It's time once again to delve deep into the misty (or foggy) sepulchers of the long-dead library of the Nintendo 64 to see which of its decedents are fit for a ceremonious resurrection on the premium tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service, much like Dr. Frankenstein did once upon a midnight dreary. Sorry for the macabre mood-setting, but we are mere days away from the greatest and spookiest month of the year and no amount of N64 detritus is going to quell my autumnal amusements. This is a whole lot of words to say we have another two N64 games on the chopping block this week and neither of them are horror-related: in fact, I'm struggling to think of much in the way of scary games for the N64 excepting, of course, those that are just scarily bad. Maybe I'll be able to dig up a spooker when we're closer to the end of October. Dig it up... from a grave! Gasp!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, there was no great suffering undertaken this week. Both my pre-select gamble and the chosen sacrifice expectorated by the randomizer turned out to be intriguing, if flawed, games that I enjoyed my time dissecting. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will go back to normal next week. What hasn't changed and will never change, unless I decide to change them, are the rules for 64 in 64:

• We take two N64 games. One is pre-selected by yours truly from a very small gaggle of N64 games I feel are deserving of a showcase, the other randomly chosen from the full library of the N64 including even that Mario photoshop thing I'm 99% certain won't work without its peripheral. Maybe I can just stare at its title screen for an hour instead. Content!
• These two games will be played for sixty-four minutes each. I'll include updates every sixteen minutes detailing my progress, my current mood, and whatever I've picked up about the game mechanics. If it's two paragraphs of constant screaming, it means the playthrough's probably going well.
• We end every examination by considering how well the game has held up and whatever cold business decisions conspire to keep it off the Nintendo Switch platform. Answers are usually "it hasn't" and "because no-one wants it".
• The goal is to find games for the Switch Online's N64 selection, so there's little point covering games that are already on there or on their way. Anything announced or currently available for Switch will not appear here, unless I got to it before it was confirmed.

Be sure to check out past episodes of 64 in 64 with the table below. Or, if you want an idea of which games were covered when, consult the grand ranking at the very end of this article.

Jet Force Gemini (Pre-Selected)

• Rare / Rare
• 1999-10-11 (NA), 1999-10-29 (EU)
• 253rd N64 Game Released

History: It's been three episodes, so we're back with another Rare game. Jet Force Gemini is the sixth game the British company released on the Nintendo 64 and the fifth of their games to appear so far on 64 in 64, out of a possible nine I can cover here (they released eleven, but two - Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007 - are off the table). So, yeah, we'll be keeping this "two episodes off, one episode on" pattern for Rare games going for just a little while longer. Distinct from the platformers and FPSes Rare were known for, Jet Force Gemini is a third-person shooter with a B-movie sci-fi theme that took the 3D traversal features that Rare had cultivated from developing games like Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye and placed them in this new format, or rather a much older arcade shooter format made new again by the virtue of being three-dimensional. Layered on top are more familiar Rare mechanics like gating progress until you have the right power-ups and a whole lot of collection targets: either spaceship parts for the finale or rescuing trapped NPCs.

The titular Jet Force Gemini are a galactic law enforcement unit sent to protect the primitive "Tribals" from an overwhelming force of ant-like drones led by an insectoid alien named Mizar. The team consists of the three playable characters Juno, Vela, and Lupus, the last of which is some kind of space dog. I'll go on record to say that Jet Force Gemini is the N64 Rare game I've spent the least amount of time with prior to this feature. I remember the press around it was considerate: not only were Rare a company to watch back then after Banjo and GoldenEye, but they were hometown heroes as far as the British gaming journos of the day were concerned and all their games received a lavish amount of attention, not dissimilar to The Bitmap Brothers way back in the day. It's a game I've been meaning to check out for a very long time as a result, hesitating this long for its 64 in 64 debut only because the genre isn't one I'm particularly adept with. Still, after my time with Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. in Episode 7, I wouldn't mind trying a bug hunt shooter that didn't make me want to huff cans of Raid (and if this doesn't work out, there's always Body Harvest).

16 Minutes In

After we get a text-free intro where Jet Force Gemini are compelled to deal with Mizar's forces, not just because they're attacking the Tribals (could we not come up with a less racially dubious name?) but because they attacked the JFG mothership directly and made it personal, we're dropped on the first planet of Goldwood. Juno, the male protagonist, is the only playable character at first: Vela and Lupus have gone on ahead and are presently missing in action. Since the whole intro doesn't have a single line of spoken dialogue, it was a little surprising to find that everyone planetside talks incessantly: we're introduced to the Yoda-like ambassador Magnus and the Tribal leader King Jeff, both of whom fill us in on what's been going on. The former also offers a brief tutorial on how navigation works: green exit doors indicate new areas, while red exit doors indicate places we've just come from (a similar navigational boon is used in the Metroid Prime series too if memory serves; I guess they were worried about players getting turned around while exploring the large open areas). After poking around the peaceful first few screens for collectibles I'm now in the thick of it, shooting ants and rescuing furry Ewok monstrosities.

The game controls are a little awkward but not as bad as some other N64 shooters I've played lately. Jumping and crouching are bound to the C-buttons, while A and B currently don't seem to have a purpose (besides confirming/cancelling while in menus or dialogue): a case like Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero from last week where the main face buttons are getting depreciated for the sake of the C-buttons, where most N64 games tend to do the inverse. Z is shoot, as you might expect from the trigger button, and the R-bumper is used for manual aiming which comes into play almost immediately with some high-up "sniper drones" across the game's first action stage. Naturally, this manual aiming is inverted with no apparent option to un-invert for us normies, which has been the trend with almost every N64 shooter I've played so far. It's a miracle so few of us ever went to the dark side. For now, I'm tentatively enjoying the experience, but we'll see how we are after a few more updates.

32 Minutes In

A little further in, I was momentarily waylaid by a subterranean area connected to the first stage. There are a group of enslaved Tribals to rescue down here, but the twisty passageways made it a little confusing to navigate, as did hiding the Yellow Key inside an inconspicuous crate: finding it is the only way to get out, as the exit locks itself behind you once you enter. Also not helping was when I went to the map screen in the menu, was presented with an astronomical map of the system which didn't help my current spelunking issues, and selected Goldwood hoping for a stage layout only to find that it dropped me back at the start of the world with all my progress gone. It exists purely as a stage-select screen: the reason being that you might have left a stage without rescuing all the Tribals on your first visit, which the game is hinting towards being an essential goal. Tribals can be left behind or even killed if you're not careful so I can see this being an irritant throughout the playthrough.

I'm growing less sure about this one by the moment. Fortunately, JFG doesn't require you use manual aiming for all the enemies, just the ones floating above your sightline: everything else gets targeted by the auto-aim reliably enough. I've only now picked up a machine gun from the room seen in the screenshot above, so the current run-and-gun spray-and-pray approach might be a little more viable now provided I keep my ammo up. Just got to remember to keep grabbing the enemies' guns after they die, which is tough because they tend to yeet them as hard as they can upon death in true GoldenEye fashion. I guess they're forsaking gun violence with their dying breaths? A powerful message, for sure.

48 Minutes In

Quite an eventful and educational sixteen minutes, now that I'm picking up the pace. The first informational tidbit is that, after acquiring the machine gun, I determined that the A/B buttons were simply used to toggle between the guns in your inventory. Popping into the options menu again, I realized that the game had defaulted to "Expert Controls", which simply switches the functions of the A/B buttons with the C-buttons: having the former jump and crouch and the latter switch between guns made far more intuitive sense. The game had me quickly understand the benefit of the machine gun by introducing drones (the flying robot type, this time) that are individually weak but swarm you with their numbers: by mowing them down quickly with the machine gun's high fire rate, you can avoid incurring too much damage. I also encountered a type of ant enemy that specifically goes after the Tribals, prompting you to destroy it as quickly as possible to avoid failing one of your main objectives, so that's a cool thing to have to deal with. Other discoveries include ammo backpacks, which I've only just noticed actually increase your max ammo capacity on a permanent basis (the upgrades were all carried over to the next "world"), and a wide chasm with a door on the other side. Having completed Goldwood without exploring all its areas - you get a rundown on the Tribal rescue screen in the menu, letting you know which stages still have prisoners to emancipate - I soon gathered that certain characters have certain abilities, either by default or eventually earned, that meant only they could reach specific areas. I already know what Vela's talent is (she's the only playable character that can go underwater) so I'm guessing the dog Lupus can float or air-dash somehow. Did I mention this game was developed in tandem with Donkey Kong 64? Starting to feel more apparent in retrospect.

Anyway, I learned much in a short amount of time - always learning, this guy - so my fluctuating opinion on JFG is starting to rise again having realized the game has a bit more depth to it than it was letting on with those cakewalk early levels. I've since moved on from Goldwood and am now inside the S.S. Anubis, the Mizar warship that captured our own cruiser during the intro. Magnus lets us know via cutscene magic (literally a thing) that Vela got captured somewhere in here, so rescuing her is now my top priority.

64 Minutes In

If Goldwood was the beginner zone that taught you the basics, the S.S. Anubis feels more like when the training wheels come off and the game shows you what it's really all about. In other words, the level design in this ship is completely incomprehensible and I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going. Jet Force Gemini? More like Jet Force Where Am I? Progression in this game works not unlike the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda: in most cases, in order to leave the current room and move onto the next you have to defeat all the enemies first. While the game does give you those aforementioned lights over doors to tell you if it leads somewhere new (green) or where you've just been (red) it won't let you know if you've made a big circuit back to an earlier area if there's enough distance between them. I don't think enemies respawn all too often though: once a room is clear, you can freely pass through it in revisits. The game is in dire need of a map system, but then that's mostly true of all of Rare's N64 games.

I've acquired a few more weapons - a plasma shotgun, good for tougher enemies up close, and cluster bombs, which can damage you as well if you're caught in the explosion - but after some dead ends and very few rescued Tribals I'm still not sure how much of this particular "zone" I have left to explore or where to go looking for undiscovered rooms next, let alone where Vela might be hiding. Guess it's a moot point either way since our hour's up here, but I suspect the rest of the game's going to be a pain to navigate especially if you need to backtrack through these sprawling worlds to reach the character-specific parts for maximum completion. Still, I mostly glossed over all that when extolling the virtues of Donkey Kong 64, so it'd be hypocritical to bash Jet Force Gemini for the same issue. A compass arrow, at least?

How Well Has It Aged?: Ehh. The navigation issues might be a dealbreaker just because those early UI problems have been ironed out so thoroughly by more than two decades of open-world game design since, though at least the red light/green light system does enough to stop you moonwalking through areas you've already been like a dummy. Visually it's as rough as anything else on N64 but the whole zappy space opera aesthetic is kinda fun - feels like the whole game was reverse-engineered from the space courses in Diddy Kong Racing - and creates a layer of stylistic abstraction that gels well with the limited graphical tech. The level design isn't particularly compelling outside of the art direction though: there are boxes, because the AI tech is smart enough to have enemies hide behind them and poke out to shoot, but that's mostly it besides death traps and lots and lots of doors. It's probably one of the weaker Rare games on the N64, a sentiment I'm fairly sure was common back then too, but with enough to set it apart stylistically and mechanically from Rare's other output that I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone's favorite N64 Rare game either.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Questionable. It sounds like Nintendo and Rare (and Microsoft) have finally sorted something out re: bringing GoldenEye 007 to Switch Online, even granting it the special privilege of being the only version of the game to offer online multiplayer. That makes me a little more hopeful that the other Rare games are on their way, though none were mentioned in Nintendo's roadmaps for 2022 and 2023. JFG lacks the Nintendo familial ties of Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing or the enduring brand appeal of Banjo-Tooie and Perfect Dark, so I'm not convinced it'll be a priority regardless. At least it's available on the Rare Replay collection?

Snowboard Kids (Random)

• Racdym / Atlus
• 1997-12-12 (JP), 1998-02 (NA), 1998-03-16 (EU)
• 65th N64 Game Released

History: Oh hey, didn't get a whammy from the randomizer this week. I should cherish these moments, since they're arriving few and far between. Snowboard Kids is the other big snowboarding franchise for the N64 after 1080 Snowboarding (which is sadly verboten) and opts for a more cartoony style with its gaggle of "Kilroy Was Here" big-nosed moppets hitting the slopes in style. I'd never played it before myself - my snowboarding sim history begins and ends with Amped 3, since I don't see anything topping it - but it's always a good sign of a game's quality when it did well enough to garner a sequel. (I say that, but there were also two consecutive Gex games released on this platform.)

Atlus probably needs no introduction, though why a company thoroughly married to Megami Tensei at this point in time felt the need to publish a cute snowboarding game is anyone's guess. Atlus did spread their talents far and wide in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras before SMT became what it is now, but would largely stick to RPGs in the PS1/N64 era and beyond. This game was released a month after Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on Saturn and a few months before Kartia: The Word of Fate on PS1, to give you some idea of the timeline (however, they also put out arcade fighter Groove on Fight around this time too, so I guess they did keep up with the odd side projects). Racdym, later known as Racjin, is another odd choice for a sports/racing-adjacent game: like Atlus, they've become far more famous for their RPGs, including Final Fantasy Explorers for Square Enix and the pretty decent Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land on PS2 along with a whole bunch of Bleach, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist anime tie-ins. Both developer and publisher have very few other Nintendo 64 credits: Atlus's only other N64 game was, unsurprisingly, Snowboard Kids 2 (also developed by Racjin) while Racjin's sole off-piste production was Bomberman 64, albeit not the Bomberman 64 we've already covered on here. Racjin also developed the cancelled N64 mecha shoot 'em up Viewpoint 2064, which nonetheless exists out on the internet in a mostly complete (and fan-translated) prototype state - could be a potential future entry.

16 Minutes In

Taking in some options. Looks like the Battle Race is the default mode, so that's what I'm going for. There's five characters to choose from, at least originally, so I went with Jam: he has the best overall stats and no significant weaknesses, besides being a little slower than the all-rounder Slash. I decided to pass on the oversexualized eleven-year-old Linda, the extremely slow Nancy, or the unwieldy Tommy (who seems like this game's Bowser or DK: a larger, faster option for experts who no longer require the enhanced handling). I was curious how these downhill snowboarding courses have laps, but there's a neat mechanic revolving around a chairlift back to the top: if you're neck-and-neck with a rival, you sort of have to bash each other out the way to be the first on the lift for a headstart on the next lap.

Maybe I spoke too soon regarding the whammies and the temporary stay of execution thereof. Snowboard Kids does not feel all that great to play so far, in some part due to the inherent inflexibility of snowboarding. If you want to corner or commit to a harsh turn, you better do so long before it arrives. There might be a way for a faster turn but if so it doesn't work the same way as Mario Kart 64 - the game's closest parallel from what I've seen - where you use the R-bumper to hop and drift. Rather, the R-bumper and B-button are both tied to item usage: the game lets you have two at once, but only one offensive and one defensive type. You also have to collect coins to purchase power-ups, so if you run into one of the item blocks without enough cash you smash right into it and lose all your momentum and probably the race if it's close enough to the end, so this is one of those rare kart racers where you absolutely have to remember to swerve into currency whenever possible. You can perform tricks off the bigger jumps, which also earns you money depending on the style factor.

32 Minutes In

All right, after a little more experimentation I figured out that if you sort of hold back and in the direction you want to turn in a diagonal fashion, the turns are a little cleaner and sharper. Progression has been slow - I've only just won Rookie Mountain, and only achieved a silver medal on the next course Big Snowman - half because I suck at the game (or perhaps more fairly, because it has a learning curve to it) and half because it has that classic kart racer dynamic where one's status in a race can turn on a dime if you're unlucky enough to get hit by something.

Snowboard Kids's items are very much modelled on those from the original Super Mario Kart, and has analogies for: green shells (parachutes and snowballs, the former slows opponents especially when in the air and the other takes away their ability to steer), red shells (these weird grabby hand things with limited tracking ability), banana peels (rocks), mushroom boosts (fans), ghosts (ghosts), and the lightning bolt (pans, which drop on everyone's heads and flatten them for a few seconds). New, sorta, is a power-up that makes you temporarily invisible: this means items can't hit you, including those that don't have to be aimed like the pans.

48 Minutes In

All right, all right, all right, starting to turn around on this game a little now. I've achieved first place in both the first and third courses (Big Snowman's second-place finish still sticks in the craw, frankly) and the sharper turning has definitely improved my mood. The game is still a whole heap of BS coming from all angles, including the way opponents never seem to target each other with items and only you (might have been true for Mario Kart too though) and how frequently they'll do so the moment you pass them because they just have those items sitting there in reserve waiting for you to come along. I did manage to make up for Jam's slower speed with a board upgrade: turns out money has usage outside of courses, since you can spend it to improve any of the three default boards (fast but hard to steer, slow but easy to handle, and the all-rounder) for a minor stat boost. Finally, here in 1997, the kart racers have embraced pay-to-win.

Also, a correction: I assumed the ghost worked the same way here as it does in Mario Kart, where it steals an item from a random player, but it actually works more like a nicer blue shell by temporarily dragging down the speed of whomever is in first so that the others, including yourself, can catch up. Haven't tried to use it while in first place to see what happens, and I'm almost afraid to do so. The real thief power-up is a mouse that twerks at you while stealing everyone else's money: I've only picked it up twice and never had it used on me, but my cash reserves went up sharply each time. Might even be able to afford another board upgrade soon, and at that point I won't be able to make any excuses for losing. Hmm. Maybe I'll hold off, then.

64 Minutes In

Not much to report this time. Tried out the fourth course (there's six total), which was set on and around an abandoned highway covered with ice at night (seems safe enough for pre-teens) but only got second place again, so I bailed out of the battle race mode to see what else the game had for me. There's four other modes: three based on specific mechanics that also serve as practice - using weapons, using speed-up items at the right moment, and hitting tricks - as well as a standard time trial mode that removes items for purity's sake. Tricks are a decent way of making a lot of bank quickly, especially if you have a character like Jam or Nancy with a higher trick stat, but it does mean memorizing a bunch of Tony Hawk style inputs to get the most bang for your buck.

The weapon courses were the most fun: the goal here is to use a SMG with a regenerating clip to shoot as many snowmen as you can while you descend. Some snowmen helpfully stand in a line so you can rat-a-tat-tat through them all, though others stand in horizontal formations requiring some precision aiming as you approach them. Like I said, it serves to improve your aim with weapons in the battle race mode, many of which only start homing in if you're within a certain margin of error (otherwise it'd be damn near impossible to hit anything that's in motion, unlike the snowmen). Just before the buzzer I acquired enough cash to buy the Level 3 version of the all-rounder board and then ran out of time before I could use it. Ah well, there's always Snowboard Kids 2.

How Well Has It Aged?: Pretty good. I've been ice cold on N64 racing games before now, my beloved Diddy Kong Racing excepted, but this is another real contender for that sort of multiplayer low-key competitive party atmosphere you want in a kart racer where anyone can get ahead with just a little bit of luck and skill. It does have a bit more of a learning curve than something like Mario Kart 64, which is built to be beginner-friendly until you get into the later CC categories, and learning how to corner correctly and when to jump are instrumental for staying ahead of the pack or at the very least not crashing constantly into barriers. Items like the ghost and the pan make it easier for those lagging behind to quickly catch up also, and having two separate slots for buffs and weapons is a smart touch since both tend to be best used conditionally and you can't double up on either for an overwhelming advantage. Visually, Racjin did the smart thing going for a simple and stylistic Phineas and Ferb look since its polygons have aged better than those in more realistic sims on the system, and the UI remains nice and crisp with a surfeit of personality. Let's tag this as a slight recommend.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Moderate. Atlus is still around if Nintendo ever wants a word, though they've been real hesistant to put the Personas on the Switch for reasons that I don't believe have ever been made explicit. However, after three years since Joker was added to Smash Ultimate, Persona 5 is finally due out on Switch next month and the previous two tentatively pencilled-in for 2023 so dropping the two Snowboard Kids off at the Switch Online pool in the meanwhile could be an effective means of maintaining this partnership. It's not like there was a glut of SMT RPGs on Nintendo 64 to worry about. Sigh.

Current Ranking

1. Super Mario 64 (Ep. 1)
2. Diddy Kong Racing (Ep. 6)
3. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Ep. 3)
4. Donkey Kong 64 (Ep. 13)
5. Goemon's Great Adventure (Ep. 9)
6. Pokémon Snap (Ep. 11)
7. Banjo-Tooie (Ep. 10)
8. Mischief Makers (Ep. 5)
9. Harvest Moon 64 (Ep. 15)
10. Hybrid Heaven (Ep. 12)
11. Blast Corps (Ep. 4)
12. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Ep. 2)
13. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Ep. 4)
14. Snowboard Kids (Ep. 16)
15. Spider-Man (Ep. 8)
16. Bomberman 64 (Ep. 8)
17. Jet Force Gemini (Ep. 16)
18. Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Ep. 7)
19. BattleTanx: Global Assault (Ep. 13)
20. Hot Wheels Turbo Racing (Ep. 9)
21. San Francisco Rush 2049 (Ep. 4)
22. Fighter Destiny 2 (Ep. 6)
23. Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Ep. 14)
24. Tetris 64 (Ep. 1)
25. NBA Live '99 (Ep. 3)
26. Rampage 2: Universal Tour (Ep. 5)
27. South Park Rally (Ep. 2)
28. Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (Ep. 7)
29. Eikou no St. Andrews (Ep. 1)
30. Rally Challenge 2000 (Ep. 10)
31. Monster Truck Madness 64 (Ep. 11)
32. F-1 World Grand Prix II (Ep. 3)
33. F1 Racing Championship (Ep. 2)
34. Sesame Street: Elmo's Number Journey (Ep. 14)
35. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (Ep. 15)
36. Blues Brothers 2000 (Ep. 12)

Now these are some 64-ass 64 games. Kinda surprised Snowboard Kids takes it from Jet Force, but I'm not complaining.

Also, I believe Blessing from Kinda Funny's favourite 64 game is Jet Force. He definitely champions it any chance he gets.

For some reason, I really did like JFG back in the day. Now, I don't think I'd be able to handle playing it without at the very least the control updates made in Rare Replay (and even then it still feels pretty dated).

There is a non-zero chance I end up playing Jet Force Gemini on stream one day. That and Blast Corps are the two N64-era Rare games I've never really touched outside of goofing with Rare Replay.

Man, I bounced off of Jet Force Gemini super quick the one time I tried playing it. So many N64 games would benefit from remakes geared towards a modern dual joystick control scheme.

Also, now that I'm thinking about it, it's weird how many snowboarding games came out between 1995 and 2005...I guess I'm off to research the hows and whys of the snowboarding genre.