System Wars Lounge V. N64

C'mon, it's only fair. The 64th lounge has to be dedicated to the system that Super Mario 64 built, and had countless other classics like Conker, Smash Bros, and that game about the stupid elf and his horse. Ah N64, back when Nintendo consoles could be failures and have awesome games at the same time, an age that lasted up until the GameCube.

What are your favorite N64 memories? What reasons do you have for agreeing it's worse than the PS1? Three prongs were the most stupid idea ever? I agree.

Rules:

1) No biting

2) No punching

3) NO VIRTUAL BOY

Best lounge

Duh.

Best memory was buying the N64 at launch 1996 and playing the two launch games, especially Mario 64 for days on end.

Worst memory was finally getting bored of those two games and seeing there was no new games to buy for a month for my new N64 until finally the N64 got a late Playstation port of Mortal Kombat Trilogy...which I already owned. A month later (two months) I got Killer Instinct Gold which ended up being a disappointment compared to the first game.

I would have gotten Wave Race 64 out of boredom, but I dislike racing games. I love fighting games, and back then Fighting games were HUGE and it was a big craze. It still annoys me that I got no street fighters or Marvel Vs. Capcom games on the N64. People have a hard time remembering how big fighting games were. They were on the cover of magazines, something else people in the digital age forget existed. We needed those magazines back then for intel on our machines!

By the end of the year, there was 8 games to buy, but I didn't like any of them (other than the four above). However, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire came out before Xmas and that relieved some pain of the N64 drought. Feb 1997 we got Mario Kart 64, which although I don't like racing, I was desperate for some kick ass quality titles on my N64. I enjoyed that game with friends.

Meanwhile the Sega Saturn and especially the Sony Playstation were starting to take off. It think though 1997-8, I remember more fondly in that generation for all three systems.

Also, idk if the N64 was a failure. A disappointment? Sure, and also a complete also ran in the race with the PlayStation. But it still sold 1 unit for every 3 the PS1 did, was a viable console with its own library of games that could not be missed, did extremely well in North America (only narrowly losing out to PlayStation there, actually), was strong in entire genres and types of games that the PS1 completely lacked, and generally was just the other side of the console experience that the PS1 provided. i think, I already said this in another thread, but I stand by it, I think that generation was the last generation when you needed both consoles to have the complete experience of console gaming.

A longe i have nothing to say, but i hope you have fun.

Worst title no offense. I'd rather a Nintendo DS themed lounge.

64 is a number, and the lounge version number we are on.

DS is not a number.

@charizard1605: I'm aware of that lol. But still DS is a much better system to discuss in my humble opinion. Never mind me carry on

deez nuts

my best memory for n64 was playing super Mario 64 and Mario kart 64.

Officially bummed...

Diddy Kong Racing 4 Life.

Ocarina of Time was amazing. 120 starred Mario 64 and was mostly fun. Chose DKR over MK64 and beat adventure 2 and had lots of fun.

@nintendoboy16: goddamn that sucks. I watch CGR, especially Undertow, a lot.

@Blabadon: Same, I've even been hanging out on the site (though the forums aren't that active anymore) to get away from insanity here.

Smash Bros and Pokemon Stadium. I remember putting my Pokemon Red game into the transfer pak and playing it on the big screen. Good times.

Ocarina of Time consumed my life.

It's funny, cause I hated that game lol

I'm seeing pics on Twitter and Black Ops III on PS3/360 look worse than the Wii versions of CoD games. I kid you not. Look them up.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw them, they really do.

Time to retire the old consoles.

Wow, I didn't even think about this, I'm glad you thought about it though @Blabadon

Now, back to being inactive. LOL

I'm also honored that SW still uses the naming convention from years ago.

Also, one last thing.

I was bored between classes the other day, so I decided to look up my username on this website and see how many people had mentioned my name in their posts. Most of the posts were good things about me. I'm honored to have support and an impact on one of my favorite online communities.

But when I saw a few that were written by jonwh18 and inb4uall (I know they are the same guy), I shed a manly tear.

verbtex is fat

Oh my... Great Nintendo console. Most annoying controller in the world, but so many great games. Mario 64 consumed many months of my childhood.

Finished Masters Quest a few weeks back, not a fan of some of the re-designed puzzles, less "logical thinking" and more "random".

Would have created exactly this lounge myself if nobody stepped forward.

Great minds something something.

Favourite Super Mario 64 moment:

Running around in Course 1, trying to collect 100 coins. Expected a 1-up mushroom 'cause it's Mario tradition (and one that's not really necessary this time around) only for the game to give me a power star instead. I didn't even expect to find 100 coins, so pulling it off was a bit of a surprise and a reward by itself. Then, seeing the star come out of nowhere, it was as if the game was saying "We didn't expect you to do that, but holy crap, you did it. It was a pretty cool feat, honestly, so here's something for the trouble." Probably the coolest 'secret' I ever discovered in my time playing video games.

Experienced enough to know that I'm actually supposed to do that in most games, so I don't think I can ever get that same feeling again. The feeling that you're truly unbound, free to do whatever you want (within the confines of the game). That feeling you get when that adventure you put yourself up to ends in a great way you never expected. Just hard to beat. Makes me sad that achievements and The Checklist remove any and all subtlety by straight-up telling you that you're supposed to do that, denying newer gamers that very same feeling I got nearly 20 years ago. Not that most games even in those days had a sense of subtlety. Donkey Kong 64 put a looooot in your face that you couldn't touch until half-way through, for example.

They also make it a pain in the ass these days. Stop doing that, game devs.

Mario 64 was the last "OMG I just shit my pants" moment in gaming. I may have peed a little when I saw SoulCalibur when Dreamcast launched, but it wasn't quite the shock as the first time I saw Mario 64. After that I sucked at pretty much every game that came out on the system. Goldeneye, I was awful. Mario Kart 64, terrible, Cruisn' USA, Shadows of the Empire, all of the wrestling games, and even Mario Party. My friends kicked my ass at all of them. But I still had an insane amount of fun with the system and I still play it almost weekly to this day. My wife and I, before we started dating actually "bonded" over Mario 64 DS when it came out and that's when we found out that we had gaming in common. And of course she is better than me at Mario 64....... Thank goodness for shooters and sports games. They gave me my man card back.

Real talk, Paper mario is the best 64 game.

I have nothing to contribute.

Actually, reading what the average OTer thinks of political issues and current hot topics is killing my brain cells.

Off Topic:

1. Religious bashing 2. Police bashing 3. Snarky posts

Water Temple?

saw this in my youtube watch later list and it really bummed me out

Man, I played the ever loving shit out of my n64. That system had so many great games that probably aged terribly

N64 is probably my favorite console, and the last console I got before I migrated to the PC.

Meaning I went from Sega (Mega Drive>SNES, especially for Europe)->Nintendo (N64 baby)->PC (All those strategy games meant I could never look back)

Yup,

A good chunk of the satisfaction from doing things, came from the fact that they were hidden from you until you did them... so to speak. And they were set up as direct goals for you to do.

Killing Lord British in every single Ultima game would have been a lot less satisfying if there was an achievement for it.

But anyway... my top ten 64 games:

10. Pokemon Stadium

9. Super Mario 64

8. Star Fox 64

7. Pokemon Stadium 2

6. Majora's Mask

5. Gauntlet: Legends

4. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

3. Goldeneye

2. Perfect Dark

1. Ocarina of Time

I recently found two of them while digging around in some boxes lol.

Love my N64. Was my first legit console.

I did have a Sega Saturn. It came from Korea as a present and I didn't research what it was back then, so I wasn't sure. I think it is now though, but I had only three games on it and it broke pretty quickly.

Also screw Fifth Ark in FF13. Jesus that place drove me nuts. Dragged on FOREVER with lots of repeating elements and some of the enemies were crazy. Then again I tend to auto attack and not do any buffs until the game gives me a hint that it's not going to fly at some point. That place was probably the devs way to tell me to stop doing that lol.

Normally around end game you can start to do that again, at least when you aren't fighting the post game super bosses.

[copy/paste from Retro Gaming forum related to N64]

Nintendo 64:

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
3. Super Smash Bros.
4. Mario 64
5. Mario Party 3
6. Star War: Rogue Squadron
7. Pokemon Stadium/2
8. 007: Goldeneye
9. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
10. Star Fox 64

[Honorable Mentions: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, F-Zero, Perfect Dark, Hercules, Glover 64, Bombarman 64, Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Puzzle League, Mario Tennis, Kirby: The Crystal Shards, Diddy Kong Racing, Wave Race 64, Konkey Kong 64, and Mario Kart 64]

"Good isn't good enough for Bungie" lol what a lie.

dude, that video was so depressing. bungie used to be cool :(

My greatest gaming memories are from the N64.

There has never been any other game that has made my jaw hit the floor in amazement like Super Mario 64.

There has never been any other game that I have been addicted to as much as Ocarina of Time; it consumed my life until I beat it.

And I have never had more fun than I had playing the N64's great multiplayer games with friends. Such great memories; I feel sorry for anybody that never got to experience the N64's multiplayer. Some people say that they did not like the N64 because of the game droughts, but I never had a problem with it because the N64's multiplayer games were so good that they were fun to play for the entire generation. My friends and I played games like Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros, Mario Party, No Mercy, and Conker's Bad Fur Day for years and always had a lot of fun and laughs with them every single time we played them.

@Blabadon I always thought William's disdain for Uncharted was laughable, given how many things he likes that are a thousand times shittier than Uncharted 2, nevermind his love for something as generic as Dragon Age Origins, which has no defense what so ever for how fucking derivative it is, and that it's a basically a bastard child parading itself around as a crpg, when it's not. But now I'm beginning to see it

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/warren-spector-twdheavy-rainuncharted-4-are-more-m-32728234/#57

I'm beginning to see the root of his displeasure, childish as it maybe, that uncharted fanbase is fucking stupid. "So now mario is a bad game" counter argument is like ....bitch do you know how to read? Fucking baboons man. Scum of the earth.

@jg4xchamp: fact is a lot of Uncharted fans are forever doomed to being Sony ponies. Just imagine the alternate universe where Uncharted games are Microsoft exclusives and get shat on by Sony fans.

It would be glorious.

Edit: reading it now, holy fucking strawmen

Favorite N64 games:

1. Super Mario 64
2. Mario Party
3. Star Fox 64
4. Diddy Kong Racing
5. Pilot Wings 64
6. BomberMan 64
7. Waverace 64
8. Super Smash Bros
9. Yoshi's Story
10. Turok Dinosaur Hunter

Super Mario 64 being far and away first place.

Ah the N64, Nintendos last amazing console.

kind of off-topic, but can anyone advice me a racing wheel for 350$?