No 7 – Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Did you know that Conker’s Bad Fur Day originally started off as a cutesy, family friendly game known as Twelve Tails: Conker 64? If you didn’t, then take a ganders at this! Pretty different eh? Well, some bright spark at Rare Studios thought it would be good idea to change the ‘image’ of Conker’s adventure to that of a more ‘mature’ theme, and by jove was it a great decision. Sexual innuendos, hilarious movie references throughout and swearing had replaced the friendly, twee and quaint atmosphere; which became a shocking but welcome surprise. Unforgettable characters, a pretty decent multiplayer mode and some actual ‘laugh out loud’ moments made this a game that every N64 owner should’ve had in their collection. And the less said about the XBOX’s re-release, the better.
6. Mario Kart 64
One of the main selling points of the N64 was the inclusion of having four controller ports built into its hardware. This allowed for many games to support up to 4-player split screen for multiplayer goodness. And one of the first games to utilise this was Mario Kart 64. Many hours were lost and many evenings out cancelled, but it wasn’t just the multiplayer that made this game so fun. It contained some of the best track designs in Mario Kart history and also had a very addictive time trial mode, where purists would often be shaving seconds of theirs – and their friends – best times. A true classic of a game and one that deserves its spot at No 6.
5. Starfox 64
Aside from F-Zero, if there was one franchise that Nintendo has sort of neglected, its the StarFox series. Yes, there was the re-release of StarFox 64 on the Nintendo 3DS a couple of years ago, but what we really wanted was a brand new entry to the saga. Having said that, its a little understandable as to why Nintendo is so cautious with the adventures of Fox McCloud and company; because the last two console games (StarFox Adventures and StarFox Assault) left a lot to be desired. They didn’t live up to their full potential and left a bitter taste in the mouths of the hardcore fans.
Thankfully, there is still the original StarFox 64, a superb action/arcade shoot-em-up, with endless replay-ability. Sticking to the formula of its SNES predecessor, it added new elements like All-Range Mode, which allowed you to fly around stages in all directions. It also added new vehicles, such as: the tank, “Landmaster”, and the submarine, “Blue-Marine”… although the submarine stages were pretty lame. StarFox 64 also implemented a pretty stellar 4-player, split screen, battle mode, which was always good for a laugh. We’re sure StarFox will return one day, and as long as it sticks to the same formula as StarFox 64, we’ll be happy gamers. Do a barrel roll!! … *cough*
PAGE 4 is full of obvious choices.
