Nearly three decades have passed since the Nintendo 64 arrived in the US and Europe, and the console’s finest games still stand without an asterisk beside them.
Fully 3D worlds. Characters that became shorthand for the entire medium. A lineup that dictated how everything after it would play. Six of these titles require no revisions whatsoever, and they’re listed here in no particular order — with one exception I’ll cop to once we get there.
The Mario RPG almost nobody mentions
When Super Mario RPG came and went on the SNES back in 1996, it was fair to assume Mario’s turn-based experiment had ended there. It hadn’t. Four years later came Paper Mario, which retained the turn-based and platforming blend of its predecessor and added the conceit that held the whole thing together: Mario and everyone he encounters inhabit a storybook realm where every character and object is made of paper.
Odds are you’ve played Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on GameCube, or its more recent Switch remake. The N64 original is every bit as enjoyable, and it’s worth the trip for anyone still craving Mario RPG action.
The launch game that made 3D seem effortless
Super Mario 64 was there on day one and sprinted straight out of the gate. The PS1 had Crash Bandicoot, an on-rails platformer with a few 3D elements. Nintendo’s answer was a fully 3D platformer led by everyone’s favorite plumber, something nobody had managed to pull off successfully before.
It’s still a looker today. There’s a bit of magic in those colorful environments, and Princess Peach’s castle is a glorious playground crammed with secrets and an enormous variety of levels to explore. The Bowser fights ramp up in difficulty with every encounter, and they can still get your pulse moving. Finishing the game doesn’t require every star. You’ll chase them all regardless, and the payoff for collecting them lands as well as anything else here.
Slippy Toad is unbearable and the game is perfect regardless
Star Fox had already been turning heads on the Super Nintendo with its 3D gameplay. Backed by 64 bits, Star Fox 64 became an arcade shoot em up capable of going toe to toe with anything else on the market. A brilliant score, voice work for every character, a story with multiple branches, difficulty options and secrets to unlock. It set the bar high and still looks impressive.
The campaign is short enough to clear in a single sitting, but unlocking every level and reaching the true ending takes several runs and some real skill. Fast, chaotic, and at times it plays like a movie. Battle Andross, uncover what happened to Fox’s father along the way, and put up with the most annoying character Nintendo has ever put on screen.
Rare took the Mario 64 blueprint and cranked it to 11
Banjo-Kazooie hands you two characters at once, and the sheer range of movement options turns the place into a parkour wonderland. Its fairy tale setting and cast feel lifted straight from a children’s book. There’s no voice work, only grunting and squawking, and it doesn’t matter one bit. No other N64 cartridge is stuffed with more levels, secrets, collectibles and jokes.
Gruntilda’s quest for beauty kicks off this strange, gag-filled adventure, and every character is written with a healthy sense of humor. Colorful fun paired with genuinely challenging platforming and puzzle solving, built around every button combination the N64 controller allows so you always have an arsenal of moves to pull off. Mario 64 set the bar. Banjo cleared it on long bird legs.
Whatever you do, don’t pick Oddjob
GoldenEye 007 ranks among the greatest FPS games of all time. Period. Sure, the control scheme feels alien to anyone raised on twin analog sticks, and that’s the only concession you have to make. The single-player campaign walks you through every scene of the movie without skimping on the gameplay, and the original score, gadgets, guns and characters do the rest of the work of turning you into James Bond.
Multiplayer is where it really lives. Four-player couch co-op with more play options than anyone asked for, and every level hides quirky spots, shortcuts and secrets worth mastering. Chaos and fun, in that order. Invite friends over, dust off the console, and set it to pistols only on license to kill in the Library. That’s the mode that separates the gamers from the noobs.
And here’s the one we held back for last
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the greatest adventure games ever made, and with the remake arriving very soon, anyone who never played the original gets a second chance on modern consoles. You’re Link, on a true hero’s journey to save Zelda and restore balance to Hyrule.
Gorgeous visuals, large open world sections to explore, dungeons that each look and feel distinctly different from the last. The game sinks its hooks in from the very first frame and never loosens them. The music is magical and the story beats still hit hard.
Plenty of players are counting down to Grand Theft Auto VI later this year. There’s an army of Zelda fans out there waiting just as patiently for a fresh version of Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2. A timeless classic for all ages.
It’s the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, which is as good an excuse as any to go digging. Track down the old Nintendo in the closet, blow into the cartridge and start with whichever of these six you never finished.