No need for a Switch to play these hits that marked the history of Nintendo 64!

Game News No need for a Switch to play these hits that marked the history of Nintendo 64!

Rare Classics

Waiting for the arrival of GoldenEye 007 Remasterimpossible to mention the pearls of the Nintendo 64 playable on other consoles without mentioning the titles available in the compilation Rare Replayreleased on Xbox One/Series. In the thirty apps found on the cake, a good quarter comes from the 64-bit Nintendo. Released in the year of the console’s European launch in 1997, Blast Body is perhaps one of the lesser known titles from the British studio. Its principle is rather simple: at the controls of different vehicles, the player’s mission is to destroy all the buildings that are in the way of a truck carrying nuclear warheads. Its delicate maneuverability makes the title a little frustrating at times, but it would be a shame to ignore this experience that is definitely nagging and full of suspense. Speaking of action, it’s time to soar into space with Juno, Vela and Lupus with Jet Force Gemini. In this TPS with platformer elements, you have to go to the rescue of the inhabitants of the planet Goldwood in what the Nintendo 64 was able to do best in the genre in 1999. Unfortunately, the controls here too are quite dated and make the experience a little indigestible today.

Who says indigestion says gastrointestinal problems. Who says gastrointestinal problems says cow who relieves herself because of the abuse of prune juice. You guessed it, we are now going to talk about Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Rare’s irreverent software imagined by a Chris Seavor who lends his voice to the hero of the adventure is a big delirium that is still funny today, despite the tendentious jokes that would be difficult to validate in a 2022 production. Conker is an adventure platformer that mixes different gameplay throughout an adventure composed of sequences as varied as disturbed. Parodying movies like games, it is a UFO in the N64 toy library. The remake, titled Live & Reloaded, is also playable on Xbox Series. It has a refreshed handling as well as a welcome French translation. Killer Instinct Gold, for its part, is the 64-bit adaptation of Killer Instinct 2 released on Arcade (and also available in the Microsoft Store). The good news is that this version playable with an Xbox controller fixes one of the biggest problems of the N64 version, namely the pad of the Nintendo machine definitely not well thought out for 2D fighting games.

Also included in Rare Replay but available as stand alone on the Microsoft Store,he two epics from the most mischievous duo in 3D platforming are enough to rekindle the flames of fans of a bygone era. Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo Tooie have nothing to envy to a certain Super Mario 64. Both wacky, with varied settings and many challenges, they remain a safe bet in a genre that has been somewhat forgotten. Finally, accessible in stand alone as in the Rare Replay compilation, Perfect Dark is often qualified as futuristic GoldenEye. Graphically, the software was one of the most beautiful games of the N64, but it is above all for its very complete multiplayer mode that the title has gone down in history. Fortunately, the Xbox One port kept all the features offered at the time while allowing online play.

The former glories of Acclaim

Very prolific at the time of 32-64 bits, the American publisher Acclaim provided some outstanding titles to the Nintendo machine. Thanks to the talents of Nightdive Studios, many apps have come back to life on our current platforms. Released on PC, Switch, Xbox One/Series and PlayStation 4/5, the first two games in the saga Turok are now playable on almost all media on the market. The opportunity to (re)discover this singular FPS surfing on the dinomania launched by Jurassic Park and which mixes dinosaurs, monsters, big guns and hemoglobin. Be careful, their mechanics are anchored in a past that is now over, like the warm-blooded creatures that must be exterminated. Same observation for Shadowmanalso accessible almost everywhere, and whose heavy maneuverability and levels designed to make the player suffer are reminiscent of the “good times” of the 32-64 bit era. Still, it’s an undeservedly forgotten classic that deserves to be brought back into the spotlight, especially since it incorporates cut content from the era, which is rare enough to be highlighted.

Released only on PC and Xbox One/Series, Forsaken Remastered is the version “HD” of the shooter that impressed with its special effects in the late 1990s. Produced by Acclaim, it puts the player in command of ships locked in underground bases. Like a certain downhill, the user can evolve at 360°: many paths are hidden in the ceilings or in the floors. The goal is to achieve different objectives (sometimes in a limited time) by destroying the multiple enemies that wander through the labyrinths. To finish with the games of Acclaim, the futuristic racing game Extreme G2 was released on PC in a version very close to that released on N64. Unfortunately, this edition has many bugs.

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Other notable titles from the famous 64-bit

To finish with the games released on Nintendo 64 available elsewhere than on Nintendo consoles, we can mention Star Wars Episode I: Racer, recently republished on all media. 3D platformer enthusiasts can replay the maligned ones Earthworm Jim 3D and Glover on PC, or have a good time on Rayman 2: The Great Escape. Finally, Doom 64 has arrived in an improved version on PC, Switch, Xbox One/Series and PlayStation 4/5. It is the direct sequel to Doom 2 and brings a whole bunch of novelties compared to its predecessors. The remaster runs on a new engine developed by Nightdive, the KEX Engine v3, and incorporates “The Lost Levels”, a sequel to the original campaign that ties in with the other episodes of the series.

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