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

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

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.

The Batlord

Yup yup we're thinking of the same ****ing one. Super easy to fall off the narrow walkways into empty space so even figuring out ways to shave off a few seconds here or there takes a back seat to just not dying even once.

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Key

Yep, so many memories of that level. Even in the remake I dont think I actually beat it. Even if you manage to get through the tight turns, you still end up in last place or close to it.

The Batlord

Yeah just gonna pour lighter fluid on my ps4 and toss a match to save myself the trouble. Except **** you you won't win you dirty aliens.

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Key

Vampire Survivors is an auto battler mixed with a roguelike done in such a way that upon first glance, it wouldn't look as though the game has much to offer. But as most of these games go, you discover the depth this game actually has as you spend more time on it. And while people may be turned off by the retro style graphics, I would highly recommend not to let that effect whether you pick this game up or not. I've not only purchased this game on Steam originally when it was around $1, it also got released on Game Pass, and naturally I picked that up as well. I had to put off progressing on my PC version of Vampire Survivors due to my laptop sort of crapping out on me, so my main source of gaming is my Xbox. And only recently this game hit Game Pass as I mentioned before so there was a bit of a gap with my progression of the game.

As a result of there being a gap in between the first time I played this and the 2nd time, a lot has changed with the game, adding in features that are simply quality of life changes, but we're much needed from its original state. Not to say the original state was bad by any means, there was just definitely more space to grow. I mean, in fairness the game started in early access on Steam so to even see it on Game Pass is excellent on its own merits.

Vampire Survivors as I said before is an auto battler mixed with a roguelike. So, much like Despot's Game, you don't have much control over how you attack enemies, however the depth truly reveals itself once you discover the various items you can use and unlock as well as items that work with other items to progress through each run. In other words, the game comes jam packed with synergies that you get to discover over time. Being one of the most fun parts of a roguelike. And such that, I won't really go into any detail that would reveal any synergies or items because most of the fun is figuring it our on your own. The nice thing is, it's not super obvious at the start what you're supposed to do, and hell, even after many hours of playtime, it still isn't incredibly obvious. You go 30 minutes through each run, collecting experience and unlocking items along the way. It just does so by also taking out the need for having to aim your weapon and having to worry about where you're shooting etc etc. Not that that's a bad thing to have to aim with your mouse or joystick, but it's nice when the game doesn't need it and builds itself around that.

As far as the retro style goes, I actually find that it adds to the games charm, because as much as it looks like there isn't a whole lot going on, I want to reiterate that there really is a lot of depth. And while I've probably put in about 20 hours of playtime on my Xbox alone, no run has been the same, and I continue to unlock items and achievements and eventually will unlock everything. And the whole 30 minutes thing is also not the worst thing in the world when so many other roguelikes have runs that could go for an hour or two. Nice to have a roguelike that is there for when you just want to spend a little time making some progress. It just helps tremendously that the game is also very very good.

The reason I also briefly stated that this is my favorite roguelike since Dead Cells, despite having many good experiences with roguelikes in general between these two releases, is simply down to the fact that I find myself wanting to jump back in over and over and over again. Whether it's due to the fact that I know I really only need to set aside a half hour of my time, or it's the fact that I know I still have quite a bit to unlock despite playing for a long time, whatever it is, it's gotten me under the same spell that Dead Cells had until that game evolved so much to where it can feel like a bit of a slog to go through. I still love Dead Cells dearly but it's definitely evolved a lot since it's initial release. Typical runs can take a little bit over an hour now, and I generally lose focus if a run isn't going the best way. It can be a toss up but that's what ultimately makes roguelikes so much fun to play.

The whole auto battler genre has been seeing a lot of attention lately, and I honestly think Vampire Survivors has done it the best, however I know that there are others that do it just as well. I mean, it seems like we have a new one releasing every other week. But, if my memory serves me right, this is also what happened when roguelikes got really big. Same with battle royale, and now it seems to be the case with auto battlers. I'm all for it though as long as they follow the same trend that Vampire Survivors has now undoubtedly set.

As the runs typically go pretty quick, I don't really know how many runs I have done altogether in my time playing the game, but I want to mention again that none of the runs have felt the same. that could again just simply be due to that I don't have a lot unlocked right now, or I just haven't seen a lot of the synergies, but I have seen how many items are available to unlock, so it may be quite some time before I feel like any two runs feel the same. I do have quite a few favorite synergies already, but again, I will refrain from spoiling anything. Much like Binding of Isaac, there are some runs where you will feel completely overpowered and invincible, and other times you'll feel like you're weaker than dirt. Never seems to take away from the experience as a whole though. I tend to always have a good time, despite the game feeling somewhat difficult at times.

I've only really mentioned the items and the synergies, but I'd also like to talk about the fact that even though I've unlocked about 15 different characters, whom all come with their own unique starting items and abilities, knowing what I know of the game, I know I have not even scratched the surface as far as character unlocks go. I don't actually know how many characters there are to unlock, but I know that each come with their own requirements in order to unlock them. And again, I try not to look up how to do so as I love the randomness of what you unlock after each run.

This game comes with my highest recommendation as I know it will get a lot of flack for how it looks on the outside. But if you're like me and you prefer experiences over graphics, Vampire Survivors is a must play. Hell, any auto battler is worth playing. They're all fun and come with their own unique quirks to provide their own unique experiences. I've not played many of them, hell Vampire Survivors may only be one of two that I have played, so I've got a lot of homework to do. If Vampire Survivors is a good look at the genre as a whole, well, I'm excited to continue checking out this genre as it evolves over time.