Top 20 Games the Rumored N64 Classic Must Have

Already having a presence on Nintendo’s previous consoles, Bomberman was a natural fit on the Nintendo 64. His first game on the console, Bomberman 64, had both a single player mode and a multiplayer mode that were tons of fun. Best described as a platformer in which you use your own bombs to jump, this game would be awesome to revisit on a Nintendo 64 Classic Edition.

This Mario game is a departure from most of the other games in the franchise. Similar to The Super Nintendo’s Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario takes gaming’s most famous plumber away from the platforms and into an RPG. Its unique art style with 2D characters with a 3D background was pleasing to look at, and the game is both well-written and fun to play.

Certainly, Diddy Kong’s racing game didn’t quite reach the level of popularity as the more well-known Mario Kart series. But many gamers who had the N64 remember Diddy Kong Racing very fondly. At the time, some critics even claimed to like the game more than Mario Kart 64. There’s certainly room for more than one racing game on an N64 Classic, so including this game is a must.

Perhaps the most famous skateboarding video game franchise of all time would be the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. Originally released on the Sony PlayStation, the original game was ported onto the Nintendo 64 in the year 2000. People who were teenagers at that time either heard their friends talking nonstop about the game, or played it incessantly themselves. Those people would love to see this game included on a mini N64.

This was one of the first games for many N64 owners, originally seeing a release back in 1997. The first person shooter lets players take control of a, well, dinosaur hunter, blasting your way through each level to get closer to the wicked Campaigner. If not the very best first person shooter on the console, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is certainly one of the most popular, and deserves its spot on this list.

This follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is certainly a treat for fans of the series. Although it retains the traditional style and gameplay of the game before it, Majora’s Mask goes a different direction with its dark and strange plot. It’s a fun game, though it seems not as many people have played this one compared to Ocarina. Including it on the N64 Classic would be a great way to remedy that.

While Pokemon Stadium was in itself a great game of the Nintendo 64, its greatest feature was the ability to connect it with the Pokemon games on the Game Boy. That feature would be gone in a new port, as it’s unlikely to include a Transfer Pack, or that most gamers would still have those old Game Boy games. Instead, Nintendo could put the just-as-fun Pokemon Snap on the N64 Classic. While it features simplistic gameplay with the goal of taking pretty pictures of Pokemon characters, it’s surprisingly addictive.

Even today, the N64’s 1080° Snowboarding might be the most popular snowboarding game of all time. It would sell over a million units on the console, spawning a sequel in 2003 and a re-release for the Virtual Console in 2008. Other racing games may be featured, but as the only snowboarding game, this title would serve to add some nice variety.

While multiple Mario Party games would see a release on the Nintendo 64, all we really need is the original. Taking Nintendo characters and placing them into a competitive competition that controls like a board game, Mario Party turned many friends into enemies with the sudden turns each play would take. Strong multiplayer content would be great for the N64 Classic to have, meaning this game must make the cut.

Many Nintendo characters would have multiple games on the Nintendo 64, but not Kirby. The pink puffball’s foray onto the console would only come in the form of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. It doesn’t play unlike the other games in the franchise, wherein Kirby inhales his enemies to absorb their special abilities. With all of his friends getting at least one game on the N64 Classic, it’s imperative the same is done for Kirby.

It seems most longtime wrestling fans still consider WWF No Mercy to be the greatest wrestling video game of all time. Although THQ and AKI had developed a few great wrestling games before this one, No Mercy seems to be when they perfected the formula. It featured a large roster of all the greatest WWF stars at the peak of sports entertainment’s popularity, and its featured storylines were a lot of fun to play through. If only one wrestling game can make it in, please let it be this one.

Some of the very best games from the Super Nintendo would be those in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Given how popular they were, it was natural for Nintendo to continue the franchise on the N64 with Donkey Kong 64. Substituting the traditional side-scrolling gameplay by putting Donkey Kong in a 3D world, the game certainly felt different in a way. And yet, it has its own charm, and not just because it came in a yellow cartridge.

As we get closer to the end of our list, we’re getting into the list of titles that would be a downright travesty if they weren’t included. Star Fox 64 was a sequel to the popular Star Fox video game on the SNES, featuring similar gameplay on an updated console. It would sell over four million copies to become one of the N64’s highest-selling games, so it’s a no-brainer to include it on the N64 Classic.

This first person shooter was probably a step behind GoldenEye 007 in terms of overall popularity. However, the game is still very much a classic, ranking right up with there with its Rare sibling. In Perfect Dark, players took on the role of Joanna Dark to battle with an extra-terrestrial menace. A remaster would eventually be released for the Xbox 360, and it’d be nice for Nintendo players to revisit it as well.

Like Perfect Dark, this game was developed by Rare, but it’s much more in line with the first-party Nintendo games. Banjo-Kazooie features a bear named Banjo and a bird named, you guessed it, Kazooie, as they solve puzzles to stop the wicked witch Gruntilda. Several sequels would be released over the following years on various consoles, but for many, the original is still the best.

Finally, the best Rare game of them all – GoldenEye 007. Some of the very best multiplayer experiences gamers ever had were on this classic N64 title. But as fun as the deathmatches played with friends were, the game’s solo campaign was a lot of fun as well. It goes without saying that this is one of the most popular games on the console, and it’d be a huge snub to see it omitted.

The one that started it all. I think most of us can agree that the greatest competetive fighting game on Nintendo consoles are the entries in the Super Smash Bros. series. Of course, the one on the Nintendo 64 is the first, and when itw as released in 1999, it became a smash success. If and when the N64 Classic is released, there are going to be tons of people expecting Super Smash Bros. to be on it.

As the follow-up to the Super Nintendo’s Super Mario Kart, this is just the second game in a long-running franchise that continues to this day. Mario Kart 64 takes the same concept and updates it, with racing Nintendo characters now competing on 3D racetracks. If people weren’t playing GoldenEye 007 with their friends back at this time, they were most likely playing this game instead.

I have no doubt Super Mario 64 will be included on the rumored N64 Classic, as it’s the most obvious one of them all. Released along with the Nintendo 64 way back in 1996, the original game for the series would forever remain one of its very best. Super Mario took to his new 3D surroundings incredibly well, and it would forever be one of the most popular games from the system.

It’s a toss-up as to whether it’d be Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64 to take the top spot on this list. However, The Legend of Zelda gets the nudge by just a hair. The fact is that this is not only one of the best Nintendo 64 games, but it’s one of the greatest video games ever. This game alone would sell countless N64 Classics right off the shelves, and it just might be the most played N64 game of them all.