So I've been toying with the idea of this for a few months now, but it's finally time for it to officially go live. I want to add another complete system library to the collective Shizzylvanian empire, much as Eric Dude did with all American SNES titles.
I had initially thought of collecting for a system that's slightly easier and more attainable- 3DO or Lynx, most likely. Or Game.com if I really wanted a cheap full set. But as much as I love my 3DO, and as much as I accept that I own a Lynx and a Game.com, it still felt too much like catching them all simply for the sake of catching them all. I did that with Pokémon Blue and Gold, and while it was somewhat satisfying to achieve, it isn't the kind of accomplishment that has much deeply resonant excitement. It's more a relief than anything- you're finally freaking done and you can finally do something else with your life.
The N64, for all its faults, I genuinely love. Truly, madly, deeply- even if its library is a savage garden of questionable platformers, poorly aged 3d experiments, and the Cruis'n series.
I've had mine since the Christmas of '96- in the months before its release, I bothered my parents with literally every article in Nintendo Power that could possibly psych them up even a pinch as much as I was psyched for it, and for once in my life it actually paid off. In the months that followed its release, my enthusiasm (like many) became a bit more bittersweet- very few releases overall, and what was being released I could often only rent. Well before the end of the N64's lifespan, I had mostly transitioned to the PSX- cheaper games combined with personal JRPG-mania was simply too enticing.
I still got Nintendo Power well into the Gamecube era, so the N64 never went totally neglected in my brain- but it never saw more than the VERY occasional rental after '98 or so. Conker's Bad Fur Day was the last new N64 game I bought, and even that was mostly because it was on massive clearance at an FYE. In 2003.
Over the last few years, as N64 game prices finally went into the dump, I would occasionally pick up a game or two that I'd rented once or twice like Blast Corps, Tetrisphere, or Beetle Adventure Racing. I never really bothered to pick up much that I wasn't already familiar with- or ones that Nintendo Power had hyped me for but I never played, like Hybrid Heaven. Especially as the system (like the PSX) has a pretty bad rep where it comes to having games that aged gracefully. Despite this, I more recently started getting a bit more willing to experiment- picking up games like Doom 64, Turok 2, Body Harvest, etc. The results have been... quite pleasing, actually. The aging hasn't been nearly as unkind as I had previously been led to believe.
So, I've decided that it's time to take it to the max- I want to collect every single American-released N64 title and review them all individually to set the record straight. Best case scenario, my slightly unrequited love for the N64 will finally be fully validated. It'll be like the girlfriend who you broke up with for someone prettier, cheaper, and more attractive; but then end up eventually going back to, marry, and then live genuinely happily ever after with. Worst case, it keeps the same reputation of being the girlfriend that has a few good points- but ultimately was pretty forgettable, and whom time has been excruciatingly unkind to.
I'm genuinely hoping for the best case.
My current list can be found at:
http://nintendoage.c...View&clId=47347
So, it's 73 down and 223 to go. I think that's pretty attainable, especially with the support of the Shizz to make it happen. Let's do this!
NOTE:
Spoiler
and high five 
