10 N64 Games That Hold Up Brilliantly

The N64 and its games seems to have a reputation for not being able to hold up, whether it’s due to the graphics or the gameplay. It’s true that graphically some of them are a bit rough around the edges, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t games on the N64 that still hold up. We’ve already spoken about some banger N64 games that have avoided the ravages of time, but we’ve got a few more on hand that still hold up. Maybe one of them will be Superman 64.

 

1. Super Mario 64

It kind of feels like cheating to talk about Super Mario 64 as an N64 game that holds up, because yeah, of course one of the most beloved platformers of all time is still great fun to play now as it was back in the 90s.

The Italian Plumber’s first foray into the world of 3D, Super Mario 64 on paper is the same game that it always was, as you try to rescue Princess Peach from her kidnapper, the evil Bowser. However, the structure and level design, from the hub world of Peach’s Castle to the various worlds you can visit within the castle, along with the secrets that can be found in every nook and cranny, helped create a new kind of platforming adventure that games today are still taking notes from today. It’s not hyperbole to say that an entire genre of games owe their success to Super Mario 64 in one way or another.

Sure, the graphics might have aged horribly, and the camera takes a bit of getting used to compared to the cameras that modern 3D platformers are blessed with, but the sheer popularity of Super Mario 64 in today’s landscape as a speedrunning or challenge run game just proves how well the mechanics and gameplay have held up over the past two and a half decades. Heck, even Nintendo knew how well Super Mario 64 holds up when they bundled it with Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy as part of the 3D All-Stars collection on the Nintendo Switch with barely any upgrades, and it still manages to be one of the best platformers on the Switch.

Is it a stretch to call this a GOAT contender? We don’t think so.

 

2. Super Smash Bros.

When Masahiro Sakurai at HAL Laboratory came up with the idea of having a bunch of Nintendo mascots scrap back in 1998, he undoubtedly cooked, as that wild idea led to the creation of an instantly recognizable fighting game franchise in Super Smash Bros. You might have heard of it. Now, we’ll be the first to admit that looking back on the first game, you can see how far the series has progressed. Melee, the GameCube follow-up, was a leaps and bounds improvement over the first game with almost double the roster and plenty of new modes, while Brawl’s Subspace Emissary Mode and Ultimate’s sheer amount of content have kept the series feeling fresh and exciting throughout the years.

Still, the original N64 game still holds up today as a true icon and innovator of the platform fighting genre. While the first Super Smash Bros. might be a bit more sluggish in comparison to Melee, you’re still engaging in the same fun, party-oriented gameplay that the series has become renowned for. Nintendo and HAL Laboratory nailed the core formula on the first go around, and have basically spent the rest of the series innovating and reiterating on that same core formula. When looking back at older games in some franchises, you can be amazed by how different they are, or how much the series has changed over the years, but let someone play Super Smash Bros. for the N64 and they’ll probably be in their element.

By that metric, it absolutely holds up. Maybe not as much as Melee, but people will still be taking their GameCube controllers to conventions when Pluto finally takes its revenge and crashes into Earth.

 

3. Worms Armageddon

Pretty much everyone who’s got at least a passing interest in gaming has likely played a round of Worms at one point, with those little blighters throwing grenades, bazookas, grappling hooks, Holy Hand Grenades and Concrete Donkeys at each other in order to claim the victory. After becoming a huge success on the PC and Amiga with the first couple of games, Worms Armageddon took the turn-based, highly destructible combat to consoles for the first time, introducing a whole new audience to the glory that is Worms. Scouser voice pack for life.

What makes Worms Armageddon a game that’s aged incredibly well is how much Team17 and the Worms developers have done to try and innovate or change the Worms franchise in the years since, and how most of those attempts have fallen flat on their face. Whether it’s the series’ brief dalliance with 3D, adding enterable buildings into the mix with Worms Forts, the introduction of classes in Worms Revolution, or the inclusion of vehicles in Worms W.M.D., very few subsequent games have had the same magic and sauce as the original Worms Armageddon. The less said about Worms Rumble, the better too.

Worms Armageddon is blessed with an almost timeless simplicity, and Team17 should probably strip the series down to basics.

Maybe keep the dynamic water effects though. They were pretty cool and interesting.

 

4. Banjo-Kazooie

If you want to talk about developers that had a chokehold on the N64, it’s hard to not talk about the folks over at Rare.

After killing it on the SNES with Donkey Kong Country, Rare started knocking it out of the park with the likes of Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Blast Corps and Killer Instinct Gold. You could make the argument that nearly every Rare N64 game has held up pretty well, but as far as we’re concerned, very few of them manage to hold a candle to Banjo-Kazooie.

Critics at the time were calling Banjo-Kazooie an even greater game than even Super Mario 64, and while we’re not going to wade into that debate, we will remind everyone that Super Mario 64 didn’t have the mad yapping bastard that is Gruntilda.

Following the same formula as Super Mario 64 of “go to vibrant world, find things to unlock more worlds”, Banjo-Kazooie built off the foundations laid by Super Mario 64 by encouraging even more non-linear progression when collecting items, offering larger worlds to explore and even including more NPCs to interact with. While Mario had his charm, Banjo-Kazooie dialed the humor and tone up to 11, making for an incredibly memorable and fun experience during both gameplay and the various cutscenes. Add in the incredible soundtrack work from Grant Kirkhope and it’s no wonder that Banjo-Kazooie is one of the most beloved platformers ever made.

Also, we’re including Banjo-Tooie in this too, as that game is also fantastic.

 

5. Mischief Makers

As we mentioned in the intro, the graphics of a lot of N64 games have given the console and its library a reputation of aging poorly. While the 3D rendering was impressive at the time, these days the games look a bit Lawnmower Man sometimes, especially when they’re being upscaled via emulators or whatever other means. Because of this, there’s a selection of N64 games which remained 2D which now look like they’ve been preserved by the gods themselves, Mischief Makers being one of them.

Now, to call Mischief Makers strictly 2D would be a lie, as it utilizes 3D backgrounds and pre-rendered 3D models for the characters, similar to how Donkey Kong Country worked on the SNES, only Mischief Makers adds a lot more color and wacky visuals into the mix. It is a Treasure game after all.

Set on the Planet Clancer, you control a robotic maid by the name of Marina, or Ultra-InterGalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears if you feel like dropping her full government name, as she sets out to rescue her creator, Professor Theo, from the clutches of the planet’s Emperor and the brainwashed masses. In order to do this, you’ll be shaking your way through the game’s 50+ levels, and we mean that literally. Marina can grab and shake pretty much everything in a level, with different items having different properties and effects.

The fact you can grab nearly everything is a level of freedom platformers still struggle to offer, and it helps make Mischief Makers stand out as an N64 classic.

 

6. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

This might be a controversial pick, considering how widely beloved Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was and still is, introducing so many iconic levels like Hanger or School 2, while including perhaps the best licensed soundtrack in all of gaming. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is and will always be a whipper, but it hasn’t aged the best out of all the holy trilogy for one reason and one reason alone: the revert.

Introduced in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, the revert allowed players to continue their combos reliably after landing from a quarter pipe. These days, the revert is almost taken for granted as an expected part of the moveset, but it took until the third game to appear and it’s been integral ever since. Even THPS 1 + 2, the remake of the first two games, including THPS 3’s revert, showing how important it had become to the formula.

Alongside the revert, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 also introduced hidden tricks like the double kickflip, achieved by double tapping the required button, giving players more options to flesh out and extend their combos. Again, that feature would become integral going forward, proving how much the ideas and gameplay of THPS 3 holds up. For instance, take someone who’s only played Pro Skater 4 and onwards, throw them into the first two games, and they’ll struggle because of the lack of options, but THPS 3 would make for a less painful transition.

Now, is the N64 version the best version available? Not really, especially when the game also released on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube, but it still offers that timeless gameplay you knew from a young age was something pretty special.

 

7. Diddy Kong Racing

Trying to launch a kart racing game a year after the release of Mario Kart 64, one of the best multiplayer games on the console, might seem like a fool’s errand on paper, but as the years have passed and your cartilage has evaporated, Rare’s Diddy Kong Racing has been vindicated as the N64 racer that truly holds up.

Like Mario Kart 64, you’re racing around a bunch of tracks, picking up items to gain speed or to mess up your various opponents, which includes the video game debuts of both Banjo from Banjo-Kazooie and Conker from, well, the Conker games, but it’s not in the “what” but the “how” where Diddy Kong Racing deserves its flowers.

Firstly, Diddy Kong Racing introduced the Adventure mode, where players traveled between worlds competing in races, battles and boss fights in order to defeat an intergalactic villain, a formula that Naughty Dog would borrow pretty liberally from in order to create the adored Crash Team Racing.

However, the real innovation comes with the fact that players could choose to utilize a kart, a hovercraft or a plane, each offering its own advantages and disadvantages in the race. Being able to choose your loadout, so to speak, is something that Mario Kart has adopted moving forward, while the different disciplines are similar to Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing Transformed, which swapped between cars, boats and planes during the race to keep things interesting.

Remember everyone: that thing you love about kart racing games, Diddy Kong probably did it first.

 

8. Yoshi’s Story

We’ve already spoken about how shooting for 2.5D graphics during the N64 era has proved to be an unintentional boon for a lot of games, but perhaps no game benefited from this more than Yoshi’s Story.

While critics found plenty to enjoy during their time with Yoshi’s Story, the game was punished seemingly for the crime of not being exactly like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. There were other negative points too, like the game’s short length or lack of any real difficulty, and they’re absolutely right in those regards, but one other thing that everyone can agree on is that the game’s graphics and aesthetic are some of the best on the entire console, and help Yoshi’s Story stand shoulder to shoulder with more modern platformers.

The story sees Baby Bowser, the infant version of the Mushroom Kingdom’s biggest dickhead/best dad, turning the entirety of Yoshi’s Island into a pop-up storybook. Naturally, the graphics reflect this change to a paper-based world, utilizing pre-rendered 3D and color in a way to create a world unlike anything else on the console at the time. Even now, the graphics look infinitely more appealing than most other N64 you can think of, and the decision to have the game set in a pop-up storybook has informed the style of Yoshi’s games going forward. Both Woolly World and Crafted World have played with materials to create unique visual aesthetics that stand apart from the rest of the Mario franchise.

We’re still waiting for an answer on our Yoshi’s Velcro World pitch though. Or Yoshi’s Astro Turf World. If Astro Bot had a game with a young version of him like Yoshi’s Island, you could call it Astro Tot.

Something to mull over, people with the money.

 

9. Wetrix

Wetrix might sound like a new breakfast cereal, or some kind of designer weight loss drug, but it’s actually a puzzle game that blends Tetris with water. Yeah, Wetrix is a bit of a weird one, though its contributions to the world of puzzle games can’t be understated.

Instead of just simply cloning Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Columns or some other puzzle game, Wetrix created something new that hasn’t been attempted since. You know, aside from the PS2 sequel at least. That is some incredible box art.

Basically, in Wetrix, your goal is to try and store water on an isometric 3D landscape, with the game ending if too much water falls off and fills up the gauge at the bottom of the screen. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong. Wetrix throws a host of items, gimmicks and tricks at you to keep you on your toes, from Tetris shaped blocks that allow you to shape the landscape in ways that might help or hinder you. These come in both upper and downer variety, giving you a lot to think about already, which is naturally when the game starts throwing fireballs, ice cubes, mines and earthquakes your way, ensuring that it’s never a dull moment in the weird world of Wetrix.

With a decent range of modes and impressive graphics for a puzzle game, Wetrix could easily be considered among the hidden gems of the N64, but there’s no doubt about the fact that it definitely holds up. Just don’t come crying to us if you play it and find it too hard. Wetrix isn’t for you if you’re a bit wet behind the ears.

 

10. Harvest Moon 64

The original creators of the Story of Seasons series, which was first known as Harvest Moon and we’re not getting into that whole thing, must feel like they were Lisan Al Gaib when games like Stardew Valley, Rune Factory, and My Time At Portia, and Coral Island starting popping off out of nowhere.

Ostensibly the originators of the farming life sim genre, the first Harvest Moon games serve as the basis from which most games in that genre are born, with Harvest Moon 64 perhaps being the first in the series that most accurately translates to its more modern counterparts. While the graphics and isometric camera might not be for everyone, the core gameplay loop still holds up to this day.

You’ve been left an abandoned farm by your grandfather, and you’ve decided to make it your personal mission to build the farm back up again, planting crops and looking after animals as you go. Along with the farm, you’ll mingle with the locals in the nearby village, perhaps even starting a relationship with one of them. Harvest Moon 64 also added the idea of stamina and time to the formula, limiting the amount you can actually get done in one day, which wasn’t present in previous games and has become a core part of other farming sims.

The amount of games that have sung from the same hymn sheet as Harvest Moon 64 basically proves how the game has held up over the years, even if only in terms of formula.