Nintendo said they wouldn’t manufacture the Mini NES for longer than a year, and minus the supply issues at the start, they more or less stuck to that. They’ve also said they won’t make the Mini SNES after 2017.
So even if it’s not confirmed, we all know it’s coming: the Mini Nintendo 64. So before it does, let’s help Nintendo out with 21 games that a Mini N64 absolutely has to have.
Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer
Was torn between this and WipEout. I love the latter, but the former is awesome and I think was a much bigger hit on the N64.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
There would be riots if this wasn’t included.
F-Zero X
Not the best F-Zero, but you also can’t not have F-Zero.
Mario Kart 64
The graphics might not have held up that well, but the courses sure as well did. One of the best from the series, right behind MK8 and Mario Kart Wii for me. (Mario Kart DS is 4th.)
Pokemon Stadium
Better mini-games than Mario Party.
Star Fox 64
Another default selection, especially after the trick Nintendo pulled with the Mini SNES.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
The Dreamcast version was probably the best of the lot, but the 64 version was the original and the game is a classic platformer nonetheless. A Nintendo game not made by Nintendo.
Donkey Kong 64
Bomberman 64
Could really go either way with Bomberman 64 or The Second Attack, as long as one of them is on there.
Animal Crossing
I mean, it won’t look this sharp because it’s not being played through the Dolphin emulator. But if that’s something that bothers you, you probably wouldn’t be buying the Mini N64 in the first place.
Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
One Zelda game isn’t enough.
Mario Tennis
Prince of Tennis meets Mario. I really want to play this again. Like, tonight.
Castlevania 64
An absolute must.
Resident Evil 2
It’d be cruel not to have at least one Resident Evil game. I understand Capcom might have a bit of a problem with this given they put out the remastered versions recently, but maybe Nintendo could swing something. It’d be appropriate. These consoles should have one or two horror games to appease older fans.
Forsaken 64
Space is back in vogue, and while Forsaken doesn’t quite go there it’s a very, very competent Descent game. Also one of the better looking games ever put out on the N64.
NFL Blitz
Best iteration of American football that has ever existed.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Super Mario 64
Mario Golf
Super Smash Bros.
It would be a massive troll on the Smash community if this got announced before a Switch port.
Pokemon Snap
SirActionSlacks above tells a great childhood story of Pokemon Snap. It’s a perfect reason why it should be on the Mini N64.
A small note to save people rushing to the comments: I’ve tried to include games that Nintendo would be more likely to include, rather than things like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark which Rare owns the license to (and therefore could be a legal nightmare to acquire).
With that in mind, what games would you like to see on the Mini N64? (Should Nintendo ever make one, of course. Which everyone and their dog would be betting on right about now.)
Comments
59 responses to “21 Games Nintendo Should Put On The Mini N64”
I Think the list is pretty solid but
i would change a few for the following
-Goldeneye
-Perfect Dark
– Banjo kazooie
– Diddy Kong Racing
Just remembered another favourite
– Snow board kids that was an awesome game
Also note that since it’s only speculation that rare games won’t be in the list I will remain optimistic that they will fullfill the dreams of many ?
I’d agree with you but all of those titles belong to or include characters owned by Rare-now-Microsoft.
Yeah, good additions. Goldeneye for starters would make a lot of peoples Top 10 N64 games, and the others you list aren’t shabby at all. If possible, that should be a must.
Not sure DKR gets in if Mario Kart does as well, and I expect they’d prioritise Nintendo owned games first.
I guess you didn’t read the whole article
I suppose that’s a joke?
Just because they own the rights, does that matter? Hell if they can get permission from Square… They should have no problem with Microsoft.
Nah there’s a big difference between Square and Microsoft. Microsoft have a competing console platform with Nintendo. Square don’t.
Its not exactly competing.. Especially when you think that the consoles will be very limited in quantity. It’s not like Microsoft can ever re-release them or have any means of profiting from owning the rights. However if Nintendo do use them, they will get some form of kick back at least.
I don’t mean Microsoft has a competing device for the Mini SNES. I mean Microsoft is a general competitior to Nintendo in the console space. Most of Rare’s N64 games for example were released exclusively on the Xbone either as downloads and/or part of the “Rare Replay” collection. Microsoft obviously want you to buy that, rather than something from Nintendo to play those games. It’s exactly the reason why we don’t see any of Rare’s N64 games except DK64 on the Virtual Console.
I was about to ask for Rare titles but then read the bottom part!
Wave Race 64
Harvest Moon
Turok 2
That’s a pretty solid list you have there. I’d put the Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness over Castlevania 64, since it’s basically a an expanded re-release.
Other games that would be amazing:
Mischief Makers: The biggest mistake the Nintendo 64 made was to push so many games to abandon 2D so much, this was a game that I picked up on special despite having never heard of it before. I loved it, and loved when i found out that it has a semi-strong following.
Winback: The closest thing to a Metal Gear Solid-type game on the 64.
Hybrid Heaven : I’m pretty sure I’m this game’s biggest defender, but I really liked the battle system.
Mission Impossible: Sure, it’s second fiddle to GoldenEye, but I thought the mission variety was pretty cool.
Sin and Punishment: The import everyone wanted.
I’d suggest the Turok games, but with Night Dive’s remasters on PC, you’re better off going there.
The biggest hurdle for this system would be licencing, between all of Rare’s back catalogue causing an issue (Diddy Kong Racing is better than Mario Kart) and likeness of any Sports/Wrestling game, this system would be more notable for it’s omissions than it’s additions
Shake shake! Mischief Makers was such a cool game.
Winback’s multiplayer was so much fun.
Hybrid Heaven has probably one of my favourite battle systems ever. Why aren’t there more games like it?!
Was discussing mini N64 games with my mate and Mischief Makers was on top of our list.
One of the few games back then, and even today, that I 100% completed.
Also, Space Station Silicon Valley, but with that bug fixed, so you can legitimately 100% that one.
what? no superman 64?
And then you’ll have many people raging over that game and smash the N64 Mini in the process.
Has to have 1080 snowboarding
Mischief Makers!
Was going to say Killer Instinct Gold but it’s Rare too..
There were 21 games on the 64?
This savage.
Not gonna lie, I got a fair chuckle knowing that there would be a tonne of salt about this comment.
That’s a nice list. I would like to see Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Mischief Makers and Turok 2 Seeds of Evil on there too, Though none of these would make it due to not being available on the virtual console or being owned by Rare.
Blast Corps!
Unfortunately without Rare (excluding DK) the appeal of a mini N64 is almost lost on me.
Once we hit the 3D era (N64 and PS1) I think the early blocky low res 3D graphics and low frame rates wouldn’t work well blown up on a modern TV. At least compared to the more ‘timeless’ 2D graphics of the NES and SNES era’s. As well as that, many of these games have been remastered and re-released with much improved versions on many other platforms. Not to mention probably much better direct sequels on later consoles. However if Nintendo could somehow make the machine pull a Rare Replay with the graphics while still keeping the price reasonable, that would be awesome.
Would still buy it though.
Conkers.
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
Blast Corps
ClayFighter 63 1/3
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Re-Volt
WCW vs NWO: World Tour
Hahaha, WCW/ NWO would be almost as much of a nightmare to get as WWF No Mercy.
Thinking back on it at least the roster on WCW/ NWO is smaller and someone (who isn’t a Wildlife Fund) actually owns the rights to the name!
No Mercy is:
Full of dead wrestlers and people who’s licences are all over the place
it’s made by a company that’s making Japanese mobile games
released by a publisher that went broke
the rights to WWE are now held by 2K
The term ‘WWF’ is now a separate trademark.
Don’t get me wrong- I’d love to see it!
Yup, the loss of Rare is a bit of a strike against the 64 (Blast Corps was amazing but graphically awful on the XBONE Rare collection), but still a solid list nonetheless.
The only thing I can think of from the top of my head not mentioned already was WWE No Mercy from back in the day – Smackdown was getting all the hype and had all the glitz on the playstation but No Mercy had amazing creation modes & was just a flat out better game to play imo.
Was it the 64 F-Zero that had the track generator too? So much fun in MP!
EDIT: Should just add, whilst Goldeneye would make the list complete, anyone who has played it in the last 5 years would probably not miss it too much, it has aged so so badly…
I suspect No Mercy would be almost impossible to include. It is possible that the rights to the game were transferred to 2K when THQ went bankrupt, but it could also have gone somewhere else.
And like a lot of licensed games, I suspect there were time limits on some of the licensing. It’s also not clear that WWE would have the right to issue a new license to allow its release without getting permission from all the wrestlers whose likeness appears in the game.
I would buy one of these in an instant. It is a shame that so many of the great N64 games were made by Rare and therefore unlikely to be on the system.
Yeah Rare were definitely the most prolific developer on the N64 besides Nintendo themselves, so the fact that their only games that would have a chance of being included would be DK64 and DKR most likely is a real shame.
No you wouldn’t. Because Nintendo would ensure there aren’t enough produced for you to be able to get your hands on one, unless you’d be willing to pay over $1000 to a scalper for one of the dozen that he buys.
I loved Forsaken so much.
Also, those Pokemon Stadium mini-games were amazing. Especially the Lickitung sushi game. Heck, I’d buy it just for that. Stadium would be hard without the N64 transfer pack. Lost count of the hours I spent grinding that tower thing to unlock starter Pokemon…
The only problem with Forsaken is that it was a multi-platform title. If you look at the games included on the Mini NES and SNES – they are all exclusives to the system. None are multi-platform. If the N64 is ever a thing I suspect this trend to continue – which means no multi-plats like Forsaken, or Resident Evil 2 for that matter.
By jobe, you’re right! With the inclusion of Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, I thought multi-platforms were a go, but Hyper Fighting is technically an exclusive (even if the content is pretty much exactly the same as Championship Edition on the Megadrive)
All this talk of Rare just makes me want Microsoft to release Rare Replay on PC. Hell, I’d even buy it if it was exclusive to the Win 10 store. I’m more excited at the thought of that than a N64.
Castlevania on the N64 was definitely NOT one of the series’ better entries.
The cynic in me says though that since the Mini NES had 30 games, and the Mini SNES has 20 (+1) games, then the Mini N64 if it exists will have only 10 games. So, choose your 10 games wisely.
Well Nintendo I don’t know why you won’t make the Mini NES or the Mini SNES available for 2017 but from all of the 21 games you’ve announced I did enjoy playing Rare’s Donkey Kong 64 Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Mario Kart 64 Nintendo and CAMELOT’S Mario Tennis Super Smash Bros. Diddy Kong Racing Pokemon Stadium with all those Pokemon minigames Rare’s 007 Goldeneye I also didn’t manage to play Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask on the N64 but I also never played Rare’s Banjo Kazooie or Banjo Tooie for the XBOX and I never played Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the N64 either so I definitely want Conker’s Bad Fur Day and those Banjo games pre-installed for the mini Nintendo 64 since Rare Replay was launched on Microsoft’s XBOX ONE two years ago in 2015 too bad they didn’t get Donkey Kong involved maybe because Rare has some contractual licensing issues now that Microsoft is joining Rare in making Rare Replay since British developer Rare is celebrating 30 year history of making games developed by Rare.
I just can’t get enough of these comments.
Wave Race and Goldeneye would be a must. Doom64 would also be cool to get.
I reckon Wave Race was probably my most played racing game on teh N64 even over Mario Kart and F-Zero. That perhaps has something to do with the fact it was a launch title.
Just thinking on Rare for a minute, I wonder what their position is with all this retro stuff.
Rare might own the rights to the characters and broad games, but because they were released exclusively on Nintendo, you can bet that Uncle Ninty will still have some sort of control over them.
Does that inter-business rivalry now behind all these classics, mean we’re doomed to miss out on them?
Most of Rare’s N64 games – including Perfect Dark, Blast Corps, Killer Instinct Gold, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Jet Force Gemini and Conker’s Bad Fur Day were all included in “Rare Replay” that was released exclusively on the Xbone, so that would probably put to rest any doubts about who owns the rights to them.
Cheers. Not being part of the Xbox universe since the original, I guess I missed that 🙂
for me, I’d like stuff like Killer Instinct, Extreme G, Harvest Moon 64, Ogre Battle 64, but most of all, I’d want Tetrisphere!
Would probably add:
-Shadow Man
-Kirby 64
-Yoshi’s Story
Fond memories of those 🙂
Alex I will fite u.
Unless you were referring to the 64DD’s expansion kit version of the game, in which case I will agree. And after the SF2 stunt they pulled with the SNES, would not be surprised if they included that version on there.
No reason they couldn’t fit the N64’s entire catalogue on it 😉
Sure there’s a reason.
Because Nintendo.
What, you think they’re trying to actually SATISFY people?! They can’t even be assed producing enough units to ensure there are enough for people to buy as it is!
Well no, that’s an unfair statement. It’s not that they can’t be assed. They’re underproducing these things DELIBERATELY. Because they apparently enjoy pissing people off more than they enjoy making huge amounts of money.
Shadow Man
I dunno, this would be a pretty awful list for me, and I wouldn’t be buying one. It would need to have at least 1080 Snowboarding and Shadows of the Empire (despite it being sheet), and Paper Mario. And Wetrix.
And the unreleased tech demo version of FF6/7 that went on to be FF7 on PS1. As a full game :P.
But then, I feel there may not actually be 21 N64 games I would get, despite having had the system (not much of an endorsement there).
Now in 2019 when we’re discussing the potential Mini GC, I am ALL IN on that conversation.
I would remove Animal Crossing as from a certain point of view, it is typically a Nintendo GameCube title. Even though, the Nintendo 64 version was only released in Japan, then re-released, shorty later during the same year on the Nintendo GameCube.
I doubt they’d put Pokemon stadium on there, but it would definitely be on my list. Even better if they had inbuilt ROMs for the transfer pack side. Having the sequel also would be nice, and I’d personally prefer tha over Snap, which in itself is good, but I feel id get more out of stadium 2
Okay here is my list. I left the Rare titles at the bottom. People are correct you could easily put the 64’s best library all on this IF you get Microsoft & Rares approval.
Super Mario 64
Legend of Zelda OOT
1080 Snowboarding
Mario Party 2 or 3
Pokemon Stadium 2
Mario Kart 64
Starfox 64
DK 64
Majoras Mask
Resident evil 2
Super Smash 64
Mortal Kombat 4 or Trilogy
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
Doom 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Rampage World tour or Universal
NBA hangtime
Paper Mario
F zero x
Mario Tennis or Golf
Pokemon Snap
…
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Banjo Kazooie or Tooiee
Conkers bad fur day
Way too many people have forgotten about Jet Force Gemini, possibly one of the best games on N64! I still regularly check to see if someone is going to revive this classic in a sequel!
Made by Rare and owned by Microsoft so would almost certainly not be available. At least it is available on the Rare Replay collection.
I loved the N64 so much, I agree with all of the games listed here. I would also add in Snowboard Kids 2 on my dream list, I loved that game as a kid (it was much better than the first one from what I remember)
Will they fix the controllers so that the thumbstick doesn’t grind away and become useless? That’s the number one question for me!
Wave Race 64 (another Miyamoto masterpiece)
That game defined the release of the N64 in Australia (with Super Mario 64).
Honestly, after they’ve TWICE pulled this shit of deliberately underproducing what they KNOW is going to be a massively popular item in order to create unbelievable demand and widespread disappointment, leading to lots of abused shop staff and massive profits for dirty scalper scumbags, I don’t WANT them to make a Mini N64. Honestly, fuck Nintendo. Once THE greatest gaming company in the world, what they’ve been up to lately is just such utter bullshit. Instead of dreaming about a Mini N64, you’d be better off just encouraging people to go out and get emulations of all their games. Because fuck those guys.
PilotWings 64.
Unknown some people are not supporters of roms but is it just me or has emuparadise gone downhill with their selection of roms? I sweater they had heaps once upon a time.
For me goldeneye is a must. I would buy it for that game alone.
No one has mentioned mission impossible, i loved that game as a kid.
My list from what i can remeber is
Goldeneye
Missiin impossible
Wave racer
Mario kart
Mario paper
Duke nukem
Turok 2
Perfect dark
Doom
Harvest moon
And both zeldas.
I really hope nintendo can do some sort of deal with rare, its not like its really gonna take sales away from Microsoft. i dont mind then slapping £20 extra on the price to cover the rights fee.
I think Turok 1 should be in there. It looks rubbish now but was a launch title and was amazing at the time. I have a soft spot for it.