Four Controllers

The Nintendo 64 turned thirty this summer, and it came out of the box built for a room full of people: four controller ports, standard, right on the front. This week’s feature ranks the ten N64 games that actually play like summer, two ways at once — the vibe of the season, and the four-player couch that WAS the season.

Last week’s rule holds: a summer game plays like summer, the release calendar does not get a vote. Wave Race 64 leads, because nothing on the machine says beach like that water. Super Mario 64 is the birthday game. GoldenEye earns number three without a grain of sand in it, on pure couch memory and the friend who always picked Oddjob. Pilotwings 64 closes the list. And the hardest cut is the one you think it is.

In the news: the Zool N64 monster-tamer gets an English fan translation, God of War is confirmed for a physical disc as Sony sets 2028 to end new PlayStation disc production, Compulsion Games goes independent, Glen Schofield retires after 35 years, and a homebrew developer brings Super Monkey Ball home to the Dreamcast 25 years late. Plus Reggie Fils-Aime’s Disrupting the Game gets an Off the Shelf / On the Shelf verdict.

Nintendo Month rolls on: SNES last week, the N64 this week, the Game Boy next week to close out July.

The full ranked ten is on the site as an immersive scrolling feature: https://pocg.net/editorial/n64-summer-games/

More at https://pocg.net · Forum: https://forum.pocg.net

Playing Out of Control Gaming. Retro and classic game reviews, PC to Nintendo, since 1998. No bought scores. No filters. Just opinions.