As I’ve mentioned, ours was not a Nintendo household.
Growing up first on the Sega Genesis, then the Sony PlayStation, I mostly encountered Super Mario et al. in the homes of friends, cousins, neighbours (and then almost exclusively in multiplayer). It wasn’t until high school that I picked up a GameCube, and it would take even longer, undergrad, before I got my hands on my own, personal Nintendo 64.
I was, in other words, late to the game for some of the most important releases of my generation. The advantage of which, however, is that my appraisal of these games now, so many years later, is (mostly) unaffected by rose-tinted nostalgia. (That said, I will die on the hill of Mario Party as the greatest sleepover game ever made.)
Granted, not all N64 aficionados will agree with the list I’ve put together for this feature, celebrating the thirtieth birthday of the N64, which released on June 23, 2026.
Some of that is, of course, a function of the wonderful subjectivity of these exercises. Some of it, also, is attributable to some woeful omissions on my part (including, deep breath, Majora’s Mask, Paper Mario, Pokémon Stadium, Jet Force Gemini, Harvest Moon 64, to name a few). I only ask that, if your favourite is missing below, you understand I intended no slight.
As we’ll get to in a moment, the N64 (with the PlayStation alongside it) represented a unique moment in gaming history, the transition from 2D pixels to 3D polygons enabling some of the most impressive, rewarding, and indeed experimental gaming experiences of not just that time, but all time. I still think the PlayStation is the better system overall (if nothing else, it habitually got a lot weirder), but that’s not to discount the thirty games which make up this list.
As always, I’ve done my best to identify where these games are playable today, many of which are, happily, available in their original form via the Switch/Switch 2 Online Library. Alternatively, eBay or your local retro gaming store are always solid options.
1. Super Mario 64 (1996, available via Switch Online N64 Library, or in (inferior but HD-upscaled) format in the hard-to-find Super Mario 3D All-Stars package)
It’s probably safe to say the top two entries on this list were never in doubt.
Both games the product of the unimpeachable mind of gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto, both precedent-setters in their own right, both still endlessly replayable today. If Super Mario 64 only slightly ekes out its place ahead of our next entry (you already know what that is), it’s for the sheer inventiveness of its platforming gameplay, where even the very act of moving about is a joy.
Whether it’s learning (and then experimenting with) its various gimmick levels – like the mechanical clock which moves at different speeds depending on what “time” you enter – or exploring the endlessly varied rooms and hidden corridors of the wonderfully-realized Peach’s Castle, SM64 is never dull. Add in its delightfully “broken” design, which can be shortcutted, glitched, or otherwise exploited to let you, say, drop a baby penguin off a cliff, it remains the quintessential example of a freewheeling approach to game design which, frankly, no longer exists.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library; modern remake coincidentally announced just this past month)
Miyamoto’s other N64 masterpiece is a gem – sorry, rupee – which admittedly has not aged quite as well, but is still absolutely worth seeking out.
There are so many things that Ocarina gets right – the intuitive combat system; the pitch-perfect musicmaking mechanic on the titular instrument; the incredible and endlessly evolving level design – and which game designers still look to when planning their next adventure. (Except the Water Temple, but then we don’t talk about the Water Temple.)
Like its Miyamoto stablemate, Ocarina also has an impeccable sense of exploration, rewarding players for roaming off the beaten path, finding novel ways to combine items/abilities, exploring its semi-open world on the back of gaming’s second-best horse, Epona. It’s still my favourite Zelda – and I’ve played a lot of Zeldas – and arguably the best classical action-RPG of all time.
3. GoldenEye 007 (1997, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
A mainstay of childhood sleepovers and drunken dorm parties alike, Rare’s pixel-perfect James Bond simulator is not only an essential multiplayer experience, it’s also a fantastic single-player FPS in its own right.
Now, obviously, there are those who argue that its rudimentary polygonal graphics, its exasperating escort missions, its confusing reticle-based aiming system (attributable, in part, to the limitations of the infamous N64 controller), render this an artifact of the past.
Those people are mistaken. Sure, GoldenEye has its quirks, but plunk any random four people in a room, give them time to get accustomed (or reaccustomed) to the controls, and you’re guaranteed a great time. No Oddjob.
4. Super Smash Bros. (1999, unavailable on modern systems)
Because I am terrible at this game, it pains me to acknowledge its superiority. However, there’s no questioning the abiding influence – and evergreen mechanics – of this superbly realized multiplayer fighter, yet another sleepover/dorm room mainstay.
It’s not just that it lets players smash together virtual action figures based on beloved video game properties; it’s not just the incredible stage design, the tense battles down to the wire, the innovative knockback counter, which, instead of reducing health, increases the odds of knocking your opponent off-screen. No, it’s all these things, together, the sum of SSB greater than its (very, very good) parts.
While we’re partial to later entries – particularly SSB Ultimate, with its legions of non-Nintendo guest stars (including Nintendo rival Sonic the Hedgehog!) – the original is still one of the greats.
5. Mario Kart 64 (1996, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
There was a time, well past the N64’s heyday, in which the only meaningful rule in the house I shared with three friends involved neither dishes, nor vacuuming, nor the question of who did the groceries. Rather, our house rule went like this: if you hear Mario Kart 64, it’s time to play it. All of it, all sixteen tracks, start-to-finish, a winner-takes-all Grand Prix which only ended when the last person crossed the Rainbow Road finish line (or blew up in ignominy, as the case may be).
Of course, the house’s second (unspoken) rule was that the only way to play MK64 was with the living room TV volume at max, blasting the roar of the opening engine noise across the house. Never have I heard so many people slam shut laptops, textbooks so quickly and come running.
6. Wave Race 64 (1996, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
A deep cut, perhaps, but nonetheless an exemplary title for its day, in a genre which really hasn’t seen much action in the intervening decades. A multiplayer-centric jet ski racer, Wave Race‘s impeccable, trick-happy gameplay, which predates Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater by about three years, is matched by the fun diversity of its modes, including the time trials we spent far too much time perfecting, the delightful stunt mode, and of course, its robust multiplayer competitions. Honestly, the water still looks pretty good.
7. Star Fox 64 (1997, available via Switch Online N64 Library; a modern remake, pictured above, is scheduled for release on Switch 2 later this year)
I admit, I was surprised when I returned to SF64 recently and found I could blast through the entire thing in just shy of sixty minutes. Not, mind, because I was speedrunning or a particularly expert player, but simply because it was built that way. (HowLongToBeat.com generously places average completion time at two hours.)
Thankfully, SF64 is built for replayability, with branching paths generating a sum total of fifteen unique routes to conquer in its thrilling, Star Wars-esque dogfighting. Then, of course, there’s the fantastic multiplayer, pitting four friends against each other in a series of mixed Arwing and bipedal tank battles which to this day have never really been outdone. (Incidentally, its “lost” predecessor, the game jettisoned at the last minute to make way for Star Fox 64, is an interesting experience in its own right.)
8. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998, unavailable on modern systems)
Intriguingly, it’s this original (not the aforementioned copy) which fares ever-so-slightly worse in our retrospective look at the best of this era.
Yes, Rogue Squadron is a fantastic game, and yes, it lets you relive the Death Star Trench Run, but it’s also slightly less polished compared to the heavily Star Wars-inspired Star Fox, thanks to some creaky controls and relatively barren level design. There’s also the fact Rogue Squadron has since been surpassed by Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader for GameCube, not to mention the recent, VR-enabled Star Wars Squadrons, both of which render this otherwise very good game essentially superfluous in 2026.
9. Mario Party (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library; also, many of its best courses and minigames received an HD glow-up on the recent Switch Super Mario Superstars, pictured above, which is probably the better place to start)
Everyone knows that the best board games are those which encourage a massive amount of backstabbing. Clearly, the fiendish minds at Hudson Soft knew what they were up to when developing Mario Party, with its alternatingly hilarious and ruthless virtual board game design, in which Power Stars can be won, lost, or stolen at the drop of a hat (or spin of the roulette wheel), and in which the nastiest minigames are those which force you to steal hard-earned coins from your friends, lest they steal from you.
Other Mario Parties may have bigger and more robust minigame selection or board design, but we will forever hold a special place in our hearts for this chaotic original, and the bleeding palms it gave us.
10. WCW/nWo Revenge (1998, unavailable on modern systems)
Here’s one where nostalgia makes it tough to tell how strong the game really was, versus how strongly it happens to live on in our memories. That said, retrospective critical consensus confirms that, for its time, this one randomly-licensed wrestling title was among the very best 3D fighting games available. We still have fond memories of launching piledrivers and smashing chairs with Canada’s own Bret Hart, the Spider-Man-coded Rey Mysterio Jr., and goofy hidden character AKI Man.
11. Mario Tennis (2000, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
Much like real tennis, the Nintendofied version is at its best with two perfectly-matched opponents (or four, if you can gather together enough friends for doubles), each match a pulse-pounding, controller-sweating duel for glory.
12. Diddy Kong Racing (1997, unavailable on modern systems)
The 1990s saw a surfeit of cartoonishly-themed kart racers, all heavily inspired by (if not stealing outright from) progenitor Mario Kart, but very few of them are actually worth your time. And while we had reasons to be skeptical about a non-Mario racer, DKR’s success was, in retrospect, always assured thanks to three little words: Developed By Rare.
The fabled British studio, responsible for four other games on this list, was always too good to simply settle for a knock-off. Instead, DKR makes up for what it lacks in memorable characters (Timber the Tiger, anyone?) with elegant level design and multiple vehicle types, including standard karts, hovercrafts, and even biplanes.
13. Mischief Makers (1997, unavailable on modern systems)
It’s been over a decade since Treasure, the legendary studio behind fabled shmups like Einhänder, Ikaruga, and Gunstar Heroes, released a new game. In its heyday, however, this cult-beloved Japanese studio dominated the niche space of hardcore shoot-em-ups, even as it occasionally dabbled in other genre fare, notably this bizarre but deeply satisfying 2.5D action-platformer, built around a unique grab-shake-throw mechanic which vaguely calls to mind my beloved Tomba!.
14. Mario Golf (1999, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
VR minigolf may be all the rage these days, but this console classic represents yet another evergreen multiplayer title, with player-friendly – but not simplistic – mechanics in service of a surprisingly straitlaced take on the sport, with nary a fireball or super mushroom in sight.
15. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (1997, remastered version available, alongside Turok 2, as part of Turok Remastered on Switch/2, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, and Windows/Steam)
Despite the obvious mass-market appeal, there aren’t nearly enough games about dinosaurs. Sure, there are games with dinosaurs (warning: spoilers for a thirty-year-old PS1 game at that link), but building a whole game around them, hunting them, being hunted by them, remains relatively rare. Even all these years later, Turok is still a blast, with its time-travelling hero doing his best Homer Simpson impersonation as he attempts to survive the “Lost Land”.
16. F-Zero X (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
The outrageously fast F-Zero series was for a long time a Nintendo staple, even if it’s been a few years (scratch that – two decades!) since the last mainline release in this futuristic sci-fi racer. Consensus is that this entry ranks second to the legendary GameCube sequel, but that’s no knock against its blazing fast, hardcore racing gameplay, which still looks great.
17. NHL 99 (1998, unavailable on modern systems)
It’s beautifully broken, but how beautiful that brokenness can be. Not the best of the NHL series (that honour goes to NHL 94), what 99 lacks in, say, entirely functional gameplay, it more than makes up for in easily learned glitches and exploits which add an unexpectedly thrilling dynamic to every game.
Do you try to juke past your opponent’s computer-controlled goalie, relying on the game’s janky AI to trip them up, or, knowing your opponent also mistrusts their own goalie, do you attempt a double fake-out and watch as they take manual control and flop Garth Snow into oblivion?
18. Perfect Dark (2000, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
I’ve always said Perfect Dark should have been another James Bond game, but kudos to Rare for branching off on its own, creating, in Joanna Dark, a worthy super-spy inheritor to the console FPS mantle. (That said, given the mediocre Tomorrow Never Dies game we got instead of a proper Rare-developed GoldenEye sequel, this one especially hurts.)
19. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (2001, modern remake available as part of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 on PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Switch, and Windows)
Not nearly as good as its PS1 counterpart (which benefitted from the extra capacity and audio capabilities of PlayStation discs), this skateboarding classic is still one of the best N64 titles, even if the soundtrack is a little busted.
20. Resident Evil 2 (1999, modern remake available on PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Switch, and Windows)
Like the previous entry, this survival horror classic played and looked a heck of a lot better on PS1, though it’s impressive enough how Capcom managed to squeeze all that zombie goodness into a single N64 cartridge. Setting aside the Ocarina ReDeads, it’s the scariest game on this otherwise very family-friendly console.
21. Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999, HD remaster available on Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One, and Windows/Steam)
Time has been kind to Episode I: Racer, a sub-F-Zero sci-fi racer released at the height of prequelmania, and which managed to overcome the curse of movie tie-ins and break through into mainstream success. A recently-announced sequel, set for release later this year, has fans reminiscing about racing through Beggar’s Canyon all over again.
22. 1080° Snowboarding (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
While the best snowboarding game remains a certain PS2 classic, this wonderfully designed boarder for N64, surprisingly developed in-house by Nintendo itself, offered a plethora of awesome racing and stunt/trick modes, à la Wave Race.
23. Space Station Silicon Valley (1998, unavailable on modern systems)
1998 saw the release of two critically acclaimed, wildly inventive N64 adventures from the mavericks at DMA Design, who you probably know better today as Rockstar North. While I never played Body Harvest (which N64 purists will no doubt tell you deserves a spot on this list), I thoroughly adored SSSV when I encountered it years later, with its nifty animal possession gameplay, in which you jump from robot-controlled animal to robot-controlled animal, solving puzzles.
24. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996, unavailable on modern systems)
The worst best Star Wars game for the N64, it’s difficult to describe the phenomenon that was SotE for those who weren’t around to experience it. Billed as a quasi-official “interquel” set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the SotE project boasted tie-in novels, badass action figures, and one very ambitious if not altogether sound video game. I can still hear the rhythm of the AT-ST’s footsteps whenever I think of this game.
25. Sin and Punishment (2000/2007, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
Okay, this one’s a bit of a cheat. Not actually released in North America during the N64’s lifespan, this Japan-exclusive eventually made its way to Western digital storefronts with a much-loved Wii Virtual Console release in 2007. Developed by legendary shmup studio Treasure, it’s a brilliant, wonderfully designed rail shooter, in which your endlessly moving protagonist must overcome wave after wave of brightly-coloured, overpowered enemies. Its more recent revival via the Switch Online Library is a gaming blessing for the ages.
26. Banjo-Kazooie (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
Because I’m such a Super Mario 64 fanatic, and because Banjo-Kazooie always felt, rightly or wrongly, like a poor substitute, and because I detest collect-a-thons, I’ve never been totally sold on this beloved classic. Still, it’s hard to deny its charm and enduring popularity.
27. Conker’s Bad Fur Day (2001, unavailable on modern systems)
Another title I was significantly late to the game for, and boy has it not aged well. An M-for-Mature satire of cute and cuddly mascot games, this Rare title is funny in fits and spurts, but also regularly grinds to a halt with lazily profane humour, and, more to the point, agonizingly dull and repetitive gameplay. It just barely cracks this list for sheer force of its brazenness on the otherwise family-friendly N64.
28. Madden NFL 99 (1998, unavailable on modern systems)
I don’t like football (in any of its forms), but that’s never stopped me from enjoying a good game of virtual pig-iron or whatever. The N64 Maddens are easily the ones I’ve spent the most time in, with this second entry – the first to allow custom playmaking – widely regarded as the best of the bunch.
29. Cruis’n USA (1996, unavailable on modern systems)
It’s not the best racing game of all time – heck, some might argue it’s not even the best Cruis’n – but for my money it’s this, Outrun-style racer, with its fantastic course selection (hello San Francisco and Redwood Forest) and fun multiplayer, which deserves its spot at the tail end of our top 30.
30. Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls (1998, available via Switch Online N64 Library)
It’s my list, okay?
Sure, Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls may have a goofy name and even goofier aesthetic, but I’ll be damned if my friends and I didn’t have a blast racing through its deviously-designed quasi-3D courses, which involve a lot of grappling hooks and a whole lot of ruthless sabotage. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun spoiling a friend’s run outside a well-timed Mario Kart lightning bolt.
***
Looking for more classic gaming recommendations?
Check out our 30th anniversary roundup of the N64’s rival console, in the Thirty Greatest PS1 Games of All-Time, or read up on any one of our entries in the ever-expanding “Late to the Game” series.
