This is becoming a weekly Thursday post. Let’s bring it back to the childhood days and rank 4 N64 games. PS1 is the better system in terms of solo games with the Square and Capcom franchises (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil), but N64 didn’t need the multi tap for multi player and that boosted the fun factor. My list weighs gameplay and multi way fun so I wouldn’t choose Mario 64 for this list.

* You learned a lot about a person when they chose OddJob. I was a Mishkin man myself.

4. Super Smash Brothers

A brilliant game that involved 4 people all playing on one screen. The hit boxes were accurate and the HP counting up was a new twist towards damage. If a move did a lot of damage, it took a while to charge or was hard to connect. Falcon Punch! The stages all had unique aspects that kept people on their toes and better players knew where to look. What kind of person are you if you’ve never gotten the feeling from a JigglyPuff sing! Also, Hyrule Castle was the best board,

3. Mario Party Series

I can’t remember if I like 1, 2, or 3 but this game had it all. There was an element of skill and luck that could keep everyone happy. You suck at the game? Great, here’s a swticharoo box where you take all of someone’s stars. It favored the players who won the mini games and the stars at the end were balanced towards the best player. Mini games where you had to push the buttons the fastest and bumper balls rewarded varying skillsets. Add to the dynamic of 1v3’s and 2v2’s and you had a plethora of fun combinations. The teamwork!

2. Mario Kart

The advanced playing in this game would know how to boost using the left and right while sliding. If you aren’t playing like this, you aren’t playing Mario Kart. I would time trial Koopa Beach over and over again hitting the jump 3 times and making every effort to beat my latest ghost time. The multi player is fantastic with the favoritism towards last place. As a kid I’m sure I hated it and as an adult I appreciate it. Plus, who doesn’t like Berrio Kart where you have to finish your beer before you finish the race. Most people don’t play that for more than 3 or 4 races. It gets tough. Another game where everyone is the best at it.

1. Perfect Dark

You left Goldeneye off the list? Goldeneye was the Native American and Perfect Dark was the European. Don’t get me wrong, I loved when Natalya would get wasted when I was going for the 2:05 on 00 Agent for Invincibility. It took me a month straight working on that. What Goldeneye lacked though was the polish of Perfect Dark. This is a straight up multiplayer ranking and Perfect Dark implemented being able to drop off of ledges. Strafing was improved and the weapons upgraded. This game never got the credit it deserved, and I hardly remember much about it except that laptop gun and the little aliens, but when I was 16, I was a firm believer that this game was better and I’m not going to change my opinion after 20 years because nothing has changed. The complex was the greatest multiplayer level ever created.

Honorable Mention – Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and I hear the Zelda series are good. If I didn’t think that Hot Shots golf for Playstation and Virtua Tennis (Tesla Fire) for Dreamcast were better than these N64 games, I would have put them in my top 4.