A Look At All 8 Nintendo 64 Games From 1996 - The Launch Year

On September 29th, 1996, North America would see the release of the Nintendo 64, a system that launched with a surprisingly small lineup of only two games. The rest of the year didn’t see a big increase in that number, either, with only eight titles being released for the system. Was this a case of quality over quantity? Let’s find out by looking at all eight of them.
Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey: Fatality Edition footage courtesy of VHS Productions.
Channel Page: / @vhsproductions
Original Video: • Wayne Gretzky's 3D hoc...
If you're a fan of the channel, consider supporting it on Patreon!
/ thelegendofgames
Or join this channel as a KZbin Member to gain access to perks:
/ @legendofgames
Join the channel's Discord server:
/ discord
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:03 - Pilotwings 64
4:41 - Super Mario 64
7:39 - Wave Race 64
10:29 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy
13:28 - Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey
15:31 - Killer Instinct Gold
18:38 - Cruis’n USA
22:51 - Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
27:30 - Final Thoughts

[@LegendOfGames]

Apparently I made some mistakes setting up the N64 emulator I was using, so these games don’t look quite the way they’re supposed to, but hopefully this is a fun watch for fans of the Launch Games series and the N64 regardless. My next long-form video will probably be something a bit different, but feel free to let me know what system launch lineups you'd like to see covered next.

[@QF_Dan72]

Hope you can talk about GBA launch games in the future, that's my favourite handheld

[@LegendOfGames]

@@QF_Dan72 that’s one I’d definitely like to cover at some point.

[@gamecomparisons]

I cannot count how many times I was told "I'm waiting for the Ultra/Nintendo 64" back in those days. It was just a statement I had to accept at the time in Texas. Nintendo was all they had known, and all they wanted to move on to. This little list didn't deter them either, it was the second most successful console of the generation.

[@ltm4ever]

I had a PlayStation and of these games I only played MK trilogy and Cruis'n USA in the arcades, but I really enjoyed this video. You're very good at this.

[@LegendOfGames]

Thanks! I was actually a PlayStation kid as well, though I did get an N64 during the PS2 era and played it quite a bit.

[@TRJ2241987]

We were spoiled at my house, we had Mario 64, Cruis'n USA, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, Pilotwings 64 & NBA Hang Time. And then got Wave Race and Killer Instinct Gold very early in 1997, at that point we had 7 of the 8 games, and then from there got the next upcoming games like Mario Kart and Turok as they released. That was an incredible era in gaming and such a leap over the games we had just 6 months prior. A few of those games cost $74.99 each at K-Mart. There was a pretty extensive period where we had nearly every single game for the system, even in 1997 the releases were fairly sporadic. It wasn't until 1998 that the system really started getting a relative abundance of games

[@LegendOfGames]

You were lucky. You had basically the entire library. I think you’re right about 1998. That probably would’ve been a better time to have gotten the system since there were a lot more options to choose from, including some very good games.

[@TRJ2241987]

@@LegendOfGames That was the first Black Friday my mom ever did, she was in line at Kay Bee Toys at 4:00AM. That was the best year ever as a kid, I actually must be mis remembering NBA Hang Time, must have been January of '97 that we got that. I never had MK Trilogy and didn't get Shadows of the Empire until maybe 1998. At the time we felt spoiled just to have a N64 at all most kids I knew didn't get on that Christmas. When my Mom came home from getting the system she told us everything was all sold out and she couldn't get anything. Once the reality and depression had sunk in that I'd have to accept we weren't able to get a system had sunk in she pulled out the bag with the system in games in it and started laughing her ass off as we freaked out and jumped up and down. Still feels like yesterday to me.

[@aaronroibeard]

An amazing video!! This brought back a lot of memories for sure. Keep it up man 🤜🤛

[@turdcalzone7636]

Great semi in depth information, and quite severe underrated channel.

[@LegendOfGames]

Thank you!

[@jonbourgoin182]

For some reason I thought Quest 64 was gonna be here but I guess that game came later. I think Quest was the first RPG released for N64. Another great video my friend, looking forward to the next one.

[@SylphidUndine]

Cruis'n USA was one of my first games on the N64. i played that game a lot.

[@LegendOfGames]

I had fun with that one. It’s pretty simple, but enjoyable.

[@eelseth123]

Your channel is fantastic! Thank you! 🙏

[@carol.c.b]

Another great video from “The Legend of Games”. Well done.

[@KappaCow]

Another great video, cooked breakfast and had some coffee to the nostalgic vibes of the N64. Cheers

[@Avanorne]

I expected to see 500k plus subscribers when I searched for the button after watching this. Good luck with the growth of the channel - not that you'll need it with content as good as this!

[@Yuca-ei4kk]

Pretty cool channel. 💪 Killer Instinct Gold was incredible. Best regards from Germany

[@HamanKarn567]

I have fond memories of wave rave and shadows of the empire. Especially with my brothers taking turns round robin we called it. Good memories.

[@LegendOfGames]

Those are two that I actually didn't have much experience with before making this video , but I enjoyed both of them, especially Wave Race.

[@HamanKarn567]

@@LegendOfGames The soundtrack was really good too imo.

[@grinbrothers]

I've been looking forward to this video ever since you announced your plans to make it. A shame you didn't go with my PAL launch games suggestion, though from the looks of it, I believe only Turok is missing from the games that launched in the N64's first year (and possibly one other game but some sites vary which games launched with the N64) and there are many more covered here than there would otherwise be. 2:19 - Interesting to see the opening with the characters front and centre; not usually the sort of thing you think of when you think of Pilotwings. Also, as someone who has never played a Pilotwings game, I'm shocked to see a more traditional plane is apparently not used at any point. A short and sweet look into the title here. 8:10 - The water effects in Wave Race 64 is truly astonishing and some of the reflective lighting I've seen on the game had me second guessing it an an N64 game. The comparison with Jet Moto really shows what a feat the water in Wave Race 64 was. Also, as a fan of the Game Boy Wave Race, I'm pleased to see it get mentioned. 13:42 - Seems Midway was giving the N64 a fair go in supporting it. The company did end up publishing quite a lot of N64 games from the looks of it. Really cool you were able to include that 14:21 beta footage (credited as well with the source) of the planned fatalities. I've never had any interest in Hockey but this game looks fairly fun. 16:29 - As I've only ever played Killer Instinct through Xbox's Rare Replay, the control explanation was handy. The example given with a good view of the N64 controller works well. 20:04 - I've played the recent Cruis'n game on the Switch and it seems this N64 title carries a lot of the same DNA; single lap races with a much easier level of entry and accessibility (my 3 year old nephew has managed to win races in this series; just by holding down the A button and pressing boost once or twice). The whole tour across a country with each track being along the way is a rather nice way of doing things; has each track feel like a true progression from one to the other.

[@LegendOfGames]

I feel the same way about Cruis’n’s progression. I seem to remember the arcade version being a bit more seamless. You’d end the race, then start the next race from that same point. I guess they couldn’t make that work with this one (I could be misremembering the arcade version, though.)

[@grinbrothers]

@@LegendOfGames That sounds astounding; has any other racing game tried doing such a thing on consoles? Surely the systems would be capable of it nowadays.

[@CptJistuce]

@@grinbrothers It has been pretty standard for the entire Outrun series, which was last seen in... 2003? C'mon, Sega! Edit: Come to think of it, Cruisin' USA drew a lot of inspiration from Outrun. If someone told me it actually began life as an Outrun game, I would probably believe them.

[@douglarsen4801]

I wish I could go back and see Mario 64 again for the first time. It was amazing.

[@goranisacson2502]

As someone who had Star Wars as his first N64 game (I do to this day not know why we picked that over Mario) having it be my first real intro to 3D navigation was WILD. How I managed it at 9 years old I'll never know, but in retrospect it seems like I made a sound choice. Everyone who owned an N64 was gonna play Mario sooner or later, either you got it a friend. But not a lot experienced Dash Rendar's adventure, and that's neat. Never got the true ending though...

[@LegendOfGames]

It actually seems like a good choice to have gotten it, since everyone else had Mario 64 and you’d probably have so many opportunities to play it. Also, I didn’t realize it had multiple endings.

[@goranisacson2502]

@@LegendOfGames I think it was one of those "clear it on hard with all the superspecial secrets found" ordeals, because I remember clearing it on hard but still getting a mysterious "but is this how it REALLY ended?" messages at the end... and I also recently caught a video on youtube with the true ending. Unless that was a very impressive fake, I did indeed miss out on it. Frustrating, but it waa at least incentive to do better in the future!

[@zeroXshinobi]

I don’t know how I completely missed mk trilogy as an n64 game. I remember when a few of my classmates had shadows of the empire and mario 64. Can you believe I dreaded coming home from their place even though I had a ps1 with final fantasy 7, tactics, TR2, And much much more! What a time LOL Btw congrats on your 7th launch games video!!!

[@LegendOfGames]

Thanks! And I can understand. I think kids always want the game systems they don't have. I wanted an N64 so bad, but didn't get one myself until a bit into the PS2 era when they were super cheap.

[@FreshPrincex4]

Never owned a N64 growin up, but damn this video definitely showed me alot about its launch

[@Naked_snake_]

I feel like the Nintendo 64 is the ultimate Consol for kids because the 3-D cartoony style of a lot of the games on the console of the type of that I would’ve loved as a kid

[@LegendOfGames]

I think you’re right about that. Well into the PS2 era my younger sister and other younger relatives would often choose to play my N64 over anything else.

[@Naked_snake_]

@@LegendOfGames well, that’s really nice

[@gundamzerostrike]

Small list, but quite impressive considering it had 6 of the most influential and best games on the console (and some of the best of that entire generation, really). Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, Wave Race 64, Killer Ins., Crusin' US and Star Wars Shadow of The Empire. It kinda of represents the entire collection of N64 games, because the console didn't an overall massive amount of games. But the games it did have were top tier.

[@logalogalog]

I enjoyed Wave Race 64 immensely the year it came out.

[@BM-wh5qk]

All pizza places in the 90s were required by law to have Cruisin USA in its back room.

[@LegendOfGames]

The one I talked about was indeed in the back room. In the front they had one of those sit down NES cabinets.

[@CptJistuce]

Awww, let's be fair to Dark Forces. It didn't have weak MIDI renditions of the movie music. It had an interactive music system that modified the music in real-time in response to in-game events, and it was AWESOME. I really wish more games had that sort of thing(sadly, it didn't even make it to the Windows ports of X-Wing and TIE Fighter, and was only available on the DOS versions)

[@LegendOfGames]

I was just comparing the fact that it’s not the original tracks to Shadows of the Empire actually using them, which is much cooler to hear. Of course dynamic music is awesome, but, regardless, it is fairly cheesy if you compare it to the original orchestrated versions (and this is coming from someone who is very much a PlayStation person.)

[@CptJistuce]

@@LegendOfGamesThat's fair. I guess. I've actually been meaning to sit down with Dark Forces and TIE Fighter again, having picked up a Sound Canvas module not too long ago. Like to see if they sound appreciably beefier when not being warbled out through ye olde FM synthesis... I was actually surprised how warbly they DO sound when I dug some clips out recently. I remember them as being a lot more impressive(which I guess they would have been when they came out).

[@TargetHHH101]

As much as I love the n64 I feel the playstation 1 had it beat, I had/have and still play both. Cruisin Usa is an all time classic and Super Mario 64 speaks for itself, I actually went thru it the other day. Great video.

[@jhkuno88]

The PSX has 4 times the number of games released, and from bigger more experience studios so its only normal.....many genre defining games were from N64 though

[@TargetHHH101]

@@jhkuno88 i agree the n64 had some good stuff, ive actually sold mine since my original comment, overall the PlayStation dominated that generation for me

[@Agent-vj3ns]

​@@TargetHHH101you'll regret selling your n64. Buy it back before prices skyrocket (they go up every year 💵📈)

[@Agent-vj3ns]

I recall the Chicago race in Cruisin being infuriating lol

[@LegendOfGames]

Yeah, that one had a lot of parts where you need to drive within a super narrow area.

[@MPT1983]

I remember how much I had N64 envy back in 1997 when my friend had one while I chose a PS1, especially because of Mario 64 and Shadows of the Empire, while the PS1 eventually was the superior choice there were a handful of games on the N64 that were absolute gems.

[@LegendOfGames]

It was the same for me. I do think it was ultimately the right choice, but being a kid who was into platformers, the N64 kinda looked amazing (luckily I eventually got super into JRPGs, which is a category the PS1 absolutely destroyed the N64 in.)

[@MPT1983]

@@LegendOfGames Yes agreed, JRPGs the same.

[@zeroXshinobi]

LETS GO!!!

[@lilwyvern4]

Think it's odd that Shadows of the Empire had a lives system? Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was released in 2002, and it still had one! That games is also hard as balls, which makes its presence all the worse. Good, though.

[@LegendOfGames]

It’s not its presence that I find odd since, as I said, it was the style at the time, but I don’t think it’s fitting for that type of game. Other popular 3D action-adventure games of the time, such as Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, didn’t use that system, and I think it works better. Mainly, though, I think it’s odd when viewed through a modern lens.

[@rebow2568]

Yo! This grand concluding challenge through March 2001 with the proud power of the 64-bit Nintendo 64 (pretended to be better than the ordinary 32-bit consoles like 32X, Saturn and PlayStation) was remained unclear due to the present of the intense envious CPU bits by the launch of the 128-bit consoles such as Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2. 🤦🏼‍♂️ I hope to make the final 128-bit console PlayStation 2 to be outsold by the 256-bit console Nintendo Switch through March 2026. - Ivangard C. Revita (born on November 16, 1996) -

[@LegendOfGames]

Personally, I'm rooting for the PS2 to keep its spot on top.

[@Naked_snake_]

Mayor guys does anyone miss win LucasArts would make interesting ideas and add them to the Star Wars cannon, like shadows of the empire or the force unleashed…….. hey guys remember when LucasArts was a thing?!

[@whatamalike]

My ratings for all of them for those who care: Pilotwings 64: 8.5/10 Super mario 64: 10/10 Wave race 64: 9/10 Mortal Kombat Trilogy: 5/10 Wayne Gretzky: Never played (looks cool though) Crusin USA: 6/10 Killer Instinct Gold: 6/10 Shadows of the empire: 7/10

[@LegendOfGames]

I’d say my ratings would be pretty similar.

[@whatamalike]

​@LegendOfGames we in the UK had to wait until March 1997 for it to come here lmao. Launch titles were mario, pilotwings 64, shadows and turok. Followed very shortly afterwards by wave race 64 and fifa 64 I think

[@gvulture1277]

Nitpick but you do these games a little dirty when disabling the consoles AA, yeah it may be fuzzy but it gave N64 that unique look over PlayStation.

[@LegendOfGames]

I actually selected all the settings that were listed as being most console accurate, so I guess the program I was using lied to me. Now I really feel like I fucked up, but thanks for letting me know I guess.

[@gvulture1277]

@@LegendOfGames If you're using an emulator Simple64's default settings are very accurate as it uses Parallel RDP which is a graphics plugin rendered with Vulkan and looks 1:1 with a real console. If you've got some sort of RetroTink device then it's best to do a side by side with default visuals and try to match that. It's all preference but I feel like when talking about the N64 it's gotta be all warts and all of the times back then and the systems AA method made it look "more detailed" when people were comparing the systems. AA was not common for consoles for a really long time even after N64 so it's very unique.

[@LegendOfGames]

Yeah, I don’t remember specifically enabling or disabling it. I just went with everything it listed as being console accurate. I wanted it to look like how it’s supposed to look, so I wish that was listed clearly within the software like the other options were.

[@ViktorKruger99]

I dont find MK Trilogy's button layout weird at all that was the same Sega Genesis 6 button layout too

[@LegendOfGames]

It’s different than what fighting games on 6-button controllers generally go with, though Mortal Kombat doesn’t have as many attack options as most.

[@CptJistuce]

@@LegendOfGames It's actually a fairly reasonable approximation of the MK3 arcade panel, which had block between the two punch buttons and two kick buttons(but run tucked down and to the left in a fourth column, like a NeoGeo's A key)

[@LegendOfGames]

​@@CptJistuce Regardless of that, it's not what people who've played other fighting games with six button controllers are going to expect. I played a ton of MK I and II back in the day on Genesis, but despite that, my experiences with every other fighting game I've ever played on the system kinda shoved that control scheme out of my memory.

[@imafreakinninja12]

Uh buddy, didn't Virtua Fighter revolutionize Fighting games? And wasn't that included with the Saturn?

[@LegendOfGames]

So I shouldn’t compare it?

[@imafreakinninja12]

@@LegendOfGames 6:43 Do you not know your own video?

[@LegendOfGames]

@imafreakinninja12 I thought you were talking about the part where I compared the N64’s fighting game options with the PS1 and Saturn. You should’ve been more specific. I don’t think I’d say the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 1 was exactly as big of a deal as the arcade version, and certainly didn’t set the world on fire like the games I showed in that part.

[@Yes-sb9rk]

Virtua Fighter for Saturn is far from the level of Mario 64 or the games he showed in that part in terms of impact. And like he said, it was a port of a nearly 2 year old game, so it’s not even the original version. The arcade version was revolutionary, sure. The Saturn port? Not so much.

[@X-Cactus]

Super Mario 64 is not the best game on the system. With Snowboard Kids, Zelda Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask, Diddy Kong Racing, Quest 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 (WITH Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal support), Conker's Bad Fur Day, etc There is no way Super Mario 64 is the best title on the platform. Don't get me wrong, like a ton of kids back then, I was also in awe of the game. But let's not deceive ourselves. There were better games.

[@LegendOfGames]

I didn't say it's definitively the best game on the system. I said it's "arguably" the best game on the system... And I guess that's what you're doing; you're arguing. Most of those games you mentioned are not on par with it. I can understand why someone would say Ocarina of Time is, but the rest are certainly not as good as Mario 64. It's generally considered to be one of the most important and influential games ever made. This isn't me speaking from nostalgia, either. I was a PlayStation kid.