays. This game gave new meaning to the word "multiplayer", making a bunch of fighting gamers like us obsessed over shooting each other in the head and basically throwing all of our money into games that allowed 4 players to play at once. Alas, outside of maybe Perfect Dark and Smash Bros., no game came close to what Golden Eye meant to us.

2.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - The only Zelda game that can stand next to A Link to the Past (and that includes Twilight Princess) in the pantheon of great Zelda games. Outside of the frustrating Water Temple, this game was absolutely flawless. Good combat, fantastic puzzles, beautiful graphics....it really deserves the perfect score it got from many publications.

1. Super Mario 64 - It was Mario, not Metal Gear Solid, not Final Fantasy VII, that made 3D gaming. When it came out, it wowed people, it redefined platformers and it made us all, 2D fans, finally accept that 3D was the way to go. Zelda might have been my favorite N64 game, Golden Eye might have been my most-played N64 game, but Mario 64 was THE game that made me a believer in 3D gaming.

Up next is Adam Larck. In case you don't know, in addition to being a frequent contributor to The Top 5, Adam writes the 10th Hour column here at 411.

Adam LarckHONORABLE MENTIONS

Harvest Moon 64 - I've always been a huge fan of this farming sim, and spent a lot of time wandering around in this game.

Donkey Kong 64 - Playing as the Kong clan in this game offered a lot of varied fun on the 64. Plus, the multiplayer was fun with friends from time to time as a break from other games.

Perfect Dark - While the single player was decent, we had a lot of fun with the multiplayer. I always liked setting traps with a well placed Laptop Gun

Mario Kart 64 - This one had some of the best tracks I have seen in the series. I still like to go back from time to time just to race on my favorites.

5.Banjo-Kazooie - I've always been a big fan of this Rare series, and picked these up again when they released on Xbox Live. The various lands in the game and challenges to complete to get Jigsaw pieces were a lot of fun. Plus, the transformations of the pair into various creatures were interesting to see and actually had benefits to being used.

4.Goldeneye 64 - The single player was fun, weapons varied and it had some of the best multiplayer gameplay for its time in shooters. However, it has not stood the test of time. I tried playing this a few months ago, and just could not get into it. Still, for its time it was top shelf multiplayer fun.

3.Super Smash Bros. - The game that started the fun fighting series off, beating up other Mario characters is always fun. Whether it was Mario taking on Link, or Kirby squaring off against Samus, many fans got their chance to see their dream matches in action. Plus, the hidden characters were a nice addition as well. Still like playing as Captain Falcon in the game.

2.Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Zelda certainly made a strong showing on the 64. The ability to go between young and adult Link was fun to see, and the story was great. Not only this, but the dungeons were also great to explore as well. Even Majora's Mask was a great game, I just didn't like the moon concept too much.



1.Super Mario 64 - Does it come as any surprise that this is at the top of my list? The world was varied and challenges diverse. It was also fun just exploring the castle and land around it just to see what all was there. Plus, finally being able to get to Yoshi was a fun little secret as well.

Moving right along to Lee Price, who writes Retronomicon, this week he covers a fan favorite in MGS. Lee was also trying to get an ask 411 Games column running, but I am not sure what the status of that is.

Lee PriceHONORABLE MENTIONS

Perfect Dark - Everything that made Goldeneye great and more. Its only below that game because of Goldeneye's revolutionary status.

Mario 64 - For most people this would be fighting for the top spot. For me, as much as I enjoyed it, I just never got the same spark from it that everyone else seemed to. Still a great game though.

5.Mario Kart 64 - Some would argue that this is the weakest of the Mario Karts. Of course some will say the opposite too. I personally loved it. The N64 was king of the multi-player in this particular era of consoles because of games like this. Even my friends who weren't keen on Mario loved Mario Kart. Nothing matches the satisfaction of hitting someone with a red shell right before they cross the finish line, then pipping them at the post while they spin helplessly, cursing your name.

4.Banjo Kazooie - This may not be a popular opinion but I always preferred Banjo over Mario 64. I'm not sure why, the basic game mechanics were pretty much the same and everything, its just I preferred the world of Banjo Kazooie I guess. This is as near to perfection as 3D platforming got in this era and I'd recommend everybody giving it a play.

3.Pokémon Snap - Perhaps not a game in the strictest sense of the word, though I'd make the argument that it is essentially an on-rails shooter with a camera instead of a gun. I didn't know what to expect from this game when I first picked it up, but inexplicably I loved every second of it. I'm not even sure why, I guess its something to do with how laid back the game is, or how doing various things at various points of the level made certain Pokémon appear. I loved catching perfect shots of the various little creatures, and this is probably one of the best offshoots of the main Pokémon series.

2.Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Having owned an N64 before I owned a SNES, this was my first major console experience of Zelda having only played Link's Awakening previously. Needless to say the game absolutely blew me away. Everybody remembers what it felt like to leave the village for the first time, it was a feeling comparable to exiting the vault for the first time in Fallout 3. Everything just looked so vast and beautiful. The only sore point against the game is that god damned Water Temple. That little dungeon tested many gamer's patience to the breaking point, including mine on my first run through. There was a gap of almost 6 months between me getting to the temple and finally gaining the necessary patience to actually get through it. I still love this game though.



1.Goldeneye 007 - This game was an absolute revelation and there is no N64 game that has provided as many fun times for me over the years. The single player was immense and was the most story driven FPS single player mode up to that point. The multi-player is where the game really shone though. I still remember getting a few friends together and spending entire nights shooting the shit out of each other. I also love timed mines. That is all.

Todd VoteHONORABLE MENTIONS

NBA Showtime - Take the NBA Jam formula, add a third teammate, and make it 3D. This game was awesome.

NFL Blitz 2000 - Blitz is probably one of the funnest football games of all time for me, next to Tecmo Bowl that is.

Cruisin' World - Where else could you do a back flip in a car just by feathering the gas while hitting a little bump in the road? In all seriousness, I've always preferred arcade style racing to the more sim style offered lately by most franchises.

5.Super Mario 64 - It's Mario. In 3D. nuff sed.

4.Excitebike 64 - The single best racing game on the N64 in my opinion. Excitebike 64 was the party game of choice in my house. We used to sit around 8 deep just waiting to pass the controllers for one on one cut-throat races. Sure we could have hooked up the other two controllers and played with 4, but it lost some of the fun that way. It was much better using the fighting game formula of winner stays. Add in the fact that you could unlock the OG Excitebike, and this game was the crack.

3.Goldeneye 64 - take the party formula for Excitebike 64 and use it for Goldeneye for the same crack addicted results.

2.No Mercy - Still the best wrestling game ever made. I remember the first time I played this, just being blown away by the controls and how smooth everything worked. But the thing that really got my attention was the ladder match. This was the first time the match was included if I remember correctly, and what a match it was. On a different note, does anyone remember how if you doled out to much of a beating, your opponent would hulk up on you and start whoopin your ass?



1.Killer Instinct Gold - yeah, I know. Killer Instinct, and no MK. The truth is, I never got my hands on MK trilogy, and I hated... Absolutely hated, MK4( there, I said it). So Killer Instinct Gold gets the nod from me. This game is the reason I purchased another N64 after so many years. I love this game, and the series really. Ultra Cooommmmboooo! Indeed.


Bonus Video:
A whole host of WTF moments in gaming history. Enjoy


Well that brings another week of the Top 5 to a close. Be sure to leave your favorite N64 games in the comments section below. We'll see you back here next week when the games staff tackles a new subject. As of right now I am thinking about going with Genocide's Soundtrack idea. So Genocide, email me a top 5 if you want in next week. Enjoy your weekend everybody, we'll see you in seven.