CGR Undertow - PILOTWINGS 64 for N64 Video Game Review

[@SonicArtist313]

I composed the soundtrack for this game and love that it is still getting some love after all these years! Thanks, CGRundertow!

[@vaNludO]

Dan Hess great work!!! Loved the game. Spent 100s of houers getting every gold medal....

[@Yntec]

One of my favorite soundtracks for the N64, still listen to it on a regular basis, well done!

[@khav11]

oh i always thought the only thing that sucked on "pilotwings" was the soundtack, sorry dude

[@Benjamillion]

Too bad the game couldn't see a rerelease because of EA buying out the company.

[@exodia9817]

Golly, I didn't know that you made the soundtrack for this amazing technical showpiece, Mr Hess.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

You do a GREAT JOB on your reviews. Well spoken with lots of facts and opinions, sprinkled with humor.

[@nir24adler]

i remember this game !! i flayed for hours with the wings just doing nothing

[@SkyBennett1]

This reviewer is very well spoken. I admire your use of complicated words.

[@haraldharam9334]

This game is a true gem, for my memories and how good it is. Awesome all around!

[@wyldkard062580]

both of the pilotwings were truly great titles that I still enjoy playing to this day

[@blackgemstone801]

man those graphics were amazing for its time!

[@k2sherdez486]

OMG MY CHILDHOOD GAME😭 I MISS THIS GAME THIS WAS MY FAV GAME

[@bencox5994]

You are awesome Derek

[@TURBOBLU-fx6mn]

Yes Derek is awesome :)

[@riftshredder5438]

I'm glad this game is finally coming to the Switch

[@TheNatedogg56]

Very good review. Derek is definitely a solid game reviewer.

[@vintage0]

Hey, Youre back! Thank god, I thought all the trolls scared you away for a sec there, I like your rewievs a lot so im thinkful you got another one up!

[@edofjville]

This is one of the most relaxing games I ever played in my life, besides Spyro The Dragon and Flower. I used to play this game just to fly around aimlessly on rocket belt, birdman suit, and my favorite, the gyrocopter, just to enjoy the views. Good times and good memories.

[@jet17907]

the pilot wings music fits perfectly this show no need for background music.

[@Chaoitcme]

I just got this game and played it for the first time in about 15 years. It holds up and is fun.

[@casedistorted]

Pilotwings 64 was the first N64 game I got when the N64 first came out that Christmas. Also this game had really bad 80's porno music and was super fucking hard.

[@brandonk5047]

I think he's kind of cute

[@kaiserxblue]

lmao, the only porno music was the birdman theme or maybe even rocketbelt theme

[@Enlacealpasado]

I loved this game back in the 90's. Waiting for it in the virtual console.

[@rubberduckie6617]

Loved this game.

[@Yamtendo]

Derek, I think you're my older brother from an alternate dimension. 0,o Once I realized this review was the game that I thought it might have been, I was brought back to one of the first 3D gaming experiences of my childhood.

[@luiscanamarvega]

this game still has some of the best flight physics i've seen in home consoles.. i love it :)

[@TiVo2Go]

I was so mad when they had missiles for the gyrocopter but no coop/multiplayer ala mario kart.

[@smyamnitz1405]

The sound is better than the game and I adore Pilotwings 64 gameplay. Bring me Pilotwings Wii U .with the amazing smooth jazz that is and will always be beyond epic. Mario Cart 8 uses the same sound from Pilotwings 64. I know because I have heard it and would never have forgotten it.

[@DaGameGuy]

I remember having this games, and it was awsome

[@1337gamer15]

I remember my bros borrowed this game from our neighbours, for what was supposed to be 2 days but had forgotten it and gave it back 6 months later.

[@lylatfox4]

@chickenwarrior not for starfox aswell? D:

[@101stsurvivor]

im pretty sure arcade games were featuring graphics like this as early as 93 the 'mindblowing' part was that it was on a home console

[@mini-_]

the sequal is Pilotwings resort for 3DS?

[@PchanStitch]

I should throw out a correction:there is an enemy you fight twice, that giant mechanical version of Hawk.

[@luiscanamarvega]

@chickenwarrior it was indeed a technical showpiece...many games in the n64/psx era were plagued by really short draw distances that were masked by the infamous "fog" effect.. in PW64, there was no such fog effect, you could see everything up until the horizon.. granted the models and environments are low-poly but still, this was VERY impressive back in the day. i love pilotwings 64 btw :)

[@NintendoSinceBirth1]

this is like the classic game room for nintendo fans

[@blanbproductionshd]

dude i remeber trying for hours on the fist lvl to get that damn stare in the rock ring to get the wing suit. yes it made me mad but it was also fun.

[@Chamele7n]

@SwordsDragonsAndCoke I agree lol but it was still a superb review. Also wow @ 5:00 that still looked cool even in this day and age.

[@nightruler666]

this game needs a sequel

[@Nesahsdhaone]

The way he explains this game like letting go of restrictions is like smoking weed.... o-o

[@17R3W]

@3:36 was that a missile?

[@airventilation]

yeah CGR UNDERTOW YEAH! ROCK ON!

[@GhostIntoTheFog]

There were enemies in Pilot Wings. Remember that monster that threw ice at you?

[@dog9000]

I spent so many hours flying my bird suit in this game!!!

[@Absol64]

@100PurpleCoins same here. Whenever I go to a gamestop they keep an eye on the PS3/XBOX area as if they are expecting me to go there. Then I always see a surprised look on there faces when I come over with a bunch of GameCube game.

[@WodahsR]

very cool review

[@johnnyt3010]

Remember this game

[@pvillafania76]

missed this game... i have played a similar game in the super nes where you join an aero club learning how to fly. you make money to advance to your flight school through flying tour missions and stuff. i forgot the name of that game please help me remember that game. cool review by the way,

[@zeppelin1996]

@Protoking Derek's voice was distracting at first, but after a few reviews I got used to it. I find I'm enjoying Derek's reviews just as much as Mark's.

[@theaceofspades56]

Ahh, What a relaxing game. I remember my friend gave me this game for a bag of hot cheetos at lunch in 7th grade. I thought the landing was as hard as top guns landing though

[@ThatOneShoe]

OMG i abslolutely love this game, have such fond memories of flying in the birdman suit and free falling from 600m in the air XD

[@asmajaza8862]

how old are you???

[@elbryan42]

Condorman! They really missed a perfect 80s reference there. :P Great game and great review nonetheless.

[@kocobo1]

"It's the First N64 game that was made ever"!

[@KnewingFun]

this game looks really good as its old it still looks cool im not sure of ds lite could run it but its still cool

[@Fabo1985]

this game was awesome and N64 too,no FPS drops in no game ;D

[@nosound98]

@roytje1993 CGR Undertow is not only Derek, but also other writers on CGR website

[@BeMaC]

Love it in 1996... :) with my Nintendo 64... oh shit im old now :P

[@motoracer77]

it has one, it's called pilot wings resort on the 3ds.

[@squirm13]

obviously it has date, but when it came out it was incredible, nintendo have not brought a wii update, i lot of people thought they would.

[@JeromyLucero]

i loved playing this when i was a kid my girlfriend just bought me the game for seven dollars

[@maxxmann1972]

I watched a friend play this for months, until we got hooked on Blast Corp 64......

[@chickenwarrior9991]

Totally disagree with this review although I have nothing against the reviewer. Pilot wings was never just a technical showcase; it was a calming, refreshing, non-competitive escapist experiment and one that still holds value today. This remains one of my favorite games on the N64 and it captures flight dynamics very well for such a cartoonish title. It also happens to be the one and only reason I plan to get a 3Ds.

[@Retrogamerz1999]

I love this game

[@Ryoga2K]

To be honest I never saw the N64 Graphics as realistic not even in 96, even if Nintendo was trying to push hard that they were, most of the games were rather very colorful and "Cartoonish" but to be fair the 3D engine is what really stands out, the 3D engine was somewhat realistic, not so the graphics, actually I think that the PS1 capability to load pictures as textures actually made a better job at that.

[@overwatch761]

Pilotwings 64 is just one of those games impossible on any other system in it's era.

[@edofjville]

@100PurpleCoins Amen. I love Nintendo and Sony. They have both brought us great game franchises. Nintendo gave us Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon, while Sony gave us Tekken, Crash Bandicoot, and Twisted Metal. What has Microsoft and their Xbox consoles given us? Halo? Booooooooooooooring!

[@vietguy808]

i played this for hours...free play was fun

[@Jerberjer]

I really wish that you debuted with a review like this and not that wii-mini-game set. I would have not been as harsh had I known you would write good reviews like this

[@Skybolter]

I SUGGEST THAT BEFORE USING PILOTWINGS 64, START BETTER WITH MICROSFT FLIGT SIMULATOR, HELPS A LOT, AFTER THAT, YOU CAN DO THE SAME WITH THIS GAME

[@mdavis7298]

@SpyengoEen What about 7 dollars?

[@glitchz1]

I think the closet thing we have to this today is wii sports resorts airplane

[@edofjville]

@zoodog1958 I never used any harsh words against Microsoft or any of their franchises. All I said was that I find Halo boring. I have actually played it. I played multiplayer on Halo 1 and Halo 3:ODST and they both bored me after only a few matches. That's my opinion. I never said they were bad games. I simply stated that Xbox consoles have not delivered the same influential, mass appealing fun filled game properties that Nintendo and Sony have. But you have the right to enjoy Halo and play.

[@roytje1993]

@WhoBoy93 CGR is Mark CGR Undertow is Derek

[@mcminnkey]

@nintygamer23 yep thats about 99% of us lol what country are you from?

[@MangaPlCTURE]

Guess I'm the only one who doesn't see N64 era graphics as problematic nowadays. I can still play all the classics without crying ,,eye cancer !!1trollolol'', even though I played way too much this gen. A great game stays a great game forever (in most cases).

[@VecTron5]

I'm not that big on the flight in this game. I find it more breathtaking when you're in a world that was made to be seen from the ground that lets you fly. I found flying in Mario 64 or jjst cause 2 much more breathtaking than flying in a world that was meant to be seen from flight.

[@AshmoreVid]

this is the best review

[@Obi-WanKannabis]

@chickenwarrior It was a show case, it doesn't have to be fast to be a show case the graphics on this game along with the physics where new and where mind blowing

[@neatborrito]

Did this guy even play the game? There was a boss on one of the stages.

[@orionpax55]

It funny he mentions wii sports resort becuase they're making a new pilotwings on 3ds that's to take place on wuhu island.

[@Video-Games-Are-Fun]

4:31 cue ron jeremy's entrance music...

[@j_rADD]

I used to play this game all the time, and it would frustrate me to no end. Still fun though.

[@sporky69]

We we're just poor innocent souls Nintendo exposed us to this at an early age.. I smell a law suit!

[@h20DDs]

I don't recall this game back out in the N64 Release, but coming down to the choice of choosing this and the "fat, red plumber guy" would be a no brainier, Well to me anyway. I remember the N64 release like yesterday. I even remember after N64 got big the release the yellow N64 with Pokemon channel or some Pokemon game.

[@Optidorf]

Not sure why Derek calls this a _casual game_ It's not because a game is not action packed it's for a casual audience. On the contrary, Pilotwings 64 was actually quite deep if you progressed far enough into the game and especially the later objectives are far from easy. The pick up and play value compared to Wii Sports is a difference of night and day.

[@chickenwarrior9991]

@MrTURBOJOHN For all the dozens of people that have pointed this out to me, I never said this WASN'T a technical showpiece (or even a 'technically showpiece, whatever that means). I said it wasn't JUST a technical showpiece. As in, it was also a great game. So, no, it wasn't a stupid thing to say unless the truth is stupid.

[@smashbrosfan31]

I rember this game me and my dad use play this all we did was crash ans laugh.

[@Zezcez]

I loved this game!!!!!!!!!!!

[@SHODUUP]

No mention of the massive mini-USA map. No boss fights? Well, not entirely true. How about the big robot that throws rocks at you as you're firing missiles at him from the gyrocopter? Just a thought :)

[@kaiserxblue]

Metal-Hawk? yeah that was one of the missions on little states and the artic islands

[@Shinkokyuu4]

@chickenwarrior thanks for the heads up i will buy a 3ds now

[@MrAmonkey7]

speaking of that game with the fat little plumer is anyone in cgr planing A review

[@BeMaC]

@DjLukman HaHa yeah the NES... it was Christmas 1990 and the SNES Christmas 1992 :P

[@Obi-WanKannabis]

@chickenwarrior You know the meaning of technical showpiece? This is a technically showpiece, just like the new pilotwings It shows a new technology in use to be calm and relaxing Of course it was calming and the sights where accomplished because it was a technical showpiece, if the game had awfull graphics and a 20 meters draw distance would you play it? No, because it wouldn't be a showpiece Same with the 3DS, the 3D is a showpiece, but made to be calm That was kind of a stupid thing to say

[@sumotaby]

I remember as a kid, this game bored me to tears.

[@PAL1DOR]

Who the heck is playing in this video?

[@DeadOmega]

Actually, technically, there IS one boss in the game .... Mecha Hawk.

[@javierortiz82]

@SamuelMoralesJr meh, one of the main reasons people preferred N64 over Playstation was that it had no loading times. The lack of CD wasn't a failure (well, it was if you're into pirating games), the main reason N64 never had the treatment it deserved was the lack of support from 3rd parties, starting from Nintendo, who stupidly formed a so called "dream team" which had a bunch of so so developers and a lot of big ones were outside of it (capcom, square, etc).

[@MechanizedFantasy]

Cool review! I love the swanky soft-core porn theme music. I loved the Pilot Wings game series.

[@maxxmann1972]

There was that giant robot that ya had to defeat.. ..wouldn't that qualify as a boss?

[@uselessDM]

Well, he's not bad at all and when he's on his ''own'' chanel he could do what he wants to do. But it doesn't work if he tries to imitate Mark (''we want smartbombes''). He shouldn't do that. And let's face it, 99% of the viewers watch CGR because of Mark and not because of the lots of interesting facts or the objectively information.

[@TheMegagamer530]

he is a ginger,but i have not noticed any freckles

[@samuelmorales2344]

@chickenwarrior yeah this review is off. Pilot Wings 64 was never known for it's amazing graphics. Mario 64 had better graphics. Nintendo 64 was plagued with little variety of textures, and blurry textures. Later on, cartridge storage capacity increased which offered better variety of textures for example the Zelda games, and other games like of that of Bango Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing. If the N64 had a CD format, would of definitely been completely superior to the PSX.

[@tbx76]

@shadow09601 Wave race 64 came out a few weeks after the n64 launched

[@degaulle30]

great game

[@retrogamestar]

@SkyMaro he sounds like a ginger guy with glasses and freckles with short hair with a great gaming attitude and for some reason if he was ginger you wouldn't take the piss out of him since he's got a good personality