Key

WWF: No Mercy (pt.2)

One of the things I remember really enjoying the most when it came to this game was the music, more specifically entrance music. I always remember always liking this stuff too when I watched it on TV because it always hyped up the crowd. And it even felt like that in this game, though vastly scaled down. I played with a lot of the characters in the game, but the ones I ended up playing with the most always seemed to be the ones that had the coolest (in my book) entrance music. It just made playing those characters way more fun because from the get-go you know you've got someone cool. Here's just a few that I remember liking the most:

Jeff Hardy

Here's one with a little bit of gameplay so you can see the glory that is this game:



Kurt Angle

Even today, this song is still a bop



And going away from the entrance music, this is just a cool thing to watch:



The game may not have had the best graphics especially when put against today's standards, but there was so much charm and so much creativity to be found within it that the game was truly one of the best on the system.

Key

Goldeneye 007

Goldeneye 007 is one of those games that no matter when you look back on it, you just remember having good times with it. Whether it be playing split screen multiplayer with your friends or going through the main game, I just remember having a good time going through it time and time again.

Either it was the music playing in the background or simply being amazed at the level design and what had stood before you, the game continuously oozed with originality and has, in my opinion, held up to even today's standards as a beacon for what the genre should strive for. Obviously, graphically the game did not stand the test of time, but I remember going through this game again in recent years and having a great time. I didn't remember over half of it so it was kind of like going through it again for the first time. The level design certainly held up and I would highly recommend anyone play this if they haven't dipped into the 007 genre as far as games go.

Of course, who can talk about Goldeneye 007 without talking about the experiences of multiplayer. I certainly have many fond memories of this particular game because of the experiences I had with multiplayer. It was always fun to go through the levels and find hidden areas to squeeze yourself into, only to be found out by someone right around the corner. And seeing those silly blocky models running towards you to your inevitable demise was not always hilarious back then, but looking back on it certainly makes me laugh. The character models were not always the best in these kinds of games, but I'll take great gameplay and great opportunities for experiences over graphics any day.

The game is basically laid out as one long story told through various different missions, and as par for the course, the game never felt like it dragged on unnecessarily. Each mission felt fully fleshed out and always felt like you were going through one long chapter after the next. Each level also oozed with originality and was always fun to go through time and time again. Plus, the level select screen was cool in the way that more was revealed the further you go. Just a small tid bit that I remember, for some reason. Of course if you were to ask me which level I deem as my favorite? It'd be a toss up because each of them are great in their own way. If I were to choose though, it'd be between Surface (the one that comes after Facility, Runway, and Dam), Dam, and Train. But again, that could easily change if you asked me on a different day, but as it stands right now, I would easily choose 1 or all of these as my favorites.

Along with great level design, you've also got a lot of different kinds of guns at your disposal to take on the enemies before you, and I'm sure we all remember the one that looks like a giant pen. Whenever I think of the design of the guns and how they worked in game, I just remember the big pen gun, as we all do, surely. Not much else to say other than that. Again, just another tid bit that stays in my brain for one reason or another.

If my memory serves me right, I believe there is a server somewhere online that allows you to jump back into an active community of Goldeneye 007 era multiplayer. And lemme tell ya, playing that multiplayer with updated controls feels so natural you think they knew that style of gameplay was going to happen in the future. As I'm sure you guessed by now, the only big drawback of this game is that if you want to play on original hardware, you'll have to fair against that awful controller once again. And using the joystick on that controller for long periods of time will surely make your thumbs hurt.

This is a lot of people's favorite games when it comes to that era of gaming and it's very easy to see why. It's got everything it needs to continuously stand out as one of the best. I mean, even the pause menu music is great:

Saulaac

I defo enjoyed that soundtrack when playing the game in the 90s.

That was around the time Propellerheads were releasing good songs like “History Repeating - feat. Shirley Bassey” and “On Her Majesty's Secret Service”.

Often wondered what happened to them. I can’t find them on social media. If only there was a music detective agency out there somewhere..

The Batlord

Remote mine cheeses are gay.

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Key

If only there were some website that solely focused on music and the workings of it. Oh well. Guess we'll never know. Goldeneye 007 is definitely up there as far as my favorites on the console altogether.

You're gay.

Key

And Even More Musical Tracks From Nintendo 64 Games

There are so many to love that it's hard to put them all in one word jumble so I'm making another post about music that I love from soundtracks in the Nintendo 64 era. Boy, are there a lot.

I mentioned some of the big ones in another post like Dam from Goldeneye 007, and Gerudo Valley from Zelda. Now let's talk about some others that also deserve the spotlight:

Majora's Mask was just a creepy game through and through and it still managed to have some great tracks in it. One of which being the Song of Double Time. Sort of amplifies the creepiness factor for me a little bit because even with it just being a double version of Song of Time, it just sounds creepier.



Of course let's not forget the overworld theme from Majora's Mask, and despite Ocarina of Time having a great overworld theme as well, Majora's Mask's version just feels more complete:



I also enjoyed Termina Field quite a bit more though both Termina and Hyrule Field are fantastic in their own rights so it's hard to put them head to head.

Surprise surprise, Super Mario 64 also had great music. I even talked about it specifically earlier this month so I just want to reiterate that point with this:



It just gives an unbelievable vibe.

Also, who can possibly have a post about video game music and not mention the wonderful theme for Yoshi's Story. This game is just full of little cute things like this but this song is just the exact thing it needs to really set the theme.



Kirby 64 also has some of my favorite video game tracks of all time including of course:



It don't get much better than that, i'd say.

Key

Mario Kart 64

As is per usual with pretty much any Mario Kart, there's not really a whole lot to say that would cause me to lean either way as far as what I think about this game. Or this series of games in general. They're great racing games with a lot of variety on characters and items, and Mario Kart 64 is certainly no exception when it comes to this. While not having nearly as many character to choose from, evidently as it's on an older system, it still manages to capture what is necessary to make a great racing game and a Mario racing game at that.

I do have many fond memories of playing Mario Kart 64 and at times getting frustrated with either the controls or the races themselves but it was still good fun at the end of the day. I don't really go out of my way most times to play racing games, but Mario Kart has always been the exception as it's always brought something different and unique to the formula that always makes it fun. In this particular game, you can choose to be characters like Mario and Luigi, Toad and Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, pretty much the whole gang. In later iterations of the series this list expanded tremendously, for good cause. But, you have a total of 8 to choose from in this one. Levels are what you'd also expect them to be, excellent. Especially for the time that this game came out, it was pretty remarkable what some levels managed to capture, especially with graphical limitations. One of my favorites has always been the Bowser castle tracks:



Also the music, throughout the game, but also specifically Bowser castle, is of course excellent:



I would also like to point out that while we do have other racing games on the console like Wipeout 64 and Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Kart 64 still stands out on its own, much like the other two mentioned do, respectively. OF course, that could be due to the fact that it's Mario so of course it's going to, and meant, to stand out. But it's also a fun game to play so that also helps.

I also remember Mario Kart 64 having some great game modes, some of which are some of my favorites in the series altogether. Doesn't hurt that once again, I was able to play the multiplayer with people that also had fun with it, so it wasn't usually frustrating to play them, as the game made it fun.



All there really is to say is that I remember having good times playing Mario Kart 64, and while there have been much iterations made since then, it could still be fun for a nostalgic rush to go back and play Mario Kart 64, but there are certainly much better versions to play, and definitely makes it harder to argue that this one in particular is worth going back to. Other than of course the nostalgic rush that I mentioned.

Key

In Conclusion
until next time

With just a few days left of November, I think it's time to wrap up November 64 and brainstorm what I want to do for next month. I have a few ideas circulating but nothing that has cemented itself. It will obviously be focused on gaming, but in what fashion I just don't know yet. I don't think I want to do a console focused one again so soon but we'll see. I'll try to keep this next one more open ended sort of how I did with Video Game Month in October.

This one in particular was a lot of fun to do. I focused on the games that I knew enough about to write about it, and I feel like I wrote about the ones I really wanted to write about, and I'm quite happy with it as a result.

Yes there will be a theme month next month however I do not know what it will be focused on just yet, as well, I don't know how much will be thrown in as far as posts go. Hell, I wrote about more games this month than I anticipated so I suppose anything is possible.

After that, we'll get into the new year and I expect we'll talk about more stuff as the time comes.

See you all next month sometime.

>Here's the index for November 64 in case you want to see what was talked about this month<

The Batlord

I still need to get back into Racer. The vibe is so chill. I think back in the day I got gold medals (or whatever the highest thing) on every race but one or two of the invitationals that are just impossible.

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Key

Dude hell yeah, the vibe is always chill, especially when you just get so sucked into the level and everything. Controls have always been pretty good though the remake really makes it much better to handle, given that modern controllers are way way better for racing games. I did the same thing when I played it originally. Some of the later levels are nearly impossible to beat. I remember specifically one that is in the sky and you have to have such a ridiculous time in order to beat it.