Mento

@ben_h: A relief to read this. Whenever I trash a sports game on here I'm never quite sure if I had a bad time because the game is bad or because I just didn't get it. If it's the latter, there's a chance its dedicated fans will throw full beer cans at me as I walk down the street.

@chamurai: Thanks! Not sure what to go for next, but I was eyeing one of the Zeldas like Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time. The SM64 achievement set was often fun because it really dug deep into mechanics and secrets I was never versed in despite having played the game a bunch. The next one of these should ideally offer a similarly deep dive (though perhaps not nearly as tough).

@tcarr: Totally with you on the timing puzzles, though thankfully you were limited in what you could do during those parts so that helped narrow down a solution. Being told that accelerating on the scooter does nothing and then having it be the final step of the puzzle anyway was kinda screwy.

@chamurai: Thanks! I'm hoping Tiny-Huge Island was the hump, but there's some tough final hurdles ahead.

I'm half tempted to do all this again with another game I've played to death, like Link to the Past (one of its RAs is to beat the game without bottles, which sounds like an interesting challenge).

@tolkoto: @manburger: Thanks for the support and kind words. Next part's going to be a bloodbath. Tiny-Huge Island has 191 coins, apparently?!

@chamurai: Just the one train driving sim on N64 as far as I know, but there's two horseracing games. Really hoping neither of those show up, they tend to be way more menu-based. Like I'd even know how to raise a champion racehorse even if it was in English.

@borgmaster: That sounds right. 3D game development must've cost an arm and a leg and took way more time besides, so the contractors were probably given the schedules and resources they needed to make them half-decent. Doesn't explain Blues Brothers 2000 but all rules have exceptions. Either way, I guess I won't have to be too guarded when another licensed game shows up (there aren't any next month).

Speaking of next month, well, I really should be careful what I wish for.

@sethmode: Thanks for the heads up. I got his name correct in 3/4 of the instances, so at least there were only some light Yagami errors.

I'm not sure what they do about the tailing. They added more upgrades to make it more painless this time, but it still runs into the same problems AC did with the concept: it's just a really slow and really dull game of red light, green light.

@jeffrud: No spoilers, but I'm probably going to be a bit kinder to Aidyn over Quest 64 because I haven't spent any money on the former. That said, I may still end up having some residual nostalgic affection for dumb little Brian and his magic stick so who knows.

@borgmaster: The random pick for next month is indeed a bad-looking 3D platformer involving a dude in a spacesuit, so we got terrifyingly close there. Almost feels like karma for writing that list (especially since it's a game I didn't include).

@judaspete: I didn't give the placement a whole lot of thought but I put them in that order because Dark Rift's aesthetic was a little more interesting (aliens over medieval warriors). They're otherwise both very chunky fighters that haven't held up.

Still got War Gods to look at, but that won't be showing up next month.