So we've talked about the future of gaming, so what better time to take you back to the past. But I'm not the AVGN, so we're gonna talk about something positive. Now this post might come across as a little different than my previous ones becuase this one is a little bit more personal.
I also want to point out, before I get too much farther into this post that I don't hate Sony by any means. As a matter of fact, I rather like Sony, and enjoyed their Playstation 2 console. And it might seem like I'm bashing Sony, but I'm not trying to. I'm just attempting to take you back to how I felt when I was a kid.
That being said, you can probably assume where I'm going with this. As the
girlfriend (yep. Two bloggers coming together. It's like a legendary crossover game... Like Phoenix Wright/Proffesor Layton crossover ^_^) frequently likes to point out, I am a huge Nintendo fan. Which might be why, my favorite console is none other than the Nintendo 64.
Now I'd like to add the disclaimer that the Nintendo 64 was not my first console. To the best of my knowledge, that was actually the Sega Genisis. And maybe we'll talk about that at some point, but the point being is, the Nintendo 64 has captured a special place in my heart that no other console can take. To this day, I have not owned more games for one console (and that's including downloadable games) at one point in time. I think at the height of my owning that console, I believe I owned upwards of 30 games.
Now if you were me, this was about the time the phrase "console war" had any meaning to you. Now by sales, the Playstation 1 did sell more than the Nintendo 64, so by numbers the Playstation 1 did win. But in terms of memorability, it goes to the Nintendo 64. That's all I ever heard anyone talk about. That's all anyone around me owned. And more than anything, I wanted one. Badly. So imagine my excitement when I finally got one for Christmas. And slowly, my collection of games began to grow, and grow, and grow.
Now without doing too much dissing of the Playstation 1, I just wanted to compare a few key characters that were pretty famous on the console. For the few people I knew that did own a Playstation 1, the primary names that always were mentioned were Spyro, Rayman, Solid Snake, and Crash Bandicoot. Of course, if you tried to think of Sony characters now, you'd have to add (maybe even replace this list) characters like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Kratos, and Sly Cooper, who are all great characters (most notably Sly Cooper).
Now I have several friends who absolutely love Spyro the Dragon. And I was never able to understand why. Every time I picked up a Spyro game, I felt greatly underwhelmed. I felt like, if I was a dragon, I wanna be big, giant, and reign fire on cities. Now keep in mind I was a little kid back then, so I can appreciate Spyro a little more now, but back then, I always remembered thinking "Why play this, when I can play a really grand adventure like Legend of Zelda. Now this was a game that couldn't disappoint. Right from the very moment you fire up the game, you know you're in for a great adventure. And at the time, the opening scene to Ocarina of Time was possibly the most impressive opening you'd ever seen in a game.
Then there was Rayman. Now let me go on record as saying probably my favorite Playstation game was Rayman 2. And I positively love the Rayman series. However, the problem you run into here, is that while everyone clammored after Rayman, he wasn't really a Playstation exclusive character. As a matter of fact, the Rayman game mentioned above was released on the Nintendo 64 itself. The other problem being, while Rayman was a great, off-beat Platform adventure game, another game that has a very special place in my heart, comparable to the Rayman games is none other than the Banjo Kazooie series. Now I know, Rare moved off to Microsoft, but while Rare was under ownership of Nintendo, great games like this were being made. I logged HOURS into both Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, two of my favorite platformers ever.
Now I dont wanna spend too much time on Metal Gear Solid, suffice to say I've never really cared much for any of the games, so naturally Metal Gear Solid didn't really intice me into getting a Playstation 1. Now our friend Shawn, who is currently taking a hiatus because he has the money to get all the really cool games coming out right now, happens to be a huge fan of Solid Snake. So it's obvious that he, much like everyone else on that list happens to have dedicated fans, but not even he attracted me to the Playstation 1.
Now possibly the one character on the Playstation 1 I heard about the most was none other than Crash Bandicoot. Everyone with a Playstation 1 owned and was actively playing some sort of Crash Bandicoot game, which led me to sort of look at him as the sort of poster boy/mascot for the Playstation 1, which was cool, but then when it came to mascots, naturally he's going to be compared by this kid to the number one mascot, Super Mario. Now firstly, one reason I really enjoyed my Nintendo 64 is becuase it contained the first Mario game I ever played, the revolutionary Super Mario 64. And after this, I was Mario's number one fan. Not long after this game, Nintendo's pudgy little plumber became my all time favorite Nintendo character. So naturally, Crash Bandicoot could never stand up to Mario, and all of his many games on this very system even.
Though, to close the comparison portion between the two fighting systems, I will say one area the Playstation 1 did win in is Castlevania. The Nintendo 64 got two 3D Castlevania games, which reviews have ranged from dreadfully negative to decently positive, versus the Playstation 1's Symphony of the Night, which is regarded by many as the best Castlevania game ever made.
So to close out this little rundown of my favorite console, let's look at the top 15 games that made me adore this system.
15) GoldenEye 007: A lot of people have very fond memories of this game, and Im one of them. Much like several other games on this system, I logged several hours into this game, in both multi and single player. This was also the first game that I got very big into using cheat codes
14) Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: Also my very first Kirby game, I remember how much fun it was to combine the different powers to see what powers each combination could come up with. It was also one of the earliest games that I ever finished, though not 100%
13) Gauntlet Legends: Now I've owned several incarnations of this game over the years, but the one I remember most fondly is the N64 incarnation. Its not that this version really stands out over any other version, however it is the first incarnation I remember playing, and the first one that I did take the entire gauntlet through the game.
12) Starfox 64: I don't think anyone who owned a Nintendo 64 didn't play this game at some point. Not even going into multiplayer, this games single player campain was addicting to say the very least. Although there were only two final stages, the numerous different ways to get there were always a mystery (to this day, I have not visited every stage).
11) WWF No Mercy: Now I know what your thinking: "A wrestling game? Really?" Well again, keep in mind, this was when I was young, and this game gave us ample amounts of control and creativity. Even with all the great changes that the new wrestling games are making today, WWF No Mercy is still, in my opinion, the best wrestling game ever made
10) Mario Party (series): This was the game that, at least for a few hours, brought my family together. This was possibly the pinnacle of multiplayer gaming in my childhood. Now these games werent too fun to play alone, but when you had a group of people, it was addictingly fun.
9)Pokemon Stadium (series): Now when i talked about the next generation of Pokemon, I briefly talked about Pokemon Stadium, but this game pretty much ignited my Pokemania. I loved going through the different cups with my different Pokemon. I even made team taylored to every cup playable. I could spend an entire day playing either Pokemon stadium game.
8) Paper Mario: Possibly my very first RPG, this game was nothing short of enjoyable. I never actually beat the game on the original console (that's becuase I never really had the money to buy it, so I only had it on a rent), but I tried, and tried, and got at least half way through within a week.
7) Mario Kart 64: Another game I don't think a 64 owner went without playing at some point, this game was a lot like Mario Party, except it was even fun to play alone as well. To a lot of people, this WAS the original Mario Kart, and with very good reason. This game was a blast, and easily one of the best racers for the system.
6) Banjo Kazooie (series): I already talked about this game above, so I don't really have a ton to say here, other than the fact that this game is a perfect blend of humor, fun, creativity, and fantasy adventure.
5) Legend of Zelda: Occarina of Time/Majora's Mask: Easily two of the best games on the Nintendo 64. This was Link's first step into the 3D realm, and what a very graceful step it was. Now I never managed to beat either of these games on the original system (as a matter of fact, I still haven't beaten either game to this day), but it was always fun up to the point I did make it to. Just running around in this expansive world was simply incredible.
4) Donkey Kong 64: Although 3 out of the 5 kongs in this game were unknown prior to it, this was, for the longest time, a very strong contender for my favorite Nintend 64 game. The fact that there were so many puzzles and challenges which were difficult, but never frustrating made this one of the most enjoyable games I've ever had the pleasure to own. When I think Nintendo 64, this is one of the first games that come to mind.
3) Diddy Kong Racing: This was always my favorite game to play with friends. The fact that, much like Mario Kart, there was multiplayer racing madness, but added to the fun was the numerous tracks with several fun, fantastic themes, and the fact that you could choose to race in three different vehicles was something incredible to my young mind. So much so that I could barely handle it.
2) Super Smash Bros: The game that started it all. Again, another party game, however, this was the first game that I could literally play for days if my body would allow me. The game that brought all of Nintendo's greatest superstars into one game... just so Mario could destroy them all. There was only one other game that I had more fun playing on this system, but despite that fact, this was the very first game that I ever had the "must own" feeling for.
1) Super Mario 64: Now again, I talked about it above, so I don't really have much to say about this game. That being said, Super Mario 64 was a huge, expansive game with hours of exploration, and ton of places for someone like me to mess around in. And trust me, as a kid, any game that I could just mess around in was a good game for me to own.
Now other games that didn't make this list include Lego Racers, 1080 Snowboarding, Snowboard kids, and Yoshi's Story, among others. But even those were games that I spent hours playing, and made up why I absolutely addored this system. This was about the time I first started refering to myself as a gamer, and what began to mold me into what I am today.
My Perscription: Don't be afraid to go back and look at your past every once in a while.
Dr. Buck
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