Take the backtracking, for example: in Mario 64 you'll play the same levels at least a half dozen times trying to get the different stars.

It's like they took all the good ideas out of Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie and stretched and twisted them to unworkable extremes. It's hard to comprehend how Rare screwed it up so badly. The same applies to Pikmin, Metroid, Animal Crossing, even the original Donkey Kong-you name it.īut Donkey Kong 64 makes no attempt to achieve this magical illusion, and in that way it's barely a Nintendo game at all. Hell, Pokémon hides an incredibly complex battle system under its cartoony surface. Star Fox 64 is a linear game with a disappointing final boss, until you start finding secrets scattered through its levels. Ocarina of Time is not the straightforward fairy tale adventure it initially seems, but in reality a dark story about decay, naivety and responsibility (with some hard puzzles, as well). Anyone with two hands could easily grasp the mechanics of the original Super Mario Bros., but to master them was far more difficult.

Why? It lacks the core, essential thing that makes other Nintendo games great: complexity hidden beneath simplicity.Īll the greatest Nintendo games are accessible because they appear simple on the surface, but they have lasting appeal because there's depth underneath. In fact, it may have been the worst Nintendo game of the '90s. Donkey Kong 64 was not the great game you remember it to be. But I'm here to tell you right now that those memories are fogged by years and nostalgia. You may even still have fond memories of it.

If you were a kid, you probably liked it. If you were a Nintendo fan in the '90s, you probably played Donkey Kong 64.

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