The Nintendo 64 was launched in the United States on September 29, 1996, a year after Sony’s CD-based platform, PlayStation, outperformed any other system on the market. This was also the year when console manufacturers began discontinuing underperforming home consoles such as the Atari Jaguar, Sega CD and 32x, the Panasonic 3DO and Phillips CD-i.
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It’s an understatement to say that Nintendo was the underdog going into 1996 with a cartridge-based system to take on the PlayStation giant. Nintendo 64 was sold in the first 11 weeks 1.5 million units, and as many as 7 million consoles shipped by 1998 only in the United States. Fans were clamoring for a Nintendo 64, and for good reason. So, here are the best Nintendo 64 games that contributed to the console’s massive worldwide success.
10/10 WWF No Mercy
Released in 2000, THQ and Aki CorporationWWF’s No Mercy became the standard by which all subsequent wrestling games would be judged. Striking at the peak of WWF’s Attitude Era, WWF No Mercy was widely hailed as one of the best wrestling games ever, thanks to its fluid controls, licensed characters, and overall fun gameplay.
The game featured 60 playable characters from which you can choose to unleash hell on your friends or the AI. WWF No Mercy even came out with a built-in character creator so that wrestling fans can make their dream come true of the Stinky face on Vince McMahon.
9/10 Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
The Battle of Hotho combat level in LucasArts 1998 Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is one of the most iconic Star Wars moments in all video games. Rogue Squadron on the Nintendo 64 was effortlessly controlled with the N64’s innovative analog controller.
Flight fights feel like intense, and the music and the sound give a feeling of immersion hard to replicate at the time. Bullets, lasers and towering mechanical giants they all fill the atmosphere around you, which was a real achievement in game design at the time. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is seen by many as the game that proved that Star Wars games could be fun and innovative and still dedicated to the source materialI.
8/10 Pokemon Snap
Part of what made the Nintendo 64 so successful was some of the more innovative games released on the console. Pokemon Snap for the N64 was a absolute joy for Pokemon fans and a great surprise for Nintendo owners when it launched in the US in 1999. You play as Todd Snap and perform a special fact-finding mission for Professor Oak. The mission is to observe Pokemon in their natural environment and take pictures of it; What more can you ask for?
Today, this whole game is more or less common in modern video games in the form of a photo mode. Back then, the idea of seeing a Charizard chilling in a volcano next to a fainted Voltorb was kind of mind-blowing.
7/10 Paper Mario
One of the must plays on this list is Paper Mario. Again, Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach, and it’s up to the two plumbing powerhouses, Mario and Luigi, to save her. However, this Mario is a little different from how you might remember it.
Paper Mario, released in the US in 2001, is a important game for the industry because at the time it was seen as the perfect channel for a western audience that might have never experienced or previously played a real RPG. The game includes a nice story and hilarious dialogue. Even as a turn-based adventure RPG, Paper Mario is a masterful piece of video game design.
6/10 Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64 appeared in 1999 in a BIG way and has since been known as one of the best Nintendo 64 games ever released. Developer RARE and Nintendo had a specific vision for Donkey Kong and his friends, and while there may be polarizing arguments on both sides of the debate, it can be argued that DK64 makes up for the quality with its quantity.
Donkey Kong 64 is an adjacent open world adventure game with a multitude of items and characters to collect. The game featured save slots and tens of hours of fun. There are platform levels, puzzles, racing, shooting galleries and hours to go to one of the more iconic boss battles in video game history.
5/10 Mario Kart 64
Nintendo has always been a company that focuses its efforts on multiplayer games just as much as on his single player games. Mario Kart 64 is a kart racer with you favorite Mario characters and levels inspired by the games.
Can find you and your friends random weapons and power ups. The game featured a meaningful drift mechanic that added an extra layer of skill for you to master. The AI in Mario Kart 64 is also well designed, you never feel overpowered and because of the power-ups you are never really safe for too long.
4/10 Golden Eye 007
Speaking of fun, GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 became the best multiplayer game on the system and brought the FPS genre into a more viable form on home consoles. In GoldenEye you take control of none other than James Bond himself and complete missions with different challenges.
Every mission goes like a James Bond movie, complete with secret agent dialogue and drama. However, the multiplayer part of 007 is where many spent countless hours to play The man with the golden gun! with their friends on a split screen television. Hey, no screen peeping!
3/10 Super Smash Bros.
Holding the mantle of not only the fifth best-selling Nintendo 64 game of all time, but also be responsible for ushering in a whole genre, Super Smash Bros. proved in the late 90s that Nintendo’s creative directors were doing a good job.
Super Smash Bros. is a platform fighter where you play as a character from the Nintendo library, such as Mario, Pikachu, Link and Donkey Kong. Each character has their own set of moves that are explicitly linked to their in-game personality. For example, Pikachu can be a powerful . to call to action lightning bolt attack on his opponents. Super Smash Bros. has since been a huge success for Nintendo with an absolute that hard fan base.
2/10 Super Mario 64
Not much can be said about the impact that Super Mario 64 had, not only on the industry, but also on Nintendo as a world leader in video games and console design. Taking a 2D character out of a side-scrolling 8-bit platformer and transforming it into a fully rendered 3D platforming masterpiece is somehow undercutting how super mario 64 changed the game landscape when it was released along with the Nintendo 64 in 1999.
Mario controls fluently and has many more movement options than his 2D counterpart. The environments and world are all brilliantly styled and the levels are cleverly designed with just the right amount of challenge. Super Mario 64 reminded the industry why Nintendo de creator and innovator of pleasure.
1/10 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
If Super Mario 64 a indication of how good 2D franchises can be converted to 3D form on the N64 and then in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time it perfected. Ocarina of Time is the type of video game that rarely gets a video game title as prestigious as a Timeless masterpiece.
Video games as recent as Elden Ring and Super Mario Odyssey have their DNA infused in what Ocarina of Time to a instant classic. The dedication to open world detail, fun gameplay mechanics, and intelligent puzzles are clear indicators that the development team has put their time and care into creating this game. Ocarina of Time clearly shows that video games are not just a entertainment medium but one amalgamation of various masterfully crafted art forms.
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