Nintendo 64 In High Resolution.

   Recently I've discovered the wonderful world of high resolution texture packs for N64 emulation programs. Basically what they do is replace the old crusty texture files with new shiny ones. While I love the crusty old textures, it's nice to see some of my old favorites with a new look. And after talking about some of these games I really want to go back and play through them again and this is a great way to inspire me to do that. While only a handful of games have a decent texture pack, the ones that do look great. Here are some photos to give you an idea of what they look like.

Both Zelda games have been re-textured, but these are all OOT. 

  Here is Mario Kart. The characters themselves haven't been re-textured because of the sicking amount of images for each one.

 

  Mario 64. 

   A different more classic looking Mario.
    

  Paper Mario.

 Banjo-Kazooie.

And probably my favorite looking one Perfect Dark. This one looks fantastic.

   With games that look this fancy, I have to play with my pinky extended. If this is something you would be interested in here is a link to an excellent forum post with a definitive list of each game with each pack. Please don't ask me for installation instructions, that's what Google is for.
 

Nintendo Nostalgia Part 4

   For part 4 of this series I'm going to do an all racing game edition. Again, this is not a best of list or anything like that, it is only a few of my favorites, and in no particular order.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

   Mario Kart 64. Let me get this game out of the way. We all know Mario Kart, it's Nintendo's racing game. You drive around racing other Nintendo characters, throwing bananas peels, and turtle shells, shrinking people and more. The racing aspect of the game was excellent, but I really like the battle modes. The objective was to hit the other player three times without being hit three times yourself. It was a lot of fun, and I don't see many games with this type of gameplay and it's too bad.

   Lego Racers. Lego Racers is a fairly generic racing game with pretty much the same elements of gameplay as Mario Kart. Except you got to build your own vehicles from Legos. I was a huge Lego fan when I was a kid, and this game was a lot of fun. You could spend a long time just creating cars, which was a blast for me.

   San Francisco Rush 2049. This game was an absolute blast. You race around hitting ramps, and sprout wings to do flips and rolls with. I didn't play the traditional racing mode of this game very much. The best part for me was the stunt mode. You pick up speed and hit ramps trying to do as many flips, spins or rolls as you can without wrecking yourself. It was one of my favorite multiplayer games.

   Wipeout 64. An arcade style racing game similar to most from the genre. There isn't really anything special about this game, you get what you would expect. You fire rockets, lazers, machine guns, plant mines, to stall your opponents and win the races. It's nothing revolutionary or innovative, just a lot of fun.

 Excitebike 64. This was Excitebike's jump to 3D, and offers pretty much everything you would expect it to. You have a Season Mode, lots of tracks and the over the top feel that the original had. And of course you had the Track Editor to create your own tracks. You could even play the original Excitebike, which was probably my favorite part.

  Ok guys that's part four, I hope you enjoyed it. I may have one or two left in me, then I might move onto NES or SNES games.

Nintendo 64 Nostalgia Part 3

  Ok, this is my third installment of Nintendo 64 Nostalgia. Today I'm going to cover a few more Nintendo 64 games from my past. This is not a best of list, it is simply some of my favorites, and in no specific order. In case you missed the first two here is a link for...

Nintendo 64 Nostalgia part 1

Nintendo 64 Nostalgia part 2

Nintendo 64 Nostalgia Part 4

   Super Smash Bros.. This game is Nintendo's version of a fighting game, and it is awesome. It sheds the traditional fighting game style, and delivers everything you would expect from Nintendo. This is probably my favorite multiplayer game on the Nintendo 64. It was just an absolute blast playing with 3 other friends, falcon punching Kirby into oblivion, throwing barrages of pk thunders. This game is still as fun today, as it was years ago.

    Mario Party 2. Another multiplayer Mario game. Mario Party 2 is basically a board game, with lots of mini games. Of the 3 Mario Party titles, 2 is the one I played the most frequently, that's really the only reason I chose this one. This game is just loads of fun. It randomly puts you on teams of 2v2 3v1 or FFA, for the mini games after each round. We've all cursed that bastard Wario for stealing our star.


 

 Cruis'n World. An arcade style racing game. This is another awesome multiplayer game. Cruis'n World, had you doing just that, cruising the world. You would start in Hawaii, and race all around the world, back to Florida, where you board a spaceship that takes you to the moon. You can do wheelies, drive on two side wheels, do flips, and barrel rolls.

   Blast Corps. Ok, it's time to break up this multiplayer lovefest. Blast Corps has you racing in front of a truck carrying a nuclear weapon, and you must clear a path, otherwise the nuke is going to blow. It's really just all about destruction. You tear down buildings in a variety of different vehicles. This game is so fun, it's easy to forget exactly what you're doing, and go on a destruction rampage, until the truck driver hits something, blowing everyone up.

  Space Station Silicon Valley. Made by the guys who would go on to make the GTA series, and it really shows. Space Station Silicon Valley has you running around different levels, hijacking animal's bodies trying to save humanity. It is basically an early Nintendo toy version of GTA, and it is a lot of fun.


  Ok, that wraps up part 3 of Nintendo 64 Nostalgia. I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe thought about some good times from your past.

Nintendo 64 Nostalgia

   Earlier this week I posted a blog about NFL Blitz, so I figured I would post some of my other favorite N64 games, mainly for the nostalgia. This list is not necessarily a "best games" list, just some of my favorites that I remember, and in no particular order.

 Let me get some of the obvious ones out of the way first.

   The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Out of the two N64 Zelda games, I can't really pick a favorite, but I'm going to put Majora's Mask on this list because it doesn't get the praise that it deserves, while Ocarina gets plenty of praise. The 3 day system really made the world feel alive, and made you feel like you had an actual impact on it. I really enjoyed the mask system, being able to play some of the classic Zelda races. And the Fierce Deity Mask was just bad ass.

   Mario 64. Theres nothing I can really say about this game that hasn't been said already. It was Mario's jump into a 3 dimensional world. It showed us how good a 3D platformer could be. Yoshi even makes an appearance when you collect all the stars.

   GoldenEye 007. Another game that everyone knows and loves. GoldenEye was the grandaddy of 3D multiplayer FPS games. Going back and playing it now, this is one of the few games that just hasn't really aged well, mainly due to the controls. But back in the day GoldenEye was king.

   Banjo-Kazooie. Another 3D platformer. A bird and a bear team up to save Banjo's little sister Tooty from the evil witch Gruntilda. This game is just awesome. It's funny, the characters are great, the music is great. You can shoot eggs, fly and smash things, and visit the local witch doctor who will transform you into something useful. But what really stands out in this game for me, is the environment. Each level is very well done, and feels very involved. My favorite was Click Clock Wood, I loved that place.

   

 Jet Force Gemini. Yes another Rare game. Jet Force Gemini is a sci fi, third person shooter. You travel around from planet to planet collecting things to save your friends, or something like that I don't really remember the plot. The plot isn't really important, what is important is the game play. With lots of awesome guns, 3 playable characters (one being a flying dog with lazers on his back), and a co-op mode, this game truly is a gem...imi. Although it does suffer the same dated controls as GoldenEye.


   Okay thats 5 games, I'm going to end it here even though I'm not even a quarter of the way though my list I made. If you guys want to see some more, leave a comment and let me know.

  For part 2 click here.
  For part 3 click here.
  For part 4 click here.