OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 35 years ago, two awesome people banged, and then I was born. Not much else happened until Xmas '97, when I got an N64 and the next few years were pretty sweet. It's been a long downhill coast since then... Until today!!! N64 fullset ACHIEVED!!! These 12 games hastily purchased from eBay over the last month or so represent the final push I needed to take me over the edge to the full 243 (plus) PAL N64 cart only set. The PAL N64 set is basically the core of my collection, not only for my ongoing (and also almost complete) quest for the worldwide frankenset of N64, but indeed this is the core set of my ENTIRE game collection really, the heart and soul of my passion for gaming and game collecting. Why carts only? Well obviously they're way cheaper, duh. And, I AM a gamer, first and foremost, so that's the main thing I care about. But also, this collection was built up over the last 5 or so years based on the foundation of my childhood N64 collection, which was approximately 54 carts of the HOTTEST and BESTEST N64 games I had for like 20 years, so there was NO WAY I was going for boxed when I already had an epic headstart on the cart set. I DO happen to have just ONE boxed game however... Probably most of you are like, who cares, it's Shadowgate 64, lame. But, no, in fact this is the fabled UKV Shadowgate, certainly the rarest UKV version N64 game, and probably the toughest PAL game to get outside of the Aussie exclusives. It was easier to find this one boxed than the loose cart, and I got a REAL good price on it, so here it is. If anyone wants to buy the box from me, I mean I'm listening at least! Anyway, I know why you're all here. It's the fuggin TUBS isn't it! You filthy mongrels, okay well here you go: Yeah, I know. Awesome. However, the tubs are not only convenient easy access storage, protection and organisation for my games. They are also heavy! Here they are, making a mess on my floor: Yeah. It's not really the best DISPLAY solution, I will admit. But hey, it works for me! However, if you're still salivating for more, stay tuned, as the next post in this thread is reserved for a whistle stop tour of the PAL N64 set, as well as my favourite games, so hopefully there'll be a little more eye candy for ya in a sec! 12 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) Right, let's get down to it! I realize for most people here on VGS, the PAL N64 set is a bit of an unknown, so here I'll highlight some of the more notable intricacies and differences from the US set. The next post after this will be my favourite stuff. So anyway, first things first, the set is about 60 titles lighter than the US set. We're missing a FEW good games, like Dr. Mario, Ogre Battle, Indiana Jones, and Hey You Pikachu... But generally speaking the sets are very similar, almost all the games people ACTUALLY care about are here. There are, however a couple exclusives. Well. I mean THREE exclusives. Um. Yeah. Okay so um Taz Express SUCKS, really bad platformer. F1 WGP 2 is basically very similar to the first, not a bad game, but you gotta be into F1 I guess. Premier Manager 64 is probably the most interesting of the lot, as it is a football management sim, which is really unlike any other game on the system. Of course it is also a SUPER niche genre, so unless you enjoy looking at spreadsheets and are fascinated by the intricacies of English club football, yeah you probably won't get much out of it. Moving on, we have what I like to call the pseudo-exclusives, as in none of them were released in the US, although they did get NTSC releases elsewhere: F1 Racing Championship is a worse F1 game than the aforementioned F1 WGP 2, it was released on NTSC-U format in Brazil. Airboarder 64, Rakuga Kids and centre court tennis are all actually fun games in their own ways, and they were also released in Japan. I have no idea why they changed the name of centre court tennis from the Japanese though... LET'S SMASH is a FAR better name! Next, we have another pseudo-exclusive situation, although more on the variant side of things: Up top we have the USA Mia Hamm Soccer. This game was rebranded AND recoded three different ways for the PAL release. In the middle there we have the UK version, Michael Owen World League Soccer. On the left, Telefoot Soccer 2000 for France, and on the right RTL WLS 2000 for Germany. NOW, as far as most are concerned, these are simply variants, but I would call them pretty significant. Obviously, they feature MALE soccer players (as GOD intended). BUT the various country versions ALSO have different title screens in game. According to Stadium Events rules, that makes them different games, so I'm counting em! And, now, for the feature presentation, we have the CROWN JEWELS of the PAL N64 set, of course, it's the Aussie exclusives, ONLY released in PAL format in Australia: These are, undoubtedly, the toughest nuts to crack in the PAL set... MAINLY because Aussie sellers don't like shipping overseas and you have to really pester em to change their eBay settings. Ken Griffey Baseball is not too outrageous, and HSV adventure racing is also okay (also happens to be a variant of Beetle adventure racing). The REAL bad boys are Snowboard kids 2, which is like around 200 quid these days and of course the KING of the PAL set, StarCraft, which is like 3 to 4 hundo easy. Fortunately, I already had StarCraft 64 since I was a kid, picked it up for like a fiver in a second hand store back in the UK in the early 00's! I have absolutely NO idea how it found its way to that store, and I had no idea when I bought it that it wasn't meant to be there or that it was special... There's a VERY good chance that if I had never found that game I wouldn't have bothered going for the full set tbh... One of the things that helped me convince myself to buy the rest was that I already had the most expensive one, so how hard could the rest be, lol! Other than those, there's a few other of the heavy hitters here: Nothing TOO uncommon or outrageous, although some of these can crack the hundred level on a good day. Mario Party 3 is notably more difficult to find in PAL than in NTSC, as is Kirby 64. Other than those, I'd say Aidyn Chronicles, Blues Brothers 2000, Flying Dragon, and Bass Hunter are ESPECIALLY uncommon, certainly in the UK. Rush 2049 is expensive, but I wouldn't call it especially uncommon... It's just one of "those" games, you know... Alright, so that's the good collectable shit out the way... Next, my favourite GAMES!!! Edited April 29, 2021 by OptOut 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) Okay so finally, let's get down to the REAL reason I went to all this trouble, and it's the games I just fuggin LOVE! Now, obviously we all know about the first party Nintendo games that really set this system on fire, the Mario's, the Zelda's, the Pokemon's, etc. So I don't really think it's necessary to bore you with them. Instead we'll set the tone with these: What can I say, fuggin RAREWARE boyzzzzz!!! The absolute creme of the crop, and another top of the line product of the UK, just like yours truly! Personal favourites here, of course, Goldeneye and PD, Banjo Kazooie, and Blast Corps, and also Jet Force Gemini. Diddy Kong Racing is also top tier, and obviously Banjo Tooie, Conker and DK64 are all great games too. Mickey's Speedway is a fine game, but not really on the same level as DKR. The only one I really am not a big fan of is Killer Instinct Gold, but that's mainly because I'm not really into fighters. Other than that, I mean... Just look at that photo and please TELL me that's not witchcraft, HOW did they do that much, that awesome, on one system?! Next, Star Wars: I love Star Wars, these games were a big part of that growing up! I actually didn't get Battle for Naboo till a couple years ago, those other three are my childhood games. All awesome Star Wars experiences! Now we come to my FAVOURITE N64 genre, FPS, I really got my first ever experiences with FPS on this system and it remains one of my favourite genres to this day: Goldeneye and PD lead the way, obviously. Personally I would say Duke Nukem 64 is number 3 and Quake close behind that, although in terms of pure gameplay Quake may have the edge on the ol' Duke. After that, Doom 64, Quake 2 and the four Turok games are also really really good. I'd say Turok Rage Wars might be the best Turok game, gameplay wise, but in terms of the more traditional single player experience, Turok 2 and Turok 3 are both well worth playing. On the lower end of the scale, Armorines is very generic, Rainbow six is ambitious but doesn't really come together, and Daikatana famously sucks pretty bad. South Park is the outlier here, as it is a pretty interesting product of the early merchandising push for South Park, and the game is worth playing to experience that, but the actual gameplay is relatively mundane. Other than FPS, everyone knows that PLATFORMING is where it's AT on N64 and we've got a bunch of awesome 3d platformers to choose from! I think it's pretty commonly known that Space Station Silicon valley and Rocket Robot on Wheels are two under the radar awesome platformers on N64, very easy to recommend. However, Tonic Trouble and Gex 3 are both probably JUST as good as those two, and really need to be played, they get VERY little attention, but they are great. Toy Story 2 and Bugs Life are two good games as well, Bug's life is seemingly very underated. It's a little rough around the edges, but definitely a good game. We also got two ducks to deal with, Duck Dodgers and the ORIGINAL Donald! I'll include the 2d platformers here too, Tarzan, Mischief Makers and Tigger's honey hunt... And DON'T laugh, Honey Hunt IS a very nice, solid, enjoyable game, it looks gorgeous, plays smooth as butter and is just fun. As for Earthworm Jim 3D... Well... That's a guilty pleasure! Who's thread is this anyway, lol! Okay, so just a couple more games here: These are all solid, I think most people know about these... Included Lylat wars there just to PROVE these are PAL games, lol! Do NOT sleep on Tetrisphere btw, awesome game with a BANGING soundtrack. Okay, here is where we are getting to some REAL good stuff most people don't talk about. I will live and DIE by how awesome some of these games are, ESPECIALLY Vigilante 8 and it's sequel, Operation Winback, Forsaken and Robotron 64. Charlie Blasts Territory and Lode Runner 3D are a couple great overlooked puzzle games. Buck Bumble, Army Men and Body harvest all have their flaws, but they are 100% worthwhile experiences to check out. Finally, as many of you are probably desperately hoping for, theses are my favourite TERRIBLE games! Feast your eyes on the abominable and the broken, lol! But I tell you this, I have had more fun with some of these games than some actual good games, lol! Carmageddon and Super Man are probably the MOST broken of these, but definitely fun in a so-bad-its-good kind of way. Power rangers ditto, although there is some genuinely good comic book style art in there. Starshot just sucks flat out, but it is just intoxicating and enveloping in an unhealthy way, it's worth seeing through to the end just to see how bizarrely badly designed a game can be... Monster Truck Madness is super fun crazy physics stuff, as is Airboarders. Scooby Doo is just lame, and Rugrats in Paris isn't THAT bad, but, I mean, come on. Phew! So there we have it, sorry for the epic novel length posts! Just wanted to share the awesome love of the 64 with you guys once again! Edited April 29, 2021 by OptOut 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Rothchild | 9,520 Editorials Team · Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Who the fuck? Is that the Nebraska Cornhuskers? And why do they bother releasing American foosball games in Europa? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodysGameRoom | 2,008 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 22 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said: Who the fuck? Is that the Nebraska Cornhuskers? And why do they bother releasing American foosball games in Europa? Were a cultured bunch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said: Who the fuck? Is that the Nebraska Cornhuskers? And why do they bother releasing American foosball games in Europa? Why do you think I saved that one till last, lol! Sad thing is, that actually counts as an uncommon game in the PAL set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Awesome, congrats mate! It's been a lot of fun seeing your collection grow during your journey, and I've learnt a lot about the pal set too, as well as N64 in general. We definitely gotta do an N64 gaming night at some point, since you've now got them all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,401 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Congratulations dude! Are you going to go for the any regions that matter next, or just collect more PAL games for other systems? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 1 minute ago, DefaultGen said: Congratulations dude! Are you going to go for the any regions that matter next, or just collect more PAL games for other systems? Well, I happen to be only TWO games away from the Japanese N64 fullset... In fact I'm aiming for CIB with that one... Watch this space! 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,401 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 1 minute ago, OptOut said: Well, I happen to be only TWO games away from the Japanese N64 fullset... In fact I'm aiming for CIB with that one... Watch this space! I have to get on that while prices are close to zero. I don't feel any inclination to collect Japanese N64 but... it's so small and reasonably priced. I've got Getter Love already, there aren't really that many heavy hitters even, right? 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Tank | 960 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeevan | 8,910 Events Helper · Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Congrats dude, I am getting my goemons great adventure in today! getting pretty close to a full set myself! Can't wait to see a full Japanese on them wall shelves of yours! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,941 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Congrats on the milestone Opty! I'm pretty sure at least a couple of these games are quite fun! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRobot | 5,798 Events Team · Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Very cool. Congratulations Opty. Just one thing confuses me. Is it soccer or football with you people? 3 hours ago, OptOut said: ...Michael Owen World League Soccer ...Telefoot Soccer 2000 ...football management sim ...English club football 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 3,983 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the Japanese set once it is done. I like to dream that I’ll one day walk into a store and there will be a cheap snowboard kids 2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegularGuyGamer | 2,012 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Somebody get this man a charm! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPX | 1,369 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Thanks for sharing the extra tidbits and info! I don’t game much with the N64, although have played Mario 64 and Diddy Kong Racing quite a bit. As far as collecting goes, N64 is probably my favourite to collect for also. I probably had a complete set of Pal CIBs at some stage, minus a few of the sports titles. This thread is great advertising for anyone wanting to get in the mood of the N64! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 6 hours ago, JamesRobot said: Very cool. Congratulations Opty. Just one thing confuses me. Is it soccer or football with you people? Thanks BUD! You should definitely check out Rocket the Robot, btw lol! Anyway yeah, most people in the UK will call it Football. But, Soccer is also used here and there it is an understood and accepted term... although most real Footie fans will raise their heckles if you call it that! I'm not really a super sports fan or anything tho, and I've been away from the UK long enough that I use UK and US English pretty much interchangeably at this point! So I'll just call it whatever! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,884 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Very impressive! In recent history I haven't spent quite as much time with my N64 as it deserves but I've always loved it, and always appreciate gaining new info about it's libraries. This kind of inspires me to get back to it. Also, I cracked up when I saw this game label: at first glance it just looked like a middle-aged, pot-bellied guy in a tuxedo, smoking a cigarette, lol! Before reading the title/your explanation I was thinking it should be a game about some PAL region mafia Dons, something with a title like... ...Luxembourg 7 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 6 minutes ago, PII said: Very impressive! In recent history I haven't spent quite as much time with my N64 as it deserves but I've always loved it, and always appreciate gaining new info about it's libraries. This kind of inspires me to get back to it. Also, I cracked up when I saw this game label: at first glance it just looked like a middle-aged, pot-bellied guy in a tuxedo, smoking a cigarette, lol! Before reading the title/your explanation I was thinking it should be a game about some PAL region mafia Dons, something with a title like... ...Luxembourg 7 Yeah, that's Kevin Keegan! He was the England national team Manager at the time of that release... I seem to remember him doing a pretty crappy job and getting the boot shortly thereafter! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickman | 3,983 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 1 hour ago, OptOut said: Thanks BUD! You should definitely check out Rocket the Robot, btw lol! Anyway yeah, most people in the UK will call it Football. But, Soccer is also used here and there it is an understood and accepted term... although most real Footie fans will raise their heckles if you call it that! I'm not really a super sports fan or anything tho, and I've been away from the UK long enough that I use UK and US English pretty much interchangeably at this point! So I'll just call it whatever! It is mostly called Soccer here but I remember I was talking to a friend in the city and said soccer and some random Pom on the street yelled out “it’s football” haha. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croagunk | 798 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Congrats! Such an amazing accomplishment! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drxandy | 3,225 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Dude heck yeah!!! Congrats! And that close on the jpn set hell yah!!! Nice stuff and I love the write up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a3quit4s | 4,096 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 On 4/29/2021 at 12:14 PM, Reed Rothchild said: Who the fuck? Is that the Nebraska Cornhuskers? And why do they bother releasing American foosball games in Europa? Isnt that Garrison Hearst - 49ers? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 7 hours ago, a3quit4s said: Isnt that Garrison Hearst - 49ers? I used modern technology to enhance the image: Turns out, it was an American Football player. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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