5 Best N64 Fighting Games That Still Hold Up Today

The Nintendo 64 was, unfortunately, not exactly a breeding ground for great fighting games. If you were a fan of the genre at the time, you were likely looking elsewhere for your fighter fix. That said, if you knew where to look, there were a few great fighting games to be found. Before diving in, it’s important to note that wrestling games don’t count for this list. The N64 was actually great for that genre, but those games don’t quite have the same feel as a more traditional fighting game.

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Here are five great fighting games on the Nintendo 64 that are still worth jumping into.

5) Mace: The Dark Age

Mace: The Dark Age is a weapon fighter from Atari Games. Like many games of the era, it’s going for extreme violence. Think Mortal Kombat or Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. You can execute your enemy after winning a fight, and it is just as gruesome as you’d expect from a ’90s fighter.

The arcade version is much better, but the N64 port isn’t terrible. It’s definitely a knock on the Nintendo 64’s library that this relatively middling game is one of the best on the system. That said, if you want an idea of what a great-looking fighter looked like in 1997, Mace is the game to play. The combos might not feel great to perform, but they sure do look awesome.

4) Flying Dragon

Flying Dragon is neat because it mixes fighting gameplay with RPG elements. The team at Culture Brain sure was trying some things in 1997. It doesn’t quite work perfectly, but it was a neat experiment for the N64. There are two different fighting modes, but SD mode is the one that really matters.

There, you’ll earn level-ups as you progress, giving you access to new equipment that’ll power up your fighter even more. Virtual mode is much more like a traditional fighting game, which isn’t bad, but not why you’re coming to Flying Dragon. The sequel is also solid, and if you want to dig into the series’ history, the NES game Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll is a decent platformer with light RPG elements.

3) Fighter Destiny 2

The Fighter Destiny series has always been funny to me. The first game is called Fighters Destiny, but the sequel drops the “s” for seemingly no reason. Critics viewed the original as mostly generic outside of the points system, which made it feel a bit more like a real-life martial arts fight than fighting fans were used to.

While that game is worth checking out if you’re an N64 fan, the sequel added a new mode called Fighter’s Arena. This board game-like mode lets you take a character and build up their abilities while learning new moves. It’s a nifty way to train players for more competitive play. Like the original, it can feel a little generic, but Fighter’s Arena is a cool addition that makes going back to Fighter Destiny 2 fun to go back to.

2) Super Smash Bros.

Yes, Super Smash Bros. isn’t a standard fighting game. Still, as a platform fighter, it’s one of the games that popularized the offshoot. And while Melee came along and ate its lunch on the GameCube, it’s hard to understate how big a deal the first game was on the Nintendo 64.

You’re talking about Nintendo mashing up all of its fan-favorite licenses into one great fighting game. Sure, we’d seen Mario and Donkey Kong interact. After all, the first Donkey Kong game had Mario trying to save Pauline from the giant monkey. However, Smash took it to the next level. Nintendo packed in twelve playable characters, letting players duke it out as Mario, Fox, Captain Falcon, Ness, Pikachu, and more. All the stars were there, and it set up what has become one of Nintendo’s most popular series. It may have lost some luster thanks to future games being so much better, but it is absolutely one of the gems of the N64.

1) Killer Instinct Gold

Killer Instinct was Rare’s answer to Mortal Kombat. The developer has become better known for its more family-friendly games, but in 1994, it dropped the first KI into arcades, where it became a massive hit. Killer Instinct Gold is a port of the second KI game, which wasn’t quite as good as the first game, but still a blast.

In fact, most critics actually preferred the N64 version to the arcade, which was a rarity at the time. Unfortunately, fans didn’t quite agree. They didn’t love the changes to the combo system, and sales suffered for it. Still, it’s the best fighter on the Nintendo 64, and it’s not particularly close. If you’re looking to see what the fighting game scene was like on Nintendo consoles during the era, Killer Instinct Gold is the game to play.

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