Top Five N64 Games
Written By: Roger Taylor

It's time to face the unfortunate facts. The N64 is all but dead now. One of the most controversial consoles of all time, the N64 probably started more arguments between us gamers than anything else in history. Love it or hate it, there is no denying the N64 had its fair share of great games. So in its honor, this edition of The List will run down the greatest games for the N64. Without any further introduction, here we go:

5. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber

Perhaps this is only on the list because it is still fresh in my memory. Perhaps it is only on the list because it is unlike any other N64 game. But maybe, just maybe, Ogre Battle 64 really is one of the best games to be released on the Nintendo 64. The storyline is one of the best in any video game ever, the gameplay is tight and balanced, and the challenge level is just right. Calling Ogre Battle 64 the best RPG on the N64 doesn't say a lot. Calling it the best RPG to be released in 2000 does.

4. Wave Race 64 / F-Zero X

It was a hard decision trying to figure which racing game to put on the list: F-Zero X or Wave Race 64. But in the end, I took the losers way out and put both at position 4. When Wave Race 64 was released in 1996, it was instantly declared a revolutionary title. Within a few shorts years it was declared a classic. The water effects and physics of the game were mind-bogglingly realistic when it came out and they still are today. With a few more tracks, Wave Race 64 would have definitely been called the best racing game ever. Instead, it has to settle for a tie with the futuristic racer F-Zero X. A lot of you are no doubt wondering what this is doing on the list. It was not particularly financially successful, and it received mixed reviews at its release. Well, that will teach you once and for all never to listen to sales numbers or critics (unless they are part of the NGF staff). F-Zero X is perhaps the greatest racing game ever made. Its speed is still to be matched and its gameplay is nothing short of perfect. Most of you probably do not own this title. If that is true, go pick up a copy now! You can buy a used one for a mere $10 these days; although I shudder to think what kind of moron would sell this game.

3. Goldeneye 007 

Once again there is a tough choice to make. Perfect Dark is better than Goldeneye in most respects right? So how come Perfect Dark isn't at number 3? Simply put, Perfect Dark didn't expand on enough things or improve the Goldeneye engine enough to be called one of the best games for the N64. Although it should be noted that if this was a top 6 list, Perfect Dark would probably be on it. When Goldeneye was released it was instantly considered the best console first-person shooter of all time. Now it is considered a classic and one of the greatest games ever created. The one player game was an incredible experience. But it was the revolutionary multiplayer death matches that kept us all coming back for more. Goldeneye was such a landmark title, in fact, that it spawned two new genres of games. First, it created the spy shooter, a genre that you could stick such games as Metal Gear Solid, Winback and Mission: Impossible in. Second, it created the console multiplayer death match shooter, a genre that you could stick such games as Time Splitters, Turok 2 and Quake 2 in. Even if death matches would have been popularized eventually; Goldeneye was years ahead of its time.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Considered by many critics and players to be the greatest game ever created, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time caused more "sick days" from work in 1998 than the flu. Since its release many gamers have charged that the game is not nearly as good as the original Zelda or as good as any of Square's RPGs. Well, if the developers could make a game better than the original Legend of Zelda, then they are obviously the cleverest people in the world and instead of crafting video games they should be finding a cure for cancer or solving the worlds energy problems. If you have bought into the anti-hype and forgotten how great this game is, go back and play it. You will remember why you too once blabbered for hours about Epona and the megaton hammer to uninterested friends who prayed to God that you would just beat the game so you would move on to something else and stop talking about it all the time.

1. Super Mario 64

No game since the original Super Mario Brothers changed the world of video games so quickly and so drastically as Super Mario 64. But the thing that is so remarkable about Mario 64 is not that it is revolutionary in every important respect. The thing that is so remarkable is that Shigeru Miyamoto (the game's head developer) managed to make one of the best games ever, whilst revolutionizing everything about video games. The godfather of all 3D platformers, Super Mario 64 created a formula that no platformer has yet been able to break…at least until Mario for Gamecube comes out. While countless other Mario-style games (as they have come to be called) have been released since 1996, not one has been able to touch the sheer perfection of Super Mario 64. If only one word was to be used to describe this game, that word would have to be "fun." And when you get right down to it, that is what this whole video game thing is supposed to be about. Super Mario 64 is without a doubt, the greatest game to ever come out for the Nintendo 64.

That's it for this edition. If you have any comments or suggestions feel free to write me at jonas42@vgf.com.