Feature: Best Nintendo 64 Games

Very nice to see Resident Evil 2 in the top 20...

Absolutely gutted for Gex

So, so many good games in that top 50. I have a different top 25 but admire all of the ones in this top 25 anyway! Ocarina obviously should be top.

Would personally have had Rayman 2 & Mario Tennis in my top 25, but....hey ho.

In before someone says DK64 is far too low. The game is an 8 at best, deal with it!😝

Lots of talking points in this one. Reminds me that I need more pilot wings 64 in my life. Switch please! Xxx

WHY IN THE LORD'S NAME IS DK64 RANKED HIGHER THAN WORMS ARMAGEDDON!?

Ah yes... Ocarina of Time up in first place. Can't forget about those Iron Boots!

Diddy Kong Racing behind MK64 is weird. Also DK64 and Banjo-Tooie are way too low. Rareware defined the 64 but yeah with people like Spoony_Tech downvoting these games it's hard to make an objective list.

Why is diddy kong racing, even ranked, that game was so garbage when I played it, took me like 100 tries to beat the first boss, and you gotta do like a near perfect run. Just my opinion though.

Shocked that 1080 isn't on this list. It's top 10 for me. I actually think it may well be the best aged N64 game. Been playing it recently and it feels amazing.

Nice list (though I prefer MM to OoT myself). The N64’s is about the only system known for having so many memorable wrestling titles. They were great, especially in multiplayer.

Good to see OoT winning, it’s probably still the best game I’ve ever played. WWF No Mercy in the top 10 is brilliant too, love that game. One thing though... where’s 1080!?

1. Sad to see Pokémon Stadium 2 only at #41... it's one of my favourite N64 games - actually it was the first one that I bought for my console, back in June 2001.
2. Tony Hawk 2 at #11, great! My neighbour had the PS1 version and I like it so much that I bought it for my N64 as soon as it was released.
3. Mario Tennis should be at a higher position.
4. Ocarina at #1 and Majora's at #3, I couldn't agree more!

Didn't No Mercy release broken?

Anyhoo, I would be very happy owning all of these but...where the heck is Sin and Punishment?

Mario 64 at number 6 is crazy to me.

The game is top five best ever on any console to me.

Goldeneye, whilst fun at the time, is basically unplayable now whilst Mario 64 is still so much fun.

Solid list. I’ve played most of these back in the day. I forgot just how many wrestling games there use to be. I will say the following gen had more fun wrestling games with Def Jam and Backyard Wrestling.

Also stoked to see San Fran Rush 2049 made the list! I played sooooo much of that on 64, Arcade and then Dreamcast.

Lots of great games on the system and it's good to see so many of my favorites on the list. Maybe I missed it, but I loved Gauntlet Legends as well for all the classic arcade style dungeon crawling action. Great time with friends.

“this list is not set in stone“

People can still rate the games.

“Hyrule Field feels decidedly smaller (more like a field, in fact)”
That’s why it’s called Hyrule Field. Because it’s a field. It’s supposed to be like that.

No Tetrisphere? No MK Trilogy?

Nice article. Some good picks. Surprised not to see any Turok though! (Unless I missed it)

N64 lineup so strong, the 50th best game has an 8. an EIGHT

@GrailUK yeah im pretty sure the first shipments wouldnt save or something. had to return mine. my #1 n64 game and one of my top 5 of any game ever

N64 had a small but powerful library. Aside from JRPGs almost every genre was represented on this system. Still one of my favorite systems.

I wonder how many people rated games that they hadn't played on this list out of curiosity?

N64 were amazing during 1996-1998, but from the abundance of RPG's on SNES to like nothing on N64 really killed off N64. It was a huge RPG craze here in the west during the end of 90's which led to that Playstation won soundly that generation. I also switched from Nintendo to Sony because of it... N64 had surprisingly good support in sport games and some really incredible wrestling games, but otherwise not that much since Square made zero games on N64 plus many other heavy SNES-supporters jumped on the PSX train, like Capcom, Konami and Enix.

It's so interesting to see that many has N64 as their most beloved console ever, I loved N64 (got it in Xmas 1996, imported from USA along with 2 games + extra controller) too but for just for a short period before I had no choice of buying PSX, since there was too many interesting PSX games to be ignored.
N64 games was also so incredibly more expensive compared with PSX games, you can almost get 3 new PSX games for same price as 2 new N64 games!

I think that GameCube is vastly superior (just my opinion) over N64, but that's only own opinion. Mostly of N64 games are barely playable today for me with a big exception of Mario 64 which I thinks is the best N64 game ever. I adored the 2 first Turok games but it's impossible for me to play them now, same with both Zelda games, sadly...
Too many N64 games suffered of bad framerates or constantly chopping, despite being a extremely powerful console, 93.5mhz vs 30mhz for PSX or 4/8MB RAM vs 1 MB RAM for PSX, but that N64 still used cartridges really hurting it, since everything had to be compressed like crazy to be fitted into a puny 4/8/16/32 MB cartridge....so no wonder that many N64 games suffered from various problems...

Mario 64 is better than Banjo for me and would be in the top 3 with the current top 2

SO many Wrestling and Skateboarding games. I guess that's how the votes shook out (which is likely a rather charming reflection of where the gamers on this site were when N64 was the console under the television set), but it is clearly not a reflection of the best content on this system. Games like Jet Force Gemini, 1080 Snowboarding, Kirby 64, Glover, etc. all — to my mind — are a better representation of the breadth of gameplay N64's wee-but-wonderful library had to offer.

@GrailUK I had the original broken copy and I honestly didn't expect to actually find a fixed copy. It came across a copy one day in WH Smiths when I went in looking for stuff for college and ended up spending far more than I was expecting because I didn't think I would ever see a copy again living in a town that had very few places that stocked games at the time.

Merrily checks the position of F-Zero X in the top 10...

Mystical Ninja down there at 22 breaks my heart. 😭

Goldeneye and Perfect dark are just not fun to play anymore imo. Shouldn't be in the top 10 at all

Missing 2 from my top 5: Jet Force Gemini and Road Rash 64.

@PickledKong64 Totally fair to find them not playable with the benefit of modern perspective, but I think the idea with these polls is to reflect not just on how they look to a newcomer or someone revisiting them today, but what they represented to gamers / the system when they came out. Both games were genre-defining titles, in their time. So while I would agree I am much more eager to pick up several lower-ranked (or omitted) entries than those two, I think it's legitimate that they were given such pride of place.

Id swap diddy kong for mario kart in a heart beat.

needs battletanx

Blast Corps, 1080, And Jet Force Gemini all deserve a spot. As does the oft overlooked Extreme-G, which was super impressive at the time. Honorable mention for weird stuff like Forsaken 64 which arguably didn’t belong on that system! Also played a ton of World Cup ‘98, whose real-time commentary was pretty impressive back then.

N64 games are like the fit girls you went school with......great at the time but look dog rough now. Relish the memory to save yourself disappointment!

Honestly, after seeing DK 64 so poorly ranked, I skipped directly to last page. Nice top10, though

*skips article, goes to page 5, looks at #1..

*nods.... carry on

@NGNYS N64's issues ironically had little to do with its cartridges, the 4KB texture cache was far too small to use leading developers to stream texture data straight from the cartridge and its RAM had horrible latency. This coupled with Microcode that developers simply didn't have access to caused most N64 games to run as poorly as they do. There are a couple of 60fps games such as F- Zero and I think World Driver Championship which both run at 60fps and gave a glimpse of what the hardware would have been capable of with some design tweaks and better access to Microcode

Too many mario party and soccer games in this line-up for my taste. The top ten is reasonable though. Hope people keep rating to kick them party and soccer games out and replace them with gold classics like Jet Force Gemini, Turok 2 and 1080! Surprised and pleased to see Beetle Adventure Racing just made the cut!

Just happy to see Ogre Battle 64 receive the praise it deserves!

Wow! That top 10 takes some beating...!!

Delighted to see Goldeneye in its rightful spot as Ocarina's wingman. I'd personally swap Banjo and Mario 64... but that's a minor gripe - I think the NL community smashed this one out the park.

Glad Kazooie got a high rank. Finished it again on Gamepass couple weeks ago. Just as good as I remember. Started Tooie straight after ... nowhere near as good. Overcomplicated interweaving levels, spent hours trying to get one Jiggy, not knowing you can only get it once you visit later levels. Decent list. Great top 10.

... Edit. Really don't get the praise for Beetle Racing. Loooong, boring, empty tracks. Surprised it didn't place higher with the way people go on about it.

I’m just so happy Majora’s Mask ranked so high! It seems like that game gets a lot of hate, but after playing it for the first time this year (well, the 3ds version anyways) it might just be my favorite game of all time.

Absolute disgrace dk64 is so low!

@Zach I too watch Scott The Woz

How is it that 1080 isn't on this list? Easily one of my all time top video games and the best snowboarding game ever made IMO, it's what made me want a N64 as a kid.

@LilMuku what’s that?

Three football games? I love football but these three were not classics then and they Are not classics now.

And someone saying goldeneye doesn’t stand up now??????

Drugs are bad kids.

Goldeneye is still a brilliant game and playable and so much fun many current FPS could look at Goldeneye for tips on how to make a game fun and replayable..

Glad to see Beetle adventure on there....

One of the top gear games deserves a nod, at least one of the other Star Wars games.
1080 too.... the madden games were more groundbreaking and playable than the football choices.... I can’t believe so many people rated multiple football games so highly from these choices....

This Top 5 is superb!
(Edit: Swap Perfect Dark with Goldeneye and it would be even better 😌)

A few incorrect placements, naturally, but nothing worth complaining about. Good job, folks.

This just makes me want a 64 mini.

Lol Majora's Mask is way too high. That game was DLC before there even was DLC

Lets see:
No Turok
No Extreme G
No Star Wars Episode I Racer
No Resident Evil 2
No Carmageddon
No Duke Nukem 64

@Jakiboy resi 2 is in there mate... but yeah other ones

I guess I’m the only one who loved killer instinct gold 😅

@luxoricious I love MK Trilogy on N64. To me it gave me a MK2 vibe due the graphics.. and friendships with huge balloons.. on ps1 all small due the low 2D graphics. On N64 it really came close to arcade (except the sound quality) but till today the music and sound effects still in my head and made bigger impression than any other port of MK trilogy. This one rocks

Y’all seriously need to vote Hybrid Heaven into one of the top spots! Don’t wait vote now!

Snowboard Kids 1 but not 2?????!!!!!! And 1 is at the bottom of the list??????? I guess people really don’t know how good these games are?????

Why in earth would Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 get a higher place than Mischief Makers??

I may be a minority here, but I think the 64 was overrated. There really wasn't much beyond the 1st party games, PS1 had the best 3rd party support at that time. But Nintendo's 1st party was very solid at least

@Thesharkfromjaws "Shocked that 1080 isn't on this list".

Blame the insistence on listing every sports and Mario Party title when just the top rated one of each would have probably sufficed. Not doing so could have allowed the rest of the library to genuinely shine.

Innovative, unique titles like 1080, Space Station Silicon Valley, Star Wars Episode Racer, Blast Corps, Turok 2, Kirby 64 and Rocket Robot on Wheels could have all made worthy appearances, giving the top 50 much greater variety to boot. Shame.

@Jakiboy Last time I looked, Resident Evil 2 was sitting rather handsomely at no. 13 👍

Ocarina of Time is overrated garbage. Probably the game that has aged the worst from the N64 library.

No Blast Corps is disappointing...

Even though I gave it a high rating as I love the game, I'm really shocked to see Goldeneye rated at #2, simply because you always see people saying how bad it holds up. I expected it to be closer to #7 or #8.

Only things about this list I would really change is putting Kirby 64 on it (shocked its not even here!), Mario Tennis in the top 15, F-Zero X in the top 10, and Paper Mario in the top 5. Otherwise this is pretty good

@TG16_IS_BAE
Quite frankly, OOT has aged better than nearly every N64 game that came out before OOT. Stop saying obviously untrue things.

Spacestation silicon valley needs to be on the list, that game was pure creative genius!

Beetle Adventure Racing would be in my top 20, so much personality and crate smashing fun.

Also shout out to another absentee: Robot Rocket on Wheels. Sucker Punch's very first game, the guys who went on to make Sly Cooper.

I see a lot of you all slept on Killer Instinct Gold and Rocket: Robot on Wheels. For shame.

@TG16_IS_BAE "Ocarina of Time is overrated garbage. Probably the game that has aged the worst from the N64 library."

Did you play it on a decent CRT upon its initial release in '98? It still looks surprisingly great on a decent setup. People raved about its groundbreaking graphics and involving story, the size of hyrule, the ability to ride a horse and travel through time.

I accept that as new titles come along to evolve the original formula, the prototype can begin to look stale in comparison, particularly when modern technology only serves to bludgeon its strengths.

However, it's important to put media in the context of the period of its release. Before Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, there had never been another 3D or Mario title in existence. The shock to the system that these two titles had on the games industry cannot really be overstated and such an almighty paradigm shift is unlikely to ever happen again. In all probability, nothing will ever come close to replicating the transition from two dimensions to three back in the late nineties.

On this basis, we surely owe a huge debt to to the developers and games created in that era as they helped lay the groundwork for the very best titles we play and admire today. TLDR: It was awesome then and it's just as awesome now! 😜

Banjo-Kazooie ahead of Mario 64!? Blasphemy!

Yes, both Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie well deserve to be in the top 10. Although the N64 had many great games, these two have always been my favourites. ❤️

So many issues...

For a start...

DKR > MK64 (Mario‘s tracks are too big and empty; Diddy gets airplanes, open world exploration and boss battles)

SM64 > BK (Mario’s mission-based structure provides useful hints, evolving stages, and the option to replay our favourite bits without having to replay the entire game)

DK64 > BT (Banjo 2 has the worst frame rate on the system; Kong includes Arcade DK)

(For the record, the frame rate on Goldeneye’s Frigate level is a close second worst).

I remember battling final Wizpig on Diddy Kong Racing many times - that son of a bitch used every trick in the book.

Even a perfect run meant his character model was clipping into the frame right up to the finish line - which was massively distracting. Good memories!

@NathanTheAsian Fans have modded the game so you can put on boots and take them off at a press of a D-Pad button. This makes the game so much more playable, no having to go through the pause screen for that, especially in the Water Temple.

This list doesn't much resemble my own, but it's fun seeing an amalgam of everyone else's favorites. I do enjoy these lists, Nintendo Life. They have a way of influencing my retro purchases.

For me, Rare's platformers deserve a higher place on the list. I love DK64. Mario 64 is my absolute favorite N64 game, closely followed by OoT.

I feel like people like Majorca’s Mask purely on story and concept. Gameplay-wise that game is not good. Its literally just fetch quest after fetch quest through space and time - making everything twice as tedious. It’s based off of a neat concept and it has a great story, but I’ve tried to replay it a half a dozen times and it’s unplayable for me.

@LilMuku It’s the anti-ziplash

@LEGEND_MARIOID "Ocinara should obiously be top" Super Mario 64 is SIXTH?!?

@Tchunga I wish all DLC was about as long as the main game and as good quality.

"five playable Kongs"
Actually four because one of them is dead.

@RudyC3
Of course said issue would be fixed on a mod of an emulated version on PC. I'm talking about the N64 version straight-up. If we threw in the rest of the versions of OoT including the 3DS version, then I wouldn't even bring it up in the first place.

Kirby 64 deserved better and Mario 64 was just a few places too low

But otherwise, good list

I feel like most of these games are ranked way too low, but then again this is a top 50 games, so I guess I should be grateful so many of my favorites are on here. But seriously, Ogre Battle 64 needs to be higher.

It would make perfect sense to release an N64 Mini next year, just as the new console's sales begin to skyrocket and Nintendo needs something new to keep shareholders happy. Minuscule effort for maximum rewards, it seems to be their motto these days, so fingers crossed & all that.. 😜

Snowboard kids 1 over 2?? Insanity.

Im the only person who likes Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

Love the n64 my favourite console off so time
And one I can go back to again and again
Good to see banjo goldeneye Zelda there .
But I now this is not one peoples favourite But we're is castlevania it's one of my favourite
But not a bad list

@Clintos no, i loved it too

hey, i liked the crusin games too

Omg this brought back soooo maaany long forgotten memories. Thank you lol.
Was turok , turok 2, or turok rage wars on there, did I overlook them? I'll just assume they were and I missed it. Castlevania 64, Quest 64....too, I'm sure I overlooked those as well.
But even so, great article, it was literally like a cliche video montage in my head as I had flashes of so many awakened memories. I had no PS until the reissue tiny PS1 came out, so my first resident evil game was RE:2 and it is still one of my favorite memories of my younger days. I must've beaten that game 20+ times with both characters. With the early "mercenaries" type mode...tofu man square, H.U.N.K....
I'm just gonna stop now because I could ramble on and on and it's your fault "Nintendo life" for reawakening a vault of memories

I completely disagree with this list. Paper Mario should have been #1.

Turok 1&2 didn't even make the top 50. Wtf

@gaga64 my view:
Single player: DKR > MK64
Multiplayer: MK64 > DKR

This list has made me realise how much I want a new Mario Golf.

Doom 64, Mario 64 and WaveRace are all lower than they should be. Plus what’s with all those wrestling games? Are they actually any good?

Spoiler: There aren't 50 good N64 games

Am I the only one who thinks majora's mask is just OK? The concept is amazing but the gameplay is below average.

What the hell, "the first time nintendo dropped the ball" this was a great system. And if we wanna talk about,Nintendo dropping the ball what about virtual,boy? That came out before the 64

@breathe_easy I did play it when I was a kid, on CRT. It was good for it’s time, but it’s so out-dated, mechanically. Graphically it’s fine, but gameplay-wise it is screaming for an update. It’s so janky!

@kkslider5552000 Graphically, it’s fine. Gameplay, it’s god-awful. Large, empty maps with long treks for meaningless quests, confusing camera controls and dungeons, over-simplified “hit this boss in the weak spot 3 times,” encounters...just a bad game. Original Zelda, Zelda 2 and Zelda 3 aged far better. Those games were simpler, but packed with things to do, with no emptiness.

No Mercy is the height of console wrestling games and I don't understand how someone hasn't replicated it yet for a newer system. Instead the wrestling gets seem to get prettier but worse to play

SUPER MARIO 64 is better than BANJO-KAZOOIE. Switch 'em.

@TG16_IS_BAE So you've admitted you're clueless about other N64 games, ok, that's nice.

Glad the Mystical Ninja games made it!

@ALinkttPresent exactly! That and the fact that it’s comparatively empty is now seen as a criticism. Yo me that’s not true at all, The field is still as enchanting and engaging as it ever was. It’s lucky to have been able to experience it all at the time- new gamers will never understand

@kkslider5552000 I only mentioned talking about Zelda. Are you inferring something incorrect about me or are you replying to the wrong person?

I liked the Bomberman games and Chameleon Twist. I'm guessing not a lot of people played Chameleon Twist, but Bomberman 64 multiplayer was something my friends and I couldn't get enough of.

@Steo The issues with the N64 are well-documented. It's still great! But among other things, it was difficult for third-party developers (something that is frequently associated with nintendo) and many people think that cartridges were a mistake. I think the system was right for nintendo fans though, and I love it.

@TG16_IS_BAE You’re missing something re ocarina. It’s not your fault - it just doesn’t gel with you and that’s fine. There’s something that makes the game much much more than a sum of its parts - there’s a reason this is still held in extremely high regard - and you can’t fathom why. Be at peace with it. There’s lots of games I don’t relate to that I know are amazing, but just don’t suit me - that’s the beauty of life, follow what you love.

Majora's Mask, Pefect Dark & F-Zero X clear top 3 for me. Would have liked to be able to vote for Mega Man Legends & StarCraft 64. Yeah would have liked to see 1080 in top 50, also Duke Nukem: Zero Hour and maybe Pokemon Puzzle League (Panel de Pon still best though!).

what an interesting lineup. Not at all like id expect.

how did Shadows of the Empire not make this list? It was beyond awesome.

YESSSS OOT IS THE BEST N64 GAME

I’d put Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey in the top 50

Why the heck is DK64 so low.

But Goldeneye is in the top 2 so that more then makes up for it

Nice! The only one on my list that didn’t make it was Blast Corps. I put so many hours into that game.

@saiyantrunks79 agree on Shadows of the Empire. That and Mario 64 were my first two game’s. I vividly remember battling IG88 in the junkyard.

Honestly? Pretty good list. I would probably swap some mario party and THPS games in favor of 1080, Yoshi, Shadows of the Empire, but most deserve the spot.

@Glamdring64
My man! I’m with ya, gauntlet legends was definitely a favorite with friends.

With all the great games the system had, you could easily make a Top 100.

@Marioman2020 I'd have Mario 64 2nd

Great list but could have done without the soccer games. Still the list needs:

Cruis'n USA (World and or Exotica), also 1080 Snowboarding. Also Ken Griffey Jr had two great baseball games on the system. And NBA Hangtime got the best port on N64.

@Monmoya Legends and Starcraft likely didn't make it because it's a users list and most people didn't get a chance to play them on 64.

It's a shame Sin and Punishment never made it out of Japan. Would've made this list easily.

GoldenEye is obsolete. I'd much rather play Doom 64, or the Turok games.

@Gradius I'd have that in my top 10. Though the first time I played it was on Wii VC!

@AJDarkstar that’s valid. DKR’s multiplayer could do with more battle stages. The plane and hovercraft arenas add unique play styles, but there’s not enough variety within those options (if that makes sense).

You know, top 50 N64 games means that about 1/6 of the entire library made the cut. (that's a larger proportion than the top 50 NES, SNES or Game Boy (let alone +GBC) lists. )

Wait WWF No Mercy is over Mario Kart 64! You would think more people have owned and played Mario Kart 64.

Where’s Bangai-O?

When you see Super Mario 64 at #6, you know you can probably guess the remainder of the list.

But how can Majora's Mask make the #3 spot... I could never finish it despite attempts to. It is the most repetitive (by design!) and melancholy game I have ever tried to play. (why even try to save the world if it's just going to undo itself in under an hour. Even faster if you play the Japanese version which lacks the quicksave feature!)
(not sure if a good thing my cheap knockoff Expansion Pak would also regularly crash the game)

Well, this list is mostly "what I liked to play back then", which is fine. But I don't think many of you would actually enjoy Golden Eye and Mario Kart 64 today. There are a number of N64 games that still hold up IMO (apart from the obvious Zelda, Zelda and Mario), but Golden Eye is not one of them.

Really surprised Turok isnt on the list... surely one of the best non first party console exclusives?

I think the football and wrestling games appearing so much is a reflection of how much they were played by those that owned them.

Also, N64 game shopping was a bit of a strange experience at the time. I remember going down electronics boutique(!) each week (when you went to town pretty mich every Saturday...!) and it would be the same games on display week after week - especially in the first couple of years. This genuinely put titles like ISS high on the temptation/impulse buy. I mean FIFA 64 came out pretty close to launch if I remember rightly, and that must have sold a ton of copies in the UK despite being very average (and genuinely not feeling a lot different to 16bit era football games) simply because for 60 quid it offered huge replay value and there wasn't much else to choose - especially if you already had some games.

No Extreme-G or Blast Corps?! It’s enough to make you chew your own foot off (>_<)!!!

GAMECUBE LIST PLEASE

No SWE1R?!? Not legit! +1 to author for noting its omission!

Diddy Kong Racing and Snowboard Kids should be higher than Mario Kart 64.

So many great titles not even present, especially from the Japanese market.

Nice to see both European and American favorites represented among the universal classics!

@gaga64 I understand what you mean, and I agree. A lot of unfulfilled potential there.

Good to see Goemon getting some love!

@andykara2003 I am at peace with it, that’s why I’m able to calmly talk about it. Don’t know why talking about Ocarina triggers people so much.

I guess no one has played Space Station Silicon Valley

@carlos82 i would have put banjo in 6, mario at 5 and Perfect Dark at 4

@nocdaes Turok is so underplayed- these people don’t know what it was like to be a chicken being chases by raptors (allegedly, there’s a story along with the amazing multiplayer 😂)

@Strumpan goldeneye and perfect dark are still fun once you remember how to strafe those corners and turn off auto aim

I'm not surprised my beloved Road Rash 64 didn't make it on the list, but I am surprised that Turok didn't get a single entry here.

Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask should be one and two. Why is Paper Mario 64 above Mario 64?

Great list. One mistake in article. You said no Get Force Gemini at the end and it was in top 50????? Also only one I have to disagree. I love the Tony Hawk's games. Hold dear place in my heart as I never had PS1 and N64 was first experience. But TH3 was a dog of a port. They couldn't get it to work on N64 and I don't think it even had all the levels. On GameCube! Yes N64 no.... I'd replace it with 1080! Best snowboarding game of that error I believe. Otherwise awesome list guys loving your work!!!

@Mackers8 It's an ever evolving list. People continue to vote, thereby changing the order and titles included, so it wasn't really a mistake by the author. Very much agree about 1080 though. Fantastic little game that still plays better than a good percentage of snowboarding titles released in recent years.

Only an 8 for Jet Force Gemini? That game has some of the best gameplay, and soundtrack of any game I have played. The worlds you can go to are also incredibly varied and interesting. The game was ahead of its time. Just my opinion!

Heads-up: The Mario Tennis banner art is incorrect. You may want to change that.

"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),"

(likes mentioning of the version of the arcade Donkey Kong game included in Donkey Kong 64 in this part of the article)

"DK64 was one hell of a value proposition back in 1999 and we think it probably deserves re-evaluation after 20 years of bashing."

(dislikes profanity in this part of the article)

A lot of changes in the ranking since yesterday:

• Pokémon Stadium 2 climbed 7 positions (yay!), DK64 climbed 6 and Pokémon Snap, 5;
• Tony Hawk 2 fell to #16 (well, at least it's still in the top 20...);
• Jet Force Gemini, Episode 1: Racer and Turok 2 finally showed up.

@GannonBanned Haha so true. My earliest memory of Turok was watching my friends (and I had the same experience when I first played, but safely out of sight of my friends and laughter!) struggling to get to grips with using the C Buttons and Analogue stick together whilst we rinsed them for it! Of course it soon clicks into place and off you go on an, certainly at the time, incredible game - but those first 5 minutes or so... lol

Gee, I never would've guessed Ocarina of Time would take the top spot. 🙄

@breathe_easy oh that's awesome didn't realise it's evolving. Love that idea. How do we vote?

I do think its funny when people on here say "nice list" or "game x should have been higher" as we the fans voted on the list!

I laughed at the Wave Race 64 description. Personally I don't care if they release any sequel. The Gameboy original isn't my favorite game, the GC sequel is good - and neither evoke the same feeling as this does. I think it's silly to wish for sequels to these unique games to be honest. Even when they do happen, I wouldn't want more or the same.

I wonder what it would take to re release N64 titles on the the switch that they sold on the Wii u store? I would definitely buy quite a few of them for sure

No love for 1080 Snowboarding?! What's up with that?

@TexanSansei its one of my top 5. Absolutely brilliant. That's what they call challenge!!

@TG16_IS_BAE its all personal opinion.

The mechanics may be outdated now, but still fun, the dungeons are some of the best in the franchise.

OOT was also as much about running around a massive 3D world, this was still novel in 1998.

@liveswired I think it goes without saying that we are all sharing opinions.

Sad that the Gex titles didn't make the list, I also say that Glover and the Bomberman titles didn't either. I'd also have to say that Quest64 and Aidyne Chronicles were some other good ones. Star Wars Rogue Squadron too. Other than that, some of these were not that great either. It seemed that the N64 was overrun with sports and racing titles. I loved the console, I hated the controller and some of the games didn't age too well. Even playing Super Mario 64 now, I found out why I threw the controller so much...the camera was horrible and Mario would do things that you didn't want him to do. Other than that, Mario 64 was a great update!!! My favorites for the N64 was still Mario (Which Mario Golf got me to purchase the console) and Conker's Bad Fur Day (which I played through to beat) and Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time (which I also beat). Sorry to say, that I was more into the Dreamcast at the time, but I swapped back and forth a lot...just couldn't take the N64's controller.

As lame as the box art and title were, I think Fighter’s Destiny deserves a spot in the top 50. It was a pretty involved fighting game for the time.

Goldeneye is still a good laugh and the best James Bond licensed game ever made, but The World is Not Enough should make it to the top 50 as well.

But overall Star Fox 64, Wave Race, and Ocarina are crown jewels of the 64 are still some of the best in their genre.

How about 1 page next time. Thanks

Disappointed not to see Body Harvest on there. Real hidden gem of the N64 library.

No 1080 Snowboarding is an absolute disgrace.

@TexanSansei you can't just "that's just my opinion" your way out of a terrible opinion; DKR is an absolute classic with a game type all its own never copied, and arguably beats MK64. And yeah the bosses are hard AF but that's part of the appeal because it's a proper challenge.

@GannonBanned Well... there are better shooters to play today.

Tetrisphere is one people should check out that is not on this list.

I did forget to rate Mario Tennis which is probably still the best one? Glad to see it on the list.

Diddy Kong being high up is very good to see, MK 64 was more popular and would be hard to beat.

1080 off the list is surprising even though it wasn’t one of my favorites. I get why it’s low on this list but Pokémon Snap is another one that shouldn’t be skipped.

Mario a little lower thank expected.

DK64 and Banko Kazooie Tooie both suffered from artificially extended game time (with boring repetition or travel over long empty spans). It was the first of bad turns at Rare. Perfect Dark was almost unplayable due to frame rate so after I acknowledged some of the cool ideas I just stopped playing. We were a year late or so on that one.

Anyway fun list.

I can only assume that the only reason why Rocket Robot on Wheels isn't in this list is because sadly not enough people bought or played it.

@Arkay where did you get your avatar? It’s from the computer screen in bunker 2 right?

@ Strumpan @PickledKong64 @jaglufc I still play Goldeneye and Perfect Dark regularly. They still are very fun games.

@InAnotherCastle Their sequels would be in the form of a fleshed out career mode, online, customisation, leaderboards, tournaments - all the perks of todays racing games. Definitely a market.

@aaronsullivan Perfect Dark got away with it... played through recently on real hardware and had no issues, it simply works on the hardware, though perhaps having a hdmi modded console helps, there is always additional lag through all other methods converting for modern tvs.

In terms of Banjo Kazooie - it was about exploration. Back in 1997/1998 the thing that won me over was huge worlds to run around and simply explore. I wasn't racing to complete these games, they are simply unique to that era.

Donkey Kong 64 has a patch now for all Kongs anywhere, by pressing the d pad on N64 so it actually makes the game fun to play through.

@Username64 in my eyes DKR beats MK64 in all areas INCLUDING multiplayer.

DKR is arguably the best game on the system and JOINTVENTURE rocks.

@Trajan You sir, are correct. That's where I got it from.

@liveswired When I played Perfect Dark it was on a CRT. It was, I think, a year after initial release, and I did find it almost unplayable, myself (ultimately, I did give up on it, even though I was a huge fan of even single player Goldeneye). But everyone values different aspects of games, I'm glad others could enjoy it!

I adored the exploration and refinement of the new 3D, third person action game that the original Banjo nailed (along with it's unique Rare charm), it was the sequel that turned me off by forgetting to make it interesting to play — I'll admit I didn't give that one much of a chance, though (was busy with other things in life at the time, I guess). Donkey Kong 64 I played through to the end and that felt like indulging in a sort of masochism. The beginning and the very end were great, though. Interesting about the mod, though!

Always fun discussing it all. Cheers.

@Trajan if you have nostalgia I'm sure, but compared to literally any shooter after it, it's kinda buns.

@PickledKong64 What good FPS have come out in the last 10 years? MW2019, CSGO, Seige, and that’s about it. Yes, I said it, Doom and Wolfenstein aren’t any good anymore.

Goldeneye and PD are both fun in single player, and multiplayer.

@Trajan nostalgia got the best of you lmao

@PickledKong64 if I still play it and enjoy it, that isn’t nostalgia...

I still play Halo 2 when my brother comes over. Fun games are fun.

Not so sure if those sports games and wrestling games even really deserved to be in the top 50...But for the most part you had some really solid games on the list...probably would of been a different top 20 for me...but pretty solid choices for the top 10

Favourite console of all time for me.
Glad to see Snowboard kids and Pokemon Stadium 2 get some love

@palatinus okay I didnt know that exactly, thank you. I just had a problem with that "first time" statement, they definitely made mistakes with the powerglove, power pad, that weird headset, and like I said the virtual boy was a huge flop right before the 64 release

No KI Gold...no legitimacy

If the public isn't able to add games to the list, but can only rate the existing list, I'm afraid there's a large bias still. I know NO one would rate tetris higher on any list that would contain: 1080 Snowboarding, Killer Instinct Gold, Cruis'n World, Rush series, Shadows of the Empire, Quake 2. Even Excitebike 64. Who wrote this list in stone, and why can't we rate some of the better games available?

Decent list but Excitebike 64 and 1080 Snowboarding are both worthy of places in the top 20, and F-1 World Grand Prix and Ridge Racer 64 should have made it into the top 50 too.