On August 16, 2025, Americans experienced a rush of joy like no other: The release of the Nintendo 64, the video game giant’s hotly-anticipated follow-up to their acclaimed Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Remember that viral clip ofthe kid excitedly opening up an N64 under the Christmas treeand absolutely losing his mind? He’s right. In fact, he might be underreacting.
The Nintendo 64 boasted an unprecedented level of increase in graphical fidelity, from SNES’s 16 bits to 64 — quadrupling in power, two times as big as the rival Sony PlayStation. But what is good is technical sound and fury if it signifies nothing? As Nintendo of America pioneerPeter Mainphrased it, “The name of the game is the game.” And the N64 games were, in a word, incredible. Coinciding perfectly with the general culture’s mainstream acceptance of video games as more than a niche culture, developers worked with Nintendo to expand the medium’s boundaries and push the limits of technical craftsmanship and creativity. The Nintendo 64 encapsulates so many disparate feelings at the same time. Their games are accessible but deep, laser-focusing Nintendo’s typically pristine focus on the gamer’s joyful experience with an eye on expanding the definitions of “joyful experiences”. And ultimately, they focus on friendships — couch-centered multiplayer experiences and rich single-player campaigns that are fun to participate in actively and passively.
Whether you were an N64-head looking for a trip down memory lane, a Sony stan looking to fill in their blind spots, or a voracious retro gamer looking for some opinions to fight with, enjoy the 20 best Nintendo 64 games of all time (with corresponding honorable mentions, too).
20) Space Station Silicon Valley
Even if you’re a Playstation or Xbox or Steam or mobile stan, you’ve got to admit: Nintendo does “silly” right.Space Station Silicon Valleybacks up its inherent silliness with splendidly unique gameplay. Remember when everyone was praisingSuper Mario Odysseyfor its “possession” components? Sorry, Cappy,Space Station Silicon Valleyhad you beat by 19 years. You play as Evo, a robot whose exoskeleton has been reduced to pieces after a terrible spaceship crash. How do you find your robo-pieces to get back home? By taking over the corporeal bodies of animals to solve platforming puzzles, of course. Every animal available to inhabit controls differently, yielding proto-Scribblenauts levels of satisfying experimentation. Can that doggy destroy that ice block? Probably not. But I bet that bear can… As mentioned, the game’s sense of humor is spot-on, with an absurdly subdued voice aligned perfectly with theWallace and Gromit-esque graphics (but if you’re looking for a broader “funny claymation” N64 game, check outClayFighter 63⅓). While praised to the skies by critics,Space Station Silicon Valleyundersold, scrapping plans for a sequel. Like many other cult hits, its vision proved to be too ahead of its time.
HONORABLE MENTION:Rocket: Robot on Wheels, a physics-driven puzzle game with just the cutest video game robot.
19) Fighters Destiny
We’re gonna be blunt:Fighters Destinyis weird. If you’re looking for a more traditional N64 fighter, go withMortal Kombat 4and have a great time. But if you wanna jump into a vibe and control scheme you’ve never experienced before, please follow your destiny.Fighters Destinylooks mostly like other 3D-based fighters of the era, but throws the whole subgenre for a loop with its point-based mechanics. Where other fighters are content with a simple health bar or ring out system to denote when a character is defeated,Fighters Destinytakes its cue from actual competitive fighting competitions, awarding players a certain number of points per move. The first to seven points wins. So you can focus on depleting someone’s health bar – but that’s only three points. And if your opponent focuses on smacking you with a couple of special moves, that’s four points apiece, and they win. As such,Fighters Destinyrefocuses how you approach the fighting genre, and gives you such a rush when you figure it out. Plus — there’s a silly fighting cow named Ushi, and that’s wonderful.
HONORABLE MENTION:Worms Armageddon, another truly bonkers “unorthodox combat” game. It’s worms shooting rockets at each other! What a world!
18) Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Ah, 1998. The year before the release ofThe Phantom Menace, aka the last year of PureStar WarsFandom. AfterEpisode Idropped into theatres in 1999 and dropped everyone’s hearts into their feet,Star Warsfandom became inherently reactive and protective – they can’t hurt ourStar Warsagain! But in 1998, amidst the nation’s unfettered optimism for newStar Warscontent, we got a wonderful game that captures theStar Warszeitgeist’s wonderful mood. InStar Wars: Rogue Squadron, you pick one of five vehicles from the mythology (including the still-perfect X-Wing) and blast your way through fast-paced dogfights in space. From the graphics, the music, and the technically strenuous use of voiceover, it’s a giddily immersive experience. You really feel like you’re in a dangStar Wars! Adding to the whole “kid at Christmas” vibe of it all? LucasFilm and developer Factor 5 decided to hide a Naboo Starfighter – set to be revealed inThe Phantom Menace– in the game, only accessible by a heavily guarded code. Six months after the film’s release, the code was revealed – and players across the country lost their minds.
HONORABLE MENTION:Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, which gives you the joy of living throughThe Empire Strikes Back’s Hoth battles.
17) NFL Blitz
Ever watch football and wish there were more concussions? Do we have a game for you!NFL Blitzis football cranked up to 11, and then the football-cranking machine gets absolutely pulverized in a late hit, but no referee cares. Midway’s original title in the franchise, released on the N64 in 1997, took their cues from their previous arcade sports smashNBA Jamand ran with it. Gone are worries about pass interference, injuries, or unsportsmanlike conduct calls. Instead, you’re expected to annihilate potential receivers with a wide variety of wrestling-inspired tackles, with no consequences. And when you throw a 40-yard-plus pass straight into the end zone (“Da Bomb” is our personal favorite play), it feels good. And your player lets you know it feels good, jumping into a wacky dance that would certainly get them fined in real life. In fact, as the franchise went on, the NFL became concerned with the unsavory elements being allegedly promoted, and forced the game developers to deflate said elements lower than a Patriots Super Bowl ball. Later, Midway tried to get around this by developing a sub-franchise calledBlitz: The League, which featured fictional teams and primetime soap-ready storylines of drugs and betrayals. But for true, gridiron crunching action, the first title still slaps. Literally.
HONORABLE MENTION:Ken Griffey Jr.’s SlugfestorWayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey– both infectious titles, depending on which sport you prefer.
Nintendo has a reputation of being the family-friendly company. While Sony pushesThe Last of Us Part IIas a punishing title about hate, and Microsoft pushesHalo Infiniteas the most expansive shooter yet, Nintendo pushesLuigi’s Mansion 3as… a cute game about a scared guy. Back in 1999,Conker’s Pocket Talesplayed into Nintendo’s image handily. Literally – it was a handheld Game Boy Color title developed by Rare. Conker made sense in the Nintendo family – he was an ultra-cute squirrel who got into mild mischief in a light platforming title. Two years later… Rare threw everyone a curveball. Moving up to the N64, they unleashedConker’s Bad Fur Dayonto the world. It’s a hard M-rated, sophomoric, nasty title — one that feels less like an intuitive sequel and more like an apocalyptic reset. Beyond the game’s smutty sense of humor (some of which does not age well upon modern eyes, as you might expect) lies a sneakily revolutionary platformer. While the developers snarkily said they just ripped offSuper Mario 64, the game’s action has its own personality and technical upgrades. Also, this isn’t just an “adult Nintendo title” because of its content. There is a weirdly sad, melancholy heart at the core ofConker’s Bad Fur Day. Its bleaker-than-bleakA Clockwork Orange-referencing ending strikes an unnervingly tragic pitch that Sony or Microsoft would kill to be able to reach.
HONORABLE MENTION:Resident Evil 2, another decidedly adult title that’s likely one of the best ports ever made.
15) 1080° Snowboarding
1080° Snowboardingis not the first snowboarding video game. It’s not even the first Nintendo 64 snowboarding video game (that distinction belongs toSnowboard Kids, which is like theMario Kartof snowboarding games and kind of worth your time!). But it shredded a path down the mountain for every extreme sports game from there on out (“shredded a path” is a snowboarding term, right?). Despite its accessibly cartoonish/cool aesthetics,1080boasts a sneakily complex control system under its hood. It may take some time to get used to the title’s idiosyncrasies — When do you hold the crouch button? How aggressive can you get with the tricks without wiping out? — but once you’ve got them under your belt, you’ll be flying fast and freely down the impressively rendered mountains. Nintendo developed this title themselves, and they pushed the cartridge’s technical capabilities to their limits. The graphics are incredible, particularly the way the snow flurries around your board, but what we really need to talk about isthe soundtrack. It’s an infectious mix of hip-hop, electronica, and heavy rock that captures the late ‘90s perfectly, and makes your lightning-fast snow journeys feel so good. Sing it with us: “I, I like that, I like that, baby!”
HONORABLE MENTION:Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, putting those C-buttons to work.
14) Mario Party
Are your hand joints suddenly aching? Finger bones feeling fragile? Is a red circle in the shape of the N64 controller’s analog stick fading into your skin, stigmata-style? Then you’re having a Pavlovian response to the mere mention ofMario Party, Nintendo’s video board game frenzy. By translating what’s normally an analog activity to a digital medium, Nintendo smacked another multiplayer curveball out of the park.MPputs your favorite Mario characters on eye-catching, candy-coated boards in a quest to find stars for 20 coins a piece. But how do you get these coins? Why, by playing a series of simple, addictive minigames. Minigames that will, by the way, invariably rock your friendships to their bitter cores. Sure, a game where characters have to scurry to the correct colored mushroom based on Toad’s sign sounds fun in theory. In practice, it’s fun… but it’s also more intense than any modern battle royale shooter, especially if you’ve got all four controllers plugged in. As for the hand pain we mentioned earlier? Some minigames require you to spin the analog stick as fast as you can. Many resourceful young players, including yours truly, resorted to palming, rather than thumbing, the stick for optimum speed. And many resourceful young players injured the heck out of themselves, prompting Nintendo tospend $80 millionon protective gaming gloves after a dang class-action lawsuit. For this mix of casual multiplayer fun with surprisingly intense multiplayer consequences,Mario Partymakes the list.
HONORABLE MENTION:Milo’s Astro Lanes, undoubtedly the best 1950s rockabilly retro-futurist bowling game you’ll ever play.
13) WCW/nWo Revenge
Wrestling fandom can seem intimidating for folks just starting out. If you need a clean entry point vis-a-vis the pleasures of the mechanics of wrestling, look no further thanWCW/nWo Revenge, a 1998 title that remains the king of the wrestling video game ring to this day. It’s refreshingly accessible and staggeringly deep in equal measure. For the gamer who’s not as familiar with wrestling, it plays as a unique fighter with a deep, deep, all-caps DEEP bench of characters. And for the gamer who is a wrestle-head, this game has, like, everything. A wide variety of personas from a particularly flourishing era of wrestling, all with fun alternate costumes. Distinct, accurate differences between fighting types (Rey Mysterio Jr. feels vastly different to Sting, for example). Beautifully animated finishing moves and taunts (Diamond Dallas Page feels especially true to life). Plus – this might be the only video game with a character named after the developer of the video game. His name is AKI Man, and he is truly one of my favorite characters. Heightening the revolutionarily intuitive grapple-based controls from its predecessor (WCW vs. nWo: World Tour),Revengeboasts fun, fluid gameplay in all of its modes, single and multiplayer. You haven’t lived until you’ve grabbed a crowbar from an audience member and just wailed on Goldberg, you know?
HONORABLE MENTION:Spider-Man(2000). If you’re currently enjoying the 2018 PS4 title, give yourself a fun history lesson.
12) Rayman 2: The Great Escape
If Nintendo didn’t invent the platformer, they certainly perfected it. From the originalDonkey Kongon, the big N cracked the code for gap-jumping, side-scrolling, enemy-bopping action – usually involving an Italian plumber who doesn’t like a certain dinosaur. However, one of the most widely acclaimed N64 platformers comes not from the pristine brains of Nintendo, but from the more wonky imaginations of Ubi Soft (now Ubisoft, which is definitely “cleaner” asJustin Timberlakewould say). TheirRaymanfranchise is defined by its mischievous sense of humor combined with its absolutely stunning technical and emotional leaps. You could say that 1999’sRayman 2: The Great Escapeis theGuardians of the Galaxyof the N64’s MCU. It’s big, bold, and beautiful. It moves its 2D predecessor’s point of view into the third dimension, without sacrificing its predecessor’s attitude. In fact, the greatest joy fromThe Great Escapecomes from transplanting a typically light-and-silly Nintendo platforming hero into an atypically lush, dark, and even claustrophobic series of levels. It’s like ifJean-Pierre Jeunetwas allowed to design a Mario game, or ifBuster Keatonhad to find his way out of aGuillermo del Toromovie. If you’re into this title, check out contemporary Rayman/Nintendo adventures likeRayman LegendsandMario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
HONORABLE MENTION:Banjo-Kazooie, Rare’s adorable, addictive, banjo-strumming platformer.
11) Wave Race 64
Jet skis: They ain’t just for yacht bros anymore.Wave Race 64’s premise is simple, in ways both alluring and silly: What if jet skis… raced each other? That’s it! That’s the game! In fact, when Nintendo originally was developing their high-tech sequel to the original 1992 Game Boy game, they wanted to update traditional jet skis to more high-tech, futuristic boats that can transform. ButShigeru Miyamoto– you know, the guy who invented Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and every other Nintendo franchise you love – gave the order to simplify back to just jet skis. And boy howdy, was he right (though if that original pitch sounds fun, give 2000’sHydro Thundera play).Wave Race 64gives you the fundamentally thrilling power of a single jet ski cascading against stunningly accurate waves. Thanks to its usage of certain game engineering upgrades, the waves are constantly shifting and reforming based on what each jet ski does. In other words, you can play the same track 10 times in a row, and it will feel different every time.Wave Race 64does what every good video game should – translates highly technical evolutions into an effortless feeling of joy. Beyond the pleasures of its pure racing, the game feels open and alive thanks to its tropical color palette and smooth jazz-tinged score. BONZAI!
HONORABLE MENTION:F-Zero X, which definitely wins the award for “fastest N64 game.”
