There were thousands of these lists circulating online yesterday. We know fighting over who had the best Top 10 list was going to cause another instance of broken friendships. But Carl knows his stuff, if anyone could keep this argument civilized, it was him.
Joe became a bitter bottle of hot sauce because of the Genesis. Timos discovered Street Fighter III when marvel was years behind, so they just resorted to swearing everyone else’s game hadn’t aged well. Sam kept asking if we could do frame data breakdowns on every multiplayer game. John punched a wall after everyone shouted over him on Zoom so he decided to cry about how Soulcalibur could’ve had 3-D if given the chance.
After three weeks of yelling at each other over Slack and one of us punching a wall during a zoom meeting in frustration, we finally compiled our list.
Our Top 10 Games for Nintendo 64
Nintendo’s 64-bit powerhouse gave us seamless 3-D gaming for the first time. It introduced us to analog stick control – something unthinkable after decades of digital pads. It stuck with cartridges allowing players to instantly load into their worlds without waiting for a disk to load. And yet, the Nintendo 64 controller still looked ergonomic to hold despite it looking like someone’s Japanese preschooler took a fuck ton of clay and squeezed it into the controller’s form.
1996 was the year of the Nintendo 64.
Quick Rankings
- Super Mario 64 – What happens when you build a Beginner’s guide to 3-D platformers.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Lets just say 3-D Zelda, kemosabe?
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – Good ideas to a damn near criminal degree.
- GoldenEye 007 – Good job proving consoles could do shooters guys.
- Perfect Dark – Goldeneye’s spiritual successor that proved they could do it again.
- Banjo-Kazooie – Peak collecting junk before the genre started eating itself.
- Star Fox 64 – Bullet hell on rails… that you can actually blaze through.
- Mario Kart 64 – Cutthroat racing competition in stunning 3-D environments.
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – The criminally slept-on N64 hidden gem.
- Paper Mario – Literally told Nintendo they could make amazing adventure games too.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
| Genre | Action-Adventure |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
Ocarina of Time perfected everything players loved about A Link to the Past and injected it into a groundbreaking 3-D world. Link was finally free to move around in 3-D space! Link could climb walls, use objects as platforms to reach higher ground, solve puzzles that actually made you utilize spatial reasoning, and fights that actually utilized positioning rather than forcing you to watch enemies shoot projectiles at you while you pressed “A”.
Not only did gameplay feel revolutionary, but the time traveling aspect – playing as a child Link in the past, then speeding forward to play as adult Link in a world completely changed by your past actions – gave players two completely different Zelda experiences inside one game. Don’t even get us started on dungeon bosses that required you to learn enemy attack patterns, track their positioning through 3-D space, and time your dodge to avoid damage.
If you took every little aspect of gaming that felt great and mushed them together, you’d still never reach how incredible playing Ocarina of Time for the first time was.
What makes it untouchable: Literally every moment. From learning how to play the Ocarina for the first time, to learning you could stop time with it. Listening to songs on the Ocarina that manipulate the world around you. Exploring as adult Link with fully realised water physics, yet still feeling like you were in an open-world game despite your technological restraints as a child. Even growing as Link from your innocent, child-like self only to watch your world you knew decay into evil as adult Link. Ocarina of Time was Zelda perfected.
Defeating Ganondorf felt like every skill you learned along your journey was eliminated in that final battle.
Ocarina of Time wasn’t just a great Zelda game. It was the standard every 3-D action adventure should aspire to… and it still holds up today.
Does it still hold up? Listen to every kid that posts on our Facebook wall about how great Breath of the Wild was and you’ll hear the same thing; Ocarina of Time. Nintendo may have changed so many conventions Golden learned, but you can still feel Ocarina’s teachings in every modern action-adventure game.
Read Carl’s argument on why OOT is the game that perfected gaming.
2. Super Mario 64 (1996)
| Genre | Platformer |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
Mario 64 didn’t just teach players Mario was able to move into the third dimension. Mario 64 taught players what a 3-D platformer SHOULD be. Nintendo’s over-the-shoulder camera allowed players to move Mario around while you looked in whichever direction you wanted. Move Mario with the analog stick allowing him to traverse the world in every direction possible. Explore Peach’s castle finding Power Stars hidden in rooms you didn’t know existed for completing odd tasks. Solve puzzles. Play mini games. Race goombas. Mario 64 did it all. Jump through hoops littered throughout each challenge. There were giant paintings of worlds inside Princess Peach’s castle that served as portals to these worlds containing challenges and secrets you’re blind go devouring.
What makes it untouchable: With so many revolutionary ideas stuffed into every crack of this giant castle, it’s hard to pick! You had how Peach’s castle evolved as you completed more challenges. How creative each challenge inside these worlds became. Remember speeding your bouncing koopa shell through Yoshi’s Valley? How about sliding down a mine cart through Lava Land avoiding deadly fire traps? Mario 64 rewarded you for mastering his movements. The camera never became an issue either. Every facet of Mario 64’s design wasn’t ambitious, it perfected the idea.
Does it still hold up? Super Mario 64 controls feel just as tight today as they did back in 1996. Super Mario 64 set the foundation for every 3-D platformer that followed because of how games were explored and designed.
Read Timothy’s reminisces of playing Super Mario 64 for the first time.
3. GoldenEye 007 (1997)
| Genre | First Person Shooter |
| Developer | Rare |
GoldenEye proved shooters could work on consoles. Before GoldenEye, everyone cited the same excuses about why fps games couldn’t work on console: Controllers didn’t allow for precision aiming. Consoles didn’t have an audience that would enjoy “skilled” games. Everyone hated James Bond movies. So what did Rare do? They looked at every single problem and went, “watch us fix you.”
GoldenEye’s campaign was based around missions. Each level had objectives you had to complete using stealth, critical observation, and precision aiming – rather than the typical tactic of running in guns blazing. GoldenEye’s multiplayer became legendary among players. Four total players could go against each other in split-screen real-time. Everyone had to use weapons that felt perfectly balanced – no one player had an advantage because they were better than you. Get sniped? It’s okay, learn to use that to your advantage by watching their flashlight. The person you killed dropped their pistol? Take it and snag yourself an easy kill.
What makes it untouchable: Creating a control scheme that allowed players to enjoy console shooters. Approaching each mission you could complete them many different ways. Sneak through the entire level without a single person spotting you? Good job! Play as guns blazing? Fine, as long as you can actually kill them. Everyone cheated during GoldenEye’s multiplayer because cheating in GoldenEye was fun. But no one banned Oddjob from their friends list because his axe_hat wasn’t “pay-to-win” like in FPS games today. Everyone used him.
GoldenEye was perfectly balanced.
Rare understood players came first.
Does it still hold up? The single player campaign for GoldenEye holds a special place in our hearts as one of the best Bond games out there. Sure, GoldenEye’s multiplayer may feel basic too modern shooters. Movement speeds are slower, reaction times take a bit more – and please don’t get us started on the GRAPHICS. But overall, GoldenEye’s multiplayer is fantastic. Find yourself a copy of GoldenEye, some friends, and N64s with four controllers? You’ll never stop playing.
Cheque out Joe’s history lesson on how GoldenEye revolutionized gaming.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000)
| Genre | Action-Adventure |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
Majora’s Mask took everything players enjoyed about Ocarina of Time and flipped the script. Instead of exploring the vast open spaces of Hyrule field, players spend every minute of Majora’s three-day cycle inside the tiny, homicidal world of Termina. Instead of taking your time exploring eight dungeons at your own pace, players were now on a STRICT time limit enforced by the flying moon heading toward the planet. Instead of one transformation, Mask introduced players to THREE DIFFERENT LINK TRANSFORMATIONS! Deku Link is short and can float. Goron Link is incredibly strong… but super slow. Zora Link can run at max speed underwater but is equivalently as slow on land. Instead of one rewarding story, players are rewarded with DOZENS of NPC sub-stories that you could influence. Tell someone a lie? Players can even watch an NPC in Clock Town commit suicide because you were cruel.
What makes it untouchable: The balls it took for a developer to say “ you enjoyed Ocarina of Time? Let’s show you how much fun you can have when your world *might* end in three days.” Screw open worlds. Players spend more time TRAVELING to locations than they do playing actual challenges in Majora’s Mask. Skull Kid is traumatizing, and yet his relationship with Link makes complete sense? The modular level design. Christ, each individual dungeon in Majora’s Mask felt more detailed than whole games these days. And every playthrough felt meaningful because of how limited your time was. Satan sang statistics aside, nothing in Majora’s Mask was rushed. Sure, they asked you to play the same music over and over but every NPC had fleshed out stories.
Majora’s Mask had ambition.
Everyone loves or hates Majora’s Mask. But you can’t deny it tried something gamers were afraid to try at the time.
Read John’s fever dream of a written segment on why Majora’s Mask is truly incredible.
5. Perfect Dark (2000)
| Genre | First Person Shooter |
| Developer | Rare |
Released only TWO YEARS after GoldenEye, Rare didn’t say “We proved shooters could work on consoles. Time to make a NEW MARK III(title)” No. They said “ shooters can work on consoles. Now let’s SHOW YOU how they can work.”
Perfect Dark followed former CIA agent Joanna Dark as she took it upon herself to investigate conspiracy that alien technology has made it into the human world through major espionage. More mission objectives? Cheque. More guns? Cheque. Even more variation of enemies? Double cheque.
What Perfect Dark improved the most? GoldenEye’s multiplayer. While Perfect Dark kept the basic foundation GoldenEye laid out, they balanced the guns even better, added new gametypes, and even implemented a GAME- WITHIN-A-GAME system called Combat Simulator that allowed players to create their own multiplayer experiences.
What makes it un-touchable: Rare was at the TOP of their video game making powers. Not only had Perfect Dark blew GoldenEye’s graphics out of the water – they were on the same FREAKING SYSTEM. But the AI caught too! Enemies actually communicated with each other if they spotted someone. The creativity each weapon provided. Love tranquilizer darts? You got em. Mines? Sure. Rocket launcher? Great when you actually need one.
Between being able to create your own multiplayer experiences and how long it takes to 100% this game – Perfect Dark was everything GoldenEye promised it would be… just more.
Does it still hold up? We mentioned how perfect the multiplayer component is. Story may even be MORE fun than GoldenEye if you can stomach the fact your protagonist is a woman… fifteen years later. Perfect Dark was the game we wish COD4’s spiritual predecessor was, not Halo.
Cheque out Samuel’s breakdown of why Perfect Dark was better than GoldenEye.
6. Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
| Genre | Platformer |
| Developer | Rare |
Banjo-Kazooie perfected the idea of collecting random things before someone thought it’d be fun to copy the formula, botch it by throwing 500 useless collectables into 50 levels that serve absolutely no purpose, and call it a “collectathon.”
Banjo-Kazooie controls better than Super Mario 64 did AND focuses on getting players to explore these massive worlds THROUGH problem solving. Each world Banjo and Kazooie travel to are filled with shortcuts, secrets, hidden passages, and multiple ways to obtain each Jiggy.
Players can spend these Jiggies to unlock new paths on the world map that unlocked shortcuts and find new paths. Find notes? Unlock new paths. Find honeycombs? Increase your overall health. Discover Mystical Tokens? Gain the ability for Banjo to transform into different animals to access new areas. Think: termite, pumpkin head, crocodile, walrus, ostrich, and MORE!
What makes it untouchable: Banjo-Kazooie was magical. Yeah there were a ton of useless collectables you had to find but some were blatant and you had to use your environmental awareness and experiment. Each boss battle had you hone your platforming skills. They weren’t cheap or frustrating. That sense of accomplishment you felt after beating Grunty? FUCKING PERFECT. And the comedy? Rare never met a joke they didn’t love. Some were downright awful, but most of them were GoldenEye levels of funny.
Does it still hold up? Graphically it looks like crap, but Banjo-Kazooie plays as solid as they come. Platforming is amazing, controls are on point, and every world has so much content you’ll never feel like you are grinding for dull fetch quests.
<TIMOTHY’S LOVE LETTER TO BANJO-KAZOOIE AS HE REPLAYS THE GAME TO SEE WHY IT’S THE BEST COLLECTION GAME EVER.>
7. Star Fox 64 (1997)
| Genre | On-Rails Shooter |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
Star Fox 64 took everything players loved about the SNES predecessor and refined it to near perfection. The OPTIONAL Rumble Pak controller attachment allowed players to feel every explosion and collision. Something that at the time sounded utterly ridiculous but was groundbreaking as hell. Players now had the option to take varying paths through each level that would allow you take the most direct route or explore and find shortcuts and hidden items. Bosses were toned way harder. Each member of Fox’s team had their own distinguishable personality. Fox was your typical fierce leader. Falco was a hardcore asshole. Slippy was insecure about his intelligence. And Peppy? OLD MAN PEPPY became your personal hype man.
As soon as you took control of an Arwing through those insanely detailed levels, you realised being on rails didn’t LIMIT your movements – it ALLOWED you to focus on fighting.
What makes it untouchable: Rare understood even though you were playing an “on rails shooter” it didn’t mean it had to be linear. Each level were designed in such a way that rewarded you for learning shortcuts and being smart with your piloting skills. Dodge enemy attacks? Learn their attack patterns and punish them when they leave themselves open. Each boss battle taught you how to control your movements with your offensive attacks. Every branch had incentives that wanted you to play through levels again and again. Don’t forget, Star Fox never took itself seriously. Arcade perfection.
Does it still hold up? Yes. But you need the Rumble Pak to truly experience this game. Modern shooters are way more technical, but Star Fox showed elegance in its executions outperforms games obsessed with stuffing your面包!
Joe’s breakdown of how Star Fox mastered arcade shooter mechanics.
8. Mario Kart 64 (1996)
| Genre | Racing |
| Developer | Nintendo EAD |
Mario Kart 64 didn’t improve on the formula established by Super Mario Kart on the SNES, it perfected it. Super Mario Kart was great but MK64 took everything players loved about the formula and turned it into a 3D masterpiece while making it even MORE polished than its predecessor. Choose from eight characters to race through near groundbreaking 3D tracks while experimenting with different racing styles each racer provides. Choose battle mode for some weird bonus assassination game where the goal is to NOT finish first, but destroy everyone with your weapons.
Item distribution is near flawless. Got hit by a red shell that’s homing towards your butt? Cheque. Blue shell suddenly appears from nowhere to kill the person in first place? YUP. Green shell that sticks to walls then launches you straight into the air? OF COURSE!
What makes it untouchable: Mario Kart games will forever live on because local multiplayer destroyed friendships JUST AS MUCH as it did when you were playing this game twenty years ago. Modern gaming is way too focused on online multiplayer, so games like Mario Kart reminds us how fun it was to have FRIENDS sitting RIGHT NEXT YOU. Learning the tracks taught you how to take each track’s optimal racing lines – then once you learned those you started experimenting with shortcuts. Item distribution was balanced perfectly. Anyone can win – regardless of how skilled you are.
And don’t even get us started on the tracks themselves. Simple enough for new players to enjoy like Mario Raceway, but technical enough for veterans like Bowser’s Castle that’ll make you rage quit.
Does it still hold up? Yes! Besides graphically looking like a pile of donkey dung, Mario Kart 64’s races feel just as tight as they did back in the day. They may be less technical, but Mario Kart 64 taught us elegance in games is ALWAYS better than having a laundry list of features.
<SAMUEL’S RETROSPEC ON HOW ITEM DISTRIBUTION IN MK64 WAS PERFECTLY UNFAIR.>
9. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000)
| Genre | Platformer |
| Developer | Nintendo 64DD / Hal Laboratory |
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is one of those games that everybody seems to forget about, but truly shouldn’t. Not only could Kirby gain powers by inhaling enemies, but players could ALSO combine two powers to make entirely new ones. Rock+bomb? Got it. Sword+ beam? Sure, why not. Ice attack+wind? HOLY FUCK DO YOU Realise HOW GOOD THAT COMBO IS?? ?
Learn how to combine these elements to not only defeat bosses, but discover secret areas in Kirby 64 you didn’t even know existed.
What makes it untouchable: Kirby 64 didn’t give a single fuck about being anything players didn’t want it to be. It never tried to be dark, it didn’t test your patience, and it understood the joy in simply enjoying yourself. Kirby 64 was just a platformer about a pink rainbow ball of defeat who sucks stuff up for power, and it executes everything about that ideology TO AN ASTONISHING degree. Combo system was simple, yet created insane depth both for gameplay and how you explored each world. Learn how to utilize these elements correctly to defeat bosses, but use them together to discover secrets. Each level were so detailed you actually felt guilty when you just ran straight through them.
Boss battles didn’t just serve as obstacles either, they taught you how to use your elemental attacks in unique ways.
Kirby 64 didn’t need to be ground-breaking, it just needed to be a fun as hell platformer and it did THAT better than any other platformer at the time.
Does it still hold up? Look at these pre-rendered backgrounds. Graphically it’s gorgeous. Limited by technology, artists HAD to be creative when designing each area. Read about how Pokemon pushed the limit of how many pixels they could use to create their sprites and you’ll learn why they evolved that system. Kirby and the guys understood this same formula and implemented it into how you explored each world through its combo system. The results? A gorgeous game that NEVER felt bloated.
10. Paper Mario (2000)
| Genre | RPG |
| Developer | Intelligent Systems |
As amazing as Ocarina of Time was, Nintendo finally proved they could tell quality stories through RPGs with Paper Mario. Instead of exploring an open field, Paper Mario took place on flat-ass 2D planes that look like doodles. But that’s because the world you explore is just as vast as Ocarina’s. Battles happen in real time rather than menu selections – teaching you how to TIME your attacks and blocks to be as efficient as possible.
Your faithful companions all have their own unique personalities that complement your play style. Even the story itself! I don’t want to spoil anything but playing Paper Mario will actually make you feel emotions.
What makes it untouchable: Graphically, Paper Mario had some of the best voice acting out of any Nintendo platformer during the era. Each kid had such dynamic personalities you actually loved going on adventures with them. EVERY battle was just as fun as the last because YOUR choices mattered. This game wasn’t about going from plot prompter to plot marker, you explored a world by interacting with EVERYTHING and learned where YOU wanted to go. Bosses had personality too. Bowser was STILL a threat, but he felt more like an actual character with motivations that grew as your adventure did.
Paper Mario perfected the art of storytelling through gaming.
Can’t be perfected?
Paper Mario.
The game Thousand Year Door would build off of was flawless.
The Games That Almost Made The Cut – And Why We’ll Never Stop Fighting About Them
Deciding on these games was tough enough. But trying to leave off games that we all agreed were great was INSANE!
* Donkey Kong Country 2 – wait never mind that’s SNES.
* Diddy Kong Racing – some of us argued this game was better than MK64.
* F-Zero X – arguably the best tracks and fastest racer on the system.
* Conker’s Bad Fur Day – It had ambition way before everyone shat on it for turning horrible.
* Extreme-G – was a futuristics fighter that also took place on RACES.
Wave Race 64 – Created the most fun arcade water physics.
* Kirby’s Air Ride – Weird game failed on every level as a game but had great ambition.
We spent months yelling at each other about all these games. Sam would argue for days that the tracks they designed for F-Zero X taught you how to truly race. John refused to accept anyone’s opinion but his and he would scream until he was blue in the face that if Conker didn’t make the list, we’d never speak to him again. Tim actually cried one time because everyone was sleeping on Kirby 64 and it should’ve been higher on the list. Joe even went as far to say that Diddy Kong Racing was MORE balanced than Mario Kart 64.
Several of us got temporarily banned from speaking for long periods of time because Carl knew nothing was getting solved if we didn’t cool off.
But these ten games are what we feel best symbolize what made Nintendo’s 64-bit fighter so special. Each title defined categories of gaming that the N64 excelled at and each game left an impact on gaming that continued on through the next generation of consoles.
Go ahead Nintendo fan boys, hate on our list. Tell us how we’re idiots for leaving your favorite game off. We can take it. We spent months bickering at each other over this fucking list.
Just know, you’ll NEVER change our minds.
Look at John go on a rant about how Paper Mario was his favorite game for the N64.
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