The Nintendo 64 isn’t celebrating a milestone anniversary this year, but that hasn’t stopped Nintendo Life from asking their readers to pick the misunderstood console’s best games. While we wait for the results, I dug through Version 4.0 of the Video Game Canon to find out which Nintendo 64 games have been singled out over the years.
It’s not a particularly long list, but there’s no shortage of interesting titles…
Zoom in on specific portions of the Video Game Canon and explore alternate sorting options from the Version 4.0 Update with Listology 4.0.
This Listology article is based on an earlier Version of the Video Game Canon. Visit the Top 1000 to see the most recent changes to the full list.
A total of 35 games were selected at least once by the editors and curators of the 58 Best Games lists that make up the Video Game Canon’s post-1996 dataset, and a very obvious trio of games (Nintendo’s Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and GoldenEye 007) stood out from the rest. Nintendo was operating at the top of its game during the N64 era, and several other titles from the consolemaker can be found peppered throughout the list:
- 1. Super Mario 64
- 2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- 3. GoldenEye 007
- 4. StarCraft
Released As: StarCraft 64 - 5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (Series)
- 6. Quake
- 7. Madden NFL Football (Series)
- 8. NHL Hockey (Series)
- 9. Star Fox 64
- 10. FIFA Soccer (Series)
- 11. Resident Evil 2
- 12. Command & Conquer
- 13. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
- 14. Banjo-Kazooie
- 15. Duke Nukem 3D
Released As: Duke Nukem 64 - 16. Super Smash Bros.
- 17. Quake II
- 18. Wave Race 64
- 19. Mario Kart 64
- 20. Perfect Dark
- 21. Ridge Racer
Released As: Ridge Racer 64 - 22. Rayman 2: The Great Escape
- 23. Conker’s Bad Fur Day
- 24. Pilotwings 64
- 25. Diddy Kong Racing
- 26. NFL Blitz (Series)
- 27. International Superstar Soccer (Series)
- 28. Paper Mario
- 29. 1080 Snowboarding
- 30. Body Harvest
- 31. WWF No Mercy
- 32. Blast Corps
- 33. Mortal Kombat 3
Released As: Mortal Kombat Trilogy - 34. Excitebike 64
- 35. Mario Tennis
While Nintendo was happy with their output for the Nintendo 64, most players shifted their allegiance towards Sony’s PlayStation, and the makeup of the “Best Games” lists reflect this new reality. A lot of well-remembered games for the N64 (including, but not limited to, Cruis’n USA, Doom 64, F-Zero X, Gauntlet Legends, Mario Party, Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, Sin and Punishment, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter) are all absent from the ranking.
Nintendo Life has promised to publish their list of “Best Nintendo 64 Games” soon.
UPDATE (10/16/20): That was fast. Nintendo Life has published their list of the “Best Nintendo 64 Games” and, not surprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out on top. Though it is a dynamic list and the ranking could change as more votes come in (but let’s be realistic, OoT isn’t going anywhere).