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64 in 64: Episode 20

By Mento October 25, 2022 10 Comments

Anyone might wonder why someone would dedicate themselves to twenty episodes of picking through random Nintendo 64 games to find the few that still stand the test of time. I feel like there's this inherent affection to the system in those of us who threw our lot in with the N64 back in its era, in much the same way as earlier adopters of the TurboGrafx-16, Sega CD, or Atari Jaguar might. An endless championing of its strengths and big name releases, even if the writing was on the wall about how well it was competing with the Sony PlayStation and its significantly greater third-party support (for the record, PlayStation sold more consoles by a ratio of around two to one, and its library is easily over ten times larger). Of course, the true underdog of that period was the Sega Saturn and I'm inclined to dig further into that system too someday, but there's a holdover inclination to advocate for the Nintendo 64 that I'm fairly sure has lead directly to the overly-impassioned Nintendo fanboys of today. An atavistic predisposition, like a fear of darkness, that has been passed on through the generations to the present. Essentially, I just wanted to establish that I'm probably unrealistically and undeservedly positive about this little curvy guy and its pointy controller, which makes entries like today that much harder to assemble.

Like Icarus of old, I got way too high on my own supply in last week's episode; its two better-than-average subjects ensuring an uncommonly pleasant two hours of "market research". This week's episode would be the equivalent of my wings melting and me cratering into solid ground at a hundred miles an hour. I'm not even going to elaborate; you can just read further down the page on what happened this time without forcing me to relive it. What I might say if pushed is that the two games selected this week were at least fascinating historical footnotes to experience first-hand, if not exactly all-timers.

Instead of dwelling in this mire of my own making any further, let's have a gander at those rules:

Each 64 in 64 features two games taken from the N64 library. One was pre-selected by me via a rigorous vetting process of No Bummers. The second was determined by a random choice decider browser app which obviously didn't get the memo re: No Bummers.
I'll be playing both games for sixty-four minutes exactly. No more, no less. I guess the "no more" goes without saying this week. I'll also be reviewing them in the context of how well they've aged, and will offer my sorta-expert advice on the likelihood of their resurrections.
Nothing already on the Switch Online service nor anything announced to be included will be covered here, with very few exceptions. Since Nintendo are adding these games to the Switch at a slightly slower rate than the UK is swearing in new Prime Ministers, I'm hoping not to get blindsided again any time soon.

This table contains memories (elegies, really) of happier times. Those who would also find solace in the past to escape the horrors of the present are welcome to enter:

Episode 1	Episode 2	Episode 3
Episode 4	Episode 5	Episode 6
Episode 7	Episode 8	Episode 9
Episode 10	Episode 11	Episode 12
Episode 13	Episode 14	Episode 15
Episode 16	Episode 17	Episode 18
Episode 19	Episode 20	Episode 21

Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (Pre-Selected)

H2O Entertainment / THQ
2001-03-14 (NA), 2001-08-03 (EU)
376th N64 Game Released

History: Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage is a turn-based RPG released fairly late into the system's lifespan—in fact, only twelve more N64 games were released after it—and follows the squire Alaron after he is poisoned by goblins and must find a cure, eventually discovering the truth behind his unusual lineage as he travels the world seeking help.

The game's developer H2O Entertainment was a short-lived company hailing from the sunny shores of, uh, Calgary, Alberta that were behind a total of four games, three of which were exclusive to the Nintendo 64 and two of those based on or around Tetris. (Aidyn Chronicles was the one that was not based on Tetris, just to clarify.) We could well see either Tetrisphere or The New Tetris on here eventually: the first was an intriguing experiment that's worth another dive into, and the second a solid if unremarkable adaptation with the curious inclusion of long-term goals for dedicated line-clearers to pursue. THQ was of course the erstwhile (and then "while" again thanks to Nordic) Toy Headquarters, which made quite an impact on the N64 through the WWE and WCW licensed wrestling games they commissioned from Japanese developers AKI Corporation. That we've yet to see a single tights-and-fights sim get called up by the randomizer is something of a minor mercy for me (as opposed to a No Mercy, which I hear is at least one of the better wrasslers). THQ were also the American publishers of Quest 64, which I'm going to have to gird myself to face again eventually especially with so few N64 RPGs remaining.

I can't help but feel like I was bullied into this. There's a certain cabal of RPG goons in this site's blogging community consisting of @zombiepie, @arbitrarywater, @jeffrud, and @thatpinguino, either some or all of whom recently tried their hand at this rare western-made N64 RPG and have been advocating for me to play it for this feature ever since, with a fervor that has never struck me as altogether altruistic. The decision to cover it this week isn't entirely spurred on by peer pressure, however; as RPGs go I'm as much a mark as anyone and I'm always going to harbor an intense curiosity for any as-yet-unplayed RPG on a system decidedly lacking in same. After all, I made the leap to the PlayStation 1 and 2 during the N64's 1996-2002 lifespan because that's where all my beloved animes-and-numbers sims had disappeared off to. So, yes, this was something I wanted to see for myself just once before this feature was done. An abyss that I needed to stare into, as it were.

16 Minutes In

Your guess is as good as mine. Rom, the Vacuous Spider is just out of shot.

Well, that was a thoroughly perplexing sixteen minutes. Aidyn starts off with what I think was meant to be a comedic scene of the castle cook and a knight looking for "the boy", checking in on various figures before hearing from the Prince that said boy—the squire Alaron, though I might've renamed him Mento—has gone to the forest to look for a missing farmer, Kendall. After a little bit of running around said forest as Alaron, bumping into my first random encounter with a giant bat, I fell afoul of some goblins, got immediately poisoned by one, and then the game suddenly jumped to a scene with the local witch/healer Oriana and, shortly thereafter, the bizarre dream sequence you see above as the poison wrecks my system. Despite being a fairly standard series of events absolutely nothing about the pacing or presentation of the last sixteen minutes has felt in any way coherent; it's a strange feeling, being so lost with a game that was probably aiming for something other than being utterly mystifying. Perhaps it's just a matter of adapting to its wavelength over time. Also, it's really friggin' ugly, even with all the low-poly weirdness I've become acclimated to with this feature.

As an RPG, it reminds me a little of Wizardry 8 or Summoner (or, well, Quest 64). A random encounter causes the game to transition to a big field where everyone has movement circles and a set of commands, which at the moment only includes attacking, performing music to debuff enemies, and using potions for healing. The main menu has an empty spell section and Alaron's meant to be a mage apprentice of sorts on top of his squire duties, so I imagine that'll be a factor later. Experience is spent on improving skills and stats alike, though I'll need way more than I received from that giant bat alone to make any progress: I earned 75XP from poking that thing to death, while most upgrades need several thousand. I'm getting the impression that this will be a real long game, and not one in which I imagine I'll make a whole lot of progress today.

32 Minutes In

I started with everything here besides Healer 1; not only does this give me a fighting chance in the early game where I'm running solo, but provides a decent sense of how I'm supposed to use this character. That is, mostly melee unless I decide to focus on Wizard or Troubadour to fit a support role in a group with more warriors.

All right, so the vision was meant to be confounding and disturbing and possibly foreshadowing an antagonist, so I'll let all that plot cohesion stuff slide for now. After tripping my balls off, Oriana sent me on my way by creating a string of spherical lights that led from her home back to the road to the castle, which meant no more getting lost in the forest for a while. On the route back I bumped into several more encounters with giant bats and giant rats (not looking forward to the giant cats) with the latter being approximately twice as hardy and twice as lucrative in XP. I met a guard out looking for me, so I'm guessing I'm close to the castle and can resume with the story momentarily. I also keep bumping into these creepy little blue dwarf people who offer cryptic advice about the nature magic they use, including how to use the local fast travel portals, so I guess I'm meant to pay attention to their incessant Yoda speak.

I'd somehow earned enough XP from my encounter with the goblins, despite not getting close enough to hurt a single one, to buy a new skill from Oriana: Healing, which I'm sure will come in handy. New skills need buying with XP in much the same way extant ones are upgraded by same, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep an XP reserve in case I meet a trainer NPC with something I can use. I've also gone up a level, but since every stat increase including health needs purchasing with XP rather than granted as a level-up bonus I'm not sure being a higher level actually does anything. Maybe it increases the caps on stats, I'm not sure. Mysteries continue to abound.

48 Minutes In

Glad to see the castle squires are given the respect they are owed.

Further down the path and I eventually reach civilization, of a sort, in the form of the village outside of the castle. I've spent most of this block running around people's homes robbing them of their possessions. Doesn't seem like anyone minds too much. I've also run into a couple more curious encounters: the first had me fighting five giant bats at once, but since I've yet to actually get hurt by one (I mostly dodge everything, even with the dexterity penalty from my armor) I just cut them down as per usual. The last two actually ran (or flew, I guess) away, which was an annoying loss of XP and mats. The other was a goblin encounter underneath the town's inn, which I figured might be too much for Alaron to handle given earlier story beats took measures to establish them as much tougher than the random animals I keep butchering; instead, he was pretty harmless too.

The game's being very gentle early on, possibly because I'm still alone: I've noticed there's room for three other portraits in the combat overview, so I'm guessing I'll have companions at some point. Damage persists across battles, but between my new healing skill and all these health potions I keep finding I can't argue that the game isn't being fair. What does concern me is that I've yet to find out how to save: either there's an invisible auto-save at work or there's a NPC that does it whom I've yet to meet. For now, I'm just using save states.

64 Minutes In

Abrecan, after seeing where I ranked this game.

This last segment was spent wandering around the castle looking for treasure again (that's my default mode in RPGs) and then making a beeline to the King so I could kick the plot into gear. I encountered a few notable characters while exploring—notable in that they had names and portraits—and the King confirmed what I'd already figured, that I'd be choosing a couple of them as travelling companions as I head to a town with some better healers. Said potential companions include: Abrecan, the surly chief knight and designated meatshield; Godric, a kooky and absent-minded alchemist working in the castle basement; Rheda, an overachieving wizard apprentice with a dismissive Hermione vibe; and Brenna, who looks to be a roguish sort and possibly the hero's feisty love interest (she reminded me of Imoen, actually). Given most of the chests I found in the castle were locked, I'm inclined to take Brenna with me along with perhaps Abrecan to soak up damage, but I have a feeling they offered two different mages because magic is very useful in this game. At any rate, my time here is over so the decision can be left up in the air.

Not too much more to add here, mechanics-wise. Right after starting this block I found a couple of merchant/trainers in town, one of which taught me the Thief skill (even if you have a designated thief like Brenna to open locks and such, having some ranks in Thief allows you to backstab enemies for additional damage so it seems handy for any frontline fighter) while both have a selection of gear to purchase had I any cash at all left over. Were I to continue I'd probably have Brenna steal everything in the castle and then put those funds towards making sure everyone was well-equipped for the journey ahead. I was surprising myself by how much I was starting to get into this game, even if it's pretty dated in many ways.

How Well Has It Aged?: Honestly, Not as Bad as I Thought. Given the reputation I figured I was in for a rough time and after the confusing first half-hour it felt like it was going to be unusually impenetrable for a console RPG. Yet there's enough familiar mechanics in here and enough of an on boarding ramp that I was able to get over its presentational weirdness and find a hint of a half-decent western-style RPG hidden beneath. It does feel like it might become a major drag before too long, as the battles aren't exactly quick even with a skip animation button, but recruiting a selection of companions and considering how to spec everyone's skills for a balanced party is the essence of a good CRPG. If I found myself owning this as a teenager I don't doubt I would've dedicated many weekends to figuring it out, warts and all. Graphically, though, I'd say it's kind of an eyesore at the best of times and I was about ready to mute the BGM after sixty minutes. Just check out this town music; sounds like the spiritual predecessor to Trombone Champ. I always did wonder what the guy behind the Resident Evil: Director's Cut basement music went on to do next.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Not Great. H2O Entertainment pretty much evaporated shortly after this game's release and though THQ returned as suddenly and unceremoniously as Palpatine did most of its IPs were scattered to the winds after its original dissolution. Nordic found and recovered most of the bigger properties like Destroy All Humans and Darksiders, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Aidyn Chronicles license was abandoned in a ditch somewhere. However, would I put it past THQ Nordic to make some modern remake or sequel of this maligned property? Well, I mean, we all saw that Not-E3 showcase of theirs....

Mario no Photopi (Random)

Nintendo & Datt Japan / Tokyo Electron
1998-12-02 (JP)
156th N64 Game Released

History: Mario no Photopi was a collaboration between Nintendo and commercial electronics manufacturers Tokyo Electron and Datt Japan to create a N64 game cartridge that could interface with the SmartMedia flash memory cards found in early digital cameras to produce Nintendo-fied altered photos, using the cart's graphical editor to modify images with additional clip art and other filters and effects. Participating franchises besides Mario include Yoshi, The Legend of Zelda, Hudson's Bomberman, and Epoch's Sylvanian Families, a dollhouse toyline I haven't thought about since the '90s but continues to remain a thing that exists. Suffice it to say, none of the electronics companies associated with Mario no Photopi were involved in any subsequent Nintendo games.

I should've removed this from the list when I still had the chance. It's not a game; it's software that just happens to have Mario branding all over it. A feeble attempt to wrest interest away from a re-emerging home computer market in Japan by offering a version of Photoshop you could use on your N64; albeit one with no mouse or keyboard support, just that control stick and a bunch of C-buttons. I was 90% certain when I started that the game wouldn't even run without one of its knockoff SD cards present, but an enterprising hacker called Skelex released a patched version that skips the SmartMedia card confirmation process that would normally hit you with an error screen if one wasn't detected. So, yeah, it's playable, but...