The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Back in 2017 there was a crowdfunded project titled Golden Era which was going to tell the story of the making of GoldenEye 007 on the N64. The project didn’t reach it’s funding goal, but thankfully onaretrotrip stepped in to offer all of us a a glimpse into the game that revolutionised first-person shooters (FPS) and defined the Nintendo 64.
So kick back and enjoy the making of one of the all-time best N64 games!
source: onaretrotip
By: Alex Boz (Sort of Final Boss @ ausretrogamer)
Every time March 1 rolls around, I am reminded of the day I got my Nintendo 64!
It was March 1 1997 that us folks in Australia received Nintendo’s 64-bit wonder. I had done something that I had only done once before (with the Sega Mega Drive), and that is, I plonked down $400 and bought the N64 on day one! It was a special feeling getting the latest and greatest console on day one, but the realisation that the games were sold out and new stock was still a few weeks away, was a painful experience. Once Super Mario 64 hit the shelves, I could not throw my $100 fast enough to the cashier and get back home to fire up the system to see what the fuss was all about. Let’s just say that I was not disappointed.
Thankfully (or embarrassingly) someone captured my excitement upon receiving the Nintendo 64!
image source: From the Boz Family photographic archives
Even though I have fond memories of the SNES, it is the N64 which tugs more on my nostalgic heartstrings, which till this day I can’t explain why. Perhaps it is the late night Mario Kart 64 sessions with four friends or the 2P battles I had with my cousin playing Wave Race 64, or going dinosaur hunting in Turok (fog included). Whatever it was, I am thankful for the N64 giving me thousands of hours of fun, especially playing with others sitting right next to me, not on the other side of the planet via some wires. Oh yeah, the controller cops a lot of flak, but to be honest, it is one of my favourites, which made gaming on the console even better.
What are your memories of the N64 – share them with me or via Ausretrogamer on Twitter and/or Facebook.
image source: Kelamy
Asking a gamer to nominate their favourite Nintendo game is like asking a parent to pick their favourite child. Well, guess what, we are going to do the unthinkable!
But before we crown our favourite, let us tell you about the top 3 contenders (that we still love playing till this day!):
First contender, Wave Race 64 (N64) – yes, we did pick Wave Race 64 above Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye 007. Don’t get us wrong, the aforementioned games are superb, but nostalgia draws us to Wave Race 64. What wasn’t there to like – realistic water physics, challenging courses and an absolutely cracking 2 player challenge – ‘Bonsai!’. We lost a lot of hours playing this game head to head. Oh yeah, the N64 controller was perfect for this game.
The second contender is none other than Super Mario Bros. (SMB) on the NES. This 2D platformer catapulted the Mario franchise into the stratosphere for good reason. The game had great level design, matched by awesome gameplay, a mesmerising Koji Kondo tune and most importantly, intuitive control – what more could you want!
Well, if it wasn’t for the next game, I guess the choice would have been easy and SMB would have walked away with the prize. Let us tell you about a 16-bit platformer that took the SMB ingredients, gave them a fair shake and then poured the contents into the SNES for a game we call (drum roll please), Super Mario World (SMW)! With SMW, the 2D platformer reached its pinnacle – sublime level design, 16-bit aesthetics that were an absolute feast for your eyes and the sound was perfectly atmospheric. This was a game that you could lose yourself in. SMW is one of those games you can either pick up and play for half an hour to get your Mario fix, or play till the wee hours of the morning. SMW walks away with the prize of our favourite Nintendo game of all time. Thank you Mr. Miyamoto for creating the definitive 2D platformer.
Phew, that was hard!
We love celebrating anniversaries, especially the big milestones like new consoles that were released in Australia!
With that said, on this day [March 1] in 1997, Nintendo officially released the Nintendo 64 in Australia (and other PAL regions, like Europe).
We actually bought the Nintendo 64 on day one and immediately were hooked on Super Mario 64 and the fog-riddled Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Once we played Wave Race 64 and later on, Mario Kart 64, we knew we made the right decision (and our PS1 was quickly packed away in favour of the N64!).
The Nintendo 64 provided many highlights for us, including all-night gaming sessions with friends and family – that GoldenEye 007 was an addiction y’all (and still is)!
We could go on and on about the Nintendo 64, but we would love to hear your memories about Nintendo’s last cartridge based console – hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.
So how much storage space would it take to store every Nintendo video game (from the stable of their major consoles) that can be emulated?
Don’t worry about trying to work out the answer, as Reddit user, RHYTHM_GMZ, has already done all the hard work for us.
You’ll need roughly 7.53TB (yep, that’s TERABYTES!) of space to be able to emulate every darn Nintendo video game! With the Wii making up 6.56TB of the 7.53TB total, you may want to know the breakdown of the rest of the Nintendo game libraries, so here you go:
For those of you that prefer to visualise these figures, we have you covered – see below!
NOTE: Games libraries based on the uncompressed NTSC versions
[story source: RHYTHM_GMZ via Reddit]
The EON Super 64, is a new plug-and-play solution for the Nintendo 64 that fits seamlessly into the original hardware and upscales your beloved retro classic visuals on modern displays, hits North American consoles on July 22, 2019, via preorder (US$149.99) at CastleMania. The EON guys are also working on a PAL version of the Super 64 (PAL price is yet to be finalised, but at the current exchange, it will be over AU$200.00).
The Super 64, from the makers of the GCHD Mk-II, is a HDMI adaptor worthy of our favourite retro console, the Nintendo 64. With no external power source or risky console modifications, the Super 64 attaches to the N64 like it was always meant to be there, connecting to modern TVs via HDMI with no input lag. The Super 64’s gorgeous upscaled 480p boasts twice the resolution of the original console’s video output. Relive the games of yesteryear just as you remember them.
“Slick Mode” enables retro fans to relive the triumphs of yesteryear with even smoother visuals, rounding out jagged edges for a sharper image that makes classics look better than ever. Through EON’s careful attention to detail, the Super 64 boasts the truest representation of colour to create the most faithful N64 experience supplanting efforts of typical cable upgrades.
The N64 sold over 32.9 million units since its 1996 debut. The Super 64 builds a bridge of nostalgia between the N64’s analogue output and high-definition displays. Nostalgic gamers and competitive players can enjoy their favourite N64 titles on modern setups via HDMI, foregoing the need for heavy CRT televisions or risky console modifications.
EON’s patent pending design is carefully crafted to prevent stress on older hardware and allows the N64 to slot neatly alongside modern platforms.
Delivering an upscaled experience that still champions the original look and feel guided EON’s development process, evident in the Super 64’s form-fitting elegance, brilliant display of colours, and remarkable audio fidelity.
“The Super 64 was designed to celebrate the console that pioneered 3D gaming. We set out to create something that respects the original hardware while delivering the original look and feel” said Justin Chou, Justin Scerbo, and Allan Chou, founders of EON. “The Super 64 is for everyone seeking to relive those classic experiences, and for a new generation for whom so many memories have yet to be made.“
[story and image source: Press Release]
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
When I was a kid, I was so ecstatic when I read that Nintendo 64 was releasing a Superman game. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and play it.
Fortunately, my friend down the street bought Superman 64 before I did. I was lucky enough to never spend a dime on the controversial game made by Titus Software.
Superman 64 begins with Lex Luther telling you “You will never find your friends in this world…” That confused me. The game isn’t set in Metropolis, it’s set in Luther’s “virtual world.” You would think that the natural setting for a game starring Superman would be Metropolis. Too many cooks in the creative kitchen at Titus Software perhaps?
The dumb, unimaginative plot of the game has you (as the Man of Steel) go through a simple maze in Lex’s “virtual world” to save Superman’s friends. All you do for most of the game is fly through an unbearable number of rings that get tedious after ten seconds. Why did anyone think that this would make for an appealing game? It has the kiss of death for a console game: it’s boring.
It’s incredibly hard to control Superman’s course of flight at times. If you have Superman at the centre of your game, you would think developers would’ve had a surplus of ideas that they could incorporate into the game to make it exceptional. The game was released in 1999; there were a lot of back issues of Superman for them to pull appealing ideas from.
At one point in Superman 64, you have to pick up a police car and carry it to the end of a street…real exciting stuff. During one mission, you have to blow random tornadoes away with your super breathe. And yes, I just wrote that sentence.
“LEX WINS.” I got so sick of “LEX WINS.” And you hear Lex do some creepy, stoner-like chuckle every time he wins. Then, in all of that excitement, you have to fly through more rings. There are no instructions for how to fly or breathe your super breath. There are moments in the game where you have a timer, and then, during other stages, there’s no timer at all. It also takes a long time for Superman to get back up when he is knocked down. That was frustrating, and nothing about Superman’s ability to take a punch should be frustrating.
There were moments during Superman 64 where you would get stuck in corners of the game and it would take a moment to find a way to fly again. When I played this frustrating game, I had no idea that Titus Software hadn’t actually finished it. I found that out much later. But just from the confusing game play and the strange, green haze in Lex’s “virtual world,” it was obvious that Titus developers had a little trouble in the developing stage of Superman 64.
If flying through rings surrounded by a green haze sounds like a fun gaming experience, you may enjoy Superman 64? As a huge Superman fan and gamer, this game was a big disappointment. Titus should have never let this game see the light of day.
Just in case you were visiting Mars and just came back to Earth, there is now an unofficial Super Mario 64 Maker for Nintendo’s 64-bit beast! The brainchild of this awesomeness is Kaze Emanuar, the coder extraordinaire!
For those gamers itching to let loose with their Super Mario 3D level creativity on the N64, you better grab your trusty Nintendo 64 controller and get busy! For instructions on how to do all this stuff, go here (and click on show more).
Don’t believe us? Then you better take a gander at this!
source: Kaze Emanuar
Dear Nintendo,
You gave us the NES Classic Mini and now, the SNES Classic Mini. We are all eagerly awaiting your inevitable N64 joining the Classic Mini ranks. With that said, could we please have the following 21 classic games installed on the upcoming N64 Mini – thank you:
Super Mario 64 – we are 100% certain this gem will make it!
F-Zero X
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
And I guess we would have to have a Zelda game on the list, not for us, for your Zelda loving fans, so let’s go with Ocarina of Time, but that’s it, no other Zelda games, please! Oh yeah, please no Super Smash Bros.!
Thank you,
Alex Boz
Editor-In-Chief @ ausretrogamer
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Why did former Beatle and rock legend George Harrison give the British comedy troupe Monty Python $4 million dollars to go off and make Monty Python’s Life of Brian? Because he wanted to see it. Eric Idol, of Monty Python, said,” It’s still the most anyone has ever paid for a cinema ticket.”
While listening to a sports radio show, I heard that a film company in Australia was crowdfunding for a documentary about the Nintendo 64 classic game GoldenEye 007, called GoldenEra. I thought to myself, I’d really like to see that.
I have never participated in a crowdfunding project, but there was something about a documentary centred on the phenomenon and legacy of GoldenEye 007 that changed my mind. Also, it being the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking first-person shooter (FPS) game, made contributing money to the project even more alluring.
I went onto the Indiegogo campaign page and became a backer. For my first time, it was kind of exciting.
In high school, my friends and I would play GoldenEye 007 constantly. We called it Bond for short. There’s no telling how many times, after classes, my friends would say, “Let’s play some Bond.” It was a bonding experience for all of us, and it came in handy when we were broke on weekends.
Once, when two of my best friends almost got in a fistfight over something foolish, I made them settle it over a game of Bond. I deterred violence with some fake, simulated violence. And after some split screen multi-player action, they had forgotten what they were upset about. My girlfriend, during my freshman year of college, was better at Bond than I was. She had her own N64 console back home and she really schooled me at times.
I have so many fond memories of playing Goldeneye in high school and college. Sure, we were sitting on our rumps playing a video game for hours, but playing Bond was something that we shared that brought out our competitiveness; and it was a nice relief from stressing about your grades and other teen pressures.
Who ended up beating who didn’t matter and the scores were quickly forgotten, but having something fun that we all enjoyed doing together was rare and ultimately important; even if we weren’t aware of it at the time.
I’ve never played any of the other popular first-person shooter games that followed GoldenEye. I have never played any of the Halo games. I think if I ever played one of the many versions of Halo, I would be comparing it to GoldenEye the whole time. GoldenEye made that much of an impact on my gaming.
I hope the project reaches its crowdfunding goal. The filmmakers are aiming for a 2017 release. If it makes it a more entertaining documentary, perhaps they should wait to release it when they think it’s perfect.
source: GoldenEra on IndieGoGo