With Symphony of the Night reinventing the Castlevania series, much was expected of this, the first full-3D entry in the lineage and the first Castlevania title for Nintendo's shiny new N64 home console. Ultimately though, Castlevania (the '64' typically added to its name isn't in its official title) is a disappointment; the visuals haven't aged well, the gameplay is awkward and frustrating — especially during the ham-fisted platforming sections — and the whole thing feels half-finished.
Which is because it was half-finished. The sequel, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness isn't really a follow-up, but more 'Castlevania 64 1.5,' as it contains many elements which were cut from the original game due to time constraints. In fact, it's probably best to just play Legacy of Darkness instead. We'd welcome the opportunity to revisit, and perhaps reevaluate, either of those early takes on a 3D 'Vania.
Conker's Bad Fur Day stood out proudly from the pack of cutesy platformers back then as a fouled-mouthed, blood-filled, scatological comedy. We're still a little blindsided that a Nintendo second party put out a game full of swears, to be honest — even the Xbox remake bleeped most of them out. Conker was a technological triumph for the ageing 64-bit system when it launched in 2001, and while the movie parodies are very much of their time and the humour won't hit the spot with everyone, we'd love to revisit it.
Diddy Kong Racing did for Mario Kart 64 pretty much what Banjo-Kazooie would soon do for Super Mario 64; namely, take the template put down by Nintendo and expand on it with colour and creativity to produce far more than a mere homage. DKR expanded the single-player into an adventure and the addition of planes and hovercraft required much larger, more complex circuits to race around. The game also provided the console debuts of Banjo and Conker. What more do you want, jam on it?
If Microsoft and Nintendo can get friendly enough to sort out the legal issues around GoldenEye and get it on NSO, the original Diddy Kong Racing seem like an easy win for everyone.
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: 14th Apr 2001 (JPN ) The original Animal Forest , though you no doubt know the series better as Animal Crossing . Yep, Japan had an exclusive version of the first game that made its debut on N64, just months before it would then emerge on the shiny new GameCube, which is how we'd eventually see it in the West. It's worth being clear that this one would be highly unlikely due to the extensive localisation required, but as an intriguing arrival and an insight into the franchise's history, it would be a lovely addition. Heck, even if it's exclusive to the Japanese version of the app we'd happily play it that way .
There are some who blame the collapse of the collectathon 3D platforming craze on Donkey Kong 64 , and while it's hard to argue that Rare perhaps went a little too far with the huge number of inconsequential collectible doohickeys, it's a game which turns everything up to eleven and there's something admirable about its unapologetic 'more is more' approach. With five playable Kongs (you know them well), huge worlds, and an abundance of mini-games (including emulated versions of the original arcade Donkey Kong and Rare's Jetpac ), DK64 was one hell of a value proposition back in 1999 and we think it probably deserves re-evaluation after 25 years of bashing . C'mon Cranky, take it to the fridge.
One of those games that was constantly in the 'If we see it cheap' section of our To Buy list in the late '90s, Konami's action RPG Hybrid Heaven offered something different on a console not exactly renowned for its role-playing selection. You play as a human/alien clone exploring an underground facility and battling enemies with your fists. The intriguing combat system freezes fights as they start and has you selecting moves from a menu. The game's dark, sci-fi storyline was refreshing at the time, but the gameplay itself was far too bland and repetitive, and only determined players with a great deal of patience and perseverance saw it through to the end.
Flawed, then, and something we would have regretted spending 60 notes on back in the day, but that's just the sort of game we'd love to sample on NSO — something we wouldn't pay for separately, but want to investigate all the same.
Konami's Major A studio took the solid foundation of ISS 64 and built upon it with some wonderful additions including an optional top-to-bottom view and the appearance of the referee on the pitch . That might sound like a tiny and almost insignificant detail, but having the ref onscreen blew our minds back in 1998. this still ranks among the best football games ever made.
The N64 was notoriously underserved in a handful of genres — RPGs and fighters among them — but Ogre Battle 64 was a stellar strategy game. Following on from the series' previous appearance on SNES, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a fantastic example of the genre, a real all-timer. It also features possibly the finest post-colon subtitle in gaming.
A side-scrolling platformer on a system with very few of those to its name, and one from the makers of Gunstar Heroes , no less! Treasure's Mischief Makers is a brilliant little 2.5D platformer that has gained a cult following over the years, but made little impact at the time. Back in the late '90s, anything that wasn't 3D was largely dismissed by the mainstream as old hat. It deserves a fresh chance to win over some fans.
