Most "definitive" N64 game ever?

This is a HARD question. I saw this question asked on a Facebook group and it got the gears turning in my head. The four selection they chose were as follows. Super Mario 64

Mario Kart 64 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time GoldenEye007

Each of these games not only redefined their own IP, but either defined or redefined the entire genres they were a part of. Let's go in order here.

This game was a monumental graphical leap over Super Mario World. While Super Mario RPG did kind of bridge the gap a little bit in terms of visuals, there is a big difference between 2D sprites and 3D models. The first time I saw Super Mario 64 I was blown away. The level of freedom was something that we had never really experience before. While the previous Mario entries certainly had a lot to explore and tons of secrets, in those games everything still felt "linear." Like, even though it was supposed to be a "secret," it still felt like you were supposed to go there rather than something you discovered in happenstance. You also had a timer that was forcing you to keep it moving leaving you little time to explore. Super Mario 64 was the first platformer that you truly felt that you could go wherever you wanted to go and explore whatever you wanted to explore at you own leisure. The levels were not dense with design or assets mind you, but there was enough material and areas to give you that, " I wonder what's over here?" feeling. The foundation of what a 3D platformer can be, started with this.

Super Mario Kart definitely was the start of this franchise, but in many ways that I will not go into here because that is a blog onto itself, I feel that Mario Kart 64 is a totally different game than Super Mario Kart was, and this game is what created the foundation of what Mario Kart games would be up until the present day. Pretty much every single go-kart racer to date has been modeled after this concept.

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time was a masterpiece from every conceivable angle. I myself was never even interested in Zelda games and had never played one for more than a few minutes at the most up until I bought this game. I'm not sure what genre Zelda games are supposed to be categorized in. I just say Action/RPG. That is what makes the most sense to me, but this game feels like a cornucopia of genres. There are platforming elements, RPG elements, action-adventure elements, dungeon-crawling elements, and many others as well. This game feels like it takes the best elements from many different genres and rolls them up into its own thing. In that vein, while the Zelda series was redefined with Ocarina Of Time and many games certainly are inspired by it, I don't think it really redefined the Action/RPG genre so to speak because it is too much of it's own thing and no one does it like Zelda.

GoldenEye007 most assuredly redefined the first-person shooter genre. That's not even arguable as far as I'm concerned. While first-person shooters certain existed before GoldenEye007, the concept of FPS games and multiplayer was not really a thing yet. Up until this point, FPS games like Wolfenstein and DOOM were predominately on PC, and multiplayer was considered a luxury rather than the foundation. The N64 having 4 controller ports built into the console made things a lot easier. This, in my humble opinion, is where "competitive" FPS gameplay started. This game ignited a fire in many people to seek more FPS games in the competitive FPS space like Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, etc. and people were willing to build major PC gaming-rigs in order to get the same experience that they had on the N64. These games walked so that franchises like Halo, Battlefield, and Call Of Duty could run. It all started with GoldenEye007. So, the question is out there. Which of these 4 games was THE more definitive N64 game? Or, is there another game out there that defined the N64? To be totally transparent here, I honestly do NOT know. I can make strong arguments for every single one of them and a few others not listed here. I'll will say this. When it comes to gaming as we know it today, it is not unreasonable to suggest that perhaps............the N64 itself might have been the "definitive" console in the past 30 years.

Most "definitive" N64 Title

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  0%Super Mario 64
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  0%Mario Kart 64
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  0%Ocarina Of Time
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  0%GoldenEye007

The REALITY of Content Creation

I've grown pretty tried of content creators that got fat when food was plentiful saying that there is a feast still on the table when in reality it is a bunch of messed-over scraps. No one else has the testicular-fortitude to say this, so I'll say it because it needs to be said. People that already had a large following of people before algorithms took over have a skewed viewpoint of what "organic growth" looks like today. Back in the 2000s - 2010s, there was an explosion of organic growth because these social-media platforms were trying to grow their brands. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter were not the juggernauts 15 years ago that they are today. They needed as many people on their platforms as possible to build a solid foundation. Back then, everyone saw ALL of your posts, and you saw all of theirs. Advertisements were minimal at best. It was easy to gain followers. A lot of people became social-media celebrities overnight. A lot of people started making significant amounts of money on these platforms. A lot of people quit their 9-5 jobs and became full-time content creators. Once these platforms reached the point of equilibrium and these companies saw that they had millions of people over a barrel, that is when the .com social-media bubble, BURST. Now, they've changed all of their policies to take the power and control away from the content creators. They started to ransack feeds with ads. They started to limit engagement on accounts and let the algorithm decide what you should see from others and IF others should see anything from you. Now, in order to maintain what you have or get back what you had, you have to play the game their way and as I mentioned earlier, many people have made content creation their bread and butter. They support their families with this. So, now you see people that you have followed for years stooping to new lows with their content whether it be click-bait titles, or content dripping with social or political agenda. Why? It's because that is what the algorithm WANTS and if you want to get paid, that is what you have to do. People that already had a huge following with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple platforms can't see it through the eyes of Joe Blow that is trying to launch a new brand today, in 2025. They think like... "Hey it worked for me, it should work for you, too. You just aren't doing it right." Or...

"You just aren't trying hard enough." The stuff that worked for those people then, doesn't work now. The tips and instructions that the social-media platforms shamelessly claim work, do NOT work. Too many big time content creators on YouTube that have HUGE followings have either had to downsize and disband the teams they had, engage in other financial ventures to make ends-meet, get a regular 9-5 job on the side to help make ends-meet, or quit content creation altogether. Too many MAJOR artists that I follow that have hundreds of thousands of followers on EACH of multiple platforms and work for MAJOR comic book companies, animation studios, video game companies, etc., have ALL stated that engagement for them these days is a fraction of what it used to be. Maybe Captain Picard can help me on this...

It's not about the quality of your art. It's not about the timing in when you post it. It's not about how you view your own creations or even how others view your creations. It's not about volume or pacing. It's about that fact that if you want to succeed on a social-media platform, then you have to play THEIR game and by THEIR rules, which means you cease being an artist and become THEIR tool. In effect, you become their own organic, AI prompt.

Nintendo Switch 2: My Review

The last Nintendo console I owned was the Wii U. I bought it on launch day. I bought 3 games. NintendoLand, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, and some crappy game called Game Party Champions that I took RIGHT BACK to the store because it stunk so bad! I think I kept my Wii U for about 2 years before I traded it in. I just didn't enjoy it. I did not by the Nintendo Switch because I had no interest in it. I don't really care about playing portable games. It's a nice feature just in case, but I've never kept a portable device for a long period of time. I had the PSP for a cup of coffee before I sold that back in the day. The other reason I wasn't interested was because of the lack of power. There are some good looking games on the Switch no doubt, but they are just far behind of where they should have been at that point in time in my opinion. When it came time for Nintendo to make a successor to the Switch, all I asked for them to do was to give me a device that was at least as powerful as the XBOX One X. Well, I seems like that is the case based on the performance of games and the hardware inside. So, I'm a man of my word. I looked around for the Switch 2 out of curiosity during the launch week. I wasn't 100% sure I was going to pull the trigger on that though, because the two games that really clinched things for me were Donkey Kong Bananza and Metroid Prime 4 and they were not available. Donkey Kong Bananza won't be out until the 17th, and we still don't have a release date for Metroid Prime 4. So, after seeing it sold out everywhere, I decided to hold off on purchasing one. Most of the NEW games for Switch 2 are games that I either already have elsewhere, or do not interest me. However, my friend texted me today and told me that his contact at a Best Buy near me said they had a huge shipment of them. I was already heading in that direction but for a different reason, but I decided to stop in and check this out. I asked if they had the Switch 2 in stock and they said, yes. So, I decided to go ahead and buy it! I did not buy the Mario Kart World bundle. I wanted to had at least two games and still top out at $500. So, I purchased Welcome Tour and Fast Fusion and with tax it came out to about $500. So, what are my first impressions of the device now that I have it in my home? Well, it feels better in my hands than the original Switch does. The Joy-Cons feel a lot better. The console feels more like a normal, consumer electronic device rather than a toy. The satin-like texture of the plastic is very comforting. Here are my Pros and Cons about the aesthetics and operation of the device. PROS ~System size ~System texture ~Horsepower ~Responsiveness ~Brevity in the OS ~Mouse functionality ~HD Rumble 2 ~Fast Downloads CONS ~HDR (or lack thereof) ~Power cable (A little short, but not an issue.) ~Dock (Feels very cheap and I don't like the "wobble" of the device in the dock.) ~Sound (Speakers are not very loud.) That's about all I can say after only having the device for less than a day. The OS is very light compared to what I'm used to with Microsoft and Sony, but I like things to be straight and to the point without all the bloat of endless screens with ads for other games and stuff spammed all over the place. I still don't see why this OS needs 2 full cores and 3GB of RAM though. Oh well. It does run very smoothly. So now, what about the games? Well, let's start with everyone's favorite game, Welcome Tour! Yes, this game is actually fun to play. No, it should NOT be free. I'll say it again... WELCOME TOUR SHOULD NOT BE FREE!!!! I'm having more fun playing this than I ever did playing NintendoLand and I paid $60 bucks for that! Should this have been a pack-in game rather than separately? Probably. I'll give you that, but that $10 should have been worked into the price of the console. This is a full-fledged game with a bunch of mini-games showing off the Switch 2 hardware. The mini-games to me feel like Wario Ware type stuff and again, that is a FULL PRICE game. With all the stuff you can do in this game Nintendo is giving you a bargain at $10 to be honest. I know very few people will agree with me, but I don't really care! This is my review. The other game is Fast Fusion. Listen...............this game is AWESOME. Graphically it looks amazing. The frame-rates are solid. I choose Quality mode with 4K60, but it even looks good in 30fps. Every time think about the game I want to play it. This game even managed to impress Digital Foundry. The game itself has great music that takes me back to the late 90s with Electronica-style music. The music in games like this (namely Wip3out) are responsible for my love of Trance and Progressive music today. The gameplay is smooth. I never feel like I'm not in control of the vehicle. That was one of the problems with games like Wip3out. You'd be going so fast that one little bump would send you flying, or it would be hard to get any speed going without constantly banging against the rails. Extreme G was better because you couldn't really get knocked off course. Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase. Oh yeah, I almost forget..... ALL MY GAMES ARE DIGITAL!!!! MUUAHHAHAHAHA!!! .....and, If I have to put a game on a Game Key Card, I will, and won't even bat an eye. I've made it a goal to purposefully enjoy most of the stuff people are whining about. Not everything, because the Switch 2 obviously has a few issues. HDR just doesn't work. Like AT ALL. In portable mode or docked. It is fixable, but right now it is pointless to turn it on. I just adjusted my TV to get the visuals I wanted. On those few occasions I do take my Switch 2 out of the dock, I'm definitely using headphones because the sound just isn't loud enough for me. Despite of all the evil and hatred towards Nintendo these days, I CHOOSE to ignore all that foolishness and CHOOSE to be thankful and grateful to God that He allowed me to get one of these when He didn't have to. Time is winding up in this world. I'm gonna enjoy every blessing that I can.