96 replies to this topic

[thebeautyofgrind]

I have an N64, the hook-ups, 1 controller, and 4 games (Conker's Bad Fur Day, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart 64, and OoT in gold cart form.)

I can't remember the last time I hooked it up, so it's not like I'll miss it. If you wanna talk turkey, PM me

[jvincion]

I can help with the game hunting, considering my very close proximity to the original Pink Gorilla (Godzilla). I'll try to find you good deals if I can!

I guess I'd need to see the list of what you need.

This can be done in the list on NA:



Just click the "cart" link located where the arrow is pointing twice, and it'll filter all missing carts to the top.

I NEVER LEARNED TO READ

[Magicalyardgnome]

If you have any interest in imports the 64 version of Bangaioh is pretty great. Better than the Dreamcast version IMO.

[Metalhead Mike]

Are you looking just for carts, or for boxes/manuals as well? I have a good collection of N64 stuff, most of the major popular titles but a good handful and more of some of the bad/uncommon titles. They'd always be for sale at flea markets and used stores for cheap, and my mom never let me throw away any of my boxes or manuals for any of my systems, so they're all still up in my parents' attic. Next time I go home (might not be for many months) I can check your list and grab whatever carts, plus hunt around for the manuals/boxes if you'd like them too.

[mercatfat]

I'll reply to above comments shortly, but first:

Review #1:
Fighter Destiny 2

This is a game series that I always kind of had a crush on but never played. I read about it in Nintendo Power, which covered it pretty extensively- something it probably kind of had to do, considering the N64 had roughly 0 non-Midway fighting games when it first came out.

The game series is unique in that, like Karate Champ, winning a match isn't based on winning rounds per se- it's about how you win rounds. You get awarded points for different kinds of wins: win by judgement or ring-out is worth 1 point, throwing an opponent to the ground (regardless of their health) is 2 points, and emptying their lifebar and knocking them down scores 3 or 4 depending on how you accomplish the knocking down part. There's a few other less common ways to score points, too, mostly through countering attacks properly. Matches are played to a set number of points- 4-8, typically. It actually works out pretty well, as the rounds are also pretty darn short.

I decided to skip over the "Vs CPU" mode, which is what we usually see referred to as "arcade mode" regardless of whether the game ever even existed in an arcade, and went straight for "Fighter's Arena" mode. The select screen promised RPG-like character growth, so that was intriguing.

Time to blindly go into character select:

Oh neat, Dennis Rodman and anime John Wayne Gacy.



Oh neat, asymmetrical breasts. More games need those.

Overall, the selection reminded me of another game with an extremely bland attempt at an eclectic cast: Street Fighter 3. I eventually went with the really mall gothy-looking guy named Frederico, who is apparently Italian.

Oh hey, it's apparently Mario Party with punching.

This part of the game is about what you'd expect by looking at it- a roulette wheel of numbers determines how far you move, which then results in fights, which then results in character growth. You can occasionally select your path on the board- one path goes nearly straight to the boss whom beating unlocks new moves, and the other path is longer and laden with more difficult fights with the toughest CPU opponent the game has to offer: Cherry, a blue haired transvestite.

Seriously.

Also among the extra boss-like characters- a cow. Bonus: the udder kind of looks like a fanny pack.

This is one really notable thing about the series- it can't seem to make up its mind whether to be serious or be wacky. The menus, most characters, and stages are all very straightlaced- and then the boss characters (whom you'll likely fight in the board game mode a LOT) are a silly robot, a cow, and a Rocky Horror reject. While I applaud the creativity and attempt at adding some fun to a game that's not overwhelmingly exciting... well, it's more jarring than amusing in practice.

But overall, I'm actually pretty impressed. The graphics are solid, the gameplay is pretty tight, and it actually has a developed single-player mode- not just a series of fights leading to a boss that then leads to a 10 second ending and MAYBE an extremely frustrating training mode full of impractical combos.

It's also kind of a boring single-player mode in actual practice; an hour or so in, I still felt like I hadn't accomplished much, nor had I really been challenged at all by the AI. Without that challenge, I didn't get the kind of satisfaction you get from finally finishing a challenge that you failed repeatedly due purely to a lack of skill, a challenge that only through gaining skill were you able to overcome. It could eventually get more difficult, but after having the challenge seemingly never increase over the course of my play... well, I decided to move on.

The fighting itself uses the control pad (not stick) exclusively, and only has two buttons: A & B. Throws are done by pressing both together. This simplifies the fighting quite a bit, making it actually surprisingly easy to pick up and play- making multiplayer much more accessible than say, Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter.

Music Selection: Cherry's Estate

CONCLUSION

Garbage | Really Bad | Pretty Awful | Slightly Sucky | Average | Above Mediocre | Competently Passable | Tailgate Party | Tight as Shit | Just Delightful

If found relatively cheap and if you like fighters (or the cast of Ru Paul's Drag Race) even a little bit, I definitely recommend picking this game up.
Especially if you have at least one pal that you can rope into playing with you.

Likes: Looks good, plays great | Frets: Kind of boring single player, uneven style

[Demonstray]

I have that game! It's a fun party game, but by no means amazing. "Competently passable" seems perfectly accurate, actually.

[Eric Dude]

All riiiight! Now do Magical Tetris Challenge!

[mercatfat]

If you have any interest in imports the 64 version of Bangaioh is pretty great. Better than the Dreamcast version IMO.

I definitely don't care about imports unless I happen to find them and cheap. I have to cordially disagree, though, on the original's quality. The DC version was better in just about every conceivable way in my opinion, especially its zany translation. It makes Katamari's wackiness look like Jane Eyre by comparison.

Are you looking just for carts, or for boxes/manuals as well? I have a good collection of N64 stuff, most of the major popular titles but a good handful and more of some of the bad/uncommon titles. They'd always be for sale at flea markets and used stores for cheap, and my mom never let me throw away any of my boxes or manuals for any of my systems, so they're all still up in my parents' attic. Next time I go home (might not be for many months) I can check your list and grab whatever carts, plus hunt around for the manuals/boxes if you'd like them too.

The collector in me wants boxes and manuals, but one of the bonus reasons to collect N64 carts is that they're exceedingly small. Boxes and manuals kind of take that out of the equation. Thanks for the consideration, though!

All riiiight! Now do Magical Tetris Challenge!

Soon enough.

-------------------------------

One of the things that kicked this off was the purchase of a lot of 46 N64 games off ebay for ~$100 shipped- what I actually received in the mail yesterday was a Large Priority Mail flat rate box literally bursting at the seams with games. At first, I thought little of it- it was a pretty large number of games that I had bought, after all. But as I peered through the contents, I realized quickly that there were a lot of games not pictured included- and also a heck of a lot more games than was advertised. In total, a whopping 83 games were in the box. There were still a number of duplicates, but the overall quality of the contents was significantly higher than what was pictured- a good bit fewer sports games, and a lot more quality titles overall. I didn't get all of the games originally pictured- Hey You, Pikachu and Duke Nukem Zero Hour are two I was definitely looking forward to and didn't get. But it's kind of hard to care too much considering what I DID receive, obviously.

The list had all of the carts pictured in it ticked, but I've gone through and corrected the list completely. It's now totally up to date.

I also am one notch down on the Blockbuster-only carts as of today- I got Blitz Special Edition for $8 from a local game store. That price seems to be about a third average going price, so I'm definitely pretty happy about that one.

1 full review and 2 mini-reviews will be posted shortly.

[Eric Dude]

I dug through my N64 collection, and I have the following games for you:

Starshot Space Circus
Extreme G2
MRC
Re Volt
Mia Hamm Soccer 64 (I knew there was a reason I bought this stupid game!)
Bomberman Hero
Battletanx Global Assault
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes
Automobili Lhamborigini

They all work except Mia Hamm. She needs to cleaned. Dirty girl...

[mercatfat]

Sweet, thanks! I can't wait to drink water and eat Hamm. You can hold onto MRC and Re-volt, though, as they both ended up being in that lot. I'm sorry.

Time for some more reviews:

Review #2:
Bass Hunter 64

It shouldn't be so hard to not feel like you're picking on the invalid kid when you make light of how terrible fishing games are. Believe it or not, though, good fishing games that aren't mini-games of a much better game actually do exist. Trophy Bass, Blue Marlin, and anything fishing that's done by Sega are all proof of this.

Bass Hunter 64 is not one of those games.

You can probably deduce this from the attract mode:

I did not edit this at all. It actually sounds like this.

Good fishing games are exciting, like NBA Jam with rods and reels. BASSketball. Attitude with lunkertude.

In terms of excitement, Bass Hunter 64 is more like WNBA Jam.

But what if you turn on a few cheat codes?

One code puts some dude in a one-size-fits-all baseball cap as the heads of fish.

Captured in mug shot format.

And there's a big head mode, of course.

Both of those codes at once, plus a code that makes your boat into a bathtub. This is every good thing about this game in one screenshot.

CONCLUSION

Literally balls | Really Balls | Pretty Balls | Slightly Balls | Average | Above Balls | Much better than Balls | Party Balls | Tight as not-Balls | Totally Anti-Balls

Humdingers: You can finally fish in your own home. | Humdoubters: Will you ever want to leave home again?
It is defined by two distinct words in a very distinct tandem: fishing and simulator. Chances are that if that didn't scare you off, you likely own at least 2 games with "Cabela's" somewhere in the title. And several about racing trucks, dirtbikes, and/or ATV's. Basically, you either are the target audience, or you're the exact opposite of target audience. No in between.

Nugget Reviews!

Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Kung Lao's portrait always looked to me like Luke Skywalker in a chinstrap raising a lightsaber above his head horizontally.

Me recommending Mortal Kombat is like a mom having to give her rather aloof daughter some condoms: you can't personally condone it, but you also can't ignore that certain people are just going to play Mortal Kombat and there's nothing you can do about it. So, if you're going to Mortal Kombat anyway, this seems like just about the best choice. It's pretty amusingly buggy at times too- in my half hour or so of playing this one, I recall at least 3 hilarious post-match sprite bugs that were definite obvious oversight.

The default button layout tries without success to mirror the 5 button arcade setup. Thankfully this can all be changed.

Grab it or Stab it?: Grab it if you're an MK fan, especially of 3's style. Stab it if you take fighting games remotely seriously.

South Park: Chef's Luv Shack

Chef's Luv Shack is a trivia game for the truly complete idiot, likely the same kind who'd actually still buy a game based on South Park after having played the first one. In a kind of backhanded compliment of a twist, the mini-games in this title are a million times better than the main trivia portion itself. Some of them, anyway- they're almost all shameless ripoffs of an existing classic game such as Simon, Paperboy, and Asteroids. Most (all?) of them support up to 4 players, too. The quality definitely varies, but most of them actually look really nice! The sharpness and clarity of the closeups in this game is pretty surprising, to say nothing of their aesthetic faithfulness to the show.

It really does look shockingly good, even if this TV shot doesn't quite convey that.

If there was a mode that was nothing but the minigames, I would be close to recommending this one. Especially as some of them would potentially be a lot of fun with 4-player simultaneous play. Sadly, it does not. Worth checking out as a curiosity if found very cheap.

Ram it or Cram it?: Ram it into your cartridge slot if your favorite episodes of South Park were exclusively from the first 2 seasons. Cram it in the garbage if you're smarter than a fifth grader.

[mercatfat]

Instead of bumping this thread with long-ass review posts, I decided it'd be best to get a blog.

N64th Street: The Blog

Some noteworthy (?) new ones:
Mickey's Magical Tetris Challenge
Powerpuff Girls Chemical X-traction

[mooniniteG]

Get a blog.

[Rocquero]

Beast Wars: Transmetals has a special place in my heart for being one of the worst games I have ever seen, let alone played. Finding a copy should be very easy.

I was so bummed by that game. I love the show so much.

[Eric Dude]

Beast Wars: Transmetals has a special place in my heart for being one of the worst games I have ever seen, let alone played. Finding a copy should be very easy.

It was a rental-only, so it might be harder than you think. I've personally never seen a copy anywhere. But it shouldn't be too expensive if it's lame as you say.

merc, you've gotten off to a great start with these reviews so far. If you manage to pull off one of these for even half the games on the system, that will definitely be a great achievement.

[cacomistle]

I'll definitely help out with this. When I get some time, I'll head to the local video game store.