Forgotten N64 Game Could Make a Comeback After Nearly 30 Years

During its time on the market, Nintendo 64 played host to a lot of well-regarded games. Titles like Star Fox 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Paper Mario continue to appeal to older players, as well as newcomers that weren’t alive for that era. Many of the system’s best games have gotten rereleased over the years, either through Nintendo Switch Online, or through remasters offered on various platforms. However, there are plenty of well-regarded games that have never been offered a second time. For those games, players are forced to go through the secondary market, and hope for a decent price.

Thankfully, it seems a long missing N64 game could make a comeback sometime in the future. Developer Argonaut Software reopened its doors in 2024, and released a remaster of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos earlier this year. While the company seems to be focused on additional Croc games at the moment, they have also mentioned other games they’d like to bring back someday. In an interview with the magazine MCV Develop (via Video Games Chronicle), Argonaut Software’s founder Jez San and its co-CEO Mike Arkin name dropped Buck Bumble, an N64 exclusive released back in 1998.

“I-Ninja is a really well-regarded and underappreciated game and we’d love to revisit it. Buck Bumble too, but that was N64-only so less people know about it.” said San. “Croc, on the other hand, sold well over 3 million copies (back when that was a lot of copies) and was the first big platformer on the original PlayStation console. It’s also got broad appeal, both to men and women. Croc really appealed to everyone. It was the obvious choice.”

“But we also hope that Buck Bumble will also have his day in the sun, eventually,” replied Arkin.

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Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like there are immediate plans to get Buck Bumble back off the ground, but it does offer some new hope for fans of the game. Argonaut’s remaster of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was released on multiple platforms, offering a chance for the game to find an audience outside of PlayStation, unlike the original version. It’s likely we’d see the same for Buck Bumble, should a remaster actually happen. That would be good news for those who grew up with the N64 and moved on to PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, or just those that want to see what the game has to offer on their platform of choice.

For now, Buck Bumble fans are just going to have to wait patiently to see if anything comes of this. After decades out of the public eye, Buck Bumble is one of those N64 games most people probably didn’t expect to get a second lease on life. Hopefully Argonaut can find a way to make it happen.

Did you ever get a chance to play Buck Bumble on N64? Would you like to see the game get a remaster on modern platforms? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!