ONM Remembered – #345
“Enthusiastic voting by Andrea earned Tamagotchi World its chart position, proving once and for all that democracy is a dangerous tool.”
from N64 Magazine issue 13 (March 1998)
A year after the console’s release, the staff of N64 Magazine got together to decide once and for all (until next year) what the top twenty games for the system were. Some of the choices and positions are a wee bit questionable (Yoshi’s Story is ranked above Mischief Makers?!), but for a console’s first year it’s not a bad little selection. It’s got a hearty variety of genres, with racing games, sports, games, first-person shooters, 2D and 3D platformers and… miscellaneous! It’s a fun and entertaining read, not just for the reviews but the amusing journey towards making their decision. And the various attempts to ditch the Aero Gauge cart.
Today also marks the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo 64’s release in Japan! For all the griping and gurning I’ve done about the console over the past four years, I inevitably have to make that pathetic turnaround where I say I like it, really! The jump from 16-bit to fully-fledged 3D graphics was an exciting time for video games, and Nintendo entered it with a heap of gusto and grand ambitions. Their big franchises made the leap in exciting new ways, and even missteps like the 64DD and Yoshi’s Story at least showed innovative ideas that you could argue were ahead of their time (though you could also argue what joker thought this was a satisfying follow-up to Yoshi’s Island, come on). It also unfortunately marked Nintendo’s fall from its monopoly on the market, its ill regard amongst third-party developers and its reputation as a console for babies… but yo Star Fox 64 was pretty rad, right??? Totally makes up for all the mistakes, surely.
Happy birthday, N64! Don’t drink and drive!
(only after this got published did i realise April 30 2002 was actually the date it got discontinued in Japan. it wouldn’t be Random Hoo Haas without glaring fact-checking faults. whoopsy doopsy!)
