If you’re a fan of the more frustrating side of Mario gaming, then one game that you’ve likely dived into at least once is Mario Golf. Originally released on Nintendo ??64 back in 1999, it’s also available on Nintendo Switch as long as you have the right subscriptions. 

You’ll need a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online that includes the Expansion Pack content, which comes in a $49.99 for a years subscription per individual, or $79.99 for a family of up to 8 gamers. If you’ve got that, you can once again dive into the incredibly annoying yet enjoyable game that is Mario Golf. 

Whether you’re playing on a Nintendo Switch, or going old-school and playing on your classic N64, you’ll be ha??ppy to know that there are a ??few cheats and secrets that can be accessed. Of course, you could play the game the “right�way, but that does come with the issue of having to actually win, which is easier said than done in this case.

Mario Golf cheats on Nintendo Switch

There’s only one cheat that works for Mario Golf on the Nintendo Switch, but you’ll be happy to know that it’s the “almost everythingâ€?cheat. Usually, you’d need to take on each chara?cter one-on-on (and actually win) to be able to play as them, but this che??at unlocks most of the possible player characters in the game, as well as most of the courses. 

It’s worth noting that this cheat will not unlock the four Transfer Pak characters, or the Mario’s Star course.?? Other than that, you’ll unlock every character and course by pressing the following buttons:

D-pad

• Down, Down
• Left, Left, Left
• Right, Right, Right

C buttons

• C-Down, C-Down (ZR + B x2)
• C-Left, C-Left, C-Left (ZR + Y x2)
• C-Right, C-Right, C-Right (ZR + A x3)

While the Nintendo Switch doesn’t have designated C-Buttons, you can use the X, Y, A, and B buttons while holding down ZR in order to effectively turn them into the needed directional C-Buttons. When you’ve input the code correctly, you’ll hear a chime, and have almost everythi??ng available to suffer through. Sorry, I mean enjoy. 

Mario Golf cheats on Nintendo 64

While there aren’t too many cheats that work on ??Nintendo 64 but not Nintendo Switch, it’s still always good to know all o??f your options. 

“Almost everything�/h3>

The “Almost everythingâ€?cheat has always worked on the Nintendo 64, arguably better because you don’t have the hassle of trying to convert Switch buttons into N64 C-buttons. To use this Mario Golf cheat on Nintendo 64, jus?t use the same code laid out in ??the previous section. 

Promotional Tournament Passwords

If you have the North American version of Mario Golf, then you have access to three cheat codes that will unlock new tournament courses. To g?et to the screen where you can input t??he codes, you’ll need to follow the following instructions:

1. Highlight “Clubhouse�/li>

2. Hold down Z and R, and press A on the N64 controller
3. Enter one of the codes below into the “Code Entry�menu

Note that ??even though a couple of these course are called “Camp H??yruleâ€?they aren’t Zelda inspired courses. Camp Hyrule was a forum that graced the internet with its presence back in the 1990s, and this is where the codes were given out, hence the name. 

Secrets in Mario Golf

Okay so these aren’t what you could label cheats, but there are a few little secrets hidden around the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Golf, and the?y’ve carried over to the game? on Nintendo Switch:

The post Mario Golf cheat codes and s?ecrets for N64 and Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

If you’ve been into gaming for a few decades, you’ll have fond memories of Saturday mornings diving into the latest releases on Nintendo 64. While the likelihood of you having a Nintendo 64 still available to play is slim, the Switch offers a limited num??ber of titles from the iconic cons??ole. 

It’s been 28 years since the Nintendo 64 first hit TV units across the world, and 22 years since the final game was released for the console in North America (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, for those interested). That’s a long time to go without playing some of the classics that were available during the console’s six-year tenure?. 

However, if you’ve got a Nintendo Switch Online+ Expansion Pack membership, there are a few of those classics available to play. While?? some of them are definitely more niche, here are 10 of the best titles available to play. Apologies in advance if this list reminds ??you that we're aging up a little too fast...

Super Mario 64

I can’t begin this list without mentioning Super Mario 64. It was one of two games that were released alongside the launch of the N64 in North America (alongside Pilotwings 64), so it’s one?? of the first games that springs to mind when I think back to queuing outside my local video game store to get the conso?le on launch day in 1996. 

I don’t feel like I need to explain Super Mario 64 too much, but j??ust in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 39 years, let me give you the TLDR (which goes for most of the games): Mario is invited to visit Princess Peach, only to f?ind Bowser has infiltrated and kidnapped her. Cue a mad dash across the realm to locate and rescue the Princess, and take down Bowser. 

Pokémon Snap

If you want an updated version of this classic 1999 Pokémon title, then you can get New Pokémon Snap, which was released specifically for the Switch back in 2021. However, nothing quite touches the? original in terms of nosta?lgia and classic design. There’s something really special about curling up and snapping shots of Pokémon as remembered from childhood. 

What tips the original over the successor, personally, is the lack of pressure to complete tasks. Admittedly there isn’t much in the new one either, but if you face a lot of pressure on a daily basis, being able to simply focus on taking photos rather th?a??n needing a reason to is actually really nice. 

Paper Mario

First reaching North America in 2001, Paper Mario is the first in a series of six games (or seven, if you count Paper Jam) to feature Mario and associated characters in their â€?.5Dâ€?forms. Again, the plot is familiar to all Mario fans - Bowser h??as Princess Peach, and Mario must battle through the Mushroom Kingdom to get her?? back and kick some overgrown turtle butt. 

What makes the Paper Mario series incredibly special,? and especially the first, is not only the art style but the puzzles and cooperation with other characters as well. The RPG ??elements and turn-based combat moments are tense, but not overly so. 

GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007 is an absolutely guaranteed memory for anyone who grew up in the 90s, whether you actually played or simply knew other people who did and desperately wanted to but your parents thought it was too graphic. The idea of the latter is laughable now, considering the ?current gaming graphics we’ve become so used to, but the 90s were a different time. 

Regardless, the cover art of GoldenEye 007 is enough to trigger some childhood memories for most, featuring Pierce Brosnan as Bond and Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova. It’s based on the story from 1995’s GoldenEye, and as Bond, it’s up to the play??er to take down a criminal syndicate and prevent them from using a satellite weapon. It also had multiplayer?? options, which would usually result in an argument or two. 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Released in 1998, Ocarina of Time was the first of the Zelda game series to feature 3D graphics. It is, arguably, among the best and most icon??ic video games of all time, and at the time of release, it received far more pre-orders than any other game before it. 

As with most other Zelda titles, you take the role of Lin?k and have all of his usual weapons in your arsenal, including the iconic sword and shield. The story is hard to explain if you’ve never played, but in short, Link must awaken the five ?Sages, defeat Ganondorf, and protect the kingdom of Hyrule. 

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was released in 2000, and as with the previous Ocarina of Time, The Crystal Shards was the first Kirby title to have 3D graphics. For most people of a certain age, Kirby is one of those games that invokes a huge amoun??t of nostalgia and has come to many platforms in the time since it was first released, including the Wii, Wii U, and now the Nintendo Switch. 

The story of The Crystal Shards involves Kirby having to reassemble a sacred crystal that has been shattered by Dark Matter. If you’ve ever played a Kirby game, you’ll know what to expect - explore 2.5D levels and devour your enemies to gain their powers. However, The Crystal Shards also introduced Power Combos, allowing you to mix and match powers to create new ??and much more powerful ones. 

Banjo-Kazooie

As far as platformers go, Banjo-Kazooie borders on being wildly underappreciated. The first in a line of five titles, Banjo-Kazooie was released back in 1998. Banjo, the honey bear in fetching yellow shorts and always in possession of his trusty backpack, was first introduced in 1997 as part of the cast of Diddy Kong Racing. Kazooie, the Breegull who can be found sheltering inside the aforementioned backpack, was introduced ??in this game and the pair became a beloved? duo. 

Together, Banjo and Kazooie must track down Banjo’s kidnapped sister, Tooty, who has been kidnapped by the evil witch Gruntilda. Gameplay is a mix of delightful (although often frustrating) platform levels, puzzles, and boss fight??s. There’s something incredibly satisfying about collecting music notes and Ji?ggies that open doors to new worlds. 

Yoshi’s Story

Yoshi’s Story was released in North America in 1998, and is a fruit-eating joy to play regardless of age. While most of the other titles on this list are adventuring games with someone to rescue, Yoshi’s Story provides something different: the endless frustration of trying to be better than you were before. There is an element of adventure and storytelling, but it arguably takes a back seat to beatin??g your own high score.

There are two modes in Yoshi’s Story: Story Mode and Trial Mode. To unlock new levels in Trial Mode, you must first complete the levels in Story Mode, an?d completing them requires the apparently simple task of eatin?g 30 fruits. But of course, it’s not that simple. Each type of fruit is worth a different amount of points, with Melons giving the most, and there are also Lucky Fruits that offer a bonus. 

Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark is described as a “spiritual successor�to GoldenEye 007, runs on an upgraded version of the same game engine, and was developed and released three years later in 2000. Perfect Dark came not only with a solo campaign mode but also multiplayer options such as co-operative and deathmatch modes. It's making a comeback as well, but it remains to be seen w?hether a remake?? can touch the nostalgia of the original.

As Joanna Dark, you must complete objectives while avoiding or eliminating opponents to eventually stop an extraterrestrial conspi?racy by a corporation known as dataDyne. As with GoldenEye, there are many weapons to choose from, but now these weapons all have additional useful features. The K7 Avenger, for instance, will detect threats such as nearby explosives. 

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Released two years after Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask hit shelves and TV screens in 2000 and features the same 3D graphics that premiered in the previous title. Majora’s Mask is�Confusing, to say the least. The gameplay involves a 3-day cycle that must b??e replayed, using knowledge learned from previous cycles to perform better during subsequent ones. 

One of the best features of Majora’s Mask is the transformations provided by the core masks that Link can use - a Deku Scrub, a Goron, and a Zor??a. Each transformation provides Link with different, incredibly usefu?l abilities, and you’ll need to think carefully about which form you take to complete puzzles and quests throughout the story. And did I mention that Link can control time and the moon is enough to give any kid nightmares for weeks?

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Those who were around at the time will know just how much of a big deal Super Mario 64 was when it released in 1996. It represented not only the first 3D Mario game, but also the next step forward in video game technology. It was quite something, I can as?sure you.

Fast-forward nearly two decades, and so?meone is taking the classic N64 game and essentially "d??emaking" it to run on the Game Boy Advance. Yes, that's right, it's being rebuilt from scratch to run on hardware that's not been on the market since 2008/2009 (depending on the region).

In the video above, we get a glimpse of the project in its current state, which is being done by coder Joshua Barretto. A cursory glance shows that we do, indeed, have a recognizable version of Super Mario 64 that's being recreated to run on the GBA.

Super Mario 64: Now with pixels!

According to a report from DSO Gaming, B??arretto's demake is utilizing meshes from the Nintendo DS port of the original game. While it's still very much in development, keep in mind that this is? meant to be running on defunct hardware that was originally released in 2001.

You can check the trajectory of the fan project by going back across some of their older videos. In this one �uploaded just a few weeks ago �we can compare and contrast. In the footage, we see that Mario himself is just a red triangl??e; a red triangle with a shadow, mind.

The castle from Mario 64 is still very much present, but looking at the latest video, we can see that Barretto has made quite a lot of progress. In less than two months, they've added in the actual character model, ne?w m??ovement mechanics, a pause menu, better textures, and some bug fixes.

There's even?? a settings menu, something that wasn't present on the Nintendo 64 OG. We get to see options for reducing the resolution and view distance, plus the ability to disable detailed textures to make the game run smoother.

At the moment, there's no release date for this Game Boy Advance rebuild of Super Mario 64. And, as far as I can tell, it's just coming to the console itself, so you'd need to actually have a GBA to play it. If I had one concern, it's how Nintendo will react if it sees its IP being demade for ancient hardware. I hope they go e??asy on Barretto. I'm getting tired of big legal teams bringing their litigation hammers down on regular folk.

The post Check out this demake of Su??per Mario 64 for the Game Boy Advance appeared first on Destructoid.

Rare's Perfect Dark is a spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, one of the most influential shooters of the Nintendo 64 era. If you've never played the original capers of special agent Joanna?? Dark, you can now check it out on PC.

Although it's an unofficial port, GitHub user fgsfds has made Perfect Dark playable on PC, which not only brings the classic 2000 game back from the dead, but? a?dds extra features. For example, mouselook, widescreen support, FOV, and more have been implemented.

The download page notes the game is "in a mostly functional state." Indeed, a report from DSO Gaming says the port does have some bugs, "but not any game-breaking i??ssues." The only thing you may need to consider is that it's only available on? 32-bit operating systems.

When Rare games weren't so rare

Perfect Dark represents a grander time for developer Rare. Hot off the immense success of GoldenEye on the N64, the relatively small British studio was the d?arlings of a bygone Nintendo era.

The team is responsible for some of the most memorable games of the 90s. Setting standards with the release of Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, Rare consistently knocked it out of the park for years to come. Just ask anyone who remembers Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, or Killer Instinct.

As for Perfect Dark itself, the series has struggled to make much impact in more modern times. While there is a reboot in development, conflicts mean ??we might not se?e it for a good few years.

The post Clas?sic N64 game Perfect Dark gets an unofficial PC port appeared first on Destructoid.

Traumatic pre-order flashbacks

Nintendo has announced that the legendary N64 release Pokemon Stadium will be the next classic title joining the Nintendo Switch Online library �Subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service will be available to download the 2000-released adventure from Wednesd??ay, April 12.

Released for the N64 at the height of the original Pokemon mania, Pokemon Stadium saw the cutesy critters from Game Boy releases Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, and Pokemon Yellow come together to battle it out in trainer-on-trainer ??action. A single-player?? campaign saw players battle throughout a range of stadiums set within the Pokeverse, while multiplayer action allowed up to four trainers to compete in head-to-head throwdown �all clamoring to be the very best, like no one ever was.

//www.??youtube.com/watch?v=Vd8P2QJwbrM&ab_channel=NintendoUK

And, when the dust has settled, then players can chill out with a series of fun and silly mini-games �such as Sushi-Go-Round and Magikarp's Splash �located in the oddly titled "Kid's Club". The Nintendo Switch Online version will feature all of the modes from the original release. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Game Boy releases is not a part of this version, th??ough hope?fully this can be rectified down the line.

I've bored y'all with this story before, but I was working in games retail when Pokemon Stadium dropped, and there is no other title that I remember being so fervently sought after more. We had people offering to pay double if we c?ould promise a copy, pre-orders that weren't being fulfilled for weeks, and a situation where we had to keep all stock off the showfloor as people would rabidly attempt to ?bargain us to sell people's reserves to them.

"Can you call me when it comes back in?"

"No, we cannot."

Pokemon Stadium joins Nintendo Switch Online on April 12.

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Iiiiiiiiiiiit's been...

Mario Party 1 and 2 came and went late last year on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack service, and since then, things have been a bit...slow going. As a? reader pointed out to me this past weekend, that prior dual release was on November 2, 2022: 82 days ago as of the time of publ?ication.

There are a few games that are currently announced and will be coming out this year, but we don't have release dates for any of the??m. Here's a refresher.

Here is what's coming to the Nintendo 64 Switch lineup in 2023:

• 1080 Snowboarding
• Excitebike 64
• Mario Party 3
• Pokemon Stadium
• Pokemon Stadium 2
• Harvest Moon 64 (Japan-only)

So far,?? that's all we know about. Naturally, more games could be announced, and in a hypothetical situation, all of these could come out before E3: with a bigger dump arriving in the middle of the year toward the end of 2023. We could even see some sort of upgrade for the Expansion Pack service as a whole, but I wouldn't count on it.

In the meantime, this slow drip that's very typical of Nintendo retro re-releases has now become a broken faucet. Since the original launch on October 25, 2021 (has it really been over a year since the Expansion Pack came out?), Nintendo has released 21 games in the west (and 21 games in Japan, since they don't get Dr. Mario 64 and Pokemon Puzzle League).

Are ?you cool with it? Or would you like to see more? Or maybe you don't care because you don't even subscribe to the Switch Online Expansion Pack for this very reason!

The post The last Nintendo 64 Switch Online Expansion Pack game was added nearly three months ago: What’s the deal? appeared first on Destructoid.

Is it a bird?

Chocks away and all that malarky, as Nintendo has announced that its skyfairing compendium, Pilotwings 64, will be the next Nintendo 64 classic to join the Nintendo ?Switch Online service. The new title will be added to the Switch Online archives on Thu?rsday, October 13.

Released on N64 in 1996, Pilotwings 64 is a revamped edition of the much-loved 1990 SNES classic, best known for its groundbreaking use of Mode 7 technology, which was very much a boasting point for Nintendo during the 16-bit era. Much like the original, Pilotwings 64 feature??s an array of airborne stunts and acrobatic activities, including skydiving, Cannonball, stunt gliding, or even taking to the wild blue yonder equipped with a jet pack or seated in a gyrocopter!

My dad started building a gyrocopter a decade ago. I thin?k he sold it befor??e completion. True story.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmepP3ehkaM

Anyway, Pilotwings 64 will be made available to all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, and joins a roster of beloved hits from yesteryear that already includes Kirby 64, Pokemon Snap, Mario Golf, F-Zero X, Star Fox 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and, of course, Super Mario 64. Most recently, Nintendo finally confirmed that GoldenEye 007, one of the N64's most iconic releases and conspicuous by its continued absence, is headed to the archives in the near future, c??omplete with online multiplayer.

Pilotwings 64 wil??l be available to download from Nintendo Switch Online on?? October 13.

The post Pilotwings 64 touches down? on Nintendo Switch Online October 13 appeared first on Destructoid.

This applies to both games

Pokemon Stadium transfers are a no-go, according to the tiny text right there in the accompanying sizzle reel for the recent Nintendo 64 Switch additions.

Backing up a bit, during this week's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo confirmed a heap of Nintendo 64 games coming to Switch Online's Expansion Pack scheme: Pilotwings 64, Mario Party 64, Mario Party 2, Mario Party 3, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding, Excitebike 64, and GoldenEye 64.

Wait, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2?! Yep! That seemingly includes the minigames, which for a lot of folks, are the real reward. Though naturally, the addit??ion of these two into the mix did spark the discussion of transfers, which are a no-go. According to the text on the bottom of the screen during the introduction of those two re-releases: "Pokemon cannot be transferred ??to these games."

Given that rental Pokemon are an underlying part of the core series and the aforementioned minigames are in play, all of the as-is functionality of the two games softens the blow. That said, the inability to bring creatures in will make the core experience that much more arduous for a lot of folks (though there are completion runs with just rentals). At one point, transferring Pokemon into the Stadium series was an amazing gimmick, but for now, it'll be relegated ?to the past.

If you're interested in part of the reasoning behind the scenes, Serebii.net webmaster Joe Merrick breaks it dow?n in a Twitter thread. It essentially has to do with reading Transfer Pak data, and how interactivity with the 3DS in any shape or form is not a priority for Nintendo given the imminent shutdown.

Pokemon Stadium transfers fine print (at 0:25 in the below video):

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8PrEUsma50

The post Predictably, the Switch ?Pokemon Stadium releases will ?not support Pokemon transfers appeared first on Destructoid.

Coming in 2023, the controller works with Nintendo Switch Online games like you'd expect

Retro Fighters is coming out with a new version of the Brawler64, a modernized N64-inspired controller, and it should pair well with the Switch Online library thanks to its button placement. The Brawler64 Wireless Bluetooth Switch Edition is compatible with Nintendo Switch and PC and it's currently drumming up support on Kickstarter.

That said, the crowdfunding campaign has 20 days left to go and the funding threshold has already been crossed with $12,000 pledged. It's happening. Backers will get their orders shipped before retail customers, with an ETA of ??February 2023.

There are three colors �Classic Gray, Transparent Blue, and Arctic White �and the Brawler64 Switch Edition is tied to $45 pledges, which will ??be a $5 discount from the eventual MSRP. This tier also includes a USB-C charging cable and instruction manual.

[caption id="attachment_343932" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{The Transparent Blue model.}[/caption]

More buttons and a Swap ability

According to Retro Fighters, the goal of the Brawler64 Switch Edition is "easy connectability." The gamepad has rumble and more buttons including screenshot, home, and minus buttons. Curiously, there's also a "Swap" button to "switch between [the Nintendo Switch Online] button layout and trad??itional Switch Pro layout."

Wirele?ss? Yep, there's Bluetooth ??�no "dongles or extra setup" needed.

As for stretch goals, Retro Fighters has promised to add motion control ??capabilities at $100K raised, and a future "Gold" special edition controller at $200K raised.

I haven't used the prior Brawler64 controllers, but I've heard them come up in conversation among folks who like N64 games but aren't exactly stoked to use an N64 controller to play them. Especially with this iteration, the design feels like a nice balance between modern comfort and nostalgia. I'm already set with Nintendo's own N64 controllers for Switch, but I am intrigued. I do love candy-colored transparent?? controllers.

[caption id="attachment_343944" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Syncing the new Brawler64 with a Nintendo Switch.}[/caption]

If you'd like to see it in action, the Kickstarter page has a short demonstration of the Brawler64 Switch Edition �there's footage of a "functional prototype" gamepad playing Super Mario 64 via the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, including the sync process.

Even if I won't use the vast majority of them, ?it's great to see so many controller opt??ions.

The post This new Brawler64 controller is a modern way to play N64 ga??mes on Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

It gets to live on in a new era

Wave Race 64 ruled the roost in so many houses across the world, and now, over 20 years later, it's back via Nintendo Switch Online.

Set to arrive on the service on August 19, Wave Race 64 joins a smallish group of Nintendo 64 classics that are all part of the "Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack" family. While the rate of games is incredibly slow, the cho?ices h??ave been fairly on-point most months, especially when it comes to this beloved oddity.

I mean, the intended effect of putting a lot of these games on modern platforms is...content and adding value to a subscription service. But games like Wave Race 64 just highlight how many franchises Nintendo is sitting on and d?oing no?thing with. It's been over 20 years since we've seen a true sequel, and a return could easily work as a downloadable arcade-esque game. Just announce it at a Nintendo Direct, potentially during E3, and you're good to go.

You can watch the trailer be?low! Speaking of, these typ??es of trailers rule, because they're bringing old games back in a new way. It's a different type of game preservation, and I dig it.

Wave Race 64 trailer:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOZ-WuG7RF4

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And it's still going strong

Following a cancellation in 2020 and a pivot to a "Fall Fest" in 2021, Super Smash Con has returned to Chantilly, VA to once again showcase some of the best competitors the Smash commu?nity has to offer. While Super Smash Con (or "SSC") is primarily a tournament-based event, there's s?ome other activities on offer that people can enjoy separately, or while waiting for the next match to start. Here's a look at Super Smash Con 2022.

So one of my favorite elements of Smash Con (or any con really) is the dealer are??a, and that hasn't changed. It's row after row of merch from a combination of local and national stores and individual artists, with everything from retro video game and board game sales, to drawings and bead art. One station had a little sign that to signify that if you beat the shopkeep at Smash Ultimate BO3 (best of three) you get $5 off your order. People were pondering jumping in and challenging them as I walked by.

Then there's the arcade, which is what I'd call "medium-sized," but has a wide variety of stuff from all over the world. Two Pokken Tournament stations at the front are on-brand for Super Smash Con, and there's even racing (Initial D Arcade Stage 8 Infinity), rhythm, and ??light gun shooters available. Since I know the arcade?? gallery is pretty popular with readers over the years, I did a full sweep and you can find photos below.

An indie section doubles as an extra arcade of sorts, and the big showings in 2022 are from Rivals of Aether, King of the Hat, and Rushdown Revolt. The latter seems to be the crown jewel, as there was a crowd gathering around the rather large table of demos for it. A side tournament is going on for all three of these too. In another indie section (closer to the entrance), there were demo stations for a game called Check x Mate: a "fantasy visual novel set in the magical world of chess." Quite a few folks were stopping by, thanks to the chess set on the table catching their interes??t.

As a tournament, Smash Con is incredibly well organized from a navigational perspective. Each game has a massive area in the event space, from the original Smash 64, to Melee, to Brawl, to the Wii U era, to Ultimate, which has two whole tournament zones. Folks square off in tournaments with TOs (tournament organizers) on hand on the sides of the event, then duke it out in the middle of the con at the main stage for the bigger matches. MkLeo taking on...well...everyone in Ultimate is the major story for Smash Con.

When I entered there was even a live band war??ming up, and someone was tagging the main sign at the front of the convention center with various gaming icons. So far, Super Smash Con 2022 has had the same open and warm vibe it has in previous years, and it's great to see live events returning like this like nothing ever happened (masks are required inside, and they even made cute little Dr. Mario signs for it, which you can see in the gallery below). Tournament organizers have revealed that there are roughly 4,000 registered tournament players, with more foot traffic beyond that.

Super Smash Con kicked off today at 12PM ET, and will be running until 10PM ET on Sunday, August 14. You can w??atch the main streams here on the VGBootCamp Twitch channel. The schedule can be found here: the top eight finals for Ultimate will start at 6PM ET on Sunday.

[gallery link="file" ids="339196,339197,339209,339201,339232,339215,339217,339211,339210,339207,339202,339205,339206,339208,339212,339216,339203,339219,339223,339224,339225,339226,339227,339228,339229,339230,339221,339198,339213,339204"??]

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Another argument for having multiple region accounts

A Pokemon Puzzle League Switch release is arriving on July 15, via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack service. Notably, this comes eight years after the Game Boy Color-based Pokemon Puzzle Challenge was re-released on 3DS.

It's our irregular?l??y scheduled Nintendo 64 booster, and as usual, Japan is getting something a little different.

Here is what the US is getting (Pokemon Puzzle League)

//twitter.com/Ni??ntendoAmerica/status/15?45213151091867648

Alternatively, here is what Japan is getting (Custom Robo, and Custom Robot V2):

//twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1545212433035595776

As a recap, Pokemon Puzzle League was released in the US in 2000, as part of the Puzzle League, or, Panel de Pon series. It was basically a "branded version" of Panel de Pon, a franchise that came over as Tetris Attack and was immortalized ever since. Although a lot of people are going to write off "a puzzle game coming to Switch Online," if you haven't played it, give it a shot! Panel de Pon is a classic for a reason, and Pokemon Puzzle League does a great job of getting the core?? gameplay tenets of?? the series across.

That said, it would be fantastic to get Custom Robo as well, even if it was in untranslated form. This is where having multiple region accounts comes in handy, as I can just swap over to my Japanese login and play them if I want??!

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The trailer is out now, the full thing arrives on June 27

In case you've been wondering why there's been some GoldenEye 64 news this year, note that it's the 25th anniversary of the series (amid rumors that it could be coming back in some capacity). That's partially why it's getting a whole GoldenEye 64 documentary!

Directed by documentarian Drew Roller, it'll bring us through the journey of the game "developer in a farmhouse in Warwickshire by a small ragtag team of university graduates, most of whom had never worked on a game before." Based on the trailer, the doc will take a look at how GoldenEye 64 (among several other games), changed the way shooters were perceived on consoles. There's interviews with past developers afoot, as well as tons of classic late '90s footage sprinkled in to take some of us back: or give younger f??olks a frame of reference for the "Xtreme/Attitude" period of the industry.

If you're interested, you can find the site for the production ??team here, which is where it'll debut in digital format on June 27. Although the d??igital platforms differ by region, it's currently being sold on iTunes [Apple TV] for roughly $9.9??9 USD, and the film clocks in at one hour and 39 minutes.

It's starting to get to the point where a lot of these retro games are "ancient history," and can be looked at in the same way that old relics of the past (like Pong) were just 20 years ago. I've come to accept it!

[Update: The documentary is out now. The digital platform options now include P??rime Video, Sky, and Google Play in addition to Apple TV.]

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ4JUWvIxAI

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Star Fox 64 and Kirby 64 were changed behind the scenes too

Nintendo has made some minor N64 system changes to coincide with the release of Pokemon Snap (the original) on the Switch Online service. Interestingly enough, they're making it tougher to datamine the exact changes wi??th each subsequent Expansion Pack patch.

The obfuscation of the configuration files was discovered by dataminer OatmealDome, who pointed out the new alteration on Twitter. What they were able to sleuth out though is extra language options for the EU version, as well as the addition of CPU hacks for Star Fox 64 and Kirby 64. F-Zero X and Mario Golf's files were changed too, potentially in a bid to address the former's framerate problems us??ers have been pointing out since it arrived.

At the very least, this changelog (while clouded in mist) shows that Nintendo is still updating the Nintendo 64 lineup, following the incredibly rocky launch. Some didn't hold out hope that they'd revisit them, but since then, they've tackled some of the bigger, rougher needs, including a game-breaking bug for Kirby 64.

That's the good news in terms of the Nintendo 64 project. The bad news is that the cadence is still super slow. There are tons of games to get to, even in terms of just first-party releases, and in 2022, the drip-feed release model ??doesn't quite hit the same.

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June 24

Pokemon Snap 64 will make its debut on Nintendo Switch on June 24, Nintendo has announced. It'll join the newer 2021 iteration on the same platform.

Originally released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, the picture-taking simulator became an instant cult classic. In a sense, it's the perfect game to come to a subscription service, as the concept is kind of out there, to the point where a lot of folks would never go out of their way to seek it out, but if a lot of those same people gave it a shot, they?'d really enjoy it.

The Nintendo 64 side of things has been particularly slow-going, as far as the expansion pack is concerned. So originally Nintendo launched the service back in October with nine games. Since then they've doled out an additional game per month, including Paper Mario, Banjo Kazooie, Majora's Mask, F-Zero X, Mario Golf, Kirby 64, and now Pokemon Snap 64. That's a grand total of 16 games. The Genesis side has fared a little better, as Nintendo generally drops three or more games at once ??on that expansion pack line, albeit at a less regula?r cadence.

Swi??tch Online is kind of all over the place in terms of value. Hopefully it'll improve at some point as early as this year.

//twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/?status/1537604982043725824

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Keep an eye out

Switch Online N64 controllers are selling like hotcakes. While the jury is out on the Expansion Pack concept as a whole, the contr??ollers se?em to be doing fairly well for Nintendo. When they're in stock, that is.

Remember how Nintendo said restocks would start up in 2022? So this is the page for the Nintendo 64 controllers for Nintendo S??w??itch. Currently, it's out of stock. I know! In some ways this is a "too late" moment, but very few people actually were able to prov??ide the proper heads-up, because they sold out in minutes (some estimates are a?t roughly nine minutes or less).

This is more of a PSA that Nintendo is seemingly continuing to restock the Switch Online N64 controllers, and to be vigilant if you're still gunning for them. Remember: these are only available for Switch Online members, which helps theoretically cut down on bots and scalping: except...not really, if they're going out of stock instantly anyway. The going rate on eBay right now (confirmed sold) is roughly anywhere from $80 to $125, which is a bit richer than the $49.99 MSRP. For reference, the Sega Genesis control pads are also sold out.

Oh, and another tip! Once it comes back in, note this trick that Wario64 and others have been circulating: add a stylus to push the order ov?er the edge for? free shipping.

Recent 2022 Switch Online N64 controllers restocks:

• May 19
• June 1

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A few minor fixes just came out

A new N64 on Switch patch was recently released alongside of Kirby 64, and some sneaky dataminers have managed to once again uncover some invisible patch notes. Most famously, Nintendo fixed the fog in Ocarina of Time, which was one of the most egregious emulation releases in some time, and one of myriad error??s?.

Over on Twitter, Switch "tinkerer" and Dolphin contributor OatmealDome figured out a basic patch notes rundown for the update, titled "ve?rsion 2.3.0:"

• Kirby 64 added
• Star Fox 64 had gamma adjustment enabled â€?gamma value was set to 1.8.
• Dr. Mario 64 had renderer settings adjusted (“ConstValue_0â€?added)
• Mario Golf had renderer settings adjusted (“ConstValue_1â€?added).

In short, you can see the results ??of the r?ender fixing in the N64 on Switch patch here, and the gamma adjustment for Star Fox 64 is more obviously apparent. OatmealDome also notes that Kirby 64 is actually the least-touched N64 game to date, stating, "Kirby 64 appears to have the least amount of patches and hacks that I’ve seen so far for this emulator. There are the usual renderer se??ttings adjustments present, but there are no CPU instruction patches or hooks."

With that in mind, Kirby 64 also has a soft lock bug that will need to be addressed in the future. It occurs in underwater stages in spec??ific conditions, but it's something for Nintendo to note nonethel??ess.

[Update: Nintendo has acknowledged the Kirby 64 issue in a recent tweet, calling ??it a "bug that can prevent players progressing under a certain condition." The patch is scheduled to arrive "early next week." For Nintendo, this is a pretty fast response!]

[Update #2: "Early next week" ??was pretty early! It has been patched? as of May 30.]

//t?witter.com/NintendoAmerica/st??atus/1530202669511593985

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You get one as a little treat

A Kirby 64 Switch Online release is imminent, as Nintendo has confirmed the news via a new YouTube trailer.

Released in the year 2000 as the first "mainline" Kirby game since 1997's Dream Land 3, and the first 3D entry in the series, the oddball Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards cemented itself as one of the stranger entries in the fluffball franchise. Like most N64 games of that era, it a?lso sported a local four-player multiplayer element: which is now a lost art as games struggle to provide split-screen play ?for even two people.

As most people who have played it will tell you: it's a very simplistic 3D game, as it's quite short, but literally sweet (cute). In other words, it's the perfect game to get as a part of a larger subscription service. Kirby 64 Switch Online is out on May 20 as a so??lo release (that we know of so far).

As usual, this will only be available to Switch Online + Expansion Pack premium members, as part of the Nintendo 64 retro suite. Note that just this week Nintendo president S?hun??taro Furukawa confirmed that "most" of the US subscriber base upgraded to the Expansion Pack, as the company continues to ponder how they intend to add more value ??to the service.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VfAsbGvXrA

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Live on Saturday, May 7 at a Centre for Computing History event

This amazing GoldenEye 64 anti-screen-chea??ting setup from the Centre for Computing History is a marvel of engineering, and it's playable soon.

Set to arrive publicly on Saturday, May 7 at a Centre for Computing History event in Cambridge, England, this GoldenEye 64 anti-screen-cheating setup re-routes authentic Nintendo 64 hardware to four screens. The idea is to eliminate screen-cheating (also known as "screen-looking," when someone can clearly see your split-screen view and know where you?? are at all times) by giving everyone their own TV set.

It essentially perfectly frames each "split" portion into its own screen, and once the first player (which is centered) selects the match parameters, everything will be framed correctly for players 2-4. According to the centre, it takes "£8,000 worth of kit" to make this happen. I appreciate the dedication to make this completely legit with the original hardware, but then again, it is the Centre for Computin??g History: ??preserving games is kind of what they do!

If you're local and want to partake, you can find event signups here. It'll involve guest speakers Martin Hollis, Dr. David Doak and Brett Jones, who were all developers for the original Nintendo 64 game. While GoldenEye 64 anti-screen-cheating will be the main event, there are other activities as well, like the chance to play the Japanese edition of GoldenEye 64, and a working "fully playable version" of the abandoned GoldenEye Remastered on the Xbox 360.

//twitter.com/computermuseum/status/15??21823363588624386

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It's provided endless amounts of fun, and it's still alive on Switch

Star Fox 64 is 25 years old now. Originally released on April 27, 1997, in Japan, the Nintendo 64 classic lives on in various ways, from the 3DS to the Switch. And you know what? It des?erves a special shoutout.

Nearly 25 years ago (when it came out in the US on June 30, 1997), Star Fox 64 blasted its way into m?y friend's living room. We were immediately taken by it, and beat it in one sitting. From then on we'd comb through it, trying to find ways to break off on different story paths and discover new levels. We didn't play anything else for a week. The characters, which were already endearing in the original SNES edition, were expanded upon and cemented into the Nintendo pantheon right then and there.

Beyond that initial rush, Star Fox 64 became a staple in nearly every household that had it. Four-player split-screen was still a mind-blowing feature at the time: and given how little local play is emphasized in modern releases (instead opting to push people to online ecosystems to partake in), everything has come full circle, in the sense that it's still impressive. Star Fox 64 was easy to grasp, but had a high skill ceiling when it came to evasive mane?uvers; which made it a no-brainer pick-up-and-??play game for so many friend and family groups.

Although Nintendo "forgets" about certain classic franchises often, at the very least, they aren't above dipping into the Star Fox 64 well whenever possible. Plenty of Star Fox 64 3D copies are out in the wild for when the eShop is shut off, and for now, it's alive and well as part of the Nintendo Switch?? Online Expansion Pack. It deserves that legacy.

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April 15

While Nintendo launched a number of Genesis and Nintendo 64 games out of the gate for the Switch Online Expansion pack, recent additions have been pretty scarce. Every so often you'll get a scrap on Switch, and this month's meal is Mario Golf 64.

Straight from Nintendo's mouth, Mario Golf will hit the Switch Online Expansion Pack service on April 15. If you're unfamiliar with the game (whether it's your first time on the jagged links or your 100th), Nintendo of Japan put out a nice little features trailer that you can watch below. Suffice to say that it still holds up in many respects with its approach to "plussed up" golf, similar to how Kirby's Dream Course reinvented the medium on the SNES, and to an extent, Marble Madness helped form a golf-like action genre (with some Labyrinth thrown in) before that.

So what's next? Well, Jordan has?? this great little list here you should bookmark! But to sum it up, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Pokemon Snap are 100% confirmed to be coming down the line. And as Nintendo puts it: “There is no set schedule for new releases, but each collection will continue to grow.�/p>

Very helpful! That defi??nitely feels like something that will make the decision to go premium go down easier.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmg-VhT4OCA

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I love the nonchalant Yoshi on the top of the castle

There's nothing like a good comprehensive guide book to get you in the mood to play a game. Whether you're like me and use them on your second clear, or need help for your first, well-done guides with beautiful art, screenshots, and extras are a perfect "one-stop shop" out-of-game vice. And this Mario 64 guide book d??efinitely hits the spot, even decades later.

Scanned by Comfort Food Video Games and added to archive.org in all its glory, the "Super Mario 64 Complete Clear Guide Book" is now available. While the guide might be "infamous," I love pretty much everything about it. The cross-sections of stages remind me of those rad Stephen Biesty books, the models are utterly adorable, especially the enemies (which are well done), and there's even some humor injected in.

It's also a tome in a sense to all things Mario 64. Enemies have bios (even the minuscule ones), there's a full control guide, and it shows you where stars are located. As one user points out, it's possibly even the origin of the "BLJ," otherwise known as the "backwards long jump."

The ability to just flip through a game world and see every level is still a wild disconnect for me. When you're playing a game like Super Mario 64 it feels like it could go on forever, until it doesn't. But clocking in at 152 pages, this high-effort guide sure does add to the game's mystique that I felt as a child, and still feel to an extent. Everyone involved in t?his guide deserves a golf clap all these ?years later.

??//twitter.com/ComfortFoodVG/status/1503407862818746371

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But the series is still slumbering

It's tricky to pin down Nintendo's rhythm when it comes to retro game announcements. That was true for the NES and SNES games featured in Switch Online memberships, and it's definitely still true for the newly-added Nintendo 64 game drops for Expansion Pack subscribers. Next up, on March 11, we've got F-Zero X �a cool choice as a deeper cut.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGGFEFULaRk

The Nintendo 64 days were some of my all-time favorites for the racing genre, so it'll be fun (and frantic) to revisit F-Zero X with online multiplayer on Switch. If you're coming in totally fresh, don't mind the simple-looking vehicles and tracks �it's all about the feel. And emulation-wise, as far as the Switch goes, this looks pretty good at a glance.

Nintendo has digitized the instruction manual, too �soak up everything you can.

While recent inclusions like Banjo-Kazooie and Majora's Mask feel like no-brainer crowd favorites, F-Zero X has a smaller (but still very dedicated) following?. I'??m happy to see it reach a new audience, even if it is gated behind a pricey subscription service.

My last experience with the F-Zero series was F-Zero GX on GameCube, which was great, but also ridiculously intense. Never a dull millisecond. It's been a long time for fans �too long! I'll never forget that quote from Nintendo's Takaya Imamura (who's now retired) about F-Zero being hard to bring back "without a grand new idea." As much as there's probably more to the decis??ion than that, it seems to sum up the current reality pretty well.

If you need a refresher, here's an up-to-date list of N64 and Sega Genesis games featured in the $50??-per-year Switch Online + Expansion Pack plan.

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And added Majora's Mask

You wanted your Ocarina of Time fog back? Well you got it! And the full version of Majora's Mask too. Nintendo updated ?Switch Online last night, and smoothed over a few rough edges.

Thanks to some sleuthing from folks on Twitter (including Ferchou_27 below), it seems like fog is not only back in Ocarina of Time at various places, but back to Choco Mountain in Mario Kart 64: which had glitched fog effects with the NSO Expansion Pack launch. Players are also reporting that the lighting in Ocarina of Time is fixed in the House of Skulltula??, amid other locations, so ??it seems like a full-bodied patch rather than a quick touch-up.

If you recall, Nintendo has been slowly patching Ocarina of Time on the Switch to bring it back in line with previous iterations of the game. The first big fix involved the Water Temple water, and now we've rolled back around to the Ocarina of Time fog fix.

The mass-service patch goes beyond that even. One user is reporting that the Watt crash in Paper Mario was fixed, too. Although not everything is smoothed over just yet, it's a good day for people who are looking to play N64 games on Switch (minus the potential value prospect of the expansion pack as a wh??ole).

//twitter.com/Ferchou_27/status/149703019789952??205?4

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This feels like a (small) win for Zelda fans who really don't care for the 3DS version

[Update: Nintendo confirmed a Friday, February 25 release date for The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pac??k service.]

The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service is rounding out its N64 game library month by month, and soon, we're getting another classic Zelda adventure to sit alongside Ocarina of Time. That's right, Majora's Mask is up next �Swi?tch Online subscribers with the pricier expansion tier will be able to revisit Termina's familiar faces in February. What a weird, cool, fresh game that was (and still is).

//twitter.co??m/Nin??tendoAmerica/status/1484332483160072194?s=20

(The "Expansion Pak required"? notice on?? the original N64 box art is too rich.)

For those of us who were willing to pay extra for the Expansion Pass (even if we had plenty of reservations about Nintendo's approach to retro game libraries on the Switch), the Nintendo 64 games are at least good, if not great. They're slow to roll out, to an almost silly degree, but they're some of the console's best. Just today, we got Banjo-Kazooie.

In the case of Majora's Mask specifically, even if the emulation won't be up to everyone's standards, I'm expecting it to be a creepy yet satisfying trip on my Switch in 2022. There's certainly a cohort of Zelda fans who greatly prefer the original incarnation of this time-loop adventure over the prettier but sometimes questionably designed 3DS version.

I infamously (well, to my childhood friends at the time, and no one else...) rented Majora's Mask back in the day, was very confused and disturbed, and barely made a dent. I've dabbled here and there, especially as some of the more stressful elements and themes have been explored elsewhere, but I still haven't gone back to exhaustively play through it. All the same, Majora's Mask is one of those games that leaves a lasting impression.

//youtu.be/fTv_p5hEu0A

After relaxing with Ocarina of Time on Switch, I'm ready to set things straight in Majora's Mask. (I think.) Or else I'll just screw around in Clo?ck Town. Save states will help.

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It's not much? It's nothing!

Batman Beyond was an awesome cartoon series. It’s like if Spider-man was mentored by Batman in a cyberpunk future. Batman’s latex bodysuit is filled by a teenager who has to manage being a super-hero, life, puberty, and a secret identity. Plus, you get to see what happened to some of the rogue gallery from Batman: The Animated Series. It was schway.

There was a straight-to-video movie for the series in 2000, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. It was no Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, but it was surprisingly dark and enjoyable. There was still s?ome Saturday Morning g?oofiness at the wrong moments, but definitely a good complement to the series. It was, at the very least, a dark epilogue to Batman and Joker's troubled relationship.

Then there was the game; 2000's Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker for the N64 (also PS1 and Game Boy Color). Back in the day, it came out a few days after The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and there was no way it was getting my attention. Going into it for this article, I knew two things: It was so horrible it got a score of 1.5 out ?of 10 from EGM and it’s a beat-’em-up. Now I know too ??much. That did not adequately prepare me.

So, there’s this belief about the N64 that it didn’t get as much shovelware as the Playstation because of the prohibitive cost of publishing on a cartridge compared to a CD. That might be true because it didn’t get singular versions of every Hasbro board game. It got Monopoly, but I thought that was a decent translation at the time. That doesn’t mean it didn’t get bad games, though. It definitely got plenty. It got some of the worst.

Batman has had a shaky relationship with video games. There are some great standout titles, but a lot of them have been guano. I can’t claim to have played even half of them, so I can’t tell you if Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is the worst. Playing it, it’s difficult to believe that there could possibly be anything more awful, but then you remember Batman Forever on Genesis and Super Nintend?o, and all that therapy that went into repressing memories of it comes undone and the killings begin anew.

I've had to ask this a few times, but how do you even screw up a beat-’em-up? The formula has been established since the �0s, and it’s so paint-by-numbers that it was the standard shovelware formula for most properties that couldn't figure out something more imaginative. A lot of them were completely mediocre and pointless, but usually, they were okay for a rental. It’s hard to make a weekend out of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, even if you wanted to.

The story of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is about??�well, it’s in the title. The Joker has been believed dead for decades, but suddenly, he shows up as spry as ever. Bruce Wayne is absolutely certain that dude is dead, but this new one is a pretty convincing facsimile. The movie actually deals a lot with the past haunting Bruce Wayne, but that’s difficult to translate into fist, so the game is more about fighting a few dudes in hallways.

The combat is potentially the worst I’ve experienced in a brawler, and I have experienced many. You’re given a punch, kick, block, and a special button to go with jump and crouch, but you can’t jump and kick. I’m not sure how that gets missed, since most people don’t get past the strategy of jump-kick at the arcade. The moveset in Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles was 90% jump kick. Here, jumping is reserved only for ??the rare horrible platforming sections.

Thereâ€??????????????????????????™s a variety of suits available, but you only want to use defense. Trust me. Nimble lets you double-jump and glide, which rarely comes in handy and the jumping co??ntrols are so stiff I usually just got myself killed. The normal suit lets you use weapons that are so impressively useless. Attack is fine, but it isn’t worth trading off durability for harder kicks. Not when the defense suit reduces the damage you take while still dealing death with its special attack.

It’s actually a surprisingly varied feature for a game that has absolutely no variety. It probably sounded great on paper, but the Batman: Return of the Joker is five levels long and the AI is so incredibly limited. Even the bosses; their hearts are plainly not in it. I don’t b??lame them, they get to hang out exclu??sively in cyberpunk hallways and each has about one attack. That’s not enough demonstrable skills to get a job as a window washer.

If you check under the hood, you’ll only find a desiccated corpse. The game has so little color contrast that I dialed the brightness all the way up, and Bat??man would still disappear against the backgrounds. The standard level music is a sing??le track that plays for about 15 seconds and loops. It would be maddening if the game itself didn’t last less than an hour. Instead, it’s just the soundtrack for the daze it puts you in.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is extremely low-effort. There are plenty of games out there that phone it in, miss the mark, fall short of ambitions, but?? this one feels like everyone just clocked in, browsed the dotcom bubble, then clocked out. It’s also possible that it was just extremely rushed. The fact that there were no credits in the game and I can’t find any online shows that maybe the devs weren’t particularly pro??ud of the product. I still find it impressive that there are cases out there where the whole development staff chose to pull an Alan Smithee.

The result is the barest minimum you could pull off and still call it a game. You can look at something like Total Recall for the NES and think “wow, this is absolute misery, but at least the developers tried to follow the movie during the two levels I can actually make it through, and maybe if I keep playing I will see three nipples all on the same woman.�Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker has the imagination of a cardboar??d box, but unlike a cardboard box, you c?an’t get into it and pretend you’re having fun.

Just to top it off, it isn’t a cheap game. It runs north of $40 for the cartridge, and boy, it is nowhere near worth that. I can’t imagine buying th?is new.?? Just thinking about it, you could probably power a city with my second-hand disappointment. The Playstation version looks essentially the same as the N64, but I’m told it’s much more difficult. No thanks. One of the only things that made this game tolerable was that it ended before it could embarrass itself further.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

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'The truth is I wanted to remove the entire system'

An old interview with Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, which covers the Ocarina of Time Navi situation??, among a few other things, just popped up thanks to a new translation.

The massive interview, done in 1999 as part of the Japanese strategy guide (and translated by shmuplations), is rather enlightening, and features a candid Miyamoto at the mid-stage of his career, shortly after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As a reminder, Miyamoto was the producer on the project, with a combined directorial team of five people, one of which was Eiji Aonuma. Although it reached legendary status almost directly after launch, there are some lingering issues that people have with it: both at the time (which I can recall vividly, I was there, Gandalf!), and whenever it's re-released.

The interview sheds some light on that, and the big highlight is the Ocarina of Time Navi takes: and Miyamoto had some hot ones in 1999! He comes out of the gate saying "I think the way we give hints is still a little too unfriendly," when asked about how Ocarina of Time handles puzzles, eventually working his way to Navi, noting that she is "the biggest weakpoint of Ocarina of Time." It's not just an errant comment, either.

Miyamoto delves into why he thinks his way, and chats about the nature of tutorial systems in games as a whole, ex?plaining that it's "incredibly difficult to design a system that gives proper advice," and that "to do it right," you'd need to essentially develop two games. He further clarifies his thoughts: "If you read Navi's text, she says the same things over and over. I know it makes it sound bad, but we purposely left her at a kind of "stupid" level. I think if we'd tried to make Navi's hints more sophisticated, that "stupidity" would have actually stood out even more. The truth is I wanted to remove the entire system, but that would have been even more unfriendly to players. You can think of Navi as being there for players who stop playing for a month or so, who then pick the game back up and want to remember what they were supposed to do. It's a brazen excuse, I know. (laughs)."

Eventually he concedes that there's no perfect system, and that the amount of hints players need "vary from person to person." And hey, the Navi system wasn't all that bad, I get what they were going for; but Majora's Mask did it better, so they clearly learned something there. The entire interview is worth reading, for tidbits like it taking "three whole years" to develop Ocarina of Time, and that even though he was "producer,??" Miyamoto was "mostly just monit??oring everyone's work," and was "very laid-back" (which explains why he didn't vehemently interfere with Navi's design).

That said, what's the deal with Fi in the original release of Skyward Sword??! Talk about saying the same things over and over.

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Rare's jolly 3D platformer returns on January 20

Ever since Nintendo teased that Banjo-Kazooie was coming to Nintendo Switch in January, I have been counting the days for one of those kinda sorta out-of-nowhere "here's the release date!" tweets. We got exactly that tonight, and the date is set for this Thursday, January 20. Rare's classic Jiggy-collecting adventure is one of my most anticipated Switch Online additions, at least in terms of the confirmed N64 roster. I mean, the music alone!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWrWuXE6RHw

I know myself well enough to know that I can't just peek around Grunty's Lair and pick up a few Jinjos in Mumbo's Mountain and call it a day. Nah, I'm gonna need to play Banjo-Kazooie until I find every last collectible trinket and face that quiz show, which is still nerve-wracking to this day. So much of this game holds up. And the best bits �especially the layered hub-ba??sed exploration and timeless tunes �are a one-of-a-kind vibe.

Of course, Banjo-Kazooie isn't getting a direct port that you can go out and buy on the eShop �it's arriving on Switch by way of the pricey, annual-only Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service, which seemingly all of us have many thoughts about, more bad than good. For as much mileage as I'm getting out of it with bangers like Paper Mario, the slow release schedule is needlessly grating. And again, that price.

Then again, I don't need to open that can of worms every time. The famed bird and bea?r duo is back on a Nintendo platform after way too long. It feels strange. Good, but strange.

I know it's going to be hard for fans of 4J Studios' excellent Xbox version to adjust to the less-than-ideal emulation that Nintendo is using for these Switch Online offerings, but I am pumped to revisit one of my all-time favorite games either way. It's g??onna get so cozy.

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It's long and slick and olive green

I’m surprised it has taken me this long to talk about Road Rash 64. My affection for the title greatly outweighs its quality, but I played it during the N64 days, then rediscovered it with a roommate of mine after college. We had a time. Lyrics from its repetitive soundtrack worked their way into our personal vernacular (we often just referred to the game as "Mean Machine"), and many evenings were spent howling with laughter at just how ridiculous it is. It’s not that we were laughing at the game �okay, we sort of were �but it poked at the same part of our brains that had us clutching our sides while watching golden-age Popeye cartoons.

I’ve introduced many others to it in the years since, but I don’t think that others see the same thing we saw in it. In a way, it’s sort of our game, my old roommate and I.

Still, I’m going to try and explain to you what makes Road Rash 64 so amazing. It’s a game that stands out from the rest of the Road Rash series that started back on the Sega Genesis. In a lot of ways, it’s slapdash and feels thrown together, but not in ?a way that makes it seem like none of the development team cared about it. It feels more like they were more focused on see??ing what they could get away with.

If you’re unfamiliar, Road Rash is a racing series where you’re allowed to beat the stuffing out of your competitors. Marrying violence to a sport is a pretty reliable way to make me interested. For example, I wouldn’t typically play a hockey game, but the brutality of NHL Hitz gets me on the bench. Similarly: Mario Strikers.

With classic Road Rash, however, the figh?ting seemed more for identity reasons. Your primary goal is to just ?win the race, and fighting was useful to achieve that, but not necessary. Which isn't to detract from the classic titles, I’m just setting up for a comparison here.

Road Rash 64 is still about hitting the finish line first, but it really wants you to fight. I’d go as far as saying that it isn’t really that committed about the whole racing thing. You heard me. You need to cross first, but it’s more about whether or not you can surviv??e that long, rather than if you’re the fastest.

Even if you wanted to focus on speed, you’re not getting past the strict rubber-band AI. Normally, I hate rubber-band AI with a molten-hot passion. However, I can’t imagine Road Rash 64 without it.

The goal of the hyperactive rubber-banding is to keep all the racers in a tight pack. It’s a bit ridiculous because every track keeps the roughly 10 racers bunched t??ogether at all times. If you jam a banana in the spokes of one racer, it’s a minor inconvenience; they’ll be rejoining in short order. The same goes for you, however, if you take a dive, you’ll find yourself rocketing back to everyone else.

The downside to this is that much of the race is inconsequential. If you want to drive at the stereotypical speed of an elderly motorist to preserve the structure of your motorcycle, ?you can still ?capture victory if you hit the accelerator a reasonable distance from the finish line. That’s not to say that driving skill doesn’t factor in, but if you think you’re going to be able to just climb to the front and sit in the lead, it's a bit more precarious than that.

It’s one of the ways that Road Rash 64 differs from its predecessors. In the classic titles, you’d start at the back of the pack and slowly claw your way up the ranks, trying to reach first before hitting the finish line. It’s rather strange for Road Rash 64 to ditch that?? for?mula when there’s still a decent amount of its ancestor’s DNA sloshing around.

The track design still smells like Road Rash, and by that a mean a lot of gentle, sloping terrain. It’s all cut out of one big map, and occasionally there are incredibly dangerous 90 degree turns, but largely it’s open road. Don’t exp?ect much from the scenery �a bridge, a city, suburbs, a cliffside, and a whole lot of empty plains. It’s as ugly as a particularly unspectacular butt. Even the bikes and the character models look like something that should be decorating a far-off setpiece. They’re like the high-detail close-up model hasn’t popped in yet and refuses to do so.

Hilariously, there’s a high-res mode enabled by the Expansion Pak, but it does little to make Road Rash 64 look pretty. This was late-1999 and it looks like a launch-window game. Pilotwings 64 looked better than this.

So??rry, I should stop shaming the game for being so dramatically unattractive.

The upside is that there are nearly a dozen riders on screen at a time, but the cost is a bit high. F-Zero X had 30 racers a year earlier. However, those racers ??just exploded. These ones will go sailing over th??e horizon.

Also??, the soundtrack is incredibly limited and heavily features "Mean Machine" by Sugar Ray. Weirdly, the extremely repetitive soundtrack never began to grate on my nerves, but I honestly don't know why. I couldn't possibly tell you a situation where having hard rock Sugar Ray on repeat is acceptable, but I don't hate?? it.

There’s a 4X damage multiplier you can pick up, and combined with a gentle kick will launch an opponent with incredible force. It’s Road Rash 64’s true strength: it’s ridiculous. The rocket kick is but one facet of that. Potentially the greatest facet if you witness? it in multi-player.

No, there’s plenty of ludicrous mechanics to Road Rash 64. For example, observe the elegance of the spoke-jam, where you sacrifice a weapon to send an opponent end-over-end. It’s deadly, but not even a sure take-down, because sometimes the physics just sends the opponent flying. It’s funny and effective regardless of whether your foe survives it. It gets more amusing when you find you can do the same ac??tion with a sledgehammer or giant banana.

Then there are weapons that stun; mace, taser, cattleprod. They temporarily incapacitate an opponent, which isn’t that deadly until you give them a kick and send them sailing in??to a wall or over a cliff.

The main event is "Big Game", which isn’t too far off from the typical Road Rash formula. You win races to gain money that you put towards bigger ??and better bikes. The bi?ggest and best bikes are amazing. Barely controllable contraptions that travel at impossible speeds. For a disorienting time, try riding a few races on the slowest class of bikes, then switch it over to the fastest.

The very last race deserves special mention since it is just a s??traight stretch of road that ends in a wall that everybody plows into directly after passing the finish line.

Maybe I have bad taste, but Road Rash 64 is still a game I pull of the shelf occasionally. In fact, if you had me pair my N64 collection down to the bare essentials, there’s a good chance it would make the cut. It’s just chaotic, goofy, and fun. Grabbing a friend and turning on cheats can just enhance the whole experience. It might be the least Road Rash out of all the Road Rash games, but it’s also on a whole n??ew level of entertainin??g.

I feel that Road Redemption, an independent homage to the Road Rash games must have drawn inspiration for Road Rash 64 in partic??ular. It too is over-the-top and wacky. Sadly, it omitted the spoke-jam, but in its place, you can grab someone and drag them into traffic. So, there’s that if you can’t take the N64’s graphical haze and awful graphics, but, personally, I'd say it’s worth the cruise.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

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Da huh?

Banjo-Kazooie Switch Online? Be??lieve it. One of the most iconic non-first-party g??ames is coming to the service in January of 2022.

The news was confirmed via a tweet from the Japanese Nintendo account, which showcased Paper Mario 64 as the December release for the Switch Online Expansion Pack, followed by a low-key tweet for Banjo-Kazooie in January (and later, a Nintendo of America tweet). Does this mean we could get Diddy Kong Racing and other Rare classics? I hope so! Given that ??Microsoft and Ninte?ndo have been friendly for a while now, it's likely on the table: as is Banjo-Tooie.

So at this point it seems like the cadence is one to one-and-a-half months for a ??single game. To be frank, it's not great. And in all this, there's no mention of further support for the Genesis part of the Expansion Pack, which comprises have of the add-on.

It feels like Nintendo hastily put this out before the holidays, because given the quality of the engine itself, it's a hard sell. With that in mind, Banjo-Kazooie is also on Micros??oft platforms, and fully remastered with modern enhancements at that. Side by side, I hope this Switch Online version is even remotely comparable?.

//twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1469219580577198082

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