ITB with AB #8: Nintendo 64 or 64 Reasons Why Gaming Is Awesome

What's in the Box:

Hello everyone! This week inside the box I share my top 15 favorite games from the amazing gaming console that was the Nintendo 64.

Game Box:

This has definitely been one of the funnest lists I've worked on since starting up the blog. It has brought up a lot of fun memories from when I was younger and really has me wanting to play all of these games again. What I did notice that surprised me was the fact that I only actually owned 3 of these games. All of the others were games that I rented over and over or played at a friends house. With that being said here is my Top 15 N64 games.  

15. Rampage World Tour (1997): Did you ever want to experience what it would be like to be Godzilla or King Kong? Well than this was the game for you. In Rampage World Tour your goal is to destroy cities buy smashing buildings and eating people. The game was for up to 3 players and the playable characters were a giant lizard, gorilla, and werewolf.
 

14. WWF No Mercy (2000): To this day No Mercy still might be the best wrestling game I've ever played. At the time when I was playing this I wasn't really a wrestling fan but I was aware of who some of the biggest names were. I played this a lot at a friends house but when I got to college I picked this game up pretty cheap during a time when I did watch wrestling a lot. Although my interest has faded quite a bit it's still fun to pop this game into the system now and again.

13. Mario Tennis (2000): This was just a very fun tennis game with all of our favorite characters from the Mario universe. They attempted to recreate the fun on the Gamecube but they added extra elements that took away from the original fun.

12. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998): To be honest I don't remember a whole lot about this game other than the fact that you got to fly all of the different star fighters from the Star Wars Universe. That fact alone made this game freaking awesome! This was one of my frequent rentals from Blockbuster back in the day. You get to fly the Star Wars ships!!!

11. Diddy Kong Racing (1997): This is the first game on my list that I owned during the hay day of the 64. Although not as good as Mario Kart 64 these two games can't really be compared. Diddy Kong Racing featured more of an adventure style story mode and also featured one on one boss battles and racing modes that feature airplanes and hovercrafts in addition to karts. Two of the racers from this game would go on to be featured characters in other games on the counsel (Conker and Banjo).

10. Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001): So I should clarify that I have never actually played the story mode of this game. I only ever watched a friend play it. I did hover play the multi-player which was equally as awesome. The story mode for this game was insane and all I remember is a tone of movie spoofs and a giant shit monster that you had to throw rolls of toilet paper at to defeat. The multi-player pitted squirrels vs teddy bears in all out war. The best part was if you used the samurai sword on the teddy bears instead of blood their bodies gushed foam stuffing.

9. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (2000): These two games were so much fun and also featured amazing sound tracks. All though a third game did come out on the 64 as well it wasn't as enjoyable for me as the first two. These games also featured some awesome cheat codes and other game modes like S-K-A-T-E which was a version of H-O-R-S-E.

8. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996): This game was so much fun but it did have one serious problem. You couldn't see shit. This game came out four months after the release of the system and the graphics weren't great. However that didn't matter because this was an awesome first person shooter. You play as Dash Rendar and the events take place in between the events of the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In this game Dash takes on everything from a yeti to Boba Fett himself. Oh and did I mention you have to take on an AT-ST on foot! If you can get over the fact that the graphics looked pretty bad even back then it's an amazing game and any Star Wars fan has to get their hands on it.

7. Mario Kart 64 (1996): Hours among hours of fun...for the one or two buddies you play with that are crazy good at this game. This game might not ruin your friendships but it will for sure make everyone hate each other for awhile. If you really want to get mad at your friends you can try out the battle mode.

6. Super Mario 64 (1996): Although I didn't own this game I did borrow it and really enjoyed the game. The graphics and 3 dimensional universe look amazing but at times the camera could be a real burden to the game play. It caused me to fall of smaller ledges a lot but this wasn't the only adventure game that suffered from camera problems. All in all this was a solid game and nothing was more fun than finding a flying cap, doing the triple jump, and flying around the maps.

5. Mario Party 1-3 (99, 2000, 2001): These 3 alone are maybe the best party games ever! After number 3 the games started to fall off a bit but these early ones were so awesome. Hours and hours of fun these are just like board games on drugs.

4. Banjo Kazooie (1998): This is the second of three games on this list that I owned. While I never actually beat it on the 64, I did beat it last year when I downloaded the game on Xbox Live arcade. The game still lived up to what I remembered it to be and it features a lot of fun characters and funny dialogue.

3. GoldenEye 007 (1997): This game is still hands down of of the best first person shooters ever made. The story is very fun and follows the movie pretty well but the multi-players is where it is at. Featuring characters from the story mood as well as some of our other favorite henchmen from the Bond-verse. It also features weapons from other movies from the franchise including the Golden Gun which kills in one shot and the ray gun from Moonraker. Just don't play with someone who dominates with the throwing knife because that will make you hate your friends.

2. Super Smash Bros. (1999): One of the greatest fighting games of all time! Link vs Samus Aran, Star Fox vs Pikachu, Mario vs Captain Falcon, these are just a few of the match-ups that can be contested in Super Smash Bros. The final boss in this game is a floating hand! How bonkers is that?

1. Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (1998): This game is the last on the list that I actually owned and it is a game that has a high replay value in my opinion. The game has different side quest that you don't have to complete to finish the game so of course I had to go and beat the game with and without completing the quests. This game at times suffers from the same camera problem that Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie have which is the fact that at times it isn't where you want or need it to be. Other than that the fighting system is easy to master and the story is very good.

Well there you have it. I hope that you all had some good memories spring up from reading this list as I had creating it. I do briefly want to share with you my Top 5 Nintendo GameCube games. What I will say is that this system didn't have anywhere near the impact that the N64 had with me but it still had some fun titles.

5. Star Fox Adventures (2002)

4. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2003)

3. Soul Calibur 2 (2003)

2. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)


Final Thoughts:

As always I want to thank everyone who reads this blog week in and week out. As always you can follow me on twitter (@acbach27) or email me at acbach27@gmail.com. This week I would like to leave all of you with a short poem. I hope you all enjoy and like always, Have a great weekend!!!

Goodbye Winter

by Adam Bach

The days of Spring are approaching fast,

And so Winter days are gone at last.

Now that the snow is below my knee,

All of the creatures jump with glee.

As we say goodbye to long cold days,

I wait patiently for warm Summer rays.