Greatest Nintendo 64 Games Of All Time, Ranked

The Nintendo 64 launched in 1996, opening up new possibilities for at-home gaming. The console was a behemoth, providing many 90s kids like me with endless fun. I vividly remember sitting down in front of my old CRT with my siblings, booting up our shared N64 and sharing both laughs and tears, popping in games that changed our worldviews or took us on adventures to far-off places. Now all I can hope to do is emulate some of the classics I grew up with, reliving those nostalgic times sharing a sticky controller amongst three six year olds.

A myriad of games are available to play on the N64, ranging from genres like horror and action-adventure to rail shooters. Everyone has their favorites, but there are a few icons that have graced the console that stand out from the rest. These games are part of the “greats” because they either revolutionized gaming as we know it or are undoubtedly a great experience no matter how much time has passed. While making this list, I consulted my younger self, tapping into what she may have considered the “greatest” games on the N64 because that’s who I was when the console dropped. As I craft this list years later, I can thank my younger self for having great taste.

10

Diddy Kong Racing

A Racing Game That Breaks The Mold

Diddy Kong Racing offered me something different from the typical racing game genre. Players had multiple vehicle types to choose from, including karts, hovercrafts, and my favorite, airplanes. The game was also extremely interactive, unlike something like Mario Kart where the world was whittled down to picking a racetrack. Thanks to Adventure mode, the game actually felt like an adventure game rather than your standard racing game, allowing players to take on boss battles, race across the open-world hub island, and partake in an actual story.

I especially loved the Tricky the Triceratops race because you could literally race a dinosaur. It was too cool for words. The music for each stage is also great, especially in Frosty Village and Pirate Lagoon. Diddy Kong Racing redefined the racing genre, broadening the perspective to show that racing games could be more inventive than sprites racing around a track. If I revisited this game today, I am sure that I’d enjoy my experience just as much, if not more, than newer racing games available today.

9

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

A Charming Pink Guy Takes On A Charming 2.5D World

Kirby has got to be one of my favorite Nintendo characters. I am a massive fan of cute characters, and Kirby fits the bill to a T with its bright pink body and sweet little nonsensical voice lines. I first fell in love with this bubblegum pink creature when I picked up Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, a game I played via Kirby’s Dream Collection Special Edition for the Wii. This 2000s action-adventure platformer saw Kirby reimagined in 3D, a massive feat for the series. The game also introduced hybrid attacks where Kirby was able to copy two abilities at once, creating a power combo.

Kirby is fun and colorful but also a little creepy, a mix of two aesthetics that I tend to seek out when I want to game. Kirby is undoubtedly adorable, and the character’s surroundings are equally whimsical, down to the enemies it faces off against. After I managed to collect all 74 Crystal Shards, I was treated to a secret ending that came with a deeply unsettling final boss fight against Zero-Two, who kind of reminds me of those drawings of a biblically accurate angel. This creepy boss, juxtaposed with the cuteness that is Kirby, stays with me to this day.

Cuteness aside, I loved how this game managed to retain that side-scroller vibe in a 3D or 2.5D world. Experimenting with power combos was part of the fun of this title, letting players actually play around with Kirby’s abilities instead of giving them a few move sets to use over and over again. Combat was refreshingly diverse because of this. Writing this now, I am reminded of how much Kirby games have impacted me, instilling a love for side-scrollers at an early age.

8

Banjo-Kazooie

Control A Dynamic Duo In A Colorful World

What’s better than one main character? How about an anthropomorphic duo? Banjo-Kazooie was an endlessly fun title that broke the mold for me when it came to platformers. The game is humorous and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Every aspect, from level design to dialogue, was imbued with fun. Banjo the bear is the slower of the duo, while the bright red and blue bird Kazooie speeds things up, helping perform double jumps and throw projectiles.

Both characters are played in tandem, providing specific skill sets as a unit. The goal of Banjo-Kazooie is to collect jigsaw puzzle pieces, otherwise known as Jiggies, that unlock new worlds to traverse, alongside musical notes that also help open doors that block a player’s path. Ultimately, every level beat gets the player closer to saving Tooty, Banjo’s sister. To drive home how unserious and fun this game was, the final hurdle standing between the player and rescuing Tooty is a literal game show run by the game’s final boss, a cartoonishly evil witch named Gruntilda.

Something that I will add is that the music in this N64 title is unmatched. Tracks in this game dynamically shift, utilizing the N64’s 16 MIDI channels in real time as you walk near different level entrances. The music changes as a player plays rather than looping. The music itself is upbeat and silly, a perfect match for the colorful world that is Banjo-Kazooie.

7

GoldenEye 007

A Revolutionary First-Person Shooter

GoldenEye 007 was the gold standard, pun intended, for FPS games. This title, which was released in 1997, brought a successful FPS title to home consoles. The game was innovative for its time, introducing reactive enemies that didn’t just blindly run at players but reacted to the sound of gunfire or visuals. Stealth became a priority for some missions, and players could move freely throughout a 3D environment, straying from the beaten path to explore their surroundings. The game offered a cinematic perspective, really hammering home that spy atmosphere that made me feel like I was embodying 007 rather than piloting him.

Missions were dynamic and engaging, with shifting goals that made things exciting. One minute, players could be rescuing hostages, and the next, they’d be tasked with destroying security cameras. The accompanying music always had me tapping my toes, capturing that suave James Bond essence. GoldenEye 007‘s four-player split-screen was also super impactful and remains famous to this day. This mode brought together hordes of folks to play alongside each other, providing players with long-lasting chaotic memories. It was easy to play and, most importantly, super fun.

6

Harvest Moon 64

Cultivate A Farm, Care For Crops, And Find Love

Classic farm simulators are usually what I found myself tapping into when I needed a break from horror games, or if I wanted to decompress after a long day. Harvest Moon 64 was that game for me. This Natsume title was everything anyone could ever ask for in a cozy game. Players are tasked with cultivating a farm from the ground up by planting crops, tending to cute animals, and upgrading tools to make farming and harvesting ore easier.

The in-game clock moves pretty fast, which makes time management important, but overall, gameplay was leisurely and tons of fun. Your only goal is to make your farm the best it can be within the span of two-ish in-game years. There are a slew of endings you can earn depending on how well you manage your farm and if you’ve managed to get married. Yes, marriage and relationship building is also another huge part of this game, and something that I took very seriously as a kid.

Even as an adult, I find farm maintenance to be a subplot, and relationship cultivating to be my number one priority. Romancing eligible bachelorettes was a full-time job for me, making sure I spoke to them often and gifted them with their favorites. I always, without fail, went for Popuri during my playthroughs. Maybe it was the pink hair, but she rocks. I still reach for Harvest Moon to this day because it offers me a slice of heaven, a world beyond my own where I can relax and do something mindless and fun.

5

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

A Creepy Romp Through Hyrule

Up until the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask in 2000, I was made to believe that The Legend of Zelda games were a fun and exciting romp with a fearless main character at the helm. Save the princess, collect the rupees, meet fun characters, and head home. Majora’s Mask changed everything for me, similar to how The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess did. Majora’s Mask shared a new side of Link’s adventures in Hyrule, proving that not everything was sunshine and rainbows. This game genuinely scared me as a kid, stressing me out to no end.

Majora’s Mask was more mature and strange, shifting focus from past games to something darker. That three-day time limit to save the world created existential dread the likes of which I have never felt again. That horrifying grinning moon looming overhead always got to me, serving as a constant reminder that time is running out. Gameplay is pretty punishing, with dungeons pushing me to my breaking point. Despite this, I was deeply invested in the gravity of it all because the situation presented was dire. I wanted to save Termina, even if it meant risking Link’s well-being and childhood.

Link goes through a lot in the 72-hour loop in Majora’s Mask. He’s forced to put on masks imbued with the souls of literal dead people, and each mask holds that dead person’s trauma or suffering, which Link is then forced to take on. Pretty gnarly. It’s one of the darkest entries in the franchise, save for my beloved The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I am a huge fan of horror, and while The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask isn’t necessarily a horror game, it does itch that horror scratch.

4

Super Smash Bros.

The Beginning Of A Longstanding Battle

When I was a kid, fighting games were a big part of my family’s shared gaming catalog. One of those fighting game franchises that has persisted and continues to be a favorite even as my siblings and I have aged is the classic Super Smash Bros. There’s really nothing better than pitting classic Nintendo characters against each other, pulling flashy combo moves and fighting to knock one another off-screen. Unlike the franchise we know today, Super Smash Bros. for the N64 was pretty simple, with a basic control scheme and a clear goal in mind: send your foes flying.

Crossover fighting games are a dime a dozen these days, providing gamers with a myriad of choices when it comes to who they’ll main for a match. Super Smash Bros. introduced me and many others to the concept of crossover fighting games, bringing beloved characters together for an all-out throwdown. The N64 game has 12 playable characters, each with their own skill set. I was always a Kirby player, but I sometimes picked Link if I was feeling like swordplay. Jigglypuff was also a fan favorite in my house. No matter who I picked, though, I knew I was in for a great button-mashing time.

3

Super Mario 64

Hop Through Paintings, Save Princess Peach

Colorful, inventive, and endlessly fun, Super Mario 64 changed everything I knew about the Mario franchise, providing me and my siblings with an extremely unique experience. Mario games were primarily side-scrollers before this point, so this game really did change everything. It’s hailed as groundbreaking, laying the blueprint for 3D games to come, and it’s easy to see why. Mario came with a fresh new moveset that opened up a world of possibilities. I could flip, ground pound, and wall jump my way to success, taking on stages with more confidence. I could move 360 degrees thanks to that snazzy Nintendo 64 controller​​​​​, moving the analog stick as I saw fit, ridding myself of rigidity.

I also loved how I could explore and take on new stages at my own pace. Inside Peach’s Castle, I could hop in and out of paintings, collecting stars wherever I went, taking my time to breathe it all in. The painting concept within itself was pretty cool. Jumping into unique 3D worlds hidden within these large portraits, transporting Mario to different environments each time. I never felt restricted or bored, for that matter, since there was always something to explore or a hidden secret I passed up on during my first go around. To this day, people are still finding hidden secrets or bugs in the game, which is pretty impressive considering Super Mario 64 came out in 1996.

2

Star Fox 64

Rail Shooter Meets Cinematic Visuals

I think the most intriguing thing that stood out to me when I first played Star Fox 64 was the Rumble Pak support, something that, at the time, felt like I was actively participating in the future of gaming. Beyond the tactile feeling of the game, feeling engine boosts and barrel rolls, I appreciated how my actions and how I performed in the game led to new paths. I could play how I wanted and get a new outcome every time. Every planet I visited was unique, and stages were both challenging and immersive thanks to the colorful, detailed landscapes.

Handling the Arwing or Blue Marine submarine was smooth and responsive, making for really satisfying gameplay. Being part of a team was maybe one of my favorite parts of the game. I felt immersed in the world because the voice acting felt alive. Slippy or Peppy would give me much-needed advice or call out for help when they needed me. Real-time dialogue kept me invested in the action and the safety of my teammates. I also just love the character designs and how retro space-age they feel. I am an especially big fan of Falco for his one-liners that bring levity to tense situations.

While I am not always in the mood for a rail shooter, I can make an exception for Star Fox 64 because it is extremely immersive. Rail shooters tend to fall flat for me because they can come off as extremely choreographed. With Star Fox 64, I wasn’t limited to what the devs wanted me to see or do. My teammates were active participants in gameplay, and I could choose my own path, visiting 3D arenas that took me from my living room to stages across the Lylat System on planets I had never seen before.

1

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

Travel Through Time With The Power Of Music

I had a moment the other day as I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, where my sister and I began to reminisce about our first playthrough of the N64 original. We realized how impressive the game felt to our little eyes, how ominous Ganondorf is, and how vast the world of Hyrule seems. Seeing the game remade with a few tweaks here and there was like transporting us back to our childhoods, giving my sister and I the chance to explore Hyrule with Navi by our side all over again.

This Nintendo title was impactful because it shook up the world of gaming, introducing new and revolutionary mechanics like Z-targeting that made combat more intuitive and less clunky, and fluid exploration that gave players the ability to transition from a 1st to 3rd person perspective. Something that made the game stand out, and the thing that is preserved in the remake, is how cinematic and impactful the story is. I was deeply invested in Link’s life, the people of Hyrule who roamed Castle Town, and the Zora I’d met on my journey to snag the three Spiritual Stones. My sister and I also just loved to create chaos, provoking Cuccos or stealing a fisherman’s hat right off his head at Lake Hylia.

I wanted to know more about this evil Ganondorf guy who seemed larger than life, a shadowy figure whose betrayal of Princess Zelda and the royal family took place right before our very eyes. It was like watching some Shakespearean play go down on our TV screen, except I was an active participant via my gameplay. I am a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda to this day, but no story in the series has ever gripped me like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time did and still does. In short, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set a new standard for how 3D titles should play, turning what was once a top-down series into something deeply immersive.