Nah, 1080 is quality. Justifiably acclaimed BITD. I always rep that and Wave Race 64 as cab-quality arcade racers, usually to a bunch of complaints about their framerates. (unideal at times, but thoroughly unobtrusive imo)Air Master Burst wrote:F-Zero X is ok, but honestly not even the best N64 futuristic racer from 98 (Wipeout 64 takes it). Then again, for my money the best N64 game of 1998 was 1080 Snowboarding, so different strokes and all that.
Attractive games too, imo, between WR64's bold Namco-esque primary colours and still-gorgeous water, and 1080's almost tangibly crisp winter air and white powder. The latter even has some quality butt-rock.
I'm less enamoured with it due my blatant NTSCJ chauvinism, but even Diddy Kong Racing is quality work imo. Enjoyed quite the Time Attack scene both locally (saying something, given the goddamn VIDYA DESERT I grew up in ) and on the nascent internet. S&P (and StarFox 64), AKI wrasslin, and arcade-styled racing... my N64 stash has lots of minor/dubiously-aging favourites in it, but on those three counts, it's a rock-solid machine imo.
Nobody who's yet to encounter a four-man AKI battle royale can really know just the brand of raucously cutthroat mayhem on offer, nor the bloody-yet-technical 1v1 rivalries that ensue.
(I'd rep Bangaioh and Trouble Makers too, but I've really not put the time on either. lots of my favourite peeps have, though, so it's not like I nervously eye 'em looking to sell up or anything)
I jumped on WO64 the instant it dropped, being PS1-less at the time. As with Ridge Racer 64, I had a lot of fun with it, cleared out all the campaign trophies IIRC, but I always felt like I was missing out with both's lukewarm reps VS their PS1 counterparts. While I think Revolution and Rage Racer smoke (the otherwise quite enjoyable) RR64, I never felt much of an upgrade going between WO64 and XL. I'm much less of a Wipeout diehard, though.
Well, no upgrade apart from the neGcon, still the best analogue racing controller I've ever used on console. I snaffled a whole box of the fuckers NOS for spare parts BITD, haha. (improbably enough, my original's still trucking along fine... then again, all my N64 sticks feel like new, too. remember, lads! it's a caress, not a press! )
This is bringing back dubious memories of Canadian-developed RR64's ridiculous enemy car AI, haha. The only AC-styled racer I've ever seen where, as you're closing in on the frontrunners, they'll break off and try to fuck with you while the guy in front speeds off. I felt like a goddamn war hero squeezing through those gridlocking shitbirds to get 1st in the final, final, for-real-actually final cup, that night city course with the traditional RR endgame "no drift just twitch" intensity.