An Underrated and Overlooked Gem
The Nintendo 64 was a breeding ground for the at-the-time new genre of 3D platforming from its release of Super Mario 64. Many other games have tried to recapture the essence of what made Mario 64 such a great game, with few games coming close (Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel, Donkey Kong 64) and a few games on other systems completely missing the point (Bubsy 3D). While Rocket: Robot on Wheels never became a best-selling game, it proved to be unique enough to stand on its own in a sea of platformers.
The game's plot is simple: you're a robot named Rocket that belongs to a Walt Disney expy that witnesses his new theme park go haywire the night before it opens to the public. Your mission- wheel yourself through Whoopie World and stop the mascot's deranged second-banana Jojo from ruining everything. It's not Shakespeare, but it doesn't need to be since the story isn't the main attraction.
Before physics engines were constantly being touted in games, Rocket beat them to the punch by featuring an advanced (for the time) engine. Many of the game's puzzles revolved around using the engine to your advantage as well as the standard jumping puzzles. However the gameplay and the puzzles are diverse enough that you're never doing the exact same thing twice.
The game is relatively small- there are only seven worlds to explore, and that includes the hub world of Whoopie World. However, the game strays away from the traditional fire/ice/jungle/desert worlds that have become staple of the genre in favor of more original settings, such as shooting Roman architecture with paintballs or exploring a world made of chocolate and other sweets. The worlds themselves are relatively nice looking for a N64-era game, though the colors can be a bit too dark at times.
This game gets left out of the conversation when it comes to the 'Best N64 Game' due to its relative obscurity. However, it would be remiss not to at least call it one of the system's best platformers.
