My brothers and I grew up as gamers (like many of you, I’d wager). The three of us loved nothing more than to plug in the good ol’ Nintendo 64 every weekend, and engage in hours-long battles to the death on our favorite multiplayer games. We played all the best multiplayer games, of course; I’m sure you all fondly remember the days of Goldeneye 007, or Super Smash Bros, or Mario Party, or Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, or Star Fox 64, or Perfect Dark. Our virtual avatars battled each other across countless battlefields, equipped with all manner of weapons that ranged from the badass to the ridiculous. Those were good times, and some of my fondest moments from my childhood have materialized out of particularly epic matches. And not the kind of “epic” that is uttered by that nerdy kid back in high school whenever something slightly interesting occurred. Truly epic, legendary memories that remind me of my most stunning victories, and my most abysmal failures.
But when tempers flared, there was only one recourse. When egos clashed, only one game could put conflict to rest. When the stakes were high, there could only be…
Welcome to Mario Kart!!
Yes, Mario Kart 64 was the game. My brothers and I clocked more hours on that fine piece of engineering than perhaps anything I’ve ever played (except for Golden Sun, but that’s a tale for another time). Nothing can truly compare to the surge of adrenaline you feel when neck-and-neck on the final lap of Royal Raceway with your greatest foe. Not all the kung-fu movies in the world can pump you up nearly as much as when the last item box bestows upon you that crucial red shell at just the right time to clinch the victory on Luigi Circuit. And there is no more potent rage to experience when you get smacked with a blue shell… and lightning… and a star… and two green shells… and go from 1st to 8th in a heartbeat.
There is also no greater test of skill. Item rolls aside, the only way to settle a grudgematch among my brothers and I was to duke it out on everyone’s favorite karting game.
You see, it was not enough to pick up the right items at the right times, though that certainly decided more than a few races back in the day. No, in order to achieve victory, you needed to make split-second reactions toward whatever item your foe just sent hurtling your way. You needed to know how to use all the shortcuts on each map, and how to prevent your opponents from doing the same. Most of all, you needed to be able to giggle maniacally when you got a lightning while in second place, because that crap is so irritating to everyone else.
Of course, racing is not the only test of one’s ability in Mario Kart. There’s also the Battle mode, which is arguably even more intense and exhilarating than the Grand Prix mode. Three balloons, a multitude of shells and bananas, and a hefty dose of the ever-necessary trash talk. Whether that trash talk will be followed up by triumphant gloating or angry scowls depends on your ability to evade pursuing red shells, to maneuver around banana minefields, and essentially drive like a pro. Oh, and bottomless pits are a problem if you play on Skyscraper.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end someday. The joyous summer afternoons of innocent banana-chucking and balloon-popping are over. Responsibility as an adult in the real world has taken the place of mirthful boasting. My brothers and I now live apart, only seeing each other again every five or six months.
But every so often, when I’m feeling nostalgic…
… I dust off the good ol’ Nintendo 64 and relive the memories of my past. Just for a little while.
Oh my goodness I loved the N64 Back when we were just kids and didnt care about anything but having fun, stuff like graphics, pathing, made no difference to us
I still remember my insane love for Rainbow Road <3
As sick as MK64 was.... I still maintain that Double Dash took everything to another level. Me and my brother spent years playing that game. We were unbeatable. I did the driving and he did the punching. Come to think of it, I might start playing it again. See if I still got it...
The good old days when my cousin and I used to battle on Big Donut and both of us get Star after Star after Star... Yes really. Continuous invulnerability.
As a hardcore PC gamer the N64 is the only console I would ever consider buying. I, too, have so many awesome memories playing with friends. Remember all the good Mario Party games? And Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. and all the great platformers and the list goes on and on. I seriously should buy one.
Such good times, I remember playing all of those when the N64 first came out, so many hours on MK64 Golden-eye, Perfect Dark, Mario party, and super smash. I was lucky enough to get the pokemon edition console to haha, I lived very near six of my cousins, and we must have logged 30 hours a week after school I love these kinds of posts!
But one thing that always puzzles me is why not a single post I ever seen on-line about Nintendo nostalgia mentions Snowboard Kids? it was completely on par with Mario kart for getting items like a parachute or hand, crystals at the perfect time and stealing first! plus you had fantastic tracks, the feel of jumping just at the right time to dodge a hand or parachute now that was awesome , annnnnd you got to do a dozen different tricks with each character, it was also an amazing game I've never seen it mentioned though! it needs credit I feel like no kids played it, Think I might blog about it or do a streaming marathon for it lol
For me and my brother+cousin, it was SSB when we wanted to compete, and Perfect Dark when we wanted to go zombie mode.
SSB's competitiveness was just so awesome back in the day. If you turned off items and picked a non-cheesy stage (Temple, Fox's ship), then it was a pure skill match, man vs. man, mano y mano. I can't remember how many games we clocked in SSB, just pounding on each other.
Perfect Dark was something special; I feel that it didn't get enough credit for the fact that it had fully working bots!! I remember we would play 3v9 or so (forgot the max #of sims), and just fight for our lives against an onslaught of bots. Laptop gun FTW
I really don’t need to explain why this game is all the way up here, so instead I’ll just make a list of superlatives for this game: Best Character (based on stats): Wario Best Shortcut: Wario Stadium wall-hop Craziest Level: Toad’s Turnpike in Mirror Mode Most Useful Item: Lightning Most Useless Item: Triple green shells when you’re in first place in Rainbow Road Most Annoying... Annoyance: Thwomps in Bowser’s Castle Guiltiest Pleasure: Annihilating Toad, just to hear him scream like a baby The “FML” Award: Getting ready to drive off the big jump in Wario Stadium... and then noticing that second-player has a Lightning... The “You’re an asshole” Award: Placing a string of bananas on the zig zag, rail-less bridge in Banshee Boardwalk. The “This is so bullshit” Award: Getting hit by a truck in Toad’s Turnpike... and then immediately getting hit by a bus... and then a car... and then another truck...
5/5 for loving Mario Kart 64 and posting an awesome blog about it :D
On May 27 2012 14:04 Thrill wrote: Mario Kart 64 aint got shit on CTR.
On May 27 2012 13:12 r.Evo wrote: One day I'll buy a N64 just to play this game again*. So many memories. ♥
GO AND WIN K THX
*And maybe a little Mario Party. And Mario 64. And... that damn spaceships game with that foxy fox. Oh gawd. WTB N64. =S
I went back and played Lylat Wars a year ago and to my surprise the game took me like 25-30 minutes rofl. I remember it taking forever as a little kid. Still awesome though, I fucking killed Slippy, didn't let that weak link pull me down.
On May 27 2012 20:42 craz3d wrote: I played a shitton of Starfox and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey in addition to MarioKart. Before that it was Super Mario and Donkey Kong on the SNES.
Then came SC and CS when my parents got decent net.
Oh good god, don't make me nostalgic. Crash Team Racing.......man I get chills just remembering it. It felt like an absolute adventure; it was just so crazily good.
Perhaps too much. As part of my A-Level statistics coursework I used 100 laps done with 3 different characters on Koopa-Trooper beach as my data!
At the time I thought it was a fantastic way for me and my buddies to play Mario Kart while pretending to do work - needless to say I think my mark for that project wasn't particularly good...
i loved mario kart so much.......my bff and i would play that during sleepovers........when we got bored we'd play FIFA 2002.......then we'd play mario kart again in the morning good times
On May 28 2012 11:00 Complete wrote: Apparently Golden Sun has 2 sequel RPG games. Are all 3 good? Thinking about giving it a shot.
Here's a handy little guideline for you.
The Broken Seal: Amazing.
The Lost Age: Even more amazing.
Dark Dawn: Significantly worse. Not recommended to purchase unless you love the series as much as I do.
Trust me on this. Like I said earlier in the thread, I've clocked 2,000 hours across both TBS and TLA just because of how great they are, and still play both quite often, trying new things and setting new goals for myself. In contrast, I've played about 65 hours of Dark Dawn, and haven't touched it in a year. DD was a total letdown for me, unfortunately. Hopefully, the implied sequel will restore my faith in Camelot.
On May 28 2012 11:29 Mazaire wrote: Is it just me or did moo moo farm feel like a knife fight every time? I enjoy a good knife fight.
I hate to use a 4chan-ism, but it's applicable here: if every race isn't a knife fight in the end, you're doing it wrong.
I feel obligated to post just for the GS mention :D
For me, it was SSBM and Double Dash... ahh good times. So many milestones... discovering C-Sticking (lol my Marth friend), learning how to land Rests and pulling off Wall of Pain, finding out about the competitive scene via combo vids, learning advanced techniques
...Advance Wars, anyone?
Edit: I agree with Archas's assessment of the GS games. GS + TLA taught me the basics of RNG manipulation :D (them and Fire Emblem... lol)
You aren't the only one to have fought valiantly on the N64 controllers playing Mario Kart 64, the ultimate test of skill. I swore I would never surrender that game to another because (in my humble preteen opinion) it was the best game on the universe ever. Graphics too. Battle mode best imo.
Timing green shells to patrol areas of block fortress. It was possible to set up a circuit.
Banana peels around corners that you were used to taking at speed to prevent circumventing them
I didn't get much into mariokart 64 but I have many fond memories of racing games with friends and trash talk, especially if the racing game including weaponry of some sort. So I can definitely relate!
On May 27 2012 15:23 DrThorMD wrote: As sick as MK64 was.... I still maintain that Double Dash took everything to another level.
the only thing DD had in its favour over MK64 was that picking a waluigi/daisy team and switching drivers ALL THE TIME is the most annoying thing ever and gets many wins through opponent's tilt
Although I left my old N64 behind and now I only have Wii / X360, I still play Mario Kart Wii from time to time. The triumphs of bumping a Toad off the Rainbow Road remain just as good.
5/5 I had SNES and 2 games on it, racing F-Zero and Super Mario Brothers. It took some years to finish off Koopa in SMB but even then there were some parts unexplored on the map. I remember my patent on getting dozens of lives in a single game in the East Island's forest by jumping with Yoshi on caterpillars. I wonder what happened to this console.
Currently I think I'll buy Xbox for Gears of War 2 and 3 and maybe Battlefield 3 and some other games.
Pretty good, however, you are mistaken in your premise. While Mario Kart 64 provided the greatest 2-player experience in the 64-bit gaming world (arguably even better than anything PS2 had to offer), it was far out-classed in competitive play by the greatest fighting game of all time.
Obviously you already know what that is.
Mario Kart 64 was a beautiful game, not because of its intense competitive element, but rather cooperative mode (which may have held some competitive possibilities, and yet the true spirit of the competition was not the competitive element but rather the will and cunning to absolutely dominate the elastic AI opponents at the highest levels of competition, including backwards).
You and your friend should team up, creating an elaborate system of calculating income -- perhaps counting coins like minecraft and constructing an elaborate Sim City 5 fantasy world to make a true account of your MK 64 success. Each coin earned is tallied, quite carefully, and placed in the Sim City 5 bank account, and then, with the funds accrued from this timeless legend, your city is constructed. Thus, your Mario Kart victories earn you great esteem among the Sims, and not only the Sims, but the other players whose Sim Cities lack the intricacy afforded by your Gold Coinage. Each city block, every curving road will contain the memory of an epic battle. You and your teammate soaring through the intense Mario Kart obstacles, each race the prizes mounting, and margin of victory growing; and each of these glorious victorious accounted in truly magnificent fashion in the hallmark of civilization: a Sim City.
However, that is not the only prize to be won. Jason Lee and I are forming a company (undisclosed information) and we our first move will be to purchase a plethora of N64 Consoles and modded N64 games (with original fully functional controllers). Our goal is to create the best games possible, and to do so, there is only one place to turn. Super Smash Bros. (N64-edition) updated with the crucial patches that would balance the Ness Telekenetic toss, and perhaps upping Luigi's rate of motion while possibly downplaying the absurd power of his upper-cut to those who have the quick reflexes. Essentially, 'easy-button' is removed from the game.
With the new-and-improved Smash, we will create a cadre of super warriors. Truly magnificent fighters trained by the best, in the harshest and most competitive environment imaginable. Their knowledge and ability in the videogaming world will be unsurpassed. Then there's some other stuff involving BW that we can't talk about right now.
However, you should join us in our epic quest to conquer the video gaming world. With the powers borne of our Smash 64 prowess, and the innate talent of our selected hires, we will be able to create the greatest and best video games ever known to the world of men (and woman). It will be a truly glorious day when our first game is released along with our patented E-Sports Arena. The face of the globe will be forever changed. It is a noble goal. As they say, if u build it, they will be there.
Ah the good old days of N64! When I went to college I made sure to take my old N64 and spent many sober and drunken hours rolling my quad mates in mario kart, Super Smash, and Golden Eye!
I also have to say Crash Team Racing was awesome! I've been playing Crash since the days of ps1 I even have a couple old games loaded on my Ps3
I feel like I need to play Goldeneye now. My clearest memories of that game are the day my friend first got it and came over to my house right after. We were playing FF7 and Goldeneye at the same time on two different tvs, then switched to Goldeneye and played until we fell with the game still on. Then that summer we were playing multiplayer in his basement when his brother and his brothers friend came down talking trash about how they could smash us 2v2. By the time it was over we were beating them so bad they were having a pretty heated argument about which one of them sucked more.
My FUCKING GOD. The times I spent playing on the N64 with friends and family were absolutely priceless. I would give anything to relive those experiences again. The nostalgia is simply overwhelming just thinking about it. The times playing Pokemon Stadium with my cousins trying to figure out the best combo of Pokemon, the times spent playing Mario Kart with my dad and siblings,the times spent with friends trying to get all the stars in Mario 64, the times spent trying to beat all the characters on Super Smash Bros. on very hard on all the maps and beat all the challenges...... I miss my childhood ;_;
MK64 was the first game my brother and I got for our N64. I remember our parents would only let us buy one game for it (to go with the console that first time), so we had to make sure it was worth it. We wanted a game that had multiplayer, since passing around the controller can get old.
(That said, we developed a system for Star Fox 64, where we would play the levels we were best at, and we almost always took the same route. I'd do Corneria, but we'd go to Meteo because you can rack up more points there than you could if you went to Sector Y. He'd complete Meteo, going into the Warp Zone, and then I'd do Katina - BLATANT ID4 RIPOFF HELL YEAH - but instead of going to Solar, we'd go to Sector X, again because of the potential for more points. We'd skip the warp zone because the points really weren't worth it, and go to Macbeth. He was somehow always better at getting points in Area 6, and then I'd finish with Venom 2. Good times, good times.)
So the game had to be multiplayer, and had to have excellent replay value - with 16 maps, coop mode, and 4 battle maps, MK64 was the best choice. We always fought over who would get to use Yoshi, and I almost always got to use him because I was P1 and Yoshi was right below Mario, and he'd use Peach. According to the stats, Wario is supposedly better, but I just never liked the way he handled.
Maybe it's nostalgia, but I felt the N64 was really a much better system than it was given credit for. Sure, cartridges over disks probably was a bad idea, but the games on it were excellent. We couldn't afford that many games, but we got excellent replay value of the few we got, to the point where I can easily name them - Aerofighters Assault, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, Olympic Hockey, MK64, Star Fox 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. The system made me a Nintendo fanboy for life, who ironically has never completed Super Mario 64.
On May 30 2012 23:20 DreamChaser wrote: I just came in to say Fuck Rainbow Road that is the only map i can never finish i just fall off the edges left and right
When I play with my friends, we always pick Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Wii) for the last stage just so that we can HUEHUEHUE each other.
I grew up breathing the dust the settled on my Mario Kart cartridge, I used to be soo much better than my siblings and cousins i used to do crazy handicaps like play with the controller backward etc. This brings back soo many memories thx for the blog.
On May 27 2012 12:20 Archas wrote: (except for Golden Sun, but that’s a tale for another time)
Oh man, please tell that tale another time. I too sinked a lot of hours into Golden Sun and I'd love to revisit that game through someone's experiences.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3kH8r.jpg)
I love these kinds of posts! 
good times
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zWgOg.jpg)
