Top Ten Nintendo 64 Games
by Stephen Kelley, posted on 14 March 2011 / 16,964 Views
Background:
Last year VGChartz ran a series of articles that ranked the top ten games for a number of modern systems including the 360, Wii, and PS3. The voting was handled by the staff and a small “reader’s choice” section was added with the reader’s opinions. A year has come and gone, and tastes change, so we decided to see what kind of games you guys wanted listed in a top ten this time, except we are handling things differently this time. Not only will the list be compiled entirely by you, the fans, but we will go through a large number of game systems all the way back to the 1970’s with the Atari 2600 to modern day. We hope to do these over a few months, so stay tuned for your favorite systems! Since our readers are a diverse group, be prepared for some surprises!
Method:
Our voting was carried out on the forums, where we asked patrons to list their top five Nintendo 64 games in order, and numerical values were placed on the rankings. After compiling all the totals, this is the list that we came up with.
History Lesson:
When all other companies were content with 32 bit processors in their gaming systems, Nintendo had the balls to try to up the ante and release the first “true” 64-bit gaming console. Using high capacity cartridges and better graphics, some Nintendo 64 games made their Playstation counterparts look pretty rough. The system did have its problems, like many do, but was able to keep a huge loyal fan base in pretty much all territories. Sadly, the use of cartridges over disk media was one factor that led to Nintendo losing a lot of third party support, a sad trend that continues to this very day.
-10-
After the second Star Fox game was aborted fairly near completion, Nintendo went back to the drawing board with the second game following everybody’s favorite anthropomorphized talking fox. Using the 64 bit medium we get not only a great looking game that still holds up, but multiplayer and a heavily branching storyline sweeten the deal.
-9-
Sadly, the Nintendo 64 sort of missed the boat with all of the RPG hype during this generation. The games that they did have were usually of good quality and made the fans VERY happy. With its in depth strategy and huge cast of characters, one can definitely see why this game made the list.
-8-
Before it was commonplace to have all sorts of crossovers in games, Super Smash Brothers did the unthinkable and brought a huge amount of Nintendo mainstays under one roof to duke it out. Who would have thought that shooting Pikachu with Samus’s arm cannon would be so satisfying?
-7-
With a zany concept like having a bear working in tandem with a bird, not many people thought this game would be that “big” big based on concept. But man, did Rare deliver with one of the best platformers of the system, if not the generation.
-6-
Rare’s follow up to the massively successful Goldeneye 007 game brings a whole new cast of characters and locations, thus losing the Bond franchise entirely. Good news is that this game surpassed its predecessor in many ways.
-5-
While the first Mario Kart gave players an illusion of 3D using 2D sprites, it took the advent of polygons to really make the series stand out. With more tracks, more multiplayer, and more characters, anyone looking for a fun racing game couldn’t really go wrong here.
-4-
Nintendo took a HUGE risk taking Mario out of his 2D roots and entering the third dimension, but it really paid off. This game was seen as a milestone for 3D platformers and set the bar for just about all games of the same type at the time. Even the whole “collect X number of Y’s within one big stage” idea was borrowed by many other games.
-3-
A longtime staple of college dorm room after-class gaming sessions, Goldeneye 007 proves once and for all that under the right supervision licensed games can be good. This game really put Rare on the nap after their previous successes with the Donkey Kong franchise, and moved them to the next level.
-2-
With The Legend of Zelda : Majora’s Mask, Nintendo took the series in a whole new direction, implementing certain doom and a Groundhog Day-like motif to the mix. Not only did they give the game replayability, but allowed players to really see the consequences of their actions, or lack thereof.
-1-
This list was quickly a dead heat between Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time, but only one had the votes to take the number one spot. Seen as a milestone in “cinematic gaming”, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time still seems to be the “best Zelda” by many gamers, even if Skyward Sword is half as popular in Zelda fandom, it’ll still be a huge success.
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