N64 Appreciation Thread

[readonly]

56 minutes ago, strider said:

I will have to get the fuck out!

I never managed either, in all honesty. I enjoyed trying...up to a point. But god, I loved that game. I live in hope of an N64 Mini appearing.

[bplus]

On 30/01/2020 at 15:48, strider said:

Currently playing through Wave Race and GoldenEye.

 

Wave Race is proving to be amazing fun. I've forgotten how good the handling of the vehicles are and how challenging the levels and AI is. I've managed to get through both the normal and hard difficulties (took me a few attempts on the later) and I also like the scoring system because it allows you to mess up the odd course without ensuring you have no chance of finishing.

The expert level feels a bit too much of a step up, but I've been told it's best to start adjusting the levels of your craft which should help. The course design is terrific, the presentation is superb and I love how vivid and vibrant everything is. Found myself rinsing the time trails on Drake Lake and I can see myself constantly returning to it. Amazing physics, too, it's so satisfying when you skim a wave.

 

Goldeneye has certainly aged but it still does a lot of things very well. The mission structure is incredible, all the weapons feel nice and satisfying to use and it does a good job of following the plot of the film. The controls are now largely not an issue as I've got a brawler 64 and the multiplayer is still great fun, even if the framerate does take a hit. I'm not a fan of the respawning enemies in certain levels and some levels are stupidly difficult (currently in the Jungle) but it keeps pulling me back for one more attempt. Will hopefully get it finished over the weekend.

 

 

Ha your doing exactly what I did six or seven months ago. Wave race is still mind blowingly amazing. The feeling of just about holding on in the expert races is amazing. I didn't mess about with any settings of the jet skis and still managed to complete it again. Pro tip play the NTSC version even better play on retro arch in hi Res. wave race is one of those few games that sort of feels mindful to me, totally lost in the moment trying to stay in control.

 

[strider]

10 minutes ago, bplus said:

Ha your doing exactly what I did six or seven months ago. Wave race is still mind blowingly amazing. The feeling of just about holding on in the expert races is amazing. I didn't mess about with any settings of the jet skis and still managed to complete it again. Pro tip play the NTSC version even better play on retro arch in hi Res. wave race is one of those few games that sort of feels mindful to me, totally lost in the moment trying to stay in control.

 

All my stuff is ntsc so no worries there.

[gossi the dog]

On 30/01/2020 at 17:40, ianinthefuture said:

 

We were just talking about this a few minutes ago in the office - my guess is N64 prices are going to rise over the next 10 or so years as the people who were tiny children when they had their formative experiences with the machine become jaded adults with disposable income, desperate to relive some of that glorious nostalgic.. err.. glory.

 

So yeah, bung it in a cupboard for a decade.

 

I’m not sure. It doesn’t have the variety of games of other consoles; and a lot of the games have aged quite badly.

 

Two of my non gaming mates both went out and bought N64s for nostalgic reasons seven or eight years ago and still have them plugged into their TVs. They’re Mario Kart and Goldeneye machines respectively.

[Ketchup]

N64 prices will go up especially for boxed copies. When MoHo on the Dreamcast commands over £200 then Good N64 games will also go up. Even on the Snes titles like Mario world and Zelda which sold millions of copies are not cheap to buy.

[nakamura]

NTSC N64 games have climbed exponentially in the past 6-7 years. 

[fat flatulent git]

Wave Race still has beautiful looking water.  Amazing how they made it look so great.

 

Definitely my favourite game on the system.

[ianinthefuture]

21 hours ago, gossi the dog said:

 

I’m not sure. It doesn’t have the variety of games of other consoles; and a lot of the games have aged quite badly.

 

Two of my non gaming mates both went out and bought N64s for nostalgic reasons seven or eight years ago and still have them plugged into their TVs. They’re Mario Kart and Goldeneye machines respectively.

 

Quality rarely factors in with nostalgia, to be fair.

[strider]

Now working my way through Castlevania, the original not the enhanced sequel which is on my 'to buy' list.

 

It obviously has a lot of issues that are apparent with 3D games from the time, with the camera being the most notable culprit. You're rarely killed by things you can't see (apart from the maze section) but it's annoying whipping things off camera (you can quickly reset with the R button). The actual platforming is surprisingly solid and very rarely have I died because of a mistimed jump. There appears to be a good range of enemies on each stage and the few boss battles I've had have been pretty satisfying.

 

I always had little love for this because it feels like a step back after Symphony, but I'm rethinking things with this current playthrough. The maze level for example is a stage I've hated in the past because the camera really does let you down. Once you realise that you can temporarily stop the dogs with your sword slashes (even when they are tailing you) the whole section becomes a lot easier. Having certain events only trigger and specific times of the day and night is an interesting effect as well.

 

It's still early days but it's hard to hate a game that features skeletons riding motorbikes.

[strider]

Making more progress in Castlevania and I'm about halfway through the game. I've reached the section where you have to carry a dangerous explosive and will instantly die if you jump or get hit by enemies. There's a large number of rooms to navigate, but I was able to make my way to a new save point after five or six attempts. Annoyingly I appear to have done part of a puzzle out of sequence, so I'm hoping I don't have to retrace my steps.

 

I had Excitebike turn up yesterday as well, so I gave that a spin. Christ it's hard! I've not even managed to finish the tutorialand after three attempts finally managed to clear the first bronze round. It reminds me a lot of WaveRace, so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.

[bplus]

As I was ranting about in another thread, excite is up there with wave race. It's really tough but very rewarding . Ok it's not as good as wave race, but nothing really is!

[strider]

On 05/02/2020 at 22:07, bplus said:

As I was ranting about in another thread, excite is up there with wave race. It's really tough but very rewarding . Ok it's not as good as wave race, but nothing really is!

It is very good. I’ve moved over to another rider and she seems a lot better at taking corners. Still can’t master the slide to take down other readers though.

 

castlevania is getting a little annoying now as I’m at the duel tower. Lots of jumping but he doesn’t always grab on to ledges, which is a little frustrating. Nearly done it, though.

[bplus]

15 hours ago, strider said:

It is very good. I’ve moved over to another rider and she seems a lot better at taking corners. Still can’t master the slide to take down other readers though.

 

castlevania is getting a little annoying now as I’m at the duel tower. Lots of jumping but he doesn’t always grab on to ledges, which is a little frustrating. Nearly done it, though.

Yeah the slide to take out other riders is pointlessly hard in the tutorial. I completed the game on the highest difficulty about twenty years ago and I don't think I ever purposely took out another rider.

 

P.s any chance retro gamer could do a special on wave race? In particular, where the best wave physics in a game came from !

[strider]

11 hours ago, bplus said:

P.s any chance retro gamer could do a special on wave race? In particular, where the best wave physics in a game came from !

We try and get developer access where we can which is tougher with Japanese devs. Maybe we could do more of an indepth deep dive instead.

[strider]

Castlevania now completed.

the game really chugs on the last few stages, but the drac boss is satisfying and there’s a nice twist I had forgotten about.

[Goemon]

I finished both the N64 CVs just last year.

 

I enjoyed them both and agree with the comments, they’re kinda B movie like but very compelling. Legend of Cornell is definitely different enough that it feels original to the first game. At least it does with the initial playthrough.

 

Its a shame that these games came out so late in the N64s life as I think they would have had more of an impact if they’d come out sooner.

[strider]

1 hour ago, Goemon said:

I finished both the N64 CVs just last year.

 

I enjoyed them both and agree with the comments, they’re kinda B movie like but very compelling. Legend of Cornell is definitely different enough that it feels original to the first game. At least it does with the initial playthrough.

 

Its a shame that these games came out so late in the N64s life as I think they would have had more of an impact if they’d come out sooner.

The atmosphere is very good and I like the music as well. I want to get legend but the high price is certainly putting me off. Will probably break, though.

[Mars]

5 hours ago, strider said:

indepth deep dive

[strider]

1 hour ago, Mars said:

 

[bplus]

22 hours ago, Goemon said:

I finished both the N64 CVs just last year.

 

I enjoyed them both and agree with the comments, they’re kinda B movie like but very compelling. Legend of Cornell is definitely different enough that it feels original to the first game. At least it does with the initial playthrough.

 

Its a shame that these games came out so late in the N64s life as I think they would have had more of an impact if they’d come out sooner.

I didn't bother with firsr game at all due to awful reviews at the time. I didn't even know it got a sequel. I think I missed lots of games I would have liked due to sub 90 percent reviews.

 

Anyone played much of the Indiana Jones N64 game? Keep meaning to give it ago. Though maybe pc version is better?

 

 

 

 

[strider]

8 minutes ago, bplus said:

I didn't bother with firsr game at all due to awful reviews at the time. I didn't even know it got a sequel. I think I missed lots of games I would have liked due to sub 90 percent reviews.

 

Anyone played much of the Indiana Jones N64 game? Keep meaning to give it ago. Though maybe pc version is better?

 

 

 

 

I’m sure castlevania got good scores at the time (around 80). Indy is supposed to be a decent tomb raider clone with a refined control system compared to the pc original.

[Goemon]

18 minutes ago, bplus said:

I didn't bother with firsr game at all due to awful reviews at the time. I didn't even know it got a sequel. I think I missed lots of games I would have liked due to sub 90 percent reviews.

 

Anyone played much of the Indiana Jones N64 game? Keep meaning to give it ago. Though maybe pc version is better?

 

 

 

 

It’s not really a sequel, it’s more like a directors cut.
 

Actually, as I understand it, Legend of Cornell/Legacy of Darkness was supposed to be the original incarnation but it was taking a long time to make so they took 2 of the 4 characters and made an initial release.

 

The game isn’t anything more than a 7/10 but that’s still a good game.

 

I actually got real Resi Evil vibes playing the first game as one of the main areas is the Mansion/Maze area which requires you to wander around and figure out.

[bplus]

1 hour ago, strider said:

I’m sure castlevania got good scores at the time (around 80). Indy is supposed to be a decent tomb raider clone with a refined control system compared to the pc original.

For some reason I have it in my head that N64 magazine gave it something in 60s either way it made stay well clear. Then again my memory is buggered these days!

[SeanR]

I always the the LoD in Castlevania LoD was Lord of Darkness...

[strider]

4 hours ago, bplus said:

For some reason I have it in my head that N64 magazine gave it something in 60s either way it made stay well clear. Then again my memory is buggered these days!

83, although the review doesnt really match the score.

[SeanR]

I remember a video review that was quite scathing, back in the day. Something about lacklustre visuals, and identikit locations. 
 

now to figure out if it was Movies, Games, and Videos, or Cybernet...

[bplus]

32 minutes ago, strider said:

83, although the review doesnt really match the score.

Ah! My memory is definitely fooked then !

[strider]

Currently playing Gauntlet Legends.

I purchased this purely because my wife and I used to play it loads before the kids came along. It's incredibly dated now, but I played it with Mel and my daughter, Alice this weekend and still had a lot of fun with it. The graphics aren't the best (although a RGB mod certainly helps) and it's a little slow at times, but when the screen is filled with loads of enemies to kill it doesn't really matter. I'm halfway through the game so far and one of the things I've really noticed is the clunky save system which uses the controller pak and constantly asks you if you want to add a rumble pack. The game is designed for grinding and I've probably played the first stage about 30 times this weekend so I have enough health to take on the bosses. I'm not actually finding the grinding boring, although I have noticed that the levels become a little less interesting the further you get into the game. So far it's the very definition of a 3/5 game.

[strider]

Made a little more progress last night and I've now unlocked all the base worlds (one more is hidden I believe). The levels are starting to swell in size now and the wayward spinning camera is making navigation a little trickier. I'm still finding it satisfying scouring the stages for secret switches and I've now collected seven of the runestones that are needed. Definitely going to get it completed this time around.I've dropped to about half my health so looks like it's back to level 1 to gain some more health!

[strider]

Completed Gauntlet while I was off on holiday last week. The ice stage outstays it's welcome due to its sheer size, but I still managed to have a lot of fun with it. It's such an old fashioned game and I can't see something like this getting released today (and if it did it certainly wouldn't have a big budget physical release).

 

Went on a little buying spree while I was off and picked up Smash Bros (Jpn) F-Zero (Jpn) Mario Party 2, Mario Golf and Attack Chopper, so have been dipping in and out of all of them (mainly to make sure the batteries are okay).

 

In terms of my next game I've decided to tackle the original Turok.
Never owned this back in the day. It's obviously aged in a lot of ways, but it's certainly not terrible. The jumping seems fine at the moment, there's a decent range of weapons and the level design is quite interesting. I'm not a fan of the respawning enemies (they respawn a little too quickly for my liking) and it's annoying that's there's no indications for when you get near a key, but so far I enjoyed exploring the first level. Will play some more tonight.