Friday, May 27, 2011

Trox's Top 5 N64 Games

        ALRIGHTY THEN!! What's up pimps and hos. Welcome to the fourth and final installment of the TroxTalk Vs  The Best Podcast old school gaming face-off challenge! So far Phinny and Dave have given us a run for our money and the match-ups have been intense! It seems like every week we have some really similar picks, they are just in a slightly different order. N64 might have been my favorite system of all time. The 4 controller ports on the front of this bad boy made all the difference. Regardless of what game you were playing, if you had a few sodas and a few friends, you could have a great time with just about any game on the system...Besides Superman. Let's focus up on the best of the best.

#5
         Star Fox 64 was innovative to the video game universe for a number of reasons. First of all it's 3-D was lightyears (yeah.corny.iknow.) ahead of anything on the market at that time. The speed and feel of the action was smooth, the world was seamless compared to the competition, and despite voice acting that was cheesy at times, it probably has the best storyline of any flying game. Busting Fox McCloud's Arwing into hyper-drive alongside Slippy, Falco, and Peppy was always a satisfying experience. Especially the boss battles. I remember the first time a reached the end of level 1 (before the I figured out the secret passage) and I was so awestruck by how epic that first giant flying killer robot was, I didn't even care that I got my butt whooped. Don't worry. Vengeance was mine when the awe wore off and I nuked his ass.

#4
          Goldeneye marked the beginning of a new era in first person shooter games. Sure, Doom was cool and everyone loved fighting the huge RoboHitler at the end of Wolfenstein, but this was when companies really started to discover that there is no one their target market would rather shoot in the face than their friends. Goldeneye was probably the first time we filled my neighbors basement with people and passed controllers around without any real breaks for an entire weekend. And we did that on more than one occasion.  Whether it was that cheap friend who played as Oddjob so you could never find him, or that round you had where you tore everyone up with the golden gun, or tossing a ton of mines into the air ducts of the facility. I'm sure everyone has great memories like mine from 007.
#3 & #4

        No, Phinny, this isn't another one of Trox's infamous ties that I am using to buy myself an extra slot on the count down. Mario64 and Mario Kart 64 are interchangeable at the 3 and 4 positions. I couldn't bring myself to put one in front of the other. They both hold a very special place in any N64 gamer's heart. Mario Kart is the quintessential multi-player game. The racing and the battle mode concepts kept the game from ever getting stale. If you get bored with one, switch to the other, and then back. It's a vicious cycle. My crew still pops this in from time to time when we are pre-gaming for a night on the town..Sorta like NHL 94 in the movie Swingers. Meanwhile Mario 64 is more for my "me time". Over the years it has provided me with countless hours of fun, stimulation, and time for reflection. Lame as it may be, this game helped me through some pretty rough days too. Plus it has tons of challenges beyond just defeating Bowser in the final castle. I have successfully collected all 120 stars in this game, and even though it took forever and the payoff wasn't all that great, I finished it with a sense of pride and self-worth.
Only a few elite nerds, including yours truly, have seen this screen without cheatin'.
#1
         Here you go Zelda honks. You've been giving me hell for the last 4 weeks about not including Link anywhere in my previous Top 5's. I was saving it because I knew we would eventually get to this point. The last pick, the favorite pick, on my personal favorite system. I have probably said this before, but this very well could be the greatest console video game of all time. Ocarina of Time immerses you in the magical land of Hyrule. I could try to put it all into words, but I wouldn't do this game justice. It's amazing. The characters, the music, the landscape, and the entire adventure just gets stuck in your head. I've played this game through a million times, and it's a LONG game. I am actually going to start a new quest as soon as I finish this post. If you haven't ever played Ocarina, come out from under your rock and do yourself a favor. You have the TroxTalk Seal of Approval. You won't regret it.
        Well guys. That officially wraps up the last Top 5 in the series. I'm going to step back from countdowns for a bit, but I'll be back. I've decided to leave the Top 5 gig to the experts who already have it down to a science. You can check em out every Friday on Twitter @thebestcast. Thanks again Phinny and Dave.
       As I mentioned last week, now that we are breaking away from video games here for a bit, we're going to start talking tattoos! I'll go ahead and give you next weeks homework assignment now so that you have some time to think about it. I want you to send me a picture of the absolute WORST tattoo you have ever seen in your life to trox@troxtalk.com Also, I want to get into the NFL lockout and NBA finals next week because it feels like I haven't talked sports in a month... As usual, follow @troxtalk on Twitter and feel free to give me some feedback, offer suggestions, or cuss me out. I'm hitting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail on a road trip with some friends this weekend. It's sure to be a blast, so I might have to post something on Monday about that as well. Until then, take care of yourselves, and each other.

                                                                     Warmest Regards,
                                                                     Trox

P.S. This time I swear I didn't forget. This is my hipster pick. Most people who aren't wrestling fans wouldn't have given this game the time of day. It's like a more polished version of the classic WCW Vs. NWO World Tour. I love it because you could beat up your buddies with the likes of Test, The Big Boss Man, Andre the Giant, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit...And some of the characters are still living too....

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