Canadian Gamers – Episode 18

Jet Force Gemini was the only Rare game I didn’t play on the n64. I wish they could remake or port it to XBLA so I could experience this forgotten gem.

My top 5:

5) Conker’s Bad Fur Day: truly shocked me when I was a teen because it’s the first real M-rated game I’ve ever played. The humor was simply out of this world, and the narrative gamplay mixed with some excellent voice acting and graphics is truly a hallmark for this system and generation in general. Arguably my favorite Rare game for the system and an underrated classic.

4) Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart 64: cheating here but I just can’t choose between these games. Both were very, very addicting because of the multiplayer.

3) Paper Mario: it’s the only good RPG on n64 aside from Ogre Battle 64. Had a lot of fun plowing through it despite the lackluster storyline. I was hyped for a long time because it took years until it finally got released late in the n64′s life. I remember when they used to call it Super Mario RPG 2, hence the hype factor.

2) Super Mario 64: what can I say about it that hasn’t been said? With all due respect to the awesomeness of Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario 64 had a huge impact on me. It’s the sole reason why I bought the system in the first place.

1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: again, the reason why I picked this over Majora’s Mask is because of the impact factor. None of us truly played a game like it before. I was engrossed for the whole time as it perfectly had everything I wanted in an epic game.

Honorable Mentions:

Blast Corps: Rare’s coolest original IP and very underrated. Blended strategy and actions and had a lot of mindless yet fun smashing.

Diddy Kong Racing: took everything cool about Mario Kart 64 and perfected it. While not as addicting when it comes to multiplayer, it has argubly the greatest single-player karting campaign in history. A plot? Seriously? Choosing between karts, boats, and planes? That’s just awesome.

Zelda: Majora’s Mask: for being the most unique Zelda installment ever!

Goldeneye 64 and Perfect Dark: my first real experience with FPS and the reason why I play the genre today. Multiplayer was addicting.

Quest 64: people will hate me for actually calling this a good game. I know it had a lot of problems, but as one of the very few RPGs for the n64, I really got into it. Very fun battle system, good graphics, real-time day/night. It was repetitive every now and then, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.

Ogre Battle 64: my first foray into a series I never knew existed. Sadly, I didn’t give it enough time, but from what I played it was a really, really good game.

Bomberman 64 and Bomberman Hero: both had very nice single player campaigns. The multiplayer of Bomberman 64 was addicting for awhile. Sadly, I traded my copy of Bomberman 64: The Second Attack because I was stupid. Didn’t get to play it much.

WCW/NWO Revenge: best wrestling game EVER!