How the N64 and its games changed the world of gaming

GameCentral celebrates the Nintendo 64’s 30th anniversary with a retrospective on its most important games and how their influence continues today.

When compared to other video game consoles of the 90s, it can be easy to assume the Nintendo 64, or N64 for short, wasn’t that successful. Especially when its main competitor, Sony’s original PlayStation, sold more than triple its lifetime sales, at 102.49 million units compared to a mere 32.93 million.

Technically it wasn’t a flop – it was actually highly profitable – but, more importantly to the history of gaming, it was an incredible technical achievement. The jump from 2D to 3D was a massively important one for the games industry and one that can never be topped, until holodecks are real or you start plugging games into your head.

Since the N64 was much more powerful than the original PlayStation (and Sega’s Saturn) it allowed Nintendo to innovate 3D techniques that became the bedrock for the entire games industry. So, for the console’s 30th anniversary, we’ve taken a look at the N64’s best and most influential games, and the legacies they’ve left behind.

The most influential N64 games

Super Mario 64

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

Super Mario 64 is the quintessential 3D platformer. It’s no exaggeration to say this is one of the most important video games ever made, as it set the template that all subsequent 3D titles would follow, offering full 360° control and large (for the time) sandboxes with multiple objectives for you to complete.

Its camera system was so revolutionary that it remained the gold standard for the rest of the generation, with other 3D games still struggling to keep up well into the PlayStation 2 era.

The only notable contemporary at the time was Tomb Raider, released later that year, and while a very different kind of 3D platformer its rigid grid-based control system is miles away from Super Mario 64’s silky smooth movement (enabled by the analogue stick of the N64 – with Nintendo becoming the first to popularise analogue controls on a modern console).

Not to mention Nintendo’s own work has continued to build upon and reiterate on Super Mario 64’s formula, cultivating multiple 3D Mario games that are all considered among the best video games ever made (barring Super Mario Sunshine).

Super Mario Odyssey in turn also inspired Donkey Kong Bananza, which Nintendo has teased contains hints of what to expect for Mario’s next 3D game.

Considering it’s been nearly 10 years since Super Mario Odyssey, expectations will be higher than ever for whatever the Switch 2’s main Mario game is, which is rumoured to be unveiled in 2027.

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

For years afterwards, the first ever 3D Zelda was regarded as the best video game ever made. Much like Super Mario 64, Nintendo’s efforts to translate the top-down 2D world of The Legend Of Zelda into 3D were not only successful but extremely influential for the wider industry.

Ocarina Of Time has been cited as inspiration for the likes of Dark Souls, The Witcher, and even Grand Theft Auto 3. Final Fantasy 15’s massive open world in particular took cues from Ocarina Of Time’s Hyrule Field, which looks positively tiny nowadays but at the time was a vast expanse the likes of which had never been seen before.

Some games just outright copied and pasted Ocarina Of Time’s formula for themselves, including the likes of Ōkami (the best Zelda game Nintendo never made) and Darksiders 2, but even the best of the copies paled compared to the original.

Nintendo itself used the same formula for subsequent 3D Zelda games, only truly breaking away from it in 2017, with Breath Of The Wild, which in turn is now regarded by many as the best video game ever.

Coincidentally, a full remake of Ocarina Of Time was only recently announced and is set to be Nintendo’s big Christmas release for 2026. Only a few seconds of footage were shown but that alone was enough to get fans of the original misted eyed for the classic adventure.

GoldenEye 007

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

Before 007 First Light, GoldenEye 007 was considered the James Bond video game for nearly three decades, but being a great Bond game is very far down the game’s list of achievements. Long before Halo, GoldenEye 007 become the first console game to popularise the concept of the first person shooter. There had been a few before it, but rather than just trying to copy PC games this was something that could only exist on the N64.

Aside from paving the way for first person shooters to release on home consoles (before GoldenEye 007, such games were typically only on PC), the game’s story campaign was greatly influential on the concept of modern stealth gameplay, arriving ahead of both Thief: The Dark Project and Metal Gear Solid.

That alone would have been enough to ensure the game classic status but it was even more famous for its glorious split-screen multiplayer, full of different modes and modifiers that were completely unlike anything else at the time.

Sadly, spiritual sequel Perfect Dark wasn’t quite as good and nowadays both it and TimeSplitters, which was made by many of the same people, are now dead franchises. Which is a shame as GoldenEye’s low frame rate and weird controls have not aged well, and so all its many innovations are being forgotten by younger fans.

Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

In retrospect, it’s easy to see that the two Pokémon Stadium games were a precursor to Pokémon Home and the modern concept of data-sharing in video games, as they allowed you to transfer your teams from the Game Boy games and use them in Pokémon Stadium’s battle modes.

It marked the first time pokémon were depicted in 3D, which at the time was quite the revelation as you saw the 2D sprites transformed into fully animated characters. Embarrassingly, the games also have more voice-acting than many modern Pokémon titles.

Surprisingly, Stadium’s exact formula didn’t persist past the N64, and subsequent 3D spin-offs went in other directions. Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii came close, but the concept lost relevancy once the mainline games started using 3D graphics, with Pokémon X and Y.

Nevertheless, a spiritual free-to-play successor, Pokémon Champions, did launch this year and while it’s primary use is for online competitive play it’s very similar in concept and gameplay to the games first released over 25 years ago.

Super Smash Bros.

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – No

The first Super Smash Bros. looks so quaint nowadays, with its miniscule roster and limited amount of gameplay options. However, GameCube sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee is when the series really took off and at the time the N64 original wasn’t seen as anything more than a novelty.

Nevertheless, creator Masahiro Sakurai struck gold in crafting a far more approachable kind of fighting game, that anyone can pick up and enjoy thanks to simple button commands and freer movement options.

Like most Nintendo franchises, Super Smash Bros. wasn’t the first of its kind but it was the game that popularised the concept of the platform fighter and inspired a surplus of copycats that have followed ever since, particularly those with an emphasis on company-wide crossovers.

Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Sony, and several indie devs have all tried their hand at it but no platform fighter can generate so much hype over just its character reveals as Super Smash Bros., especially after an increasing number of third party inclusions from Sega, Square Enix, Capcom, and even Microsoft.

We can’t think of any studio that wouldn’t want to get their character into the series just for the marketing alone, although after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate it’s unclear where the series goes now and why it hasn’t already had a Switch 2 Edition.

Mario Party 1, 2, and 3

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

In an age where online multiplayer games dominate and local multiplayer has become a rarity, it’s good to see that Mario Party has persisted for as long as it has. Although back in the N64 days it was the only Nintendo franchise that ever received yearly sequels.

Nintendo’s crack at a casual Mario themed board game, peppered with four-player minigames and all manner of randomised chaos, was nothing short of genius, especially since the concept of party video games wasn’t common at the time.

Anyone who owns a Nintendo console needs to have at least one Mario Party on standby for parties or family get-togethers, since they’re all so simple and don’t demand the high-skill level of most other multiplayer games.

The latest entry is Super Mario Party Jamboree but Mario Party Superstars contains some remade boards from the N64 games. Like Super Smash Bros., there are so many copies, but we struggle to think of any worth playing over Mario Party.

Star Fox 64

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

Star Fox 64 (aka Lylat Wars) is the best-selling entry in the series and one of the few successful attempts to reimagine the 2D shooter genre in modern 3D form. Alas, it hasn’t been very influential in gameplay terms, despite the remake due this month, but there’s one thing about it that had a profound influence on the video games industry.

The original version of the game was bundled with a Rumble Pak, a chunky peripheral that plugged into the bottom of the N64 controller and added force feedback, which the game made great use of (and was sorely missed in the 3DS version).

From that point on force feedback became standard for all new video game controllers, with both Sony and Microsoft incorporating rumble features into their PlayStation and Xbox controllers – leading all the way up to modern haptic feedback.

And yet at the start of the generation the original PlayStation controller had neither analogue sticks nor force feedback, and only hurriedly added them afterwards, once the N64 came out.

Honourable mentions

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

While obviously not as revolutionary as Ocarina Of Time, sequel Majora’s Mask is beloved for its darker atmosphere, bizarre characters, and three day time limit, requiring you to regularly rewind time if you want to save the world from an impending moon crash.

Some fans have been chasing the high of a darker Zelda game ever since, with Majora’s Mask being the key inspiration for a popular creepypasta (basically an online ghost story) called Ben Drowned as well as a short film made by Ember Lab, the team that would go on to create the beautifully animated Kena: Bridge Of Spirits.

Subsequent Zelda games have dabbled in darker aspects, but none of them have quite revelled in the same creepy, uncanny, and sometimes melancholy vibes as Majora’s Mask did.

F-Zero X / Wipeout 64

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes (F-Zero X) / No (Wipeout 64)

While it’d be an exaggeration to say Nintendo has forgotten F-Zero, the series clearly isn’t a priority at the company, considering it survives only through re-releases. It did get F-Zero 99 in 2023 but that’s a battle royale spin on the first game rather than a true sequel.

The same can be said for WipEout, which surprisingly saw a N64 port despite developer Psygnosis being a first party Sony developer. That multiformat dalliance only lasted a short time though and sadly WipEout 64 is not available on the Switch Online’s classics library.

Since both F-Zero and WipEout have been so thoroughly neglected over the years, it’s no wonder that other studios have tried to fill that niche, with their own high octane, futuristic racers, such as Redout 2 and Fast Fusion.

Star Wars Episode I: Racer / Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – No

Honestly, we’re only mentioning Star Wars Episode I: Racer because it’s getting a spiritual follow-up in Star Wars: Galactic Racer this October, after 24 years of no Star Wars racing games. But it also goes to show how popular future racers were back in the day.

The original’s still worth a revisit despite its age and would’ve been a solid racer even without the Star Wars branding. Although it’s not included in the Switch Online’s library, there is an HD re-release available.

We wish we could say the same for Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which was a brilliant arcade combat flight sim from the now defunct Factor 5. The studio went on to make two sequels, as well as a prequel era spin-off set on Naboo; all of which are overdue a re-release of some kind.

Although EA’s Star Wars: Squadrons was a surprisingly good homage to the more complex space combat flight sims of the 90s, there’s been no attempt to create a more arcade style spiritual sequel to Rogue Squadron. Although next year’s Starfighter movie might inspire something.

Space Station Silicon Valley / Body Harvest

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – No

We always like to highlight games from Rockstar’s early days as DMA Design, before GTA became the juggernaut it is today. We’ve waxed nostalgic about Lemmings in the past, but Space Station Silicon Valley is so obscure it wasn’t even well known at the time.

A kind of 3D platformer, the game’s unique hook is that you play as a microchip that can hijack robot animals, each with their own abilities, as inspired by earlier British classic Paradroid. Although graphically it’s kind of ugly, even by N64 standards, Space Station Silicon Valley is lauded nowadays as an overlooked gem.

We also want to highlight Body Harvest, a sci-fi action game DMA Design launched the very same month as Space Station Silicon Valley. We bring this up because it’s very obviously a prototype for GTA 3, the first 3D entry in the series.

Its tech, and the experience of making Space Station Silicon Valley, led directly to the modern era of GTA games and to be honest it’d be nice if Body Harvest got a remake because it was hampered by the technology of the N64 and really wasn’t much fun to play.

Banjo-Kazooie

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

Rare initially planned on making a role-playing game for its N64 debut but thanks to Super Mario 64, it pivoted to its own mascot 3D platformer, Banjo-Kazooie, and the rest is history.

Banjo-Kazooie itself would establish a framework plenty of throwback 3D platformers have emulated, stuffing its levels with multiple types of collectibles to an excessive degree.

Rare repeated this with Banjo-Tooie and, most infamously, Donkey Kong 64. The Banjo series went on hiatus after 2008’s contentious Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which de-emphasised platforming over vehicle construction; a mechanic similar to the Ultrahand from The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.

As ever, indie games have picked up the slack from the lack of official Banjo-Kazooie sequels, with titles such as A Hat In Time and especially Yooka-Laylee, which was made by former Rare staff keen to keep the studio’s pre-Microsoft buyout spirit alive.

The original Yooka-Laylee is practically a carbon copy of Banjo-Kazooie (for better and for worse), and developer Playtonic Games has since released a Donkey Kong Country expy and recently announced a racing spin-off.

Operation WinBack

Is it playable on Nintendo Switch Online? – Yes

A largely forgotten game by Dynasty Warriors studio Omega Force, Operation WinBack may not be famous today, or particularly playable, but it is one of the very first cover-based third person shooters.

As such, it is credited for influencing Namco’s Kill Switch and, in turn, the Gears Of War games, which popularised the cover shooter subgenre. So it’s not always the famous, or even good, games that go on to have significant impact.

Operation WinBack also had an early example of a laser sight mechanic for helping you target enemies; something that would later crop up in the far more famous and successful Resident Evil 4 – which coincidentally is the other half of the evolutionary tree that leads to Gears of War.

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