25th February 2011, 3:37 AM
Note - I mention when games are available on other platforms. If I say nothing, the game is N64 exclusive. Most of the games that I have are exclusives because the N64 had a lot of exclusive games.
I will list whether games save to cartridge or controller pak (memory card) because N64 controller paks don't hold much, and I think that it's important to know whether you'll need one for your game because of how much of a pain it can be. As a result I will also list how many blocks each controller pak save game uses to save. Remember that each controller pak has 123 pages (blocks), and can have a maximum of 16 notes (files) saved to it. I also list if games have Expansion Pak support or not. I won't bother listing everything with Rumble Pak support, because most games from mid '97 on support it, and it's not that big of a deal either way.
Also, this list is a work in progress. I only have reviews for A to C so far, and some of these need improvement.
It is mostly in alphabetical order, but I put series in order of release, instead of just in pure alphabetical order.
Complete List (above titles added in) - 127 games
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007: The World Is Not Enough - Good FPS from later in the N64's life. Good graphics, good gameplay, fun levels. The game is a blatant Goldeneye clone from Eurocom, but they did a fairly good job of it and the game's a pretty fun one. In high res this game really does look quite nice, this game probably has some of the better graphics in an N64 FPS. You have a nice variety of weapons and items to use too. This is a good game, recommended for N64 FPS fans and anyone who liked Goldeneye. Note that the PSX title of the same name is from a different developer and is completely different, and worse. Four player multiplayer. Expansion Pak support. Controller Pak saving (2 pages).
1080° Snowboarding - I like this game less than many people, but it is okay. I don't know, I just find it a little boring... I've never stuck with it long enough to finish the game, and it's a pretty short game. It is a quality game though. The graphics are reasonably good. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving.
AeroFighters Assault - This is the closest thing the N64 has to a flight sim, and it's thoroughly mediocre and disappointing. It's an arcadey flight combat game probably closer to Rogue Squadron than a flight sim, which would be fine if the game was actually fun. Unfortunately, it's not. The graphics are average, and the game simply isn't much fun. It's a fairly short game, but it gets frustrating later on and probably isn't worth the time. This is a sequel of sorts to the great early to mid '90s shmup series Aero Fighters, but unfortunately this game is nowhere near as good as those, genre shift aside. At least the two player versus mode is okay. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving.
Aero Gauge - Futuristic racing game where you fly through the air, instead of just hovering or driving on the ground. The graphics aren't very good, and look pretty outdated for a 1998 release. Lots of pixeley textures, the N64 can do much better than this. There's a lot of fog, too. The game has some good sized areas, but with all that fog around you really can only see what's close to you. They could have done better than this. The menus and interface are stylish and cool looking, though, and the music's fairly good, so some elements of the presentation are done well. This game got mostly poor reviews, and I can understand why, it is a flawed game. One thing to know is how to boost start; the game doesn't tell you how, you need the manual or internet, and you will never win a single race if you don't boost start every single time (hold down A+B before the race begins, let go of B after the announcer says 'set'). Turbo around corners (A+Z with left or right to powerslide; after powersliding let go of A and Z and then press A again to hopefully boost, if you did it right) is also important. There are no weapons or items in this game, and the six tracks are on the short side. The game mostly tries to make up for that with its very high difficulty level, which somewhat succeeds -- this is not an easy game. Unfortunately, the main result is just that it gets quite frustrating. I kind of like the game anyway, because flying racing games aren't very common and the game does some things right and is some fun to play, but I am a huge futuristic racing game fan. Non fans of the genre are unlikely to like the game, I think. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving, with controller pak support for ghost saves (93 pages per ghost, like Mario Kart 64 the cart can't save any ghosts, only controller paks, and it takes most of a controller pak to save one.). Do not have a controller pak plugged into controller 1 unless you're using it to save replays.
Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage - This epic RPG was a late N64 release in 2001, got poor reviews, and was forgotten. Unfortunately this game will never get the sequel that the title suggests there should be. While Aidyn Chronicles has some serious bugs (it can corrupt your save files, for instance! ALWAYS keep backups!) and is in some ways a deeply flawed game (if a character dies they're dead forever; make use of the save anywhere feature and save often, loading if anyone dies. Apparently they were going to have resurrection, but it was too buggy so it was removed late in development. Also, the character art is pretty bad.), Aidyn Chronicles is also a great game unlike anything else on the N64. The game is a complex, deep Western RPG, and it is a slow paced game as well, so it will take a long time to get used to the game and even longer to finish. The world is large and fun to explore -- I love the big overworld, the N64 does fairly large worlds well and the system is being used well here. There's a lot to explore, and finding your way around and finding the secrets is great. The controls are great. I particularly like the use of the analog stick and C-buttons in the menus, it works very well. The detail put into the game really is impressive, from the magic system to the world to the game design. The combat engine was inspired by Quest 64's, except it's improved here. The battle system is a good, strategic system where all characters appear on a map, with movement circles. You move your characters around, attacking the enemies with weapons or magic when in range. You do more damage attacking enemies from behind. Magic requires reagents, so you can't just cast spells as much as you want -- you have to be judicious about your use of magic. Spells early on aren't just fireballs and stuff too, you'll need to think more in this game. Your starting spells are things like shield, vs. necromancy, weakness, and strength -- useful spells, but subtle compared to fireballs or even Magic Missile. It works though. Enemies are visible in the overworld, so there are no random battles, which is fantastic. The story isn't incredibly original, but it's a good epic story of your hero's rise. And for once, no burning village; the hero sets off on his journey for a reason that is just as good, but is a little more unique. Yeah, despite its big problems, I really like this game. Just be warned, it is long and slow. Oh, and the framerate is pretty slow, though steady, particularly in High Res mode. This bothers some people, but not me; at least it's steady and doesn't jump up and down. The slow pace of gameplay also helps make the framerate matter less. Overall, Aidyn Chronicles is an incredibly ambitious games, in some ways one of the system's most ambitious games. It fails as much as it succeeds, and is very much a love or hate game, but if you can get into it you might get hooked for a long time. I think it's good. Expansion Pak enhanced (use High Res mode!). Controller Pak required to save (28 pages per save file). One player.
All-Star Baseball '99 - Decent baseball game from Acclaim also on Playstation. Controller Pak required to save (100+ pages).
Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. - Acclaim FPS. It got bad reviews, unlike Acclaim's other N64 FPSes, the Turok series. This is Acclaim's only N64 FPS that also was released on the Playstation (the first two Turok games had PC ports, but not PSX), but reviews of that port say that it's quite a bit worse than the N64 version. I believe it, the game, clearly running on the Turok engine, uses the power of the system and wouldn't downgrade well. I actually think this game is decent, despite the reviews. I love N64 FPS controls, Turok-style FPS controls are the best console FPS controls ever, in my sure to be lonely opinion. Armorines is a straightforward, linear FPS running in the Turok engine, where you shoot lots of bug alien invaders, solve some simple puzzles as you explore each area trying to figure out how to progress to the next one, and then shoot more bugs and move on. It's simple, but fun enough that I can enjoy myself, and the graphics are reasonably nice though not the greatest. You can play as a male or female character. The game has four player versus mode multiplayer, and a two player co-op option in the campaign, which is pretty cool. Expansion Pak enhanced. Controller Pak required to save (2 pages).
Army Men: Air Combat - Army Men Air Combat is a port of the Playstation game Army Men Air Attack. It is improved over the original version, with four player multiplayer, better graphics, and more. This series was 3DO's attempt to take on EA's Strike series, and I think it worked pretty well. This is probably one of the better Army Men games, and I like the game. You fly around, in a top-down perspective where you do not have actual 3d control (no control over height you're flying), shooting enemies and turrets, picking up powerups, etc. Graphics are nice enough, game is a lot of fun. The only real negatives are that it's a bit easy and too short, but it's fun while it lasts. Four player multiplayer. Controller Pak required to save (1 page).
Banjo-Kazooie - This game is one of the all-time classic 3d platformers, and it is indeed a great game. It isn't my favorite Rare 3d platformer, but it is a great one that deserves most of the praise it has recieved. The graphics are quite good, the game is well designed in both general game design and levels, and there's a lot to do. I do dislike how you have to re-collect notes and such each time you go into a level unless you get all of them, though. You can be in a level without a power you'll need to get all 100 notes, but you don't know it and start collecting them... only to realize some time later you wasted your time and will need to do it again later. It's quite annoying. Other than that though, this game is pretty good. Rare's first 3d platformer is still a great game. It is also on XBox 360 Live Arcade, but I haven't played that version so I can't compare them. One player, on cart saving.
Banjo-Tooie - The sequel to the previous game, bigger and better than the first one in most respects. Tooie is a pretty good game. It doesn't repeat the first game's problems, and has some pretty cool levels too. It's not as original as the first game, though, and some people dislike the multiple characters you now have. I don't mind that, but I did find it kind of annoying at some points and haven't finished the game, despite owning it for many years (since 2002, I believe). The game has some framerate problems -- they simply tried too much for the unenhanced N64, I really wish that this game had had Expansion Pak support, I think it needed it. Some parts have some bad framerate drops. Still, the game is great overall. Like the first game it is also on XBox 360 Live Arcade, but I haven't played those versions so I can't compare them. Four player (battle mode and minigames for multiplayer), oncart saving.
BattleTanx - I did an Lttp thread about this game. It's great fun, the first of 3DO's tank action games and still well worth playing. It does have issues, though, most prominently with the quite mediocre graphics. The game is short too, just like its sequel. There are just three kinds of tanks in the game, so there's not much variety. The post-apocalyptic story is simple. Multiplayer was the focus here. Fortunately, it's incredibly fun to drive around and shoot stuff. Buildings crumble as you shoot them. Levels are large and a lot of fun to navigate and are full of enemies, obstacles, and buildings, many of which you can level. This game's good. Four player multiplayer (various versus modes). Controller Pak to save (1 page).
BattleTanx: Global Assault - The sequel to the above game, and better than it in every way. The story is better, there are a lot more tanks, the campaign is longer (though still short and easy), there are more maps, more modes, more control options, and more. I really loved this game, it's one of the better multiplayer games on the N64. My only complaint is that I wish there was a sequel, because this game ends with a cliffhanger that was never resolved. Bah! Still though, BTGA is fantastic. There was a later Playstation version of the game, but it's got new story scenes, entirely redesigned levels (completely different level maps), and more. It's nowhere near as good as the N64 version and is two player only. N64 BTGA has a two player co-op campaign, and four player versus modes. Controller Pak to save (1 page).
Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs - This isn't like the '80s arcade classic, but instead is the only console game based off of the late '90s PC series of the same title. The concept is that it is the Cold War, and the US and USSR are fighting a secret war on the moon between forces they have landed there. Yeah, cool concept.:) Activision tried to bring back Battlezone, but as a strategy/FPS/RTS hybrid, like some titles from 3DO and Microsoft such as Uprising. There were two games on the PC, but only this one on consoles, which is an original title and not a port. The game is simplified from the PC original, understandably, given that it is on a console and needs to use a gamepad instead of keyboard and mouse (and Battlezone had complex controls, using lots of keyboard keys for various stuff). You can drive around and shoot enemies, but you also have to build a base, build units, and give them orders in your efforts to defeat the enemy. The controls work on the N64, but are complex and they will take a while to get used to. Once you do though it's a pretty good game. The graphics are just average, but do the job. There is also a shooting-only arcade mode, but the strategy mode is the core of the game. Four player multiplayer. Controller Pak required to save (1 page). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Beetle Adventure Racing - A very popular classic racing game from Paradigm and EA. The game plays like a hybrid between San Francisco Rush and Need for Speed, and is about as great as that sounds. I think that the Rush series is better than BAR, no question, but BAR is pretty good too. The tracks, while few, are huge and lots of fun to drive around and explore. There are lots of shortcuts, and the visuals are good. Controller Pak required to save (4 pages). Two player only in multiplayer race mode, four players in battle mode.
Big Mountain 2000 - This little-known skiing/snowboarding game is actually my favorite winter sports game on the N64. Big Mountain 2000 is a port of a two years older Japanese title, so the graphics are not exactly the best, but I think that the great gameplay makes up for it. BM2k is a simple, straightforward, and racing-centric game -- this is not an SSX or even 1080 style trick-centric game, but a game that really is about the racing. The controls are just about perfect, and are exactly the way I would want them to be for a game of this kind. There is a very minimal trick component, where you can do tricks off of specific jumps if you want, but it doesn't get you anything of note and there is no stunt mode. I am entirely fine with this, I always prefer race to stunt mode in 1080 and SSX games (indeed, the half pipes are usually my most hated "tracks" in those games...). The game is somewhat short, with just four mountains, but there are three races on each mountain as you have a normal race down and two different races where you need to go between the flags (with different layouts for each of the two races of course). There is also a reverse mode, after you beat the normal. I got hooked by this game and played it quite a bit until finishing it. It's fun to just race down the mountain. Two player multiplayer. On-cart saving.
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. - Arcade port fighting game from Midway, also ported to Playstation. Unlike earlier Midway N64 fighters, this one actually supports saving, which is great. You've got ridiculous character designs, decent graphics for the system, and more. You've got multi-tiered arenas, your usual Midway fatalities, etc. The characters can fly too, so it's got air and ground combat. All characters have both projectile and melee attacks. It is a 5th gen 3d fighting game, though, so it's not exactly anywhere near the mark 6th gen 3d fighters hit. It's a bit slow for instance, like so many N64 games. Still, for an N64 3d fighter, not bad. It's got an in-game moves list (one of the only N64 fighting games with that!), too. The gameplay's only above average -- it definitely is not exactly balanced, which hurts, and it's a bit slow -- but the featureset in the game is pretty good. Two player. Controller pak to save (3 pages).
Blast Corps - Blast Corps is an early N64 Rare game. The game is both original and brilliant, and, despite the many incredible games that Rare made for the system, still stands as one of their best. The graphics are poor, first gen work, but the incredibly fun gameplay makes up for it. In Blast Corps, you have to destroy all the buildings that are in the way of a runaway nuclear missile carrier which cannot stop. If it hits anything, it explodes. You control a variety of different vehicles in your destructive work. The game is essentially an action/puzzle game, and figuring out the fastest and best way to beat each level is both a lot of fun and very challenging. There are medals, and you unlock bunus stages, and the ability to try for platinum medals, if you manage to get all the gold medals. Good luck there, the difficulty is crazy. In addition to the destroying, there are also occasional bonus stages where you do other stuff, and some racing levels where you do some top down racing. It's a great, great game. Controller pak or internal save. One player. Note that the game will give an error message ("foreign object detected in controller pak port" or something) if you have a rumble pak plugged in, and you cannot access the internal save unless you do NOT have a controller pak plugged in. Also, if the space is available, the game will automatically make four 10-14 page notes on your memory card to save onto. So, before playing Blast Corps, make sure to remove anything from your controller's accessory port!
Body Harvest - Body Harvest is an interesting N64 on foot and vehicular combat game from the same studio as Grand Theft Auto. The game suffered years of delays, originally being planned as an early N64 game but not coming out until 1998. It saw a publisher change too, as Nintendo dropped the game during development and it was picked up by Midway. In the game, you, a time travelling soldier, have to fight off a bug alien invasion (what it it about N64 alien invasions so often being bugs... Starship Troopers or something?) that is affecting many different time periods. The graphics are first-generation poor, and the controls are just okay. The main hook is that you can control many different kinds of vehicles during the game, different ones during each time period. Like in GTA (except before any 3d GTA games), you can jump in and out of the vehicles at will. It's a good game, but I don't love it and always lose interest after a while. I haven't actually gotten too far in this game as a result. One player, on-cart saving.
Bomberman 64 - Bomberman 64 is the first Bomberman game of four on the N64, and it is to this day still the only full, Mario 64-inspired open 3d world Bomberman 3d platformer. All Bomberman 3d platformers after it followed much more linear designs, and the Gamecube ones don't even have 3d multiplayer, just the usual 2d grid stuff. Bomberman 64 was different. The game is very, very difficult, too difficult I would say, but it's a very good game. I do need to say though, the graphics are mediocre at best. Don't expect a lot from this game. It's just good enough to get by, but nothing above that. It's clearly first gen work. My other main complaint is that there is an entire sixth world in the main game that you can only access by getting ALL of the golden tickets (this game's equivalent to Mario 64's stars). ARGH! Some of those tickets are very hard to get... I've never seen world six. It's pretty annoying, I've heard it's cool. :( Even so though, I like the game a lot. The levels are fun to explore and well designed, and there's a lot to do in the game. This game is pretty good. The bossfights are a challenge too, but often fun. The multiplayer is great, too. The maps are actually 3d, and instead of cross explosions like classic Bomberman, are circular like in the single player game. This is the only 3d Bomberman game where normal bombs explode in circular blasts in multiplayer mode; The 2nd Attack also has 3d arenas, but cross bombs (super bombs excepted, those have round blasts), and the two GC/PS2 games have, as I said, the classic 2d style of gameplay only for their multiplayer, though their single players are (poor, subpar) linear-path 3d platformers. Thus in both single and multi player, Bomberman 64 is an original game unlike anything else in the series. 3d platformer and Bomberman fans who haven't played it should try it. Four players. On-cart saving, though if you want to save a custom multiplayer character (a unique look for your multiplayer character, made up of parts you unlock in the main game), you'll need to save that character to a memory card, so you can bring it to a friends' and use it there, I assume. Each of those character files are one page.
Bomberman Hero - Bomberman Hero actually started out as a Bonk game. When I learned this suddenly this game made a lot more sense to me, because at the time I thought that Bomberman Hero was pretty strange for a Bomberman game. It has no multiplayer, it's linear and you just follow a path instead of wandering around larger worlds like in Bomberman 64, and you mostly throw bombs instead of just dropping them. Well, it didn't start out as Bomberman. The game's alright, with some fun linear-cooridor 3d platforming challenge and Bomberman 64-esque boss battles. The graphics aren't much improved over Bomberman 64, but oh well. It's not the game people expected it to be, but it's an okay to good game even so. One player, on-cart saving.
Buck Bumble - Buck Bumble is a 3d flight combat game where you control a heavily armed bee. You fly around, killing enemies and doing missions. The graphics are okay at best, nothing special, and the gameplay's no competition for Factor 5's Star Wars games. It's a good game I guess, though not great. Lots of fog. Four players, controller pak to save (3 pages).
Bust-A-Move '99 - BAM '99 is a port of the arcade game Bust-A-Move 3. It was also on PSX and Saturn. Compared to the other versions, the N64 has a plus and a minus. On the good side, the game has an N64-exclusive four player splitscreen multiplayer mode. There's no music in 3 or 4 player mode, but still it's and awesome feature to have, and this is still one of only a very few BAM games with a 4 player splitscreen mode. On the downside, some people will like the cart remixes of the music less than the CD audio on other versions. I think the music's fine, though, and love this game. It's easily one of the N64's best puzzle games. I love the characters in BAM2, it's my favorite BAM cast. I like the music and graphics. I love that BAM3 has more modes and options than most other BAM games -- there isn't just a puzzle mode, a versus mode, and an infinite mode or something, like BAM1, but a total of eight different modes -- in Arcade Puzzle, Arcade Vs. CPU, Arcade 2-P Versus, 4-P Versus (separate because in this mode the windows are much smaller and there's no music; with just two people play in arcade mode, not here.) Win Contest (another versus mode where you see how many CPUs you can beat), Challenge (another puzzle mode, try to meet some specific conditions to finish the stages. You are graded, see how well you can do!), a collection of 1024 puzzles made by Japanese fans that are included on the cart, and puzzle edit mode where you can make your own. There are multiple graphic sets for the bubbles too, the game as at least three different looks in different modes and stages. This game has a lot of content, few games in the series come close. My only real complaint is that the save file is insanely, insanely large. What in the world HAPPENED here? Why is it 64 blocks? BAM2 for Saturn's file is about 64 blocks, and that's out of 500... in a 32KB memory space. This game uses 64 blocks of 123 on a 256KB space. Featurewise the games are very similar -- both have a puzzle edit mode with 16 user-creatable puzzles (Saturn exclusive in BAM2, but present in all versions I think of BAM3; N64 certainly has it at least), etc. The N64 game does have more modes and unlockables, but that should only account for a little more space, not the exponential increase in comparison it has. This is really the only blemish on an otherwise exceptional, incredibly addictive game. It's annoying, but doesn't ruin the game. This is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. Four player multiplayer, controller pak to save (64 blocks).
California Speed - California Speed is a port of the Midway/Atari Games arcade game of the same name. The game is essentially Atari Games' take on the Cruis'n USA concept, and repurposes the San Francisco Rush engine to run a Cruis'n-ish point-to-point racer. While only moderately popular, I liked California Speed in the arcades back when it came out. It's a somewhat easy game, but being a cross of Cruis'n, which are fun games, and San Francisco Rush, which is my favorite racing game series, I thought it was pretty good. On that note, the controls do feel a lot like a Rush game. The cars handle a lot like Rush cars, so don't expect to be able to turn on a dime. You'll need to learn the courses and prepare. I really like the Rush series' handling, so I think this is great. Fortunately, as I said, this game isn't that hard, and the courses are mostly straightforward. The graphics are okay too. There is fog in the distance, unfortunately, but it's far enough away to not be too bothersome, and I love many of the environments you race through. There really are some great tracks in California Speed. Some of my favorites are the roller coaster section of one track (it's really one of the more distinctive things in the game, in my opinion), the mall you go through in another track (straight from the country to a giant mall...), the part where you seem to be driving inside a giant computer circuitboard, or the alien ship. Yeah, I love the track designs here, the designers did a good job. The graphics are about the same as Rush 1 or 2 on the N64, or perhaps slightly improved over those, so they aren't great, but once you get used to the style it looks okay. Easy or no I like this game a lot, it's just so much fun to drive through the levels. There are multiple championships and difficulty levels, so there's plenty of content if you like the game. I just wish it had on-cart saving like the Cruis'n games do. Two player multiplayer, controller pak to save (35 blocks).
Castlevania - The first 3d Castlevania game, this game has a pretty bad reputation. While I will agree that the early N64 graphics don't look that good (the graphics definitely are the worst thing about this game), the gameplay is better than the graphics. However, the improved version below makes this game outdated for all but its most hardcore fans. I will describe the game, but considering that LoD is pretty much the same thing but better, there's not much reason to get this. On its own though, Castlevania is a fairly impressive achievement in some ways. First, as should be expected from Konami, the music is fantastic. In addition, the levels are large and well designed. Castlevania for the N64 has elements of 3d platforming, 3d action, and adventure gaming in it, and the platforming and adventure elements are done especially well. As an action game it's probably not above average, but the game's focus is elsewhere so that's fine, in my opinion. I love the adventure game elements, this game has a great sense of suspense sometimes and the puzzles in the game are often challenging and fun. The game follows multiple routes with the two characters, who share some levels but each play some the other character doesn't. The little girl (mage) character is way better than the guy with the whip, because his weapon is short range while she can shoot far, which is a huge help in a 3d game. There are multiple endings too, depending on how long you took to finish it. The platforming controls are pretty good -- your character will grab onto any platform edge you get anywhere near while jumping, so absolute precision is, thankfully, not necessary. Overall, flawed but good. One player, controller pak (9 blocks) to save. The Japanese version has on-cart saving, but like all Konami N64 games it was removed from the Western releases because Konami are cheap and annoying, apparently.
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - I got this game in the mid '00s not expecting much, because of how much bad things I'd heard over the years about the N64 Castlevanias, but I was very pleasantly surprised, and I think this is a pretty good game. LoD is an improved version of the above title. Essentially, it is everything Castlevania for the N64 is, and more. It has better graphics, more stages, more playable characters, some level design changes, and more. The expansion pak support is an optional Hi Res mode; the framerate is lower, but the graphics look great. The graphics are improved over the first version even in low res mode, but high res is particulalry good looking. Many people dislike the slow framerate of hi res mode, but I think it's fine and always play LoD in high res. The new stages are great too. I love the new first level, on the ships; it's a better intro stage than that dark forest the original starts with (and that is level 2 this time), I think. Great boss too. The new characters change the game's progression. In LoD, first you play as Cornell. Cornell is a werewolf and is incredibly powerful; few bosses will be much of a challenge for wolf mode Cornell, so save your red gems for boss battles and then just destroy the bosses. :) This lets you focus on what's best about the game, the platforming and puzzles. Cornell is pretty cool, he's my favorite character in this game. This mode has only one ending and no time limit, and you go through all of the stages in the game. After you beat the game with Cornell, you unlock a second character. This guy has a time limit and has to find five children hiding in a certain set of stages you play through before time runs out. Do that and you unlock the original two characters from the first version, and can play through their two modes, much like the first game but with some minor changes here and there, so it won't be exactly the same experience, just similar. One player only, controller pak (~18 blocks) to save. Expansion Pak enhanced. The Japanese version has on-cart saving, but like all Konami N64 games it was removed from the Western releases because Konami are cheap and annoying.
Chameleon Twist - Chameleon Twist is a fun, but somewhat short and easy, 3d platformer. In this earlier N64 game, you control a chameleon. Your character is a pretty cute big-head creature that only looks vaguely like a chameleon, but oh well. The main feature here is that your chameleon has a very long tongue, which you can use to grab onto things to swing yourself around, to attack, and more. The tongue mechanic is somewhat original and leads to some fun gameplay challenges, as you swing yourself around to figure out what to do. It's nothing deep and epic, but it is a fun little 3d platformer that I enjoy. Sure, the graphics are mediocre and it could be harder, but what's here is solid fun. Four player (multiplayer battle mode). On-cart saving (note that Chameleon Twist 2 does not have multiplayer or oncart saving, and requires controller pak save instead; reasons to prefer the first one!).
Charlie Blast's Territory - Charlie Blast's Territory is a small, low budget N64 puzzle game. It's a puzzle game of the "figure out how to solve it" variety, not the block dropping variety, and you have to figure out in each level how to destroy all the stuff in the 3d, tile grid design. It's okay, but has a very simple look and you can tell that the cart size is small. One player. Saving is by password only. This is the only N64 game I know of with password-only saving.
Chopper Attack - This is another Strike series clone, except this one is played from a behind-the-helicopter view instead of the 3/4ths overhead view of the Strike games and Army Men Air Attack. You have no more vertical control in this game than you do in those, though (as in, you have no control over vertical flying height). Once you accept that, this game's actually somewhat fun. You fly around, shooting enemies and turrets and buildings and such and accomplishing your objectives. Not bad. The graphics and sound are nothing special (lots of big blurry textures here), and nor is the gameplay really. Oh, and the game is short, it won't take long to finish. This game is average, but it's fun anyway. One player, on-cart saving.
ClayFighter 63 1/3 - This is a fighting game, and the first of two N64 ClayFighter games. The game is okay, but not great. The graphics are amusing, in that ClayFighter style, and the 3d arenas are cool. There is some 3d movement, so this isn't just a 2.5d game. There are combos, KI style, as well as special moves. THere are several hidden characters too, accessible by cheat codes. In addition to the ClayFighter characters, the other Interplay characters Earthworm Jim and Boogerman are also playable, which is cool. I don't like KI-style combo systems, but you don't need to know it to play this game. This isn't a great game, but it is stupidly amusing, which is about all you should hope for from something like this. Two player, no saving.
Command & Conquer - C&C is a remake of the PC original, except with 3d graphics. The live action FMV cutscenes have been removed, of course, in favor of static images, text, and some speech. That is too bad, C&C series FMV is always entertaining stuff. There's also no multiplayer, and the game only includes the original campaign, not either of the expansions (which were never released for N64). There are four additional N64-exclusive levels, though. The actual game's the same, though, except in 3d instead of drawn 2d. The visuals actually look pretty good, particularly in high res mode. The game looks and plays better than I expected, I wasn't expecting it to be good at all but it's actually fun and works reasonably decently. You can zoom in and out, so you can hopefully get it to the size you want. Small units are always an issue in C&C games, with all that tiny infantry, but they do what they can here. The 3d graphical redo is interesting and makes the game different enough to be worth a look, even if the gameplay is the same, and that gameplay functions about as well as can be hoped for on a console controller with analog stick. C&C for the N64 may or may not be worth playing, but at least they tried something a little different. One player, on-cart saving, Expansion Pak enhanced.
Conker's Bad Fur Day - Rare's last N64 3d platformer, Conker's Bad Fur Day was long in development but worth the wait. Conker has impressive graphics, though it does have some framerate issues like Banjo-Tooie likely because it doesn't use the expansion pak. It also has great platformer gameplay, with the usual good Rare level design. This game is less about collecting than Rare's other 3d platformers; the game does have some, you are collecting items, but it's more straightforward than Rare's other 3d platformers. What Conker is best known for, though, is its mature theme. This game's R rating is well earned. The game has a later Xbox remake, but while the graphics on the Xbox are better, the game is actually censored more on that platform -- many swears that are unbeeped on the N64 (the game is fully voiced) are censored on the Xbox. The game is full of dark, British humor and just crazy situations, perhaps most famously the Great Mighty Poo. Normally I am not one for poop jokes, but that whole bossfight, with an opera-singing giant poo monster fighting against Conker, who you defeat by throwing giant toilet paper rolls at it, was pretty awesome stuff. Not everyone is going to like the adult nature of the game, and this is not a game for kids, but it's a very good game all 3d platformer fans should play. Thanks to the lesser censorship the N64 probably has the better version. Four player multiplayer (various modes, many of them shooter-style; the XBox version has different multiplayer content, so the two are not the same in that regard), on-cart saving.
Cruis'n USA - Cruis'n USA is a port of the 1994 arcade classic and one of the most successful arcade racing games ever. While the home ports have been hated almost since the release of the first one, this game for the N64, the arcade machines always have been very popular, both in the Cruis'n and followup (from the same people) The Fast & The Furious arcade games. Cruis'n USA is a simple racing game where you drive along long, often wide roads, tearing across America in your quest to become the first racer to go from San Francisco to Washington D.C.. The game clearly has a strong Outrun influence, except newer and American-made instead of Japanese. The arcade game was fun, but there are flaws in this home port. The N64 version is a straight arcade port, with absolutely no added features. This means that you simply access the hidden cars via cheat codes, not unlocking, and once you've beaten the main race mode there isn't much reason to revisit this game except to try to improve your times in the courses. That's disappointing, because while fun this game won't last long. Also, the multiplayer is two player only. At the time though, the biggest letdown was the graphics, people were expecting it to be arcade perfect but it's definitely not. There's fog and popup too. Still, there's enough fun here to make it worth a few bucks, and this was a very early N64 release. Two player, on-cart saving.
Cruis'n World - Cruis'n World is the second of the three N64 Cruis'n games. The gameplay is the same as ever, as you race along roads all over the world this time looking at the scenery, avoiding traffic, and winning races. All Cruis'n games were better in the arcades, but if you like simple racing games from the Outrun school, the Cruis'n games really aren't that bad. I at least find them fun. Though it is true that they're simplistic and boring after a little while, they're fun while they last and good for plenty of return plays later. It's the best reviewed game of the series and probably is the fans' favorite Cruis'n game. This N64 version can't match the graphics of the arcade, but it does add a lot of great features when compared to Cruis'n USA for the N64. First, the single player mode was significantly expanded in this game. Instead of just racing through all the tracks and that's it, multiple variants of each track have been added. In arcade mode you just play through the arcade game, but in the new mode you play several different variants of each track. You have to unlock the hidden cars, which there are a few of, as well, which is a nice improvement versus the original. It's great to see Cruis'n with more content. The new four player multiplayer mode is great too, and the visuals have been improved. However, there still is fog in the distance. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Cruis'n Exotica - Cruis'n Exotica is the last of the N64 Cruis'n games, and it has the most features, content, and options of the trilogy. It's a little less popular than World, though, for some reason. I think that Exotica is the best of the three, myself. I like some of the new options. It's good to have a Cruis'n game that will take longer to finish, if World greatly expanded versus USA Exotica greatly expands again. This time you have even more variants on each track, including drag races, which, if you do right, will earn you boosts you can use in the other tracks. In the Exotica mode, you race a drag race, circuit lap race, short race, and two part long race in each environment. You unlock hidden cars based on miles driven, too. It will take quite a while to unlock all of the cars. There are also several alternate graphics modes that can be unlocked, including one where everything uses negative colors and looks squished, and another one where everything is stretched out and crazy warped. It's hard to play in these graphics modes, but they're pretty amusing options. However, of course, the basic gameplay is as simple as ever. All Cruis'n games are simply about driving forward along the endless road, going as fast as you can, avoiding traffic, and trying to finish in first. They are very simple and straightforward racing games. Also, even in this third game there is still fog. I guess the system simply can't render farther out. Your vision goes far enough out for you to be able to see well, but things do appear in the distance and it is a little distracting. Four player multiplayer on-cart saving.
To Do (remaining games):
Diddy Kong Racing - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Donkey Kong 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak required.
Doom 64 - One player, password or controller pak saving (1 or 2 pages; if two or more pages are free it will create a 2 page file with 16 save slots, but if you have only 1 page free on a cart it will create a 1 page file with 8 save slots.)
Dual Heroes - Two players, controller pak saving (20 pages).
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (17 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Excitebike 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. The cart has three slots for saving tracks you make in the track editor, but any beyond that can be saved to controller paks (4 blocks per track). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Extreme-G - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (9 pages).
Extreme-G 2 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (36 pages).
F-1 World Grand Prix - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
F-Zero X - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Fighters Destiny - Two player multiplayer, on-cart (I think) and controller pak (2 pages) saving. I'm not entirely sure whether the controller pak file is a backup or required, and what is saved on the cart.
Flying Dragon - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (47 pages).
Forsaken 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page).
Gauntlet Legends - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (4 pages per character file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Glover - One player, on-cart saving.
Goemon's Great Adventure - Four player multiplayer (two player only by default, but a hidden 3-4 player mode can be accessed after beating the game, look up the code on GameFAQs), controller pak saving (7 pages). Like with some other Konami N64 games the game has has on-cart saving in Japan, controller pak only elsewhere because Konami are mean.
Hybrid Heaven - Two player multiplayer (versus mode), controller pak to save (53 pages). This one did require controller paks in Japan too. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Hydro Thunder - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced. Three or four player modes require an Expansion Pak.
Iggy's Reckin' Balls - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (3 pages).
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - Originally a rental-only game, so copies of this game are somewhat scarce. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Indy Racing 2000 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (2 pages for options, 2 pages for season). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Jet Force Gemini - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - Four player multiplayer (three minigames only, main game is single player), on-cart saving.
Knife Edge: Nose Gunner - Four player multiplayer, no saving.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - One player, on-cart saving.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak required.
Lego Racers - Also on PC and Playstation. Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (62 pages).
Lode Runner 3D - One player, on-cart saving.
Mace: The Dark Age - Two player multiplayer, no saving.
Mario Kart 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Ghost saves are controller pak only, 121 pages per ghost.
Mario Party 2 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Mario Tennis - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Mickey's Speedway USA - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Micro Machines 64 Turbo - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (8 pages per character file).
Mischief Makers - One player, on-cart saving.
Mission: Impossible - One player, on-cart saving.
Monaco Grand Prix - Two player multiplayer, on-cart and controller pak to save (on-cart saves settings and options, but seasons require an ~8 page controller pak file.)
Monster Truck Madness 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
MRC - Multi Racing Championship - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (45 pages).
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - One player, controller pak saving (16 pages). This one also did require controller paks in Japan, I believe.
The New Tetris - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
NFL Blitz 2000 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak (most of a card) to save.
Nightmare Creatures - One player, controller pak (2 pages) to save.
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber - One player, on-cart saving. The game also allows you to back up your save files to controller pak, if you hold Start when you turn the system on.
Paper Mario - One player, on-cart saving.
Penny Racers - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (68 pages). The game has an EEPROM chip too, that saves your races completed and lap times, but if you want a full single player game you need a custom car with parts you collect from winning, and that requires one of these gigantic controller pak files that also includes multiple custom track files; I wish the custom tracks were saved individually, if you wanted to make them, and the car file was just a small little thing, but no, one stupidly large file is the way they went with... :( :(
Perfect Dark - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced, and required for the main game.
Pilotwings 64 - One player, on-cart saving.
Pokemon Puzzle League - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Quake II - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (3 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Re-Volt - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (30? pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Resident Evil 2 - One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Ridge Racer 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Road Rash 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page per player file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Roadsters - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (13 pages).
Rocket: Robot on Wheels - One player, on-cart saving.
San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing - Arcade port. Two players, controller pak saving (16 pages).
Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (34 pages).
San Francisco Rush 2049 - Four player multiplayer (two player only in race mode, four player in stunt and battle modes), controller pak saving ( pages). Expansion Pak enhanced, and required for race track 6, the Extreme championship, music while racing, moving obstacles in the courses, and more. Don't play this game without the expansion pak!
Scooby-Doo: Classic Creep Capers - One player, controller pak saving (3 pages).
Shadow Man - Also on PC, Playstation, and Dreamcast. One player, controller pak saving (73 pages per file). Note that compared to the size of the cards, these files are much larger than the PSX or DC versions' save files, for some reason or other. Bad programming? Expansion Pak enhanced.
Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers - One player, controller pak saving (30 pages per file).
Snowboard Kids 2 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Space Invaders - Also on Playstation and PC. Two player multiplayer, controller pak (2 blocks) to save. The game supports cards in any controller port, but only will read the first port with a card in it when you turn the system on during play -- so have your card with the save file in the lowest-numbered controller with a controller pak in it when you turn the system on.
Space Station Silicon Valley - One player, on-cart saving.
Star Fox 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth - One player, on-cart saving.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Star Wars: Episode I: Racer - Also on PC and Dreamcast. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Star Wars: Battle for Naboo - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Super Mario 64 - One player, on-cart saving.
Super Smash Bros. - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Supercross 2000 (EA Sports) - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages for the setup file, 23 pages per season).
Tarzan - Playstation port. One player, controller pak saving (2 pages).
Tetrisphere - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Tonic Trouble - Also on PC. One player, controller pak saving (15 pages).
Top Gear Overdrive - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Top Gear Rally - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (The required notes are 1 pages for Options and 2 pages for the Season file. Other optional notes will fill up a card with things such as custom car painting skins.).
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Also on PC. One player, controller pak saving (16 pages).
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - Also on PC. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (90 pages!!! What in the world, Acclaim... There is NO excuse for this!). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Turok: Rage Wars - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (7 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (16 pages per save file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Twisted Edge Extreme Snowboarding - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (5 pages).
Vigilante 8 - Also on Playstation and Dreamcast, though it was on N64 first. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey - Arcade port. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (7 pages).
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (50-something pages).
WCW/NWO Revenge - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Wetrix - Later had upgraded ports/sequels on Dreamcast and PS2. Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (5 pages).
WipEout 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages).
Yoshi's Story - One player, on-cart saving.
I will list whether games save to cartridge or controller pak (memory card) because N64 controller paks don't hold much, and I think that it's important to know whether you'll need one for your game because of how much of a pain it can be. As a result I will also list how many blocks each controller pak save game uses to save. Remember that each controller pak has 123 pages (blocks), and can have a maximum of 16 notes (files) saved to it. I also list if games have Expansion Pak support or not. I won't bother listing everything with Rumble Pak support, because most games from mid '97 on support it, and it's not that big of a deal either way.
Also, this list is a work in progress. I only have reviews for A to C so far, and some of these need improvement.
It is mostly in alphabetical order, but I put series in order of release, instead of just in pure alphabetical order.
Complete List (above titles added in) - 127 games
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007: The World Is Not Enough - Good FPS from later in the N64's life. Good graphics, good gameplay, fun levels. The game is a blatant Goldeneye clone from Eurocom, but they did a fairly good job of it and the game's a pretty fun one. In high res this game really does look quite nice, this game probably has some of the better graphics in an N64 FPS. You have a nice variety of weapons and items to use too. This is a good game, recommended for N64 FPS fans and anyone who liked Goldeneye. Note that the PSX title of the same name is from a different developer and is completely different, and worse. Four player multiplayer. Expansion Pak support. Controller Pak saving (2 pages).
1080° Snowboarding - I like this game less than many people, but it is okay. I don't know, I just find it a little boring... I've never stuck with it long enough to finish the game, and it's a pretty short game. It is a quality game though. The graphics are reasonably good. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving.
AeroFighters Assault - This is the closest thing the N64 has to a flight sim, and it's thoroughly mediocre and disappointing. It's an arcadey flight combat game probably closer to Rogue Squadron than a flight sim, which would be fine if the game was actually fun. Unfortunately, it's not. The graphics are average, and the game simply isn't much fun. It's a fairly short game, but it gets frustrating later on and probably isn't worth the time. This is a sequel of sorts to the great early to mid '90s shmup series Aero Fighters, but unfortunately this game is nowhere near as good as those, genre shift aside. At least the two player versus mode is okay. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving.
Aero Gauge - Futuristic racing game where you fly through the air, instead of just hovering or driving on the ground. The graphics aren't very good, and look pretty outdated for a 1998 release. Lots of pixeley textures, the N64 can do much better than this. There's a lot of fog, too. The game has some good sized areas, but with all that fog around you really can only see what's close to you. They could have done better than this. The menus and interface are stylish and cool looking, though, and the music's fairly good, so some elements of the presentation are done well. This game got mostly poor reviews, and I can understand why, it is a flawed game. One thing to know is how to boost start; the game doesn't tell you how, you need the manual or internet, and you will never win a single race if you don't boost start every single time (hold down A+B before the race begins, let go of B after the announcer says 'set'). Turbo around corners (A+Z with left or right to powerslide; after powersliding let go of A and Z and then press A again to hopefully boost, if you did it right) is also important. There are no weapons or items in this game, and the six tracks are on the short side. The game mostly tries to make up for that with its very high difficulty level, which somewhat succeeds -- this is not an easy game. Unfortunately, the main result is just that it gets quite frustrating. I kind of like the game anyway, because flying racing games aren't very common and the game does some things right and is some fun to play, but I am a huge futuristic racing game fan. Non fans of the genre are unlikely to like the game, I think. Two player multiplayer. Oncart saving, with controller pak support for ghost saves (93 pages per ghost, like Mario Kart 64 the cart can't save any ghosts, only controller paks, and it takes most of a controller pak to save one.). Do not have a controller pak plugged into controller 1 unless you're using it to save replays.
Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage - This epic RPG was a late N64 release in 2001, got poor reviews, and was forgotten. Unfortunately this game will never get the sequel that the title suggests there should be. While Aidyn Chronicles has some serious bugs (it can corrupt your save files, for instance! ALWAYS keep backups!) and is in some ways a deeply flawed game (if a character dies they're dead forever; make use of the save anywhere feature and save often, loading if anyone dies. Apparently they were going to have resurrection, but it was too buggy so it was removed late in development. Also, the character art is pretty bad.), Aidyn Chronicles is also a great game unlike anything else on the N64. The game is a complex, deep Western RPG, and it is a slow paced game as well, so it will take a long time to get used to the game and even longer to finish. The world is large and fun to explore -- I love the big overworld, the N64 does fairly large worlds well and the system is being used well here. There's a lot to explore, and finding your way around and finding the secrets is great. The controls are great. I particularly like the use of the analog stick and C-buttons in the menus, it works very well. The detail put into the game really is impressive, from the magic system to the world to the game design. The combat engine was inspired by Quest 64's, except it's improved here. The battle system is a good, strategic system where all characters appear on a map, with movement circles. You move your characters around, attacking the enemies with weapons or magic when in range. You do more damage attacking enemies from behind. Magic requires reagents, so you can't just cast spells as much as you want -- you have to be judicious about your use of magic. Spells early on aren't just fireballs and stuff too, you'll need to think more in this game. Your starting spells are things like shield, vs. necromancy, weakness, and strength -- useful spells, but subtle compared to fireballs or even Magic Missile. It works though. Enemies are visible in the overworld, so there are no random battles, which is fantastic. The story isn't incredibly original, but it's a good epic story of your hero's rise. And for once, no burning village; the hero sets off on his journey for a reason that is just as good, but is a little more unique. Yeah, despite its big problems, I really like this game. Just be warned, it is long and slow. Oh, and the framerate is pretty slow, though steady, particularly in High Res mode. This bothers some people, but not me; at least it's steady and doesn't jump up and down. The slow pace of gameplay also helps make the framerate matter less. Overall, Aidyn Chronicles is an incredibly ambitious games, in some ways one of the system's most ambitious games. It fails as much as it succeeds, and is very much a love or hate game, but if you can get into it you might get hooked for a long time. I think it's good. Expansion Pak enhanced (use High Res mode!). Controller Pak required to save (28 pages per save file). One player.
All-Star Baseball '99 - Decent baseball game from Acclaim also on Playstation. Controller Pak required to save (100+ pages).
Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. - Acclaim FPS. It got bad reviews, unlike Acclaim's other N64 FPSes, the Turok series. This is Acclaim's only N64 FPS that also was released on the Playstation (the first two Turok games had PC ports, but not PSX), but reviews of that port say that it's quite a bit worse than the N64 version. I believe it, the game, clearly running on the Turok engine, uses the power of the system and wouldn't downgrade well. I actually think this game is decent, despite the reviews. I love N64 FPS controls, Turok-style FPS controls are the best console FPS controls ever, in my sure to be lonely opinion. Armorines is a straightforward, linear FPS running in the Turok engine, where you shoot lots of bug alien invaders, solve some simple puzzles as you explore each area trying to figure out how to progress to the next one, and then shoot more bugs and move on. It's simple, but fun enough that I can enjoy myself, and the graphics are reasonably nice though not the greatest. You can play as a male or female character. The game has four player versus mode multiplayer, and a two player co-op option in the campaign, which is pretty cool. Expansion Pak enhanced. Controller Pak required to save (2 pages).
Army Men: Air Combat - Army Men Air Combat is a port of the Playstation game Army Men Air Attack. It is improved over the original version, with four player multiplayer, better graphics, and more. This series was 3DO's attempt to take on EA's Strike series, and I think it worked pretty well. This is probably one of the better Army Men games, and I like the game. You fly around, in a top-down perspective where you do not have actual 3d control (no control over height you're flying), shooting enemies and turrets, picking up powerups, etc. Graphics are nice enough, game is a lot of fun. The only real negatives are that it's a bit easy and too short, but it's fun while it lasts. Four player multiplayer. Controller Pak required to save (1 page).
Banjo-Kazooie - This game is one of the all-time classic 3d platformers, and it is indeed a great game. It isn't my favorite Rare 3d platformer, but it is a great one that deserves most of the praise it has recieved. The graphics are quite good, the game is well designed in both general game design and levels, and there's a lot to do. I do dislike how you have to re-collect notes and such each time you go into a level unless you get all of them, though. You can be in a level without a power you'll need to get all 100 notes, but you don't know it and start collecting them... only to realize some time later you wasted your time and will need to do it again later. It's quite annoying. Other than that though, this game is pretty good. Rare's first 3d platformer is still a great game. It is also on XBox 360 Live Arcade, but I haven't played that version so I can't compare them. One player, on cart saving.
Banjo-Tooie - The sequel to the previous game, bigger and better than the first one in most respects. Tooie is a pretty good game. It doesn't repeat the first game's problems, and has some pretty cool levels too. It's not as original as the first game, though, and some people dislike the multiple characters you now have. I don't mind that, but I did find it kind of annoying at some points and haven't finished the game, despite owning it for many years (since 2002, I believe). The game has some framerate problems -- they simply tried too much for the unenhanced N64, I really wish that this game had had Expansion Pak support, I think it needed it. Some parts have some bad framerate drops. Still, the game is great overall. Like the first game it is also on XBox 360 Live Arcade, but I haven't played those versions so I can't compare them. Four player (battle mode and minigames for multiplayer), oncart saving.
BattleTanx - I did an Lttp thread about this game. It's great fun, the first of 3DO's tank action games and still well worth playing. It does have issues, though, most prominently with the quite mediocre graphics. The game is short too, just like its sequel. There are just three kinds of tanks in the game, so there's not much variety. The post-apocalyptic story is simple. Multiplayer was the focus here. Fortunately, it's incredibly fun to drive around and shoot stuff. Buildings crumble as you shoot them. Levels are large and a lot of fun to navigate and are full of enemies, obstacles, and buildings, many of which you can level. This game's good. Four player multiplayer (various versus modes). Controller Pak to save (1 page).
BattleTanx: Global Assault - The sequel to the above game, and better than it in every way. The story is better, there are a lot more tanks, the campaign is longer (though still short and easy), there are more maps, more modes, more control options, and more. I really loved this game, it's one of the better multiplayer games on the N64. My only complaint is that I wish there was a sequel, because this game ends with a cliffhanger that was never resolved. Bah! Still though, BTGA is fantastic. There was a later Playstation version of the game, but it's got new story scenes, entirely redesigned levels (completely different level maps), and more. It's nowhere near as good as the N64 version and is two player only. N64 BTGA has a two player co-op campaign, and four player versus modes. Controller Pak to save (1 page).
Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs - This isn't like the '80s arcade classic, but instead is the only console game based off of the late '90s PC series of the same title. The concept is that it is the Cold War, and the US and USSR are fighting a secret war on the moon between forces they have landed there. Yeah, cool concept.:) Activision tried to bring back Battlezone, but as a strategy/FPS/RTS hybrid, like some titles from 3DO and Microsoft such as Uprising. There were two games on the PC, but only this one on consoles, which is an original title and not a port. The game is simplified from the PC original, understandably, given that it is on a console and needs to use a gamepad instead of keyboard and mouse (and Battlezone had complex controls, using lots of keyboard keys for various stuff). You can drive around and shoot enemies, but you also have to build a base, build units, and give them orders in your efforts to defeat the enemy. The controls work on the N64, but are complex and they will take a while to get used to. Once you do though it's a pretty good game. The graphics are just average, but do the job. There is also a shooting-only arcade mode, but the strategy mode is the core of the game. Four player multiplayer. Controller Pak required to save (1 page). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Beetle Adventure Racing - A very popular classic racing game from Paradigm and EA. The game plays like a hybrid between San Francisco Rush and Need for Speed, and is about as great as that sounds. I think that the Rush series is better than BAR, no question, but BAR is pretty good too. The tracks, while few, are huge and lots of fun to drive around and explore. There are lots of shortcuts, and the visuals are good. Controller Pak required to save (4 pages). Two player only in multiplayer race mode, four players in battle mode.
Big Mountain 2000 - This little-known skiing/snowboarding game is actually my favorite winter sports game on the N64. Big Mountain 2000 is a port of a two years older Japanese title, so the graphics are not exactly the best, but I think that the great gameplay makes up for it. BM2k is a simple, straightforward, and racing-centric game -- this is not an SSX or even 1080 style trick-centric game, but a game that really is about the racing. The controls are just about perfect, and are exactly the way I would want them to be for a game of this kind. There is a very minimal trick component, where you can do tricks off of specific jumps if you want, but it doesn't get you anything of note and there is no stunt mode. I am entirely fine with this, I always prefer race to stunt mode in 1080 and SSX games (indeed, the half pipes are usually my most hated "tracks" in those games...). The game is somewhat short, with just four mountains, but there are three races on each mountain as you have a normal race down and two different races where you need to go between the flags (with different layouts for each of the two races of course). There is also a reverse mode, after you beat the normal. I got hooked by this game and played it quite a bit until finishing it. It's fun to just race down the mountain. Two player multiplayer. On-cart saving.
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. - Arcade port fighting game from Midway, also ported to Playstation. Unlike earlier Midway N64 fighters, this one actually supports saving, which is great. You've got ridiculous character designs, decent graphics for the system, and more. You've got multi-tiered arenas, your usual Midway fatalities, etc. The characters can fly too, so it's got air and ground combat. All characters have both projectile and melee attacks. It is a 5th gen 3d fighting game, though, so it's not exactly anywhere near the mark 6th gen 3d fighters hit. It's a bit slow for instance, like so many N64 games. Still, for an N64 3d fighter, not bad. It's got an in-game moves list (one of the only N64 fighting games with that!), too. The gameplay's only above average -- it definitely is not exactly balanced, which hurts, and it's a bit slow -- but the featureset in the game is pretty good. Two player. Controller pak to save (3 pages).
Blast Corps - Blast Corps is an early N64 Rare game. The game is both original and brilliant, and, despite the many incredible games that Rare made for the system, still stands as one of their best. The graphics are poor, first gen work, but the incredibly fun gameplay makes up for it. In Blast Corps, you have to destroy all the buildings that are in the way of a runaway nuclear missile carrier which cannot stop. If it hits anything, it explodes. You control a variety of different vehicles in your destructive work. The game is essentially an action/puzzle game, and figuring out the fastest and best way to beat each level is both a lot of fun and very challenging. There are medals, and you unlock bunus stages, and the ability to try for platinum medals, if you manage to get all the gold medals. Good luck there, the difficulty is crazy. In addition to the destroying, there are also occasional bonus stages where you do other stuff, and some racing levels where you do some top down racing. It's a great, great game. Controller pak or internal save. One player. Note that the game will give an error message ("foreign object detected in controller pak port" or something) if you have a rumble pak plugged in, and you cannot access the internal save unless you do NOT have a controller pak plugged in. Also, if the space is available, the game will automatically make four 10-14 page notes on your memory card to save onto. So, before playing Blast Corps, make sure to remove anything from your controller's accessory port!
Body Harvest - Body Harvest is an interesting N64 on foot and vehicular combat game from the same studio as Grand Theft Auto. The game suffered years of delays, originally being planned as an early N64 game but not coming out until 1998. It saw a publisher change too, as Nintendo dropped the game during development and it was picked up by Midway. In the game, you, a time travelling soldier, have to fight off a bug alien invasion (what it it about N64 alien invasions so often being bugs... Starship Troopers or something?) that is affecting many different time periods. The graphics are first-generation poor, and the controls are just okay. The main hook is that you can control many different kinds of vehicles during the game, different ones during each time period. Like in GTA (except before any 3d GTA games), you can jump in and out of the vehicles at will. It's a good game, but I don't love it and always lose interest after a while. I haven't actually gotten too far in this game as a result. One player, on-cart saving.
Bomberman 64 - Bomberman 64 is the first Bomberman game of four on the N64, and it is to this day still the only full, Mario 64-inspired open 3d world Bomberman 3d platformer. All Bomberman 3d platformers after it followed much more linear designs, and the Gamecube ones don't even have 3d multiplayer, just the usual 2d grid stuff. Bomberman 64 was different. The game is very, very difficult, too difficult I would say, but it's a very good game. I do need to say though, the graphics are mediocre at best. Don't expect a lot from this game. It's just good enough to get by, but nothing above that. It's clearly first gen work. My other main complaint is that there is an entire sixth world in the main game that you can only access by getting ALL of the golden tickets (this game's equivalent to Mario 64's stars). ARGH! Some of those tickets are very hard to get... I've never seen world six. It's pretty annoying, I've heard it's cool. :( Even so though, I like the game a lot. The levels are fun to explore and well designed, and there's a lot to do in the game. This game is pretty good. The bossfights are a challenge too, but often fun. The multiplayer is great, too. The maps are actually 3d, and instead of cross explosions like classic Bomberman, are circular like in the single player game. This is the only 3d Bomberman game where normal bombs explode in circular blasts in multiplayer mode; The 2nd Attack also has 3d arenas, but cross bombs (super bombs excepted, those have round blasts), and the two GC/PS2 games have, as I said, the classic 2d style of gameplay only for their multiplayer, though their single players are (poor, subpar) linear-path 3d platformers. Thus in both single and multi player, Bomberman 64 is an original game unlike anything else in the series. 3d platformer and Bomberman fans who haven't played it should try it. Four players. On-cart saving, though if you want to save a custom multiplayer character (a unique look for your multiplayer character, made up of parts you unlock in the main game), you'll need to save that character to a memory card, so you can bring it to a friends' and use it there, I assume. Each of those character files are one page.
Bomberman Hero - Bomberman Hero actually started out as a Bonk game. When I learned this suddenly this game made a lot more sense to me, because at the time I thought that Bomberman Hero was pretty strange for a Bomberman game. It has no multiplayer, it's linear and you just follow a path instead of wandering around larger worlds like in Bomberman 64, and you mostly throw bombs instead of just dropping them. Well, it didn't start out as Bomberman. The game's alright, with some fun linear-cooridor 3d platforming challenge and Bomberman 64-esque boss battles. The graphics aren't much improved over Bomberman 64, but oh well. It's not the game people expected it to be, but it's an okay to good game even so. One player, on-cart saving.
Buck Bumble - Buck Bumble is a 3d flight combat game where you control a heavily armed bee. You fly around, killing enemies and doing missions. The graphics are okay at best, nothing special, and the gameplay's no competition for Factor 5's Star Wars games. It's a good game I guess, though not great. Lots of fog. Four players, controller pak to save (3 pages).
Bust-A-Move '99 - BAM '99 is a port of the arcade game Bust-A-Move 3. It was also on PSX and Saturn. Compared to the other versions, the N64 has a plus and a minus. On the good side, the game has an N64-exclusive four player splitscreen multiplayer mode. There's no music in 3 or 4 player mode, but still it's and awesome feature to have, and this is still one of only a very few BAM games with a 4 player splitscreen mode. On the downside, some people will like the cart remixes of the music less than the CD audio on other versions. I think the music's fine, though, and love this game. It's easily one of the N64's best puzzle games. I love the characters in BAM2, it's my favorite BAM cast. I like the music and graphics. I love that BAM3 has more modes and options than most other BAM games -- there isn't just a puzzle mode, a versus mode, and an infinite mode or something, like BAM1, but a total of eight different modes -- in Arcade Puzzle, Arcade Vs. CPU, Arcade 2-P Versus, 4-P Versus (separate because in this mode the windows are much smaller and there's no music; with just two people play in arcade mode, not here.) Win Contest (another versus mode where you see how many CPUs you can beat), Challenge (another puzzle mode, try to meet some specific conditions to finish the stages. You are graded, see how well you can do!), a collection of 1024 puzzles made by Japanese fans that are included on the cart, and puzzle edit mode where you can make your own. There are multiple graphic sets for the bubbles too, the game as at least three different looks in different modes and stages. This game has a lot of content, few games in the series come close. My only real complaint is that the save file is insanely, insanely large. What in the world HAPPENED here? Why is it 64 blocks? BAM2 for Saturn's file is about 64 blocks, and that's out of 500... in a 32KB memory space. This game uses 64 blocks of 123 on a 256KB space. Featurewise the games are very similar -- both have a puzzle edit mode with 16 user-creatable puzzles (Saturn exclusive in BAM2, but present in all versions I think of BAM3; N64 certainly has it at least), etc. The N64 game does have more modes and unlockables, but that should only account for a little more space, not the exponential increase in comparison it has. This is really the only blemish on an otherwise exceptional, incredibly addictive game. It's annoying, but doesn't ruin the game. This is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. Four player multiplayer, controller pak to save (64 blocks).
California Speed - California Speed is a port of the Midway/Atari Games arcade game of the same name. The game is essentially Atari Games' take on the Cruis'n USA concept, and repurposes the San Francisco Rush engine to run a Cruis'n-ish point-to-point racer. While only moderately popular, I liked California Speed in the arcades back when it came out. It's a somewhat easy game, but being a cross of Cruis'n, which are fun games, and San Francisco Rush, which is my favorite racing game series, I thought it was pretty good. On that note, the controls do feel a lot like a Rush game. The cars handle a lot like Rush cars, so don't expect to be able to turn on a dime. You'll need to learn the courses and prepare. I really like the Rush series' handling, so I think this is great. Fortunately, as I said, this game isn't that hard, and the courses are mostly straightforward. The graphics are okay too. There is fog in the distance, unfortunately, but it's far enough away to not be too bothersome, and I love many of the environments you race through. There really are some great tracks in California Speed. Some of my favorites are the roller coaster section of one track (it's really one of the more distinctive things in the game, in my opinion), the mall you go through in another track (straight from the country to a giant mall...), the part where you seem to be driving inside a giant computer circuitboard, or the alien ship. Yeah, I love the track designs here, the designers did a good job. The graphics are about the same as Rush 1 or 2 on the N64, or perhaps slightly improved over those, so they aren't great, but once you get used to the style it looks okay. Easy or no I like this game a lot, it's just so much fun to drive through the levels. There are multiple championships and difficulty levels, so there's plenty of content if you like the game. I just wish it had on-cart saving like the Cruis'n games do. Two player multiplayer, controller pak to save (35 blocks).
Castlevania - The first 3d Castlevania game, this game has a pretty bad reputation. While I will agree that the early N64 graphics don't look that good (the graphics definitely are the worst thing about this game), the gameplay is better than the graphics. However, the improved version below makes this game outdated for all but its most hardcore fans. I will describe the game, but considering that LoD is pretty much the same thing but better, there's not much reason to get this. On its own though, Castlevania is a fairly impressive achievement in some ways. First, as should be expected from Konami, the music is fantastic. In addition, the levels are large and well designed. Castlevania for the N64 has elements of 3d platforming, 3d action, and adventure gaming in it, and the platforming and adventure elements are done especially well. As an action game it's probably not above average, but the game's focus is elsewhere so that's fine, in my opinion. I love the adventure game elements, this game has a great sense of suspense sometimes and the puzzles in the game are often challenging and fun. The game follows multiple routes with the two characters, who share some levels but each play some the other character doesn't. The little girl (mage) character is way better than the guy with the whip, because his weapon is short range while she can shoot far, which is a huge help in a 3d game. There are multiple endings too, depending on how long you took to finish it. The platforming controls are pretty good -- your character will grab onto any platform edge you get anywhere near while jumping, so absolute precision is, thankfully, not necessary. Overall, flawed but good. One player, controller pak (9 blocks) to save. The Japanese version has on-cart saving, but like all Konami N64 games it was removed from the Western releases because Konami are cheap and annoying, apparently.
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - I got this game in the mid '00s not expecting much, because of how much bad things I'd heard over the years about the N64 Castlevanias, but I was very pleasantly surprised, and I think this is a pretty good game. LoD is an improved version of the above title. Essentially, it is everything Castlevania for the N64 is, and more. It has better graphics, more stages, more playable characters, some level design changes, and more. The expansion pak support is an optional Hi Res mode; the framerate is lower, but the graphics look great. The graphics are improved over the first version even in low res mode, but high res is particulalry good looking. Many people dislike the slow framerate of hi res mode, but I think it's fine and always play LoD in high res. The new stages are great too. I love the new first level, on the ships; it's a better intro stage than that dark forest the original starts with (and that is level 2 this time), I think. Great boss too. The new characters change the game's progression. In LoD, first you play as Cornell. Cornell is a werewolf and is incredibly powerful; few bosses will be much of a challenge for wolf mode Cornell, so save your red gems for boss battles and then just destroy the bosses. :) This lets you focus on what's best about the game, the platforming and puzzles. Cornell is pretty cool, he's my favorite character in this game. This mode has only one ending and no time limit, and you go through all of the stages in the game. After you beat the game with Cornell, you unlock a second character. This guy has a time limit and has to find five children hiding in a certain set of stages you play through before time runs out. Do that and you unlock the original two characters from the first version, and can play through their two modes, much like the first game but with some minor changes here and there, so it won't be exactly the same experience, just similar. One player only, controller pak (~18 blocks) to save. Expansion Pak enhanced. The Japanese version has on-cart saving, but like all Konami N64 games it was removed from the Western releases because Konami are cheap and annoying.
Chameleon Twist - Chameleon Twist is a fun, but somewhat short and easy, 3d platformer. In this earlier N64 game, you control a chameleon. Your character is a pretty cute big-head creature that only looks vaguely like a chameleon, but oh well. The main feature here is that your chameleon has a very long tongue, which you can use to grab onto things to swing yourself around, to attack, and more. The tongue mechanic is somewhat original and leads to some fun gameplay challenges, as you swing yourself around to figure out what to do. It's nothing deep and epic, but it is a fun little 3d platformer that I enjoy. Sure, the graphics are mediocre and it could be harder, but what's here is solid fun. Four player (multiplayer battle mode). On-cart saving (note that Chameleon Twist 2 does not have multiplayer or oncart saving, and requires controller pak save instead; reasons to prefer the first one!).
Charlie Blast's Territory - Charlie Blast's Territory is a small, low budget N64 puzzle game. It's a puzzle game of the "figure out how to solve it" variety, not the block dropping variety, and you have to figure out in each level how to destroy all the stuff in the 3d, tile grid design. It's okay, but has a very simple look and you can tell that the cart size is small. One player. Saving is by password only. This is the only N64 game I know of with password-only saving.
Chopper Attack - This is another Strike series clone, except this one is played from a behind-the-helicopter view instead of the 3/4ths overhead view of the Strike games and Army Men Air Attack. You have no more vertical control in this game than you do in those, though (as in, you have no control over vertical flying height). Once you accept that, this game's actually somewhat fun. You fly around, shooting enemies and turrets and buildings and such and accomplishing your objectives. Not bad. The graphics and sound are nothing special (lots of big blurry textures here), and nor is the gameplay really. Oh, and the game is short, it won't take long to finish. This game is average, but it's fun anyway. One player, on-cart saving.
ClayFighter 63 1/3 - This is a fighting game, and the first of two N64 ClayFighter games. The game is okay, but not great. The graphics are amusing, in that ClayFighter style, and the 3d arenas are cool. There is some 3d movement, so this isn't just a 2.5d game. There are combos, KI style, as well as special moves. THere are several hidden characters too, accessible by cheat codes. In addition to the ClayFighter characters, the other Interplay characters Earthworm Jim and Boogerman are also playable, which is cool. I don't like KI-style combo systems, but you don't need to know it to play this game. This isn't a great game, but it is stupidly amusing, which is about all you should hope for from something like this. Two player, no saving.
Command & Conquer - C&C is a remake of the PC original, except with 3d graphics. The live action FMV cutscenes have been removed, of course, in favor of static images, text, and some speech. That is too bad, C&C series FMV is always entertaining stuff. There's also no multiplayer, and the game only includes the original campaign, not either of the expansions (which were never released for N64). There are four additional N64-exclusive levels, though. The actual game's the same, though, except in 3d instead of drawn 2d. The visuals actually look pretty good, particularly in high res mode. The game looks and plays better than I expected, I wasn't expecting it to be good at all but it's actually fun and works reasonably decently. You can zoom in and out, so you can hopefully get it to the size you want. Small units are always an issue in C&C games, with all that tiny infantry, but they do what they can here. The 3d graphical redo is interesting and makes the game different enough to be worth a look, even if the gameplay is the same, and that gameplay functions about as well as can be hoped for on a console controller with analog stick. C&C for the N64 may or may not be worth playing, but at least they tried something a little different. One player, on-cart saving, Expansion Pak enhanced.
Conker's Bad Fur Day - Rare's last N64 3d platformer, Conker's Bad Fur Day was long in development but worth the wait. Conker has impressive graphics, though it does have some framerate issues like Banjo-Tooie likely because it doesn't use the expansion pak. It also has great platformer gameplay, with the usual good Rare level design. This game is less about collecting than Rare's other 3d platformers; the game does have some, you are collecting items, but it's more straightforward than Rare's other 3d platformers. What Conker is best known for, though, is its mature theme. This game's R rating is well earned. The game has a later Xbox remake, but while the graphics on the Xbox are better, the game is actually censored more on that platform -- many swears that are unbeeped on the N64 (the game is fully voiced) are censored on the Xbox. The game is full of dark, British humor and just crazy situations, perhaps most famously the Great Mighty Poo. Normally I am not one for poop jokes, but that whole bossfight, with an opera-singing giant poo monster fighting against Conker, who you defeat by throwing giant toilet paper rolls at it, was pretty awesome stuff. Not everyone is going to like the adult nature of the game, and this is not a game for kids, but it's a very good game all 3d platformer fans should play. Thanks to the lesser censorship the N64 probably has the better version. Four player multiplayer (various modes, many of them shooter-style; the XBox version has different multiplayer content, so the two are not the same in that regard), on-cart saving.
Cruis'n USA - Cruis'n USA is a port of the 1994 arcade classic and one of the most successful arcade racing games ever. While the home ports have been hated almost since the release of the first one, this game for the N64, the arcade machines always have been very popular, both in the Cruis'n and followup (from the same people) The Fast & The Furious arcade games. Cruis'n USA is a simple racing game where you drive along long, often wide roads, tearing across America in your quest to become the first racer to go from San Francisco to Washington D.C.. The game clearly has a strong Outrun influence, except newer and American-made instead of Japanese. The arcade game was fun, but there are flaws in this home port. The N64 version is a straight arcade port, with absolutely no added features. This means that you simply access the hidden cars via cheat codes, not unlocking, and once you've beaten the main race mode there isn't much reason to revisit this game except to try to improve your times in the courses. That's disappointing, because while fun this game won't last long. Also, the multiplayer is two player only. At the time though, the biggest letdown was the graphics, people were expecting it to be arcade perfect but it's definitely not. There's fog and popup too. Still, there's enough fun here to make it worth a few bucks, and this was a very early N64 release. Two player, on-cart saving.
Cruis'n World - Cruis'n World is the second of the three N64 Cruis'n games. The gameplay is the same as ever, as you race along roads all over the world this time looking at the scenery, avoiding traffic, and winning races. All Cruis'n games were better in the arcades, but if you like simple racing games from the Outrun school, the Cruis'n games really aren't that bad. I at least find them fun. Though it is true that they're simplistic and boring after a little while, they're fun while they last and good for plenty of return plays later. It's the best reviewed game of the series and probably is the fans' favorite Cruis'n game. This N64 version can't match the graphics of the arcade, but it does add a lot of great features when compared to Cruis'n USA for the N64. First, the single player mode was significantly expanded in this game. Instead of just racing through all the tracks and that's it, multiple variants of each track have been added. In arcade mode you just play through the arcade game, but in the new mode you play several different variants of each track. You have to unlock the hidden cars, which there are a few of, as well, which is a nice improvement versus the original. It's great to see Cruis'n with more content. The new four player multiplayer mode is great too, and the visuals have been improved. However, there still is fog in the distance. Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Cruis'n Exotica - Cruis'n Exotica is the last of the N64 Cruis'n games, and it has the most features, content, and options of the trilogy. It's a little less popular than World, though, for some reason. I think that Exotica is the best of the three, myself. I like some of the new options. It's good to have a Cruis'n game that will take longer to finish, if World greatly expanded versus USA Exotica greatly expands again. This time you have even more variants on each track, including drag races, which, if you do right, will earn you boosts you can use in the other tracks. In the Exotica mode, you race a drag race, circuit lap race, short race, and two part long race in each environment. You unlock hidden cars based on miles driven, too. It will take quite a while to unlock all of the cars. There are also several alternate graphics modes that can be unlocked, including one where everything uses negative colors and looks squished, and another one where everything is stretched out and crazy warped. It's hard to play in these graphics modes, but they're pretty amusing options. However, of course, the basic gameplay is as simple as ever. All Cruis'n games are simply about driving forward along the endless road, going as fast as you can, avoiding traffic, and trying to finish in first. They are very simple and straightforward racing games. Also, even in this third game there is still fog. I guess the system simply can't render farther out. Your vision goes far enough out for you to be able to see well, but things do appear in the distance and it is a little distracting. Four player multiplayer on-cart saving.
To Do (remaining games):
Diddy Kong Racing - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Donkey Kong 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak required.
Doom 64 - One player, password or controller pak saving (1 or 2 pages; if two or more pages are free it will create a 2 page file with 16 save slots, but if you have only 1 page free on a cart it will create a 1 page file with 8 save slots.)
Dual Heroes - Two players, controller pak saving (20 pages).
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (17 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Excitebike 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. The cart has three slots for saving tracks you make in the track editor, but any beyond that can be saved to controller paks (4 blocks per track). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Extreme-G - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (9 pages).
Extreme-G 2 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (36 pages).
F-1 World Grand Prix - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
F-Zero X - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Fighters Destiny - Two player multiplayer, on-cart (I think) and controller pak (2 pages) saving. I'm not entirely sure whether the controller pak file is a backup or required, and what is saved on the cart.
Flying Dragon - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (47 pages).
Forsaken 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page).
Gauntlet Legends - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (4 pages per character file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Glover - One player, on-cart saving.
Goemon's Great Adventure - Four player multiplayer (two player only by default, but a hidden 3-4 player mode can be accessed after beating the game, look up the code on GameFAQs), controller pak saving (7 pages). Like with some other Konami N64 games the game has has on-cart saving in Japan, controller pak only elsewhere because Konami are mean.
Hybrid Heaven - Two player multiplayer (versus mode), controller pak to save (53 pages). This one did require controller paks in Japan too. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Hydro Thunder - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced. Three or four player modes require an Expansion Pak.
Iggy's Reckin' Balls - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (3 pages).
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - Originally a rental-only game, so copies of this game are somewhat scarce. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Indy Racing 2000 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (2 pages for options, 2 pages for season). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Jet Force Gemini - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - Four player multiplayer (three minigames only, main game is single player), on-cart saving.
Knife Edge: Nose Gunner - Four player multiplayer, no saving.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - One player, on-cart saving.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak required.
Lego Racers - Also on PC and Playstation. Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (62 pages).
Lode Runner 3D - One player, on-cart saving.
Mace: The Dark Age - Two player multiplayer, no saving.
Mario Kart 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Ghost saves are controller pak only, 121 pages per ghost.
Mario Party 2 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Mario Tennis - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Mickey's Speedway USA - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Micro Machines 64 Turbo - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (8 pages per character file).
Mischief Makers - One player, on-cart saving.
Mission: Impossible - One player, on-cart saving.
Monaco Grand Prix - Two player multiplayer, on-cart and controller pak to save (on-cart saves settings and options, but seasons require an ~8 page controller pak file.)
Monster Truck Madness 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
MRC - Multi Racing Championship - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (45 pages).
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - One player, controller pak saving (16 pages). This one also did require controller paks in Japan, I believe.
The New Tetris - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
NFL Blitz 2000 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak (most of a card) to save.
Nightmare Creatures - One player, controller pak (2 pages) to save.
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber - One player, on-cart saving. The game also allows you to back up your save files to controller pak, if you hold Start when you turn the system on.
Paper Mario - One player, on-cart saving.
Penny Racers - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (68 pages). The game has an EEPROM chip too, that saves your races completed and lap times, but if you want a full single player game you need a custom car with parts you collect from winning, and that requires one of these gigantic controller pak files that also includes multiple custom track files; I wish the custom tracks were saved individually, if you wanted to make them, and the car file was just a small little thing, but no, one stupidly large file is the way they went with... :( :(
Perfect Dark - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced, and required for the main game.
Pilotwings 64 - One player, on-cart saving.
Pokemon Puzzle League - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Quake II - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (3 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Re-Volt - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (30? pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Resident Evil 2 - One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Ridge Racer 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Road Rash 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page per player file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Roadsters - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (13 pages).
Rocket: Robot on Wheels - One player, on-cart saving.
San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing - Arcade port. Two players, controller pak saving (16 pages).
Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (34 pages).
San Francisco Rush 2049 - Four player multiplayer (two player only in race mode, four player in stunt and battle modes), controller pak saving ( pages). Expansion Pak enhanced, and required for race track 6, the Extreme championship, music while racing, moving obstacles in the courses, and more. Don't play this game without the expansion pak!
Scooby-Doo: Classic Creep Capers - One player, controller pak saving (3 pages).
Shadow Man - Also on PC, Playstation, and Dreamcast. One player, controller pak saving (73 pages per file). Note that compared to the size of the cards, these files are much larger than the PSX or DC versions' save files, for some reason or other. Bad programming? Expansion Pak enhanced.
Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers - One player, controller pak saving (30 pages per file).
Snowboard Kids 2 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Space Invaders - Also on Playstation and PC. Two player multiplayer, controller pak (2 blocks) to save. The game supports cards in any controller port, but only will read the first port with a card in it when you turn the system on during play -- so have your card with the save file in the lowest-numbered controller with a controller pak in it when you turn the system on.
Space Station Silicon Valley - One player, on-cart saving.
Star Fox 64 - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth - One player, on-cart saving.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Star Wars: Episode I: Racer - Also on PC and Dreamcast. Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Star Wars: Battle for Naboo - Also on PC. One player, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Super Mario 64 - One player, on-cart saving.
Super Smash Bros. - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Supercross 2000 (EA Sports) - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages for the setup file, 23 pages per season).
Tarzan - Playstation port. One player, controller pak saving (2 pages).
Tetrisphere - Two player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Tonic Trouble - Also on PC. One player, controller pak saving (15 pages).
Top Gear Overdrive - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving. Expansion Pak enhanced.
Top Gear Rally - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (The required notes are 1 pages for Options and 2 pages for the Season file. Other optional notes will fill up a card with things such as custom car painting skins.).
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Also on PC. One player, controller pak saving (16 pages).
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - Also on PC. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (90 pages!!! What in the world, Acclaim... There is NO excuse for this!). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Turok: Rage Wars - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (7 pages). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (16 pages per save file). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Twisted Edge Extreme Snowboarding - Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (5 pages).
Vigilante 8 - Also on Playstation and Dreamcast, though it was on N64 first. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (1 page). Expansion Pak enhanced.
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey - Arcade port. Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (7 pages).
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (50-something pages).
WCW/NWO Revenge - Four player multiplayer, on-cart saving.
Wetrix - Later had upgraded ports/sequels on Dreamcast and PS2. Two player multiplayer, controller pak saving (5 pages).
WipEout 64 - Four player multiplayer, controller pak saving (6 pages).
Yoshi's Story - One player, on-cart saving.