We had a Nintendo 64 when I was growing up. We moved to the UK, and had our house robbed and everything stolen within a couple of weeks. We got replacement money for new games, so we ended up owning a fair amount of different games over time. The lesson from this, insurance kicks ass - home robbery doesn't. Still, here are my memories of all the games that I played a lot of either through owning it, or through playing with friends. For the sake of interest, these are in the order that I wrote them down. For the sake of entertainment, I'll put in my patented plot-in-one-sentence things.
Thoughts: I never really got the fuss about this game. The multiplayer I found either too easy or too reliant on luck, and the missions were either far too easy or far too difficult, or incredibly frustrating. I've not played it in like, a decade, but I still remember that tank level as the height of annoyance. Also, it's funny today to think that the graphics were pretty cutting edge for the time, they look vaguely obscene today.
Thoughts: Yeah, as I said, disappointing. the multiplayer was a little better this time, and it required the booster pack (conveniently priced by Nintendo itself), the weapons were more imaginative than before, but the story itself was pretty stupid, and before too long, we're fighting aliens. Tough too.
Thoughts: A bizarre, amusing and self-aware game, it's set in ancient times but has frequent nods to video games and breaks the fourth wall frequently (the giant robot you fight with for a a couple of battles tells of his plans to go to Hollywood). He, and the musical-obsessed bad guys also have genuine music interludes, complete with songs. Great music (which I still catch myself whistling from time to time), intelligent gameplay and deals heavily in Japanese mythology, geography and story tropes, largely a joy, with a few flaws, such as the lack of sane hints, the frequent backtracking, and the lengthy travel times between some lands. Still, enjoyable.
Thoughts: There was a time when I had a stepping machine and Nintendo 64 in my room, I would stomp away and play games, particularly this one. It's flawed, certainly, some of the missions go on for far too long (there's one where you have to collect mushrooms, and it takes enough time to break a stepping machine), some require far too many coins, which means going through the same levels again and again, and earning your friends is too easy, - the final temple is genuinely tough, and the gameplay is great fun, the bonus costumes are fun, and the two player was something an ex and I used to do together. A unique experience in my romantic life.
Thoughts: I've described this before, if you want to read about it, go here. Needless to say, it's a goodie, with a few minor flaws which were largely corrected in the excellent 3DS version. I've just worked out too that we have Majora's Mask in our house, but when we first got it my sister had an absolute monopoly on it, so we couldn't play it. 12 or so years on, I still haven't.
Thoughts: A great game despite its terrible music and pretty lame graphics. Genuinely fast, and challenging, winning all the cups is a genuinely rewarding challenge, which unlocks a 'random track generator' which I wasn't so convinced about. having 30 cars on the track was impressive for the time, and explained the pared down graphics. Multiplayer was only ok, as it was between only 4 or 5 cars, not 30. Still, one of of the games I was very best at, and it was difficult to beat me, at least among my friends, there were doubtless millions of dedicated racers who would wipe the floor with me.
Depending how popular this is, this is the first part of maybe three or four. Looking back at this, at this, how did I ever get anything done? I didn't
Also, here is the video from the first Goemon game: what the hell were they on?
1. Goldeneye
Plot In One Sentence: You play as James Bond in Goldeneye.  |
| Apparently graphics have come a long way since 1997 [Source] |
2. Perfect Dark
Plot In One Sentence: A disappointing semi-sequel to Goldeneye, following Joanna Dark, a spy who fights these shitty aliens and spends a huge amount of time in lifts.  |
| Apparently Graphics have come a long way since 1999 [source] |
3. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Plot In One Sentence: Goemon, an outlaw ninja, teams up in 3D with his allies to save his girlfriend, a fair chunk of Japan, and himself from giant robots, and the weirdest, campest bad guys ever. |
| Image taken from the food temple, what a bizarre, delicious game. [source] |
4. Goemon's Great Adventure
Plot In One Sentence: Goemon and friends are back, this time in 2.5D to best an evil dude who plans to take over the earth and afterlife (or something) |
| Couldn't find a link of the actual gameplay, so here's some fan-art [source] |
5. Legend Of Zelda, Ocarina of Time
Plot In One Sentence: Can be seen hereThoughts: I've described this before, if you want to read about it, go here. Needless to say, it's a goodie, with a few minor flaws which were largely corrected in the excellent 3DS version. I've just worked out too that we have Majora's Mask in our house, but when we first got it my sister had an absolute monopoly on it, so we couldn't play it. 12 or so years on, I still haven't.
6. F-Zero X
Plot In One Sentence: It's the future, people, including you, race in giant, enormously fast machines.  |
| An entire universe filled with racers, and a gimp is in second place? [source] |
Depending how popular this is, this is the first part of maybe three or four. Looking back at this, at this, how did I ever get anything done? I didn't
Also, here is the video from the first Goemon game: what the hell were they on?
No comments:
Post a Comment