The Official Nintendo 64 Thread!

[Punisher5.0]

 

Portal recently got another update. Im going to have to check this out tonight.

[Trinity32]

Whoever created Hybrid Heaven's combat system deserves to be fired. Turn based realtime combat would've been fine for the ps1 but it's poorly implemented here. That and the plot makes no sense. I have to give points however for the atompshere. perhaps if it were remastered today...

 

for those unaware, Hybrid Heaven is a poor man's silent hill. the story is ok but the combat is crap and the little gun you get is wonky as hell to control. RE2 was better

 

Here:

you might like it, you might hate it. The game is like pineapple on pizza: It is VERY polarizing and will likely start fistfights

Edited February 24, 2023 by Trinity32

[Tanooki]

It's why I never went around to re-acquire Hybrid Heaven.  The story is strange, but if you keep with it it works, but the control mechanics to the combat vs what they give for restoration SUCKS.  It's just not well done, there is far worse, but it's not Konami good.  The gun is awful too I do remember that as well.  It's not fair to compare it to RE2 they're entirely different play styles and genres, but that said, RE2 is the better game and this is coming from someone who largely hates the despicable tank control and crappy angles in that game.

[roots.genoa]

8 hours ago, Tanooki said:

someone who largely hates the despicable tank control and crappy angles in that game.

Oh my dear Tanooki... 😔

[Warmsignal]

Do any of you N64 aficionados happen to have an opinion on which is the best F1 style racing game on the system? I noticed there are quite a few to choose from.

 

F1 Pole Position 64

F1 Racing Championship

F1 Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix II

Monaco Gran Prix

 

I prefer my racing games as more the arcade style. Any recommendations among those?

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

1 hour ago, Warmsignal said:

Do any of you N64 aficionados happen to have an opinion on which is the best F1 style racing game on the system? I noticed there are quite a few to choose from.

 

F1 Pole Position 64

F1 Racing Championship

F1 Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix II

Monaco Gran Prix

 

I prefer my racing games as more the arcade style. Any recommendations among those?

 

I had F1 Racing Championship but the Game Boy Color version. It was one of the best 8 bit racing games I have ever played. I've never played the N64 game though.

[Tanooki]

On 2/26/2023 at 3:17 AM, roots.genoa said:

Oh my dear Tanooki... 😔

Ahh don't agree, not surprised, a lot of people like that terrible style from the 90s.  I never did, never felt right or handled well outside of an actual 3D style tank/shooter type game from then.  Coupled with the ever changing camera angles shifting the controls to match was not fun for me at all.  I put up with it in #2 and Codename Veronica, but that's it, never finished either largely due to that and the lame ribbon system since I couldn't dedicate so much time around limited saves.  I preferred RE4 style and more so Revelations.

[SlidellMan]

Lucky for you Tanooki, I also dislike the combination of tank controls and fixed camera angles. (That's one thing I hated about PS1 Survival Horror.)

[Tanooki]

I just can't deal with that garbage, and it went into the next generation.  I can not play Devil May Cry without losing my temper because of bad angles where controls change to match the direction they face.  I hit many spaces where you're in say a hall or ledge, and as you move to each screen suddenly like up and left is now partly right, and if you're still holding or tapping the direction to attack/parry you can just keep flipping screens throwing everything off.  That garbage drove me nuts as much as the fixed ever changing angle as WW2 like tank movement of characters coupled with sketchy gun/throwing item mechanics.  Survival horror is good, when survival horror isn't the fear of the game fucking you over due to crap design, not because something legitimately is an issue for chewing your face off because of the battle.

[roots.genoa]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Ahh don't agree, not surprised, a lot of people like that terrible style from the 90s.  I never did, never felt right or handled well outside of an actual 3D style tank/shooter type game from then.  Coupled with the ever changing camera angles shifting the controls to match was not fun for me at all.  I put up with it in #2 and Codename Veronica, but that's it, never finished either largely due to that and the lame ribbon system since I couldn't dedicate so much time around limited saves.  I preferred RE4 style and more so Revelations.

The thing is it was not supposed to be fun, that's the whole point of the survival horror genre. 😉

 

But my reaction was caused by the fact I always wonder why you sound angry about everything, and I wish we could soothe you one way or another. 😔

[Tanooki]

Strange, but ok.  Though I think it is meant to be fun for those who like suspense style stuff.  I really got into Dead Space, it didn't have a trash camera and control, really helped make it even more nerve racking going down corridors.  Those games never have scared me before, still don't, but that one got me uneasy which was a first.

[SlidellMan]

The latest from Kaze Emanuar:

 

[Atariboy]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:38 PM, Warmsignal said:

Do any of you N64 aficionados happen to have an opinion on which is the best F1 style racing game on the system? I noticed there are quite a few to choose from.

 

F1 Pole Position 64

F1 Racing Championship

F1 Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix II

Monaco Gran Prix

 

I prefer my racing games as more the arcade style. Any recommendations among those?

 

The only arcade racer there is F1 Pole Position 64. Technically it's primitive and as I recall reviewed poorly back in the day. But it's not a bad game by any stretch. The other four are simcades.

 

As for the four simcades, I prefer the Ubisoft franchise over the F1 World Grand Prix franchise. I've been revisiting Monaco Grand Prix 64 for 25 years now and still believe that the physics of the N64 entry are the best balance that I've seen in a console F1 racer when played with an analog stick equipped gamepad. It has just the right amount of realism without taking it far enough where the game is compromised due to the limitations of a gamepad controller compared to a full fledged steering wheel and pedal setup. 

 

F1 Racing Simulation is a South American/European exclusive sequel to Monaco Grand Prix. It sticks pretty close to the original, but features the full Formula One license this time. Monaco Grand Prix had fictional driver names that you could edit and save to the cartridge if you wanted (letting you substitute with the real driver names), fake teams, and so on (But did feature the full schedule of real tracks for I think the 1997 F1 season). F1 Racing Simulation thus has that extra bit of realism and a slightly different schedule. It simulates the 2000 F1 season as I recall and has Indianapolis and Sepang while losing at least one track that Monaco had (Argentina, which fell off the F1 schedule in the late 1990's). 

 

F1 World Grand Prix is a solid game and was loved by the critics and held up as the best that the system had to go up against Sony's Gran Turismo franchise. But between getting Monaco Grand Prix when it was new and falling in love with it (it was a Christmas present along with the system), and the strange steering setup that F1 World Grand Prix had, I never got into it when I bought a Player's Choice copy back around 2001 at the local Ames department store (I bought F-Zero X at the same time, which was a great deal for $15). Instead of only the X axis of the analog stick affecting steering like in most every other modern console racing game, this one treated the analog stick as if it was a 360 degree wheel. A sharp left turn didn't mean moving the stick fully to the left. You instead had to point it to approximately the 7 o'clock position (picture a clock face around the analog stick).

 

It worked for many people, especially back when it was new in 1997 or so and was a person's first experience at playing a console racing game with an analog stick. But for those like me that were used to the conventional analog stick steering setup that most other developers use (and continue to use today), it was just too foreign for me to ever feel totally comfortable with. F1 World Grand Prix II was basically just a season update covering a later F1 season, with an updated track calendar, driver roster, and a new slate of scenarios based on the previous F1 season. And like F1 Racing Championship, it also didn't come out in North America. It's a PAL (And maybe Japan?) exclusive on the N64.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Atariboy

[DragonGrafx-16]

On 2/27/2023 at 12:07 AM, DragonGrafx-16 said:

I had F1 Racing Championship but the Game Boy Color version. It was one of the best 8 bit racing games I have ever played. I've never played the N64 game though.

Oop, it was F1 World Grand Prix not Championship.

[Hwlngmad]

On 3/1/2023 at 12:55 PM, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Oop, it was F1 World Grand Prix not Championship.

Cool!  I was meaning to check this out, so now I will look for the correct title now.  Much appreciated.

[DragonGrafx-16]

2 hours ago, Hwlngmad said:

Cool!  I was meaning to check this out, so now I will look for the correct title now.  Much appreciated.

It might have been F1 World Grand Prix II as well

[Tanooki]

I went out on my 1of2 looks at some shops weekly yesterday and scored a couple games I haven't had in like 15 years now or so and was happy they weren't ebay priced too in great shape.  But wow do I ever suck at Bomberman64 now, but Rampage 2 is so so superior to the original on there.  I forgot about the far better balancing, refills on life eating people, the more attacks you and the humans do, etc it's such a solid experience.  They both look really sharp on ultrahdmi too.

[SlidellMan]

The two Rampage games for the N64 were grossly underrated. By the way, those, Mischief Makers, and Yoshi's Story used the N64's 3D capabilities to render 2D.

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, SlidellMan said:

The two Rampage games for the N64 were grossly underrated. By the way, those, Mischief Makers, and Yoshi's Story used the N64's 3D capabilities to render 2D.

Yeah and did it very uniquely so in style.

 

I'm guessing though maybe it was another method as I didn't look into it is another cartridge I have, Bangaioh.  That thing is a sprite pushing beast with so so much going on screen at quite a few times between enemies, you, bullets, con trails, lines, etc bouncing all over the place.

[DragonGrafx-16]

I wish I could use the DPAD in Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth instead of the analog stick.

[SlidellMan]

@DragonGrafx-16 Funnily enough, I thought about renting that when it first came out, but decided not to. I will tell you this, however: If I ever decided to make my own N64 homebrews, one of the rules will be that all games that necessitate the D-Pad, will support it.

[Hwlngmad]

18 hours ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

It might have been F1 World Grand Prix II as well

Will look to give both a spin.  Thanks!

[Tanooki]

I never thought of the stick being an issue in Star Soldier.  I was hungry for that game seeing it in NP in the day and really early internet coverage so I grabbed it when it came out.  I didn't then find the game all that insanely hard, challenge sure as it gets on, but I never had an issue with the controller causing me grief in finishing it either.

[DragonGrafx-16]

50 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I never thought of the stick being an issue in Star Soldier.  I was hungry for that game seeing it in NP in the day and really early internet coverage so I grabbed it when it came out.  I didn't then find the game all that insanely hard, challenge sure as it gets on, but I never had an issue with the controller causing me grief in finishing it either.

It's more of a case of preference. It's easier to do small adjustments in position with digital over analog control.

[Asaki]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:49 PM, Atariboy said:

Instead of only the X axis of the analog stick affecting steering like in most every other modern console racing game, this one treated the analog stick as if it was a 360 degree wheel. A sharp left turn didn't mean moving the stick fully to the left. You instead had to point it to approximately the 7 o'clock position (picture a clock face around the analog stick).

That sounds interesting, I kinda want to check it out.