Published , by Chris Jarrard
Published , by Chris Jarrard
Just when folks were starting to get worried that Nintendo might not host one of its popular Direct digital showcase events in the month of September, the company delivered big. Amongst the various new game announcements and release date confirmations, Nintendo shared the news that select Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 games would be coming to the Switch virtual console in the coming months. Many of the N64 titles shown off will also offer all-new online functionality for the first time ever.
We asked the staff here at Shacknews which Nintendo 64 classics they would pick to get the online multiplayer treatment if they got an opportunity to call the shots at Nintendo.
Paper Mario - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Editor
I know what you're thinking. "Well, of course, Ozzie wants to play Paper Mario. He's the big Super Mario RPG fan here, so why wouldn't he want to play the spiritual successor?"
Here's a reason why: I never actually played this.
I think what happened at the time was that I was one of those young kids who hated the new direction because I so badly wanted a real sequel to Super Mario RPG. I wanted more of the characters that I had come to love. I wanted to revisit Geno and Mallow. I wanted to see Smithy try to take over the world again. Because of that, I was disappointed with what Nintendo had put forward. Instead of these games, I became more attached to the Mario & Luigi series.
Now I want to go back and see what I missed. I want to check out the original Paper Mario and someday, I'll go check out The Thousand Year Door. (Seriously, I've never played that, either. Can you believe it?)
Pokemon Stadium - Donovan Erskine, Pokemon Champion
Pokemon Stadium would be the perfect game to have as a Nintendo Switch Online title. The game itself still holds up, and its format also lends itself really well to being able to play other people online. Also, with the Pokemon Let’s Go! games bringing Gen 1 to the Switch, maybe there could even be an ability to transfer Pokemon to Stadium. That last part might be a bit of a long shot, but let me have hope.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - Blake Morse, Red 5 standing by
Rogue Squadron was the game that made me want an N64 and when I had finally saved up enough from my after-school job and bought both they did not disappoint. At the time I remember being amazed at how open each level’s environment was and how well the dogfighting handled despite the awkwardness of the N64 controller (yes, it is awkward!) I played the living crap out of this game, even grinding to unlock all the bonus ships, so I could blast fools with Han and Chewie in the Millenium Falcon. If they put this bad boy on the Switch, I would more than likely play the living crap out of it again.
Bomberman 64 - Sam Chandler, HURRY UP
Bomberman 64 has one of the best multiplayer modes of a lot of N64 titles. Sure, people will go on about the golden days of Goldeneye or smashing friends in Super Smash Bros, but the real winners know of the frantic Bomberman 64 MP matches. The time limit is strict, and with a sudden death that has fire raining from the heavens, walls closing in, and water rising, there’s plenty of environmental dangers. Plus, it was the first Bomberman game to ditch the grid layout in favor of something a little more open.
WWF No Mercy - Chris Jarrard, Has the best opinions on staff, has always been over
Shack Chat questions don’t get any easier than this. If I had my pick of a game to add online functionality to via the Switch Online service, it would be WWF No Mercy. While it's not my absolute favorite of AKI N64 wrestling classics (WCW vs NWO: Revenge still owns my heart), WWF No Mercy is the most complete package with the most potential for online play. It continues to boggle the mind that no studio has managed to eclipse these wrestling games in terms of fun, functionality, and replayability.
GoldenEye 007 - Bill Lavoy, Riiswalker
Unfortunately, I didn’t own an N64 back in the day, but I did play at friend’s houses, even if I didn’t get extended use. One game I remember very vividly is GoldenEye 007. I’ve never beaten it, so if I could play GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo Switch, that would be a pretty cool way to tie up a loose end from my gaming past.
Star Fox 64 - TJ Denzer does a barrel roll & presses A to edit news
Star Fox is maybe one of my favorite on-rails shooters of all time. It’s such an awesome thematic setup, featuring a fantastic cast of characters that bring chatty personality to the entire sci-fi space combat engagement. I could play through Star Fox 64 multiple times in a day and still be excited enough to come back later.
That’s not what excites me most around the prospect of the game coming to Nintendo Switch Online though. It’s the multiplayer. I used to dust my buddies in Star Fox 64 back in the day when we’d play the four-player competitive mode that allowed you to do dogfights in various areas of the game. Nintendo Switch Online is adding online multiplayer to the N64 games it’s bringing into its collection. Boy howdy does the prospect of rediscovering my competitive abilities in that game and putting them up against friends online thrill me.
As Wolf O’Donnell told Fox in this particular game, “You’re good, but I’m better.” Well, we’ll find out if that’s true soon enough.
Quite the selection - Steve Tyminski, Stevetendo show host, Nintendo fan
Nintendo announced recently that the Nintendo Switch online service will be getting Nintendo 64 games added as well as Sega Genesis games. The likes of Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are going to be there. That being said, there are plenty of N64 games that one would love to see added to the service. It would be fun to see Snowboard Kids as the potential online multiplayer feature the Switch has allows for even more fun. Getting to play the games that work best with multiplayer is interesting to think about. The likes of Mario Kart might never be the same. It would be interesting to see if the Castlevania games on the N64 make it as it would be the first time I’d be able to play them. It’s more of wanting to see why people don’t care for Castlevania 64 that has me intrigued. If Banjo Kazooie wasn’t mentioned in the Nintendo Direct to be coming soon, that would have been my answer but another Rare game, Blast Corps, showed that Rare knew more than just collect-a-thons like DK64 and Banjo Kazooie. It will be fun to see what games get the Switch online love and which ones get left on the shelf, collecting more dust.
Perfect Dark - Dennis White, Social Media Wizard
I put so many hours into Perfect Dark multiplayer with friends and had so much fun as broken as it was. It would be great to be able to experience that again with some updated graphics and online multiplayer. Perfect Dark had some pretty unique weapons and the characters like a tiny alien friend made the game more interesting and frustrating. Goldeneye has a pretty well-done PC re-creation done by fans so there’s been some of that nostalgia tapped into already but I don’t think Perfect Dark has ever gotten that kind of treatment from a multiplayer perspective. With a new game currently in development, it’s time to bring back Joanna Dark and I’m more than ready.
And there you have it, folks. The Shacknews staff has spoken. Are these solid choices? Are there any glaring omissions? Let us know in the comments below.