The Nintendo 64 isn’t Nintendo’s best console, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t filled with great games. Sure, games didn’t always look great on the N64, thanks to the limitations of the technology, but good developers were able to overcome those limitations to deliver a few all-time classics. Just below that level are underrated gems that never quite got the fanfare they deserved. These games wouldn’t show up on many players’ best-ever lists, but they should get more love.
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Here are six underrated N64 games that most players have forgotten.
6) NBA Hangtime
Midway’s NBA Jam series was a huge hit; however, by 1996, the NBA Jam name had been acquired by Acclaim Entertainment. It was a weird situation that isn’t worth getting into, but it does make the NBA Jam lineage a little tough to follow.
The team that made NBA Jam continued its work with NBA Hangtime, the third game in the fan-favorite basketball series. It introduced several great features that helped it stand out from its predecessors, most notably character creation and alley oops. It was best in the arcade, but the home console port was an excellent hoops game for the N64.
5) Body Harvest
Body Harvest is one of the more violent games on the N64, which makes sense when you remember its developer is DMA Design, who would go on to become Rockstar North. Players take on the role of a genetically enhanced supersoldier who has to eliminate an alien threat by using time travel to battle through five different eras.
On the surface, it doesn’t sound anything like Grand Theft Auto 3, but in some ways, Body Harvest was the seed that grew into Rockstar’s game-changing PlayStation 2 game. It didn’t quite live up to fan hopes, but it’s worth checking out as a historical artifact that shows how we got to GTA 3.
4) Snowboard Kids
Both Snowboard Kids games on the Nintendo 64 are great. Sure, the first game was rightfully knocked for feeling a bit like Mario Kart on a snowy slope, but there’s nothing wrong with being a solid knockoff. If you’re doing it well, nobody’s going to get too mad at you.
The sequel ups the ante with more characters and courses, giving you much more to do. Story mode adds boss fights and a hub town. Once you finish it, you’ll unlock Expert mode, which ups the challenge, giving you even more replayability. Both games would be great candidates for a remake on modern consoles.
3) Wetrix
Wetrix is probably Zed Two’s best-known game, though that might be underselling all of the work the Pickford Brothers have done over the years. Either way, Wetrix is an inventive take on Tetris that tosses aside tretrominos in favor of water bubbles and terrain deformation.
Essentially, you’re placed on a flat, colorful level. As water comes down from the sky, you need to use your abilities to raise and lower the terrain to create enough lakes to keep the water on the platform. It is a wildly original take on the formula that you rarely hear about. The Pickfords did release a sequel called Aqua Aqua on the PS2, but we haven’t seen anything else since then.
2) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
In a change-up from the Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64 didn’t have a ton of great RPGs. Part of that is the decision to go with cartridges over discs. Companies like Square wanted to continue expanding on how much they packed into the Final Fantasy series, but couldn’t do that without a disc, so they ended up developing for the PlayStation.
Thankfully, a few devs stuck with the N64. Paper Mario is the N64 RPG most players remember, but Quest Corporation’s Ogre Battle 64 should be talked about in the same breath. The real-time tactical RPG is a much slower-paced RPG than Paper Mario, but if you’re looking for deep strategy, Ogre Battle is a great option. This is the RPG for the sickos, something the N64 didn’t get much of.
1) Goemon’s Great Adventure
Some N64 players might prefer Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, but I’m going with the sequel because it gets rid of most of the camera issues the original had. It accomplishes that by returning the series to its side-scrolling roots, using 2.5D platforming to keep things relatively simple.
Simple doesn’t mean easy. Goemon is a tough-as-nails platformer with some wild boss battles. It’s also got an ear-pleaser of a soundtrack and some of the more bizarre humor you’d get from the era. If you’re looking for an N64 game packed with personality, Goemon’s Great Adventure is the choice.
On top of all that, Goemon’s Great Adventure also brought back two-player co-op after Mystical Ninja ditched the feature. There’s something special about a good co-op game on the N64, and Goemon’s brand of platformer almost needed a buddy to help get over the challenge.
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A Nintendo Entertainment System over a collage of the system's game's screenshots.
