STOP RIGHT THERE! Before you do anything, I know what you're gonna say, and before I say anything else!

MISCHIEF MAKERS SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED HERE!

Honestly, I'm sick and tired of underrated N64 game threads having the same 6 games every time, and mentioning games that aren't even close to underrated, like Donkey Kong 64 or even SMASH BROS. Anyway, because of this, here's a list of games that will not be allowed, because they have already been mentioned a dozen times.

Any game by Rareware

Any game by DMA Design

Operation: Winback

Any Goemon game

Beetle Racing Adventure

Snowboard Kids 1 or 2

This'll be a fun game of trying to find good N64 games that are not the ones everyone talks about (on different levels). Alright, I'll start:

WHY DOESN'T THIS GAME GET MORE ATTENTION?! It's Tetris, but with an extra multiplayer edge that should remind one of Panel de Pon. So, basically, it Tetris Attack with actual Tetris. Oh, and Disney. AND IT'S SO FUN. Interestingly, the music quality is surprisingly high, like, the same quality as the PS1 version, which is obviously a CD. And that's good, because the PS1 version never made it to the States. Considering that carts don't have loading times...you connect the dots. Oh, and the Game Boy Color version also is need of attention.

Huh, Disney has a record with good licensed games. Probably mentioned a few times before, but I don't care, this is a fun game based off of an awesome movie, and it deserves a few more looks. Basically, think Super Mario 64, but in normally mundane locations, and from the perspective of Buzz Lightyear. This game literally had me engaged in exploring someone's HOUSE, and it gives you the ability to shoot lasers at...evil toys...robots? Yeah, to say this game took liberties with the source material would be an understatement, but it doesn't matter. I would recommend the PS1 version, if just for CD quality music, but if you don't have one, then definitely pick it up for cheap. Just...get ready to lose to fRICking RC car multiple times and having to restart the level just to try again.

WHAT?!A Bomberman game with no multiplayer?! Preposterious! Oh well, Bomberman 64 exists for a reason. Anyway, this is actually a pretty good game. I'm not too far into it, as my younger self got stuck on the first boss and I haven't played it since, but it's still worth your time, I guess. I honestly just remember one level where Black Bomber was in a plane resting on platform and then flew away when I approached him. I kept on replaying that level to see if there were any hidden secrets that I missed, but I never found. Maybe it doesn't exist. Oh well.

So, thoughts? Any suggestions that I may want to try out?

The N64 has such a small library and the average game quality is so low outside of the first party stuff that there really aren't that many hidden gems.

The only ones that come to mind fitting your criteria -

Ogre Battle 64

Pokemon Puzzle League (if only because it's Tetris Attack, and Tetris Attack rules)

Custom Robo

Bangai-O

Dezaemon 3D

Rocket: Robot on Wheels

That's a lot of things I can't name, but I'm gonna break your rule and say Snowboard Kids.

And Rush 2049.

And these aren't uncommon, but Diddy Kong Racing and Perfect Dark always seem to play second fiddle to Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye despite being superior in every way.

I'd say Forsaken. It wasn't quite exclusive, but the N64 version differed quite a bit from the PC and PS1 versions in level design, and was a really rad Descent style game that worked well with the N64 controller and had four player split screen. The N64's general blurriness kinda enhanced that games' art style too.

I'd also say the N64 port of Quake 1 was surprisingly decent.

Diddy Kong Racing Diddy Kong Racing Diddy Kong Racing Diddy Kong Racing

I always enjoyed Road Rash 64 and Chameleon Twist.

It was japan only but Sin and Punishment is one of the best games on the system and the fact it never came over here until a virtual console release years later is a real shame.

I've always felt satisfied with the games I played on the N64 at the time. I feel like I played the games that I was interested in playing. It's not a console I look back for hidden gems, unlike the SNES. I will say I don't think I played Snowboard Kids, Geomon or Beetle Racing. Those games may have been fun to try, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on any essential part of gaming history. I might have rented that Toy Story game, but I don't recall much about it.

Racking my brain for some deep cuts I recall enjoying Earthworm Jim 64 while I rented it, but I wouldn't go as far as recommending it. Also, Crusin' USA was kind of the one driving game I got into that wasn't a kart racer.

Donkey Kong 64 is an amazing game but people are always ragging on it.

Quest 64 and Nightmare Creatures

N64 had a crazy small library so there's not many "hidden" gems but Pokemon Snap holds up extraordinarily well nowadays (Don't know how hidden it is, it IS Pokemon). It's very short, but its much cheaper than $60 now so I can argue that now is the time to play it. They really, REALLY should've made a sequel on Wii U.

Jet Force Gemini was a great third person shooter for the time, but doesn't control too well to today's standards.

Sorry if I'm coming across as rude, but I did say to not mention Rareware games, as Rare's "underrated" games are always brought up on these types of threads

I have a soft spot for Mega Man Legends, which was released on the N64 as Mega Man 64. It's a weird game that has little of the spirit of OG Mega Man or Mega Man X, and it's anime as fuck, but I liked the setting and look of the world.

Also, the Bonnes and their Servbots are amazing.

I can't believe enough people nominate Winback to have you say don't say Winback. Sorry. I thought I was the one guy who likes that game!

The N64 was my first console, but for the most part I can't think of any especially "underrated" gems from that system. It has some of the greatest games of all time and some well made stuff from that era, but a lot of the games in its rather small library are also... not very good. I will say that it has a pretty decent port of Resident Evil 2 that somehow manages to cram in all 4 scenarios on one cartridge (and has some random, weird features that aren't in other versions of RE2), though there are still better ways to play it.

Just popping in to rep my man Body Harvest. Such an ambitious game for the platform, made by a little company called DMA Design. You may have heard of them!

Oh man, Beetle Adventure Racing has a special place in my heart. I don't want to go back to it because I've never played a racing game that lived up to my memories of it.

And yeah, Body Harvest is really rad and never talked about.

BATTLETANX

Talk smack if you want, but I kind of enjoyed Gex 3D after playing it recently. I think at the time it reviewed well, but holy moly in retrospect. Holy moly.

Honestly? I feel like the internet never underrates N64 games. I don't know what it is about the console but I don't see a whole lot of naysayers, at least not on other websites. You guys seem to know what's up.

I don't hear many people talking about Zelda. It's pretty chill.

@thekablammer: You said not to mention Rare games, but there is one that is definitely underrated and a bit of a hidden gem. Donkey Kong 64. No one ever talks about it nowadays, except to rag on it and I don't really see why. Besides that game I would say that the best N64 games and the only ones really worth going back and playing are the ones that almost everyone knows.

Misch- oh.

Didn't realize Beetle Adventure Racing was one of those games mentioned all the time. I really didn't expect it to be, that was my second choice.

Is StarCraft 64 underrated?

Forsaken, Chameleon Twists 1 & 2, Toy Story 2, and Diddy Kong Racing.

And how is bringing up Mystical Ninja starring Goemon annoying? It's a true statement that that game is HIGHLY underrated especially since people talk more about the shitty side scrolling Goemon's Adventures.

WCW:NWO Revenge

There are like 7 good N64 games.

@shaunk: it still has a big fanbase, and more to the point it's disliked by a lot of people because it's just...bad. It's a soulless husk of a game where in place of creativity or good level design they just take a bunch of Banjo Kazooie rejects and stuff a bunch of collectables in it.

But anyway, I'm going with Sin & Punishment. It's not a very well produced game, but it ends up being more than the sum of it's parts. It's awkward controls, ugly graphics, mediocre music and nonsensical plot all come together somehow and create something great. And the sequel on Wii was even better.

How could we forget the real Doom 3, the best Doom 3, the one known as Doom 64?

Is Fighter's Destiny considered underrated, maybe that's just me, but I never see it talked about either.

Body Harvest was just super ambitious. The graphics were garbage but that game was a lot of fun, even though I was rubbish at it and I don't think I ever worked out what I needed to do to even progress past the first area. I'll give rep to another DMA Design game, Space Station Silicon Valley.

I was going to say Bomberman Hero when I read the title. I don't think it holds up now but it was a decent 3D platformer back in the day.

So I'm going with Excitebike 64. It reviewed very well back in its day but I don't think many people played it because I don't hear a lot of people other than myself mention it. The best thing about it was that it has tons of modes. The core racing modes were decent but there was so much more. It of course has a track editor like the NES game, it also has the NES game, it also has a 3d remake of the NES game with its own track editor, it has a competitive hill climbing mode, it has a relaxing mode where you search a randomly generated desert for flags.

I can guarantee that people don't remember Excitebike 64 because it has a soccer mode where you drove around hitting a giant soccer ball into a net and despite all the podcast time and articles written about Rocket League last year no one mentioned this game doing a crude version of that 15 years ago.

I never played SSSV, I might have to ebay that thing.

But yes, Body Harvest was hard as hell, I think I made it to the third area and never got further. That game has an awesome soundtrack too:

Speaking of underrated N64 games that are hard and have awesome OSTs, I also nominate Tetrisphere. That game was fucking rad.

@artisanbreads: Winback was the very first cover shooter, so I think at least some people have clued in and given it its due by now. At the time it really seemed to go under the radar, though: I remember an Australian publication, N64 Gamer, reporting that they handed off the cart to an intern or something expecting it to be garbage, and that guy coming back after a while and saying "holy shit this game is incredible!"

I think maybe Shadow Man fits this category, for being this long, engrossing, epic, kinda janky Zelda-esque horror thing that nobody seems to talk about anymore. I played it something like 5 years ago when I found it at a pawn shop and felt that it still held up. There was a Playstation port, but apparently it was a bad port because the PS1 couldn't handle the scale of the environments; apparently there were also PC, OS X, and Dreamcast ports, but iuno, I really think of this as a N64 game. If anyone put in the hours on PC with this, speak up I guess.

@jellybones: So you're the only other person I've ever known who loved Beetle Adventure Racing. My God, the hours my friend and I lost to that game... Other than Diddy Kong Racing, it is the racing game I think back on most fondly. Phew! I'm gonna go dig up some Youtube videos right now.

I'd also like to throw Quest 64 out there.

@tonic7: It's SO good. Diddy Kong is also fantastic (and the hub world structure was super novel). I also really loved Top Gear Rally and Top Gear Overdrive, although I imagine those don't hold up nearly as well.

Dude Toy Story 2 was one of my favorite games (and movies) as a kid.

Mystical Mother-effing Ninja.

Tetrisphere and Beetle Adventure Racing were two of my favorite N64 games.

I remember having a lot of fun with the N64 version of Gauntlet Legends. Also, I'm with Drew on this, I actually enjoyed Glover.

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes was maybe good? I think that memory is more linked to the friends I played it with.

NFL Quarterback Club 98 was super fun too, as was Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98.

Finally, I absolutely loved Star Wars: Episode I - Racer.

Forsaken 64 was a fantastic Descent rip off. Top Gear Rally and World Drivers Championship were fun racers. Shadowgate was a pretty good adventure game with a cool atmosphere. Body Harvest was a cool open world mission based action game by the team that made GTA. That's all I can think of right now.

About six months ago I decided to revisit Rocket: Robot on Wheels and was pleasantly surprised by how well this 3D platformer held up. Rocket controls well and each new level has a new set of challenges that must be competed to earn a ticket. Which is the main collectible of this game. If you enjoy platformers this is a game worth playing.