The Nintendo 64 holds a place of honor in video game history for being the first to confidently bring many favorite franchises into the 3D era, creating a string of first-party classics for Nintendo's third major console and cementing "64" as every '90s kid's favorite number until they turned a couple years older and added five to it, as has been our trashy gender's wont for many a generation.
This also means that while the N64 had passed into the hazy mists of collective gamer consciousness as the industry moved on, it's now back in a big way thanks to Nintendo's decision to place its library in their vaunted premium Nintendo Switch Online subscription service tier. After all, Nintendo trying to nickel-and-dime its audience for decades-old games is highly, highly uncharacteristic of them, so there must be something special to all these N64 games, right? Well, that's what 64 in 64 is here to find out. Our two sacrificial lambs for the chopping block today include: 1) me covering my ass by trying to play another Rare game before they all show up on NSO, and 2) yet another garbage racing game because this world is one of naught but constant sorrow and pain.
On that sunny note, let's get into some rules:
- I play two N64 games per week. One chosen by me, the other chosen by fate. With each, I spend sixty-four minutes exactly. I then convey to you, my curious and attentive readers, just how well the playthrough is going with four sequential updates spaced sixteen minutes apart.
- Post-playthrough, I then follow up with how well the game has aged and how likely it will be to show up on the Nintendo Switch Online service. The latter is mostly an educated guess, though you don't need to be NEStradamus to predict that most of these games will be left in the dirt where they belong.
- For our purposes, 64 in 64 is the Highlander and NSO is consecrated ground: we're not to go anywhere near the games already on there. From next Friday that'll also include ball chess nonpareil Mario Golf; there was a brief temptation to make it the Pre-Selected for this week to get ahead of its official addition, but it makes more sense that this rule should apply to announced NSO inclusions too.
Past episode links? We got 'em: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, and Episode 9.
Banjo-Tooie (Pre-Selected)
History: After the release of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie, a sequel was immediately put into production and released two years later. Banjo-Tooie follows the same 3D platforming formula but with a slightly heightened difficulty curve, as might be expected from a sequel building on its antecedent. However, in this case, the difficulty comes more from trying to deduce where the game's progress-enabling "jiggy" tchotchkes can be found and how they can be reached: it might require some backtracking, finding new upgrades and completing different parts of the game first. This stronger emphasis on puzzles to solve appealed to some and lost others, but for the most part Banjo-Tooie is every bit as warmly remembered as the original.
This would be the third Rare game featured on 64 in 64 for those counting. There's eleven total, but one - the original Banjo-Kazooie - is already on NSO and won't be covered here. I'm not sure I'll play them all necessarily, since I'm less enthused with fighters like Killer Instinct Gold and I'm avoiding racing games from now on so no Mickey's Speedway USA, but their N64 output's consistently high quality means another will be on its way eventually.
That said I am trying to space out the Rare games at least three episodes apart, but I'm also in a hurry to get through them before Microsoft and Nintendo shake on a deal and they suddenly all appear on NSO as part of some Game Pass Crossover arrangement (or, better yet, a Rare Replay Switch port). Banjo-Tooie, unlike Banjo-Kazooie, is a game I only played for the first time relatively recently (I reviewed it here). I found it kinda meandering compared to the concise design of the original, often putting your nose to the grindstone to make any manner of progress. Still, it's one of the best 3D platformers on the system purely by virtue of it being a Rare game - like, besides Mario, what else is going to compare? Gex? Earthworm Jim 3D? Glover? I should be grateful to spend any time with the bear and the bird considering what dregs will follow once I run out of system highlights...
16 Minutes In
Right, I almost forgot they kill Bottles about five minutes into this intro. You gotta start throwing dark for the sequel I guess, higher stakes and all. The intro also introduces most of the game's new characters: Jamjars, Bottles's drill sergeant brother who takes over tutorial duties; Grunty's two unfortunately named sisters Blobella and Mingella; and the Native American shaman Humba Wumba who, I guess, exists to distract from Mumbo Jumbo's vaguely problematic depiction by offering a totally different strain of "aw, jeez, you went there huh". I always wondered why the shapeshifting helper couldn't be a friendly wizard or something thematically linked to the witches we already had. I guess this kinda dubious representation wasn't really a big deal yet. I guess if it isn't eekum-brokum, don't fix it?
Anyway, this is some familiar Banjo-Kazooie gameplay. Jumping, hitting, using the C-buttons for first-person, the invincibility shield, or Kazooie's surface-agnostic jogging. I would try to act like I have a big ol' brain since I remembered all the buttons for the moves, but I did already admit with proof that I last played this only three years ago. I doubt it'd be very convincing. The devs do you a solid here by giving you all the previous game's moves right off the bat, no abilitease or anything, and that also subtly highlights that their intent for this sequel was to be a continuation rather than a fresh on-boarding point for newcomers: it's pretty important you play the original first, story reasons aside, because Tooie's considerably more involved.
32 Minutes In
I guess I also forgot how long it takes this game to get going. Before you can enter the first world, Mayahem Temple (can we cool it with the indigenous tribes of the world?), you first have to watch the intro, defeat Klungo in a boss fight, talk to King Jinjo, watch another cutscene of King Jinjo croaking to Grunty's "B.O.B." or Big-Ol'-Blaster (incidentally, the Outkast song B.O.B. came out a few months before the game's release), walking through Bottles's home trying to be very quiet about his sudden demise around his wife and kids, and then visiting cult leader Jiggywiggy's temple and completing this animated jigsaw trial before the door to the first world is opened. I realize there's a deep and nuanced narrative to observe here with the cartoon animal game, but it's verging into Skyward Sword territory.
To be fair, I wasted some of this half-hour looking for collectibles along the way. One integral difference with this sequel is the significant increase in backtracking: there's a lot you can see but not reach early on, so it's best to follow the story's breadcrumb trail until more abilities are unlocked. Many of these large hub areas you pass through on the way to the first world have much more to them to explore but only once you're ready. I keep opening fast-travel portals at least, but I suspect my time here will be over before I'm done with the first world. That is, once I'm finally allowed in.
48 Minutes In
Mayahem Temple is a relatively small opening world but what it does well is set-up how this game is going to work differently from Banjo-Kazooie, and particularly when compared to that game's more straightforward first world Mumbo's Mountain. From the go you're given a series of meta puzzles to work out: how do I get into this kickball tournament that's only for "stonies"? How do I pass these large doors with skulls on them? There's also a pad that you need to be Mumbo Jumbo to activate, so already we're getting some of Donkey Kong 64's protagonist-swapping tech involved. The jiggy you see in the screenshot above is pretty much the only one out in the open here: the rest are going to take some ratiocination to obtain.
I also acquired my first ability here, courtesy of Jamjars (who didn't seem to broken up about Bottles's death; there's a lot that goes unspoken there), which allows me to aim and shoot in first-person which'll be necessary for hitting some targets in this world and elsewhere. I regret to inform you all that Banjo-Tooie's first-person shooting controls are also inverted by default. Maybe that can be something I can change, like in Shadowgate 64 and unlike in Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M., but we'll see. It is making me a little more sympathetic towards those like Vinny who have been mentally broken into using inverted for everything, if that's a result of being subjected to all these N64 FPSes. Like being raised to use your right hand to write when you're left-handed. Monstrous.
64 Minutes In
I earned a couple more jiggies here and solved a few mysteries: in this game, rather than have Mumbo Jumbo turn you into something, you can instead directly control him as he wanders out into the world zapping things with his stick. That's what the Mumbo pad was for, earlier: from there you can summon this golden golem and bash open the two skull doors in the area, as well as destroy the otherwise indestructible dart-spitter statues. A quick look at the inventory screen suggests that this world has ten jiggies: there's evidently more to it than the early spiral walkway would have you believe, and I forget if all are obtainable now. There's also two more moves to learn from Jamjars in addition to the FPS mode in just this world alone, so clearly there's more ground to tread.
However, that's going to wrap it up for our ursine+avian adventures. Despite appearances Tooie requires a bit more of a wind up before you can start to plumb its depths: you're not going to get too far in an hour unless you know exactly what you're doing or are skipping all the cutscenes (to that effect: they finally convinced Grunty to stop rhyming, so that's one reason to not skip all the dialogue). A slow start followed by a procession of puzzles to work on doesn't lend itself well to one-hour-long playthroughs. Even so, you can get enough of an idea of how this is a very different beast to the original and that's sufficient for what we're doing here.
How Well Has It Aged?: Like newie. The reason we're playing Tooie this time is because I was thinking about Tunic and how people are once again caught up in the zeitgeist of discovering an elaborate secret side to a game similar to their experiences with Fez (I'm sad I presently have nothing to play it on myself). Banjo-Tooie was one of the earliest examples I can think of that sort of game: an outwardly cartoony and simple platformer that requires a bit more investment and exploration before you can hope to uncover all its secrets. Not quite the same level as learning secret languages or anything (though that is literally a puzzle for this first world) but close enough, especially as you're likely to come into the game expecting a straightforward collectathon like its predecessor. Hard to argue if that subversive novelty means it's aged better than the close-to-perfect platforming of the original, but I imagine for some that's the case.
Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Good. After all, Banjo-Kazooie's already on there, so what's the hold up? Maybe that was all Nintendo could negotiate for now and perhaps if they get any more chances they'll try to spread it out across Rare's other franchises to cover their bases. Really hard to say either way right now unless you're a Jeff Grubb type, and most of us aren't. It may well come down to whichever Rare games get asked for the most, in which case Banjo-Tooie's gotta be pretty high up on that list after maybe GoldenEye 007.
Retro Achievements Earned: None. Playing the wrong version again I guess. Look, I have whatever I have, all right?
Rally Challenge 2000 (Random)
- Genki / SouthPeak Interactive(JP: Imagineer)
- 1999-08-06 (JP), 2000-06-30 (NA)
- 232nd N64 Game Released
History: Rally Challenge 2000, first released in Japan as Rally '99, is a rally racing game that offers a selection of nine genuine WRC-licensed rally vehicles which the player can use to race on nine distinct tracks across the world, separated into three tiers of difficulty. Weather, variable track conditions, and realistic damage could play as much of a role as their opponents in a careless driver's failure to place.
Genki's a studio that dabbled in several genres for a while before mostly settling on racing games, and are best known for the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series for Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 (and to certain audiences as the Jade Cocoon people). They apparently also developed the Japan-exclusive SimCity 2000 N64 port, so that's a curiosity pick I wouldn't mind the randomizer spitting out (How do you say "arcology" in Japanese?). SouthPeak we've interacted with before: they were the US publishers of Fighter Destiny 2, covered back in Episode 6. We've now covered half of the four games they published on the N64, and I'm hoping we won't draw either of the remaining two (a skiing game and a soccer game, respectively).
Honestly, this is all my fault. I use a wheel-shaped device to determine these random choices, so obviously it's going to be biased towards its fellow wheel-based conveyances. Hence why we're now playing our seventh racing game in just ten episodes. Unlike some of the fun recent ones like San Francisco Rush 2049 and Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, this looks both boring and badly made. A perfect combo for 64 in 64 you might say. Rally around to help me through this, will you?
16 Minutes In
OK, so, we have four options here: Arcade, Championship, Practice, and Vs. Race. I imagine the last is for multiplayer. I opted for the Arcade mode first, since it was on the top of the list, and completed the three races that constitute the "Easy" course: Australia, Spain, and Great Britain. No idea if those courses were real, but GB's was foggy and miserable so they were real enough. Since completing that whole thing took less than ten minutes, I've now entered the Championship mode which has you racing all nine courses one after the other. Incidentally, Arcade has you chasing checkpoints and making your way to pole position across all three races (I think I ended the first race in 6th, then the second in 4th, and the last in 1st) while Championship is tracking your completion times and comparing them to the other competitors like in a qualifier or time trial.
Well, this is a rally game all right. You've got your ramps and muddy ditches to go over or through, you've got the navigator guy yelling at you about all the upcoming turns, and you've got to start skidding around at an almost 90 degree angle to hit each turn given the relative lack of friction on the dirt roads. I've been sticking with the Subaru Impreza WRC because I'll need the luck of the Shuba to get through this. There's some nice touches here and there, like how the side and rear windows are actually reflecting the environment but it has been super basic so far and not all that tough. Maybe that will change once I reach the harder courses, though I suspect it'll only switch to dull AND annoying instead.
32 Minutes In
We're now in the third leg of the championship, but they've evidently reorganized the courses since this is Brazil (the second of the Medium tracks) rather than Great Britain. I'm not sure what the deal is with this arboreal setting: maybe it's supposed to be the rainforest? Except it looks more like Transylvania. Racing in the middle of the night isn't helping the comparison. Either way, I've not been doing so hot, regularly coming in fourth place so far. One wrinkle with the Championship mode is that it has three laps to the Arcade mode's one and that you're constantly incurring damage to your vehicle with every sketchy turn or rival collision. Sometimes you can damage your suspension just by turning too dramatically. I'm not wholly convinced it's affecting performance that much, though my later laps do seem to be longer than my earlier ones.
Already this first thirty minutes has felt like three hours. I figured I'd prefer the rally game over F1 because the vehicles aren't quite so brittle, but this car takes knocks like a paper door. If I'm ever going to rise above whatever comes after a bronze medal (I think it's just a pile of dirt) I'm going to have to start taking this game more seriously and work on brake-turns and try actually slowing down when a hard right-angle twist appears ahead.
48 Minutes In
Well, my showing in this Championship has gone from mediocre to abysmal in a hurry. I finished fifth in Brazil and seventh in the American race, which took place entirely within the bottom of a canyon, possibly a grand one. That meant hitting a solid rock wall with every botched turn, and man was I off the mark earlier about damage not affecting performance: each lap was five seconds later than the previous. The score-table does that thing Mario Kart (and presumably many others do) where there's the one CPU that wins every race if you don't, and all the other CPU take turns with the following positions so even a scrub can come in second if they're consistent enough. I'm hanging onto fifth place overall which... I'm going to say is not likely to put me anywhere near cup position, especially as the tracks will get harder still.
I'm thinking of bailing on the Championship and trying out the Expert course in the Arcade mode where I won't have to drive what feels like a fridge on caster wheels once everything's been shot to shit after too many bumps. My driving's definitely been less Colin McRae and more Colin McRap.
64 Minutes In
I chickened out and did the Medium course in Arcade instead. Anything to avoid driving through the Valley of the Dings again; I wonder if you can get in trouble covering the Grand Canyon's walls with dents and smears of expensive paintwork. Medium featured that Brazil track I'd already tried (though it was nice to see it in the daytime; I guess the weather variations are why there's only nine courses) as well as some pleasant coastal courses in Italy and France. I even managed to finish first again, which either suggests the Arcade mode for beginners to get used to the tracks before they attempt the harder Championship, or I can actually be half-decent at this game when I don't have to worry about my vehicle almost falling apart. Nice to leave on a high note all the same.
One last thing I wanted to praise about the game, if that's the right phrasing, is the voice of the navigator dude who calls out all the turns. You know that generic anime dub protagonist voice that various sources have been parodying for years? It sounds vaguely Californian or maybe even Keanu-ian with a certain breathiness to it. If you know it you know it, but Homestar Runner's "Stinkoman" voice is a pretty good approximation. Anyway, this navigator dude sounded just like that and I kept cracking up whenever he did the "3, 2, 1" pre-race countdown. Felt like I was gearing up to beat Frieza in a one-on-one rally competition.
How Well Has It Aged?: Blugh. That unimpressed noise means I don't think Rally Challenge 2000 has held up all that well nor that it was ever a contender to begin with. Aesthetically it's fine with those reflective windows and superficial features like the post-race instant replay, since fancy graphics were and continue to be a major component of any racing game jostling for attention, but there's a certain anodyne feeling to its look that extends to the rest of the gameplay mechanics. It's just super generic and not all that interesting, with very few features and courses and vehicles to play around with. Wouldn't be too bad as a budget game, though I suspect it wasn't priced like one.
Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Yo, I'm going to say probably not. SouthPeak's gone, Genki's pivoted to mobile like half the Japanese game industry, and unlike a rare semi-quality fighting game like Fighter Destiny 2 there's no incentive to put a second-rate racing game on the NSO service when it has so many better ones to choose from, including the GOAT Diddy Kong Racing once they hash something out with MS. The N64 has three other rally games too (not counting South Park Rally) and I suspect this isn't the best one of those.
Retro Achievements Earned: None. Not supported.
Current Ranking
- Super Mario 64 (Ep. 1)
- Diddy Kong Racing (Ep. 6)
- Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Ep. 3)
- Goemon's Great Adventure (Ep. 9)
- Banjo-Tooie (Ep. 10)
- Mischief Makers (Ep. 5)
- Blast Corps (Ep. 4)
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Ep. 2)
- Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Ep. 4)
- Spider-Man (Ep. 8)
- Bomberman 64 (Ep. 8)
- Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Ep. 7)
- Hot Wheels Turbo Racing (Ep. 9)
- San Francisco Rush 2049 (Ep. 4)
- Fighter Destiny 2 (Ep. 6)
- Tetris 64 (Ep. 1)
- NBA Live '99 (Ep. 3)
- Rampage 2: Universal Tour (Ep. 5)
- South Park Rally (Ep. 2)
- Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (Ep. 7)
- Eikou no St. Andrews (Ep. 1)
- Rally Challenge 2000 (Ep. 10)
- F-1 World Grand Prix II (Ep. 3)
- F1 Racing Championship (Ep. 2)
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