N64 Review: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Review by: wiifan001

A darkness sweeps the land of planet Ripple Star, home to a bunch of fairies. One fairy named Ribbon goes to try and run from this Dark Matter. With her she carries a large crystal, which is a treasure to the fairies. In her attempt to escape, however, the Dark Matter hits her and the crystal statters into a bunch of shards, 100 to be exact, and scatters across 5 other planets other than Ripple Star. She bumps into Kirby, who is looking at the night sky, and Kirby agrees to join her quest for search for all the shards. Along the way, you'll get from Waddle Dee, Adeleine who is an artist and can make paintings come to life, and even King Dedede, Kirby's rival.

What makes this game cool is the powers you can gain. A lot of enemies Kirby can just suck in his mouth and then either spit out or swallow. Some enemies that are swallowed can give Kirby a copy ability. Even better, Kirby can throw that power onto another person who has a power to get a double power. There are over 30 different powers you can get. There are over 70 different creatures in the game, most of them have only one hit point. Kirby has six hit points. In the end you'll being dealing with all kinds of transformations- from light bulb to a refrigerator, fireworks, missiles, snowman, rolling snowball, spikes, giant walking stone man, dynamite, and lots more.

Some crystals will require a specific double power. Generally, the crystals will be just out in the open. Kirby can fly briefly in the air. At the end of each world comes a boss battle. These are generally easy. They're pretty fun to go up against. This is a 2d side-scrolling game. It's all 2-d. Sometimes the camera angle will move to make it sort of look 3-d.

Every once in a while, this game does put on a clever puzzle. They make the ones inside of wall obvious in terms of showing that the crystal is right there. You just have to match up the colors on the wall with the power colors you have. Example: a wall that is black and brown indicates that you need a rock and bomb move because on the game the rock power is shown brown and the bomb is the color black. I have to complain that this game is a little too easy with the exception of a couple of puzzles.

In terms of graphics, they are one of the most interesting I have ever seen. They look a drawings kids between ages 6-12 made on the backgrounds. Crayons and markers took a part of animating it. It's really neat. However, in a lot, I mean of lot a areas, the backgrounds just don't feel incomplete, they are incomplete. Constantly you'll see a lot of black areas with no background detail whatsoever. There are over 300 different sound effects and 70+ music tracks to listen to. Some are forgettable while others are really fun to listen to. Many of them are kind of... cutesie-ish.

This game can be beaten in a few short hours. Three files are available. There's even three minigames in which you and three other people can play against. There are 4 levels of difficulty for the CP's- Easy, Normal, Hard, and Intense. The stage randomizes in background and color depending how hard you put your CP's on.

Overall, all Kirby fans should own this game. It's largest downfalls are that it's too short and it's missing some graphic and gameplay details.

N64 Review: Mario Kart 64

Review by: wiifan001

Mario Kart 64 is exactly how you would imagine it: 16 racetracks, 32 if you count the mirror stages, along with 8 Nintendo characters- Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser. There are 3 modes of difficulty- 50 cc, 100 cc, and 150 cc (plus the the mirror courses). Afterwards, you choose your character and enter the Mario Grand Prix. There are 4 cups to enter- Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special. Each have 4 race tracks. You'll be on beaches, on ice, in Bowser's castle, through the highway, through the jungle, and plenty of other various courses. Each race track has 3 laps you must complete. To get to the next race, you must finish 4th place or better. If you don't get at least 4th, you'll be asked to try the race again or quit.

One amazing thing about the game is drifting. Drifting takes time to learn. But once you master it, you'll be catching and accelerating along the curves. Two people can enter the grand prix. Among each race holds items. You'll see a row of flashing questions marks on the road and running through will give you an item to use. You can get mushrooms and green shells and red shells in groups of one and three. Green shells will go straight on and then bounce off the walls back and forth. Red shells will often home in on the opponent, but once it hits a wall, it disappears. There are a few more items such as stars which increase your speed and make you temporarily invincible and banana peels which you can cause one to slip and lose control.

One problem with the game is that none of the CP players will ever have red shells or green shells making giving you sort of an unfair disadvantage. The joy stick on this game is a tad jerky when coming to the curves. Furthermore, being in first place and way ahead of everyone else, they will catch up to you unless if you finish.

Another mode of game play is time trial. You race solo and complete the race with the fastest time. The top five scores on each race will be recorded. Then there's Battle and Vs. mode in which up to 4 people can play against each other. Vs. mode is pretty much Grand Prix without the computer players and everyone has access to all the items. In Battle mode, each person has 3 balloons. Whenever someone slips on a banana peel, gets hit by a shell, or rammed over by one wielding a star, they lose a balloon. When all 3 balloons are gone, you are out of the race. However, it there is more than 2 people, you will be transformed into a yellow bomb in which you can chase other players and you won't get destroyed unless you collide with someone who is invincible. They have 4 seperate race tracks that you won't find anywhere else. It's fun at first, but gets boring kind of quickly, which can also be said about the Vs. mode unless you have 2-3 other people that are at your skill level, this game can be pretty lame and boring.

Graphically, Mario Kart 64 looks pretty nice. Generally, it's clean. A few levels are foggy looking up. The characters look pretty good. There's nothing too detailed about them. The backgrounds look pretty nice. Mario Kart 64 is not that great compared to other N64 games, however by itself it's good enough not to bother too much. The sound tracks and sounds coming from the karts sound great. Not too many voice effects from the characters. You'll only hear 3 to 4 different types of voice effects during the race. I just wish that there was more to be heard.

After owning the game for 6 years I'm still coming back and playing this game. It's still pretty fun. I would imagine for most people that they would grow tired of it long ago.

Mario fans and racing fans should own this game. Heck, you could say that this is a family game. Just be prepared to see pretty much everything this game has to offer within a week or two.

N64 Review: Paper Mario

Review by: bombermania24

Paper Mario was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001, and has now made a triumphant return on the Wii's Virtual Console. Paper Mario is a role-playing game starring none other than Mario himself, albeit in paper form. It's just as fun to play now as it was back then, and it's definitely worth a slot in any gamer's library.

The game begins with Mario heading off to Peach's castle for a party. Soon after entering the castle, though, Bowser raises the castle out of the ground and into the sky. Using the power of a stolen star rod, the celestial item that grants wishes, Bowser defeats Mario and sends him flying out of the castle. And so, Mario sets on a quest to recover the Star Spirits, the guardians of the star rod that Bowser managed to capture, and save Princess Peach. Though the plot is nothing special, it has its moments, and is certainly full of charm. And, there is a wide cast of entertaining and oftentimes hilarious characters throughout the game, making the experience much more enjoyable.



The gameplay essentially is broken into two parts. The first is controlling and moving Mario around. The game plays out in a 3-D landscape, in which Mario can move in all directions, despite the fact that he's made out of paper. You can use hammer and jump abilities to traverse the landscape, as well as special abilities that you gain throughout the game. The controls work fine, and the game makes it fun to get from one place to another, unlike a great deal of other RPG's. There are some of the item-fetching quests that all RPG's seem to have, of course, but the developers manage to make it more entertaining than in other RPG's. The controls themselves work fine, and you'll have no problem utilizing all of Mario's abilities.

The more important aspect of the gameplay, though, is the battle system. If you bump into an enemy on the map, you'll go into battle mode. Here, Mario (and the allies he receives throughout the game) fight against the enemies in a turn-based battle system. You'll each take turns dishing damage out on each other. But, what Paper Mario does to distinguish itself is use action commands. The power or effectiveness of your attacks depend on how well you complete the action command for that attack. It can be something simple, such as tapping the A button fast enough, or timing specific flicks of the analog stick. You can also press A right before an enemy hits you to reduce the damage it does. The action commands make the battle system addictive and a lot of fun. They all work well, and they effectively make battles more skill-oriented than other RPG's do. You'll also get a wide variety of attacks and items you can use in battle, making each battle varied and different. You'll also have to play accordingly to what your fighting. For example, if you fight a spiky enemy, you need to make sure not use any kind of jump moves on it, unless you enjoy causing Mario pain. Or, you might have to specifically focus on flipping an enemy over with a jump attack before you can start dishing out the damage on it. The battles are always entertaining, and add a great more depth to the game.



The difficulty of Paper Mario isn't particularly brutal. With some skill and a little bit of luck, there should be no need to level up for hours on end in order to progress. The difficulty keeps the game flowing, with no annoying pauses in your progress just to grind. The game is also fantastically creative. You'll be fighting everything from a Shy Guy military commander to a team of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-offs. The dialogue itself is flowing with this same creativity, with numerous laugh-out-loud moments in the game. The sheer creativity and originality of the game really make up for the easy difficulty, and both keep the game moving at a good pace.

The presentation of the game is very charming and cutesy. All of the characters in the game appear to be made out of paper, giving the game a fresh and original art style. The graphics themselves are solid, though not especially demanding. But, all of the game's environments are colorful and fun to look at, giving the game some real pizzazz. The music is pleasant and catchy, and never fails to sound good. Be prepared to hum some of the game's tunes throughout your day.



All in all, Paper Mario is a masterpiece of gaming. It's creative, charming, and addictive, and will last you for a good, long time. The game has a great battle style and a real personality to it. It's hilarious and clever at moments, and truly witty. Paper Mario is a game that any Wii owner should look for, no excuses. It's a masterpiece of gaming, and truly a landmark game, one that anyone can, and should, enjoy.

N64 Review: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Review by: Zero

The story of Ocarina of Time goes as such, a young boy is sleeping and wakes up. You find out his name is Link. He lives in Kokiri Forest which is protected by a giant, named the Great Deku Tree. Link goes inside this tree and kills the evil within it, although, the damage has been done and the Great Deku Tree dies. Link gets a Kokiri Emerald from the the Great Deku Tree. He then learns all about an evil man named Ganondorf, and the coveted Triforce. Link sets out to Hyrule Castle and meets Princess Zelda. He goes on a quest to get the rest of the jewels, He gets the Goron Ruby and the Zora Sapphire. He then goes 7 years in time to the future, where Ganon is in control. Then Link must pass through 7 temples, destroying the evil within. He gets inside Ganon's castle, passes all security, and ultimately fights with Ganon as the final battle.

The graphics in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are 3D. Because of the time, the graphics weren't very easy to see. However, the graphics in Ocarina of Time seem to be quite nice. In certain scenes when the camera zooms up on Link, you are able to see his face quite clearly. The weapons are very well done, as for the environment, the graphics seem to be quite good close-up but not so good from a distance. The water in Ocarina of Time looks like it does in most games, blue and wavy. However, when underwater, you can get the feeling as if he is REALLY underwater. All in all, the graphics in Ocarina of Time were quite good... for its times anyways.

The sound in Ocarina of Time was another thing entirely, beautiful songs composed by your ocarina filter through your speakers. There are many songs in the game that can sound nice/uplifting (my personal favorites are Minuet of Forest and Epona's Song). Apart from the songs, each dungeon/area of the game has its own unique music, some pleasant, jolly, energizing, peaceful while others are sleepy,dark, dangerous. Link himself makes human sounds (e.g grunting while rolling, hyaa-ing as slashing with sword). Sadly, not many of the other characters make sounds, although the sounds made by your ocarina can be experimented with and who knows, you might even come up with your own song! (Funnily enough there is something called the Scarecrow song, if you visit the Scarecrow at Lake Hylia, and play him a song, when the game ends, in the credits it will be your song playing, thus The Scarecrow Song!).

As for the gameplay of Ocarina of Time, I would have to say it is quite fun to play. It is VERY challenging and unless you can't get through the temples, you'll need to resort to some guides from GameFAQs etc. The glitches in this game are plenty. There is so much that I can't even begin to describe them. I think that the creators of Ocarina of Time sent out a new copy of the game the next year because of the glitch rate. Although, some of the glitches are quite fun. Its like, some of the temples can just send you insane and make you want to throw the controller at the damn screen! For an example, I think the most hated and hardest temple is the Water Temple. It requires usage of Iron Boots a plenty. But also, you get to face Dark Link, which for some reason is a popular boss in the game. I didn't see the fun in him much because I used a Biggoron Sword, a two-hander with incredible power that I really shouldn't have had this early in the game as it is more challenging to do things without it. Anyways, not only do alot of the time you have to use Iron Boots in the Water Temple, it still has the tasks a normal temple has. There aren't many people who can say they did this temple with no help at all. For me, I had to get help halfway through. The boss of the temple is quite easy considering how hard the temples was. Anyways, back on track, the gameplay of the bosses in this game is taken in as one entire concept considering each has their own strategy, and all are different. I mean, everyone loves Volvagia (Fire Temple Boss). He looks so cool and is quite easy to beat. Anyways, all in all, the game is fun to play and I'd suggest trying it even if you don't like this type of game.

The controls in Ocarina of Time are quite crude. When first starting the game, one must get used to having the yellow arrow buttons changed a lot to swap between weapons. The controls themselves are another matter entirely, the uncomfortable moving stick is your way to move Link. This may or may not be okay with you. I personally do not like it much because when you are pushing up it can start to hurt your finger. However, once playing the game for a good few hours you can overcome looking at that and learn to ignore the slight slight pain. The B and A buttons serve another major purpose in this game, considering they are, how you roll and use your sword. As you progress in the game, you learn new techniques to increase your power and skill and other things.(My personal favorite weapon is the bow. I do suggest you spend some time at the start of the game just getting used to the controls and how you move. If you know how to move and slash, roll, climb beforehand, you shall save yourself much grief against your first enemies. All in all, Ocarina of Time's controls are okay once you familiarize yourself with them.

I suppose after reading all this you're wondering questions like, Are the bosses in this game hard? Is this game fun to play? Well, this game is one of my favorites of all time, not just because I am a fan on Zelda and Nintendo. The bosses in this game give the biggest fun for me. I find facing an entirely new boss quite fun. Anyway, enough about me and my idioticness. If you asked me if this game has a good replay value, I would respond yes. There are many side quests in The Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time to keep you busy even after you beat the game. (e.g The masks side quest, riding a horse in Lon Lon Ranch, finding all 4 empty bottles). Not only that, you can travel to EVERYWHERE in the game, and who knows, you might even find a place you didn't know was there before.