Summary
Three decades after the peak years of the Nintendo 64, it still lives on in the consciousness of many players, with some of the greatest games ever released starting life on the 64-bit powerhouse, and there are plenty ofhidden gems that have been largely forgotten. There were even a few games featuring early versions of open worlds, which were impressive compared to their contemporaries, as they pushed the hardware to its limits.
By modern standards, very few games from this time would qualify as open-world games, if any, since there were often certain restrictions on where players could go. Despite this, they are still vibrant worlds to explore, filled with hidden secrets, colorful characters, and non-linear gameplay in open or semi-open worlds. Here are some of the best of the bunch, ranked based on a combination of overall popularity and quality.
Some of these games may not fit the modern definition of open world, but were considered to be open-world games in their time.
A groundbreaking game in many ways,Aidyn Chronicles: The First Magefeatures an expansive and freely explorable 3D world.Playing as Alaronfrom a third-person perspective, the story follows Alaron’s journey as an orphan taken in by the King, trying to discover his true identity and ultimately learning his destiny as a world-renowned mage.
Engaging in combat takes Alaron and his assembled party to a separate battle screen, where the action is turn-based and order is based on a variety of factors. The time of day can even impact the powers of certain characters, and there is permadeath for any lost party members. Despite the game’s large scope and somewhat pioneering aspects, it met with a mixed reception at the time, with many reviewers finding the story bland and gameplay somewhat tedious.
Part oftheGanbare Goemonseries,Mystical Ninja Starring Goemonis only the second game in the franchise to be released in North America. Featuring elements of both platform and action-adventure games, it tells the story of Goemon and his three ninja friends who are trying to prevent a gang of thespians who want to turn Japan into an arts theater using the laser weapons on their peach-shaped spaceship.
As the plot suggests, it’s an incredibly surreal experience, laced with typical Japanese humor that many reviewers felt would be off-putting to western audiences. Its game world is remarkable, as it is filled with interconnected towns, villages, and temples with very few restrictions on player movement — especially as they visit more locations and unlock more abilities.
Quest 64is an RPG with very ambitious intentions but mixed execution. Designed as a large, single area where players are free to travel as they please, it’s fairly expansive for the time, but not particularly packed with content. Regardless, it was graphically very impressive for the time and was seen as a proof of concept for such RPGs on the console.
The protagonist, Brian, is an apprentice mage who sets out to find his missing father in the fantasy world of Celtland, which resembles Ireland.Quest 64is also one of the few RPGs to lack a traditional leveling system, instead opting for a statistic boost to specific skills each time they are used, similar to that ofFinal Fantasy 2.
Developed by the same company that createdGrand Theft Auto,Body Harvestisa Nintendo 64 exclusivethat is set in five different areas over a 100-year time period. Controlling the genetically engineered soldier, Adam Drake, players must travel across time and space to eliminate an alien threat that appears every 25 years to harvest the bodies of humans.
Since the game is split between five different areas, ranging from Greece during World War One to the alien home-planet in the near-future of 2016, there are five different open environments for players to explore and plenty of vehicles to traverse the maps in style. Free to navigate these lands, players may tackle missions in any order they please, as long as there are not too many civilian casualties in that particular time and place, which will result in game over.
Asurprisingly difficult kart racing game,Diddy Kong Racingis still heralded by many fans and critics to this day. Choosing from a pool of ten playable characters in car, hovercraft, or airplane competitions, the racers take on four races in each of the five game worlds, with the ultimate goal of defeating Wizpig in mind (an evil wizard pig).
Each of the five game worlds possesses different themes, such as the winter wonderland of Snowflake Mountain or the dinosaur-inspired Dino Domain. Not all are available to visit from the hub world at first, but after collecting enough balloons, they gradually unlock, and there are plenty of interactive elements to be found in each world.
Widely considered to be one of the first 3D open-world games andone of the best games ever made,Super Mario 64is a platform game that still has an influence on the industry almost three decades since its launch. Moving away from the traditional linear 2D platforming worlds of prior games, Mario now explores Peach’s castle and its grounds, jumping into magical paintings to find power stars.
As is often the case, rescuing Princess Peach and defeating Bowser is the main goal, but most of the enjoyment comes from uncovering the secrets of the castle and freely explorable each level. The highly anticipated title did not disappoint upon release, with its sense of freedom and replayability being particular sources of praise.
