The Nintendo 64 era of video games holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers, including me, as it marked the first foray into true 3D realms they experienced. At the time, the concept of exploring a 3D world ignited players’ imaginations in a way that made the graphics of the time easier to overlook. In some ways, the previous era of perfected 2D pixel graphics looked better than the initial 3D designs in games that came after it.
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Looking back at these games with the passage of time, the graphics do still hold up for a few titles, with nostalgia perhaps doing some of the heavy lifting for their enjoyment. However, there are also a few nostalgic titles that, despite fond memories of playing them while being young, I can’t overlook how bad the graphics look. While there are many bad-looking games on the N64, this list will stick to those that people are familiar with and may not have realized how badly their visuals have aged.
5. Earthworm Jim 3D
My childhood love for the series started with Earthworm Jim on the SNES, which offered a fun and playful weirdness that elevated the experience beyond just a simple action platformer game. I would try to play every game in the series after that point, and at some point, also play and enjoy Earthworm Jim 3D on the Nintendo 64. However, comparing the 2D Earthworm Jim games and this version shows a stark difference in retrospect.
The low-resolution 3D textures on the Nintendo 64 have a softness that takes away from the bombastic charm of Earthworm Jim. It is also plagued with camera issues that were common among early 3D games, which hadn’t quite figured out the best way to keep players looking at the action. Overall, the graphics on this one have aged terribly, making it less enjoyable to run around and do silly things as Jim than it used to be.
4. Mega Man 64
Another beloved and iconic gaming series that struggled with its initial 3D transition, Mega Man would struggle to find its footing in future games. The environment textures in Mega Man 64 are painful to look at with a modern eye, and the draw distance issues stand out in open sections. The character models aren’t too bad for the time, but the blandness and blurriness of the areas players explore make trudging through the game a duller experience than it needs to be.
The game’s graphical difficulties likely stem from being a port of the PlayStation version of Mega Man Legends. By the time the game came out on the N64, the graphics were already outdated, and the passage of time has not helped things.
3. South Park Rally
Ah, South Park Rally, the game that essentially ended video game adaptations of the popular cartoon series until the recent revival in 2014 with South Park: The Stick of Truth and its sequel. I remember enjoying South Park Rally at the time because it allowed you to play with so many iconic characters from the series, hearing their quips as they raced around the track.
However, revisiting it today, the game’s fast pace makes it nauseating to look at, not helped by unfocused textures that sometimes make it hard to tell what something in front of you is even supposed to be. Constant visual popups on the screen also add to the chaos, sometimes forcing you to look away to give your eyes a break. The game’s tracks also have a depressing amount of visual sameness between them, which will make you desperate to see something besides snow and trees by the end of a play session. It’s encouraging that the show has stayed with it over the years, with the latest South Park season still taking things to new levels.
2. Rugrats Scavenger Hunt
I don’t know why, but for some reason, this game sticks out in my mind when remembering the N64 era, having spent many hours enjoying the Rugrats take on the Mario Party formula. Visually, the game suffers from the “darkness” problem, where developers hide the lack of draw distance and visual detail by covering backgrounds with fog, shadows, or just making them completely black. This graphical decision, combined with consistent texture blurriness, makes for an unpleasant visual experience today.
Rugrats was a strange ’90s phenomenon. I remember being so hyped for its first animated movies, and the series still has fans to this day. Last year, the series got Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if they tried to re-release Rugrats: Scavenger Hunt with updated graphics. It would probably require an entire graphical overhaul and remake.
1. Superman 64
Superman: The New Superman Adventures, aka Superman 64, is still considered by many online to be among the worst games on the console. However, in examining its gameplay flaws, I feel that fewer people discuss how badly the graphics have aged. This was one of the few Superman games that kids growing up in this era got, and it really is challenging to look at by today’s standards. It earns the top spot on this list by possessing a culmination of other negative graphics flaws already mentioned.
A perpetual fog or darkness follows Superman wherever he goes, and his high-speed zooming past blurry textures makes it hard for your eyes to stay locked to the screen. The game’s camera has been and remains notoriously difficult to manage in both interior and outdoor sections. Superman has a derpy face, and the environments are incredibly bland, with few instances of color to break up the dull tones utilized.
Let us know what you thought of this list in the comments below. Were there other poorly aged graphics in games you felt deserved to be mentioned here as well?
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
