#111. CyberTiger
February 29, 2000
Saffire
Electronic Arts
$67.49 on Amazon
This is a surprisingly fun arcade style golf game. If for some reason you wish Mario Golf was just a shade more realistic but still pretty goofy, let me tell you about CyberTiger. There’s fun items that let you blast drives or skip shots across the water, and you can get like three or four different nice polo shirts to put on CyberTiger. These are nice, nice shirts. Don’t be fooled by the name CyberTiger either; it’s just regular Tiger Woods. He doesn’t do Matrix stuff or anything. Despite its lighter tone, it has the best putting system of any Nintendo 64 golfing game, and perhaps the only one that doesn’t make me routinely sob after botching putts. Come for the arcade fun, stay for the inexplicable “pump” mode, for when you want to see Tiger Woods’ head get a little bit bigger by pumping some air into it. Hidden gem right here. I don’t know how this game wasn’t called CyberTiger 2000. — M. Roebuck
#110. WCW vs. nWo: World Tour
December 2, 1997
AKI Corporation
THQ
This THQ wrestling game has a great roster and decent music, but is a bit perplexing. Being the second WCW title that THQ had made with developer Aki Corporation in 1997, they really hit it out of the park this time around! From back in the day when you really needed to read the manual to figure out what the hell to do (and even then it could still be pretty confusing). It’s also the first of these games to have the “critically acclaimed grappling system.”
I’d like to pose a question to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, though. You gave this Fighting Game of the Year in 1998? Why? Over Dead or Alive, Tekken 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Virtua Fighter 2?
The character options though, damn. What a selection! Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Eddy Guerrero, Lex Luger, Chris Benoit, and the secret unlockable Macho Man Randy Savage to name a few. All in all, a bit of a slog to play by yourself, but if you can get a couple of friends together to do a Battle Royal, you’re in for a good time. — Chris Colman
#109. A Bug’s Life
April 30, 1999
Traveller’s Tales
Activision
$49.99 on Amazon
In the late 90s and early aughts, there was an extraordinary time when movie releases would be accompanied with a video game. One could tell that the idea of said game was probably tacked on during a marketing strategy meeting, and that no one really cared about what and how it would be made, just that it would be made. A Bug’s Life was one of those things.
Based on the Pixar movie, this title mostly leveraged the same basic elements as the film: ants running around between towering blades of grass, navigating wind currents with flower petals, and so on. The strange thing is that somehow, despite even loosely following the same storyline and settings, this game was infinitely more terrifying than the movie. There was always a dark, dim quality that haunted most levels. In retrospect, this was most likely due to graphical limitations at the time, but it set an ambiance of constant terror. The music, even when ambient or cheery, always had an urgent quality to it that elevated my already sky-high levels of anxiety as a child.
The only way Flik, the main ant character, could attack was by throwing berries. Imagine the juxtaposition of wacky, fart-like splats of berries and the loud buzzing of a furious wasp. The game also uses samples of the actual voice actor, so occasionally you’d hear “Oh YEAH!” or some other quip while trying to run for your life. Honestly, it was fucking hard. Most of those movie games were, and I never knew if it was because they had to squeeze out a functioning game in probably a disgustingly small amount of time or if really, it was meant to be that hard. I never needed to hone my gaming skills with Dark Souls because I survived A Bug’s Life. — Ashley Oh
#108: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
Midway Studios San Diego
Midway Games
November 16, 1999
$35 on Amazon
The fun thing about video games in 1999 is that there were still plenty of basic gameplay mechanics up for grabs that could make your project stand out. For Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, it’s being able to wander around the ring in 3D. Unlike other fighting games on a 2D scale, I can basically just dodge my opponent forever if I want to. Which is good, because I’m pretty bad at fighting games. My strategy here: hit a couple times, run away, repeat. That worked pretty okay which means this game is probably too easy. There’s a nice variety of characters but I did find myself cringing whenever they’d speak. — C. Dean
#107. Spider-Man
November 21, 2000
Neversoft
Activision
$59.98 on Amazon
Another PS1 classic makes its way to N64, but worse. This version of the game lacks the PlayStation’s FMV cutscenes, has a shorter draw distance, and suffers the usual downgrades in sound that hamper most ports from Sony’s console. But the game is still a blast at its core. This was the first time we got to swing around like Spider-Man in a 3D space, and it’s still as fun here as it was then. It’s especially cool how much of the rest of the Marvel Universe shows up here. Black Cat, Human Torch, and Daredevil all show up for cameos, and it makes it feel like you’ve been dumped into issue 392 of an ongoing series. But what is up with these controls? Why do I have to press a C-Button to punch? If you don’t have a PS1, this will do the job. It’s the Ben Reilly of Spider-Man games. — S. Finkelstein
#106. Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
September 28, 1999
Crystal Dynamics
Crave Entertainment
$44.99 on Amazon
Now THIS is Tail Time! Gex is here, again! And this follow-up to Gex 64 actually manages to make the leap from PS1 to N64 mostly intact. It’s pretty much more of the same. You bop around to different TV and movie-themed levels, whack people with your tail, and say some really funny one-liners that everyone loves and thinks are very funny. Surprisingly, the cartridge also manages to fit some FMV videos with Gex’s new love interest, Playboy model Marliece Andrada. That’s right, Gex was playing the bestiality game WAY before Sonic 06.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Gex 3. Look, it’s a very stupid game. But if you have to play a 3D platformer not made by Nintendo or Rare, you could do worse than this.— S. Finkelstein
#105. Quest 64
June 1, 1998
Imagineer
THQ
$42.95 on Amazon
One of the absolute best RPG’s on the Nintendo 64, in the way that Look Who’s Talking Now is one of the absolute best movies in that trilogy. It’s a factual statement, but why on earth would you ever need to say it? What’s fascinating about this lightweight, Zelda-on-rails kind-of-sort-of-an-RPG is that it while there’s fuck-all in the department of traditional leveling and armor and weapons, there is a clever and engaging combat system that lets the player move around the battlefield during the turn based combat, along the lines of Parasite Eve. Also, I love the main character, Brian. Brian looks great and I like the way his hair’s a little messed up. There’s not much more in the way of character development, but a name like Brian tells me all I need to know. He’s an everyman, the one here to save the day. Who can bring order to this chaotic world? That’s easy. It’s Brian. Brian can do it. — M. Roebuck
#104. Magical Tetris Challenge
January 14, 1999
Capcom
Capcom
$47.59 on Amazon
It’s Tetris. Ok, now that that’s out of the way, what the fuck is going on in this game? It’s a Disney licensed game, and there’s a story mode where you get to play as either Mickey, Donald, Goofy, or Minnie. I picked Mickey, and the story starts with him going to Minnie’s house where they play Tetris. Then, Pete walks in with one of the weasels from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and HYPNOTIZES Minnie to get her to MARRY him. This is way more fucked up than any M-rated game. I tried the Goofy path, and the first stage has Goofy dropping off some vegetables so Minnie can make Vegetable Cookies. It’s almost as fucked up as all the hypnotizing shit. Anyway, this is a solid Tetris game with some great music and sprite work and I don’t think children should be allowed to play it. — S. Finkelstein
#103. Yoshi’s Story
March 10, 1998
Nintendo EAD
Nintendo
$54.69 on Amazon
The biggest problem Yoshi’s Story has is that it’s not Yoshi’s Island. The latter game was a best-seller for the SNES that crawled into a lot of people’s brains in the ‘90s, so a 64-bit sequel should’ve been an obvious slam dunk for Nintendo, and that’s what a lot of people seem to have been expecting at the time. Instead, Yoshi’s Story is a simple puzzle/platformer that you could give to a precocious 5-year-old to keep them busy for most of a weekend.
You walk around, you eat Shyguys to turn them into eggs, you throw those eggs as weapons, and you bolt down every scrap of fruit you see in order to raise Yoshi’s ‘happiness,’ because Yoshi has a hole in his soul that cannot ever be filled. For anyone older than maybe 10 who’s ever played a video game before, the only skill Yoshi’s Story tests is your ability to stay awake.
Even so, there’s nothing that’s actually wrong with it. This is meant as a short, entry-level, non-violent product for kids, or for parents to play with their kids, and it just about succeeds at that. It’s not for adults, or even teenagers, and that’s fine. — T. Wilde
#102. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
September 20, 2000
Neversoft
Activision
$33.99 on Amazon
Some additions and tweaks to the same engine make for one of the worst ways to play a really good game. The manual is here, Hangar and School II are here, and a half dozen bastardized versions of one of gaming’s most iconic soundtracks even made it, too.
Also, I remembered that as I kid I actually had this game on PC instead of N64, and so if you think the controls are shitty on the N64 controller, just try playing it with a fucking keyboard instead. Also, in this scenario you’re 10 years old and fairly dumb. — J. Knap
#101. Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes
September 28, 1999
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company
$49.99 on Amazon
Whoever thought to take green plastic army men and put them in a video game was a genius (if not someone who just owned the rights to green plastic army men and made a desperation pitch for the ages). It really lends itself to the medium in a lot of fun ways. The tutorial takes place at a little army men boot camp. You spend the game going “aha!” when you recognize different soldiers (at least I did, fellow kids). You can shoot a bunch of fuckers and not have them bleed and bring the mood down. Maybe most notably, the monochromatic, lifeless, faceless toys are incredibly easier to recreate accurately than, say, Kobe Bryant or The Rock or any recognizable human were on the system’s hardware.
Personally, I’m a sucker for tiny people shit and/or toy shit. Small Soldiers, Katamari, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Lego Movie. I love it and this game is a perfect vehicle for it. Sadly, for every one inspired set piece (bathroom warfare, battling across a living room decorated for Christmas) there’s two or three levels set in the toys’ muddy brown home world, a ratio the sequel would improve on. I’d prefer a short game that’s worth replaying than a clever one that’s clearly padded out with filler. Still though, this is worth checking out. May God be with you during the platforming parts, however. — M. Roebuck
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