The 10 WORST Nintendo 64 Games
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VOICE OVER: Geoffrey Martin
WRITTEN BY: Geoffrey Martin
The Nintendo 64 had some great games, but you won't find any of them here. For this list, we'll be looking at the bountiful offerings of awful gaming experiences on the platform. Our list of the worst Nintendo 64 games includes “Earthworm Jim 3D” (1999), “Clayfighters 63 ⅓” (1997), “Quest 64” (1998), “Daikatana” (2000), and more!
Script written by Geoffrey Martin
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re counting down our picks for the 10 Worst Nintendo 64 Games. For this list, we’ll be looking at the bountiful offerings of awful gaming experiences on the platform. Be sure to grip the awkward N64 controller and let us know in the comments section which games you thought were the worst.
The variety of wrestling games on offer in the late 90s and early 2000s was quite staggering. However, this often meant that for every great wrestling game, there was a stinker; which is the case for WCW Backstage Assault. Apart from the horrendous visuals, even by Nintendo 64 standards, this game did little to provide WCW fans with anything apart from something to laugh at. The game just wasn’t fun to play despite having a decent roster and wrestler moveset. It was sluggish, lackluster, and utterly boring. Oh, and the game barely had any variety to keep players hooked for more than a few minutes at best.
“Let’s get ready to crumble!!” will either be something that sparks nostalgic joy or will be the bane of your existence as you remember Clayfighters 63 ⅓ for Nintendo 64. While I certainly have some fond memories of pummeling the heck out of gooey clay baddies, this game, sadly, is just objectively not very good. The idea of claymation fights with cartoony character such as Bad Mr. Frost the Fighting Snowman, Ickybod Clay, and Taffy was certainly unique, especially as you punched or kicked each character through the wall into a different room of a stage ,but there’s no doubting that the game was mostly a slog. Controls were hampered by an unresponsive nature and things just got stale quickly, overall.
It’s a darn good thing that John Romero was taken down a peg or two from his ridiculous, almost caricature-like narcissistic, ego-filled place in the games industry with the release of the abysmal Daikatana. Apart from the incredibly out-of-touch and maligned marketing campaign where John Romero thought he was the bees knees (to put it mildly), the game itself is a joke. An attempt to follow up on the successes of Doom, Daikatana is one of the most unplayable and unenjoyable first-person shooters of all time, not just on the Nintendo 64. The game is riddled with terrible AI, confusing and frustrating level design, bugs and glitches, boring weapons, and feels like a Saturday morning chore rather than a Friday night party.
While Quest 64 might look barren, lifeless, and sluggish by today’s gaming standards, there was actually a decent amount of hype and excitement for this title way back in the day. For all intents and purposes, Quest 64 looked to be a colorful and charming fantasy adventure game similar to The Legend of Zelda series. Unfortunately, the game simply isn’t fun to play and has become synonymous with bad Nintendo 64 titles. The title’s ambition seemed to be its undoing, with the likes of large-scale random battles, intricate spells and magic for the turn-based battles, and a large world to explore as the fledgling adventurer, Brian. Playing out as a grand fetch quest, the game was hampered by repetitive and tedious exploration, mindless NPCs, and often frustrating battles. Yes, the game had its charms, but it’s sadly more often remembered for its unenjoyable gameplay and presentation.
Why is it that the late 90s and early 2000s fighting genre was so divisive? For every solid Tekken or Street Fighter, there was a War Gods. Coming from the then mighty and popular Midway, War Gods is essentially a Mortal Kombat game in everything but name, but not in a good way. This tedious and annoying fighter for the Nintendo 64 was the epitome of awfulness. Apart from the cacophony of the sound and music design that made your ears bleed, it had a lackluster roster, bland stages, frustrating controls, and general lack of polish that easily makes this one of the worst games on the N64 but also in the genre at large.
The shift into the third dimension marked the downfall for many beloved (and not so beloved) 90s platforming franchises. And yes, that includes you, Bubsy (although you will always have a special, strange place in my heart). Sega Genesis/Mega Drive fans will be well aware of Earthworm Jim with his multiple outings on that platform. When the Nintendo 64 came around, it was the time to bring this earth crawler into the shiny, new third dimension. Well, as you might have guessed from this list, it didn’t go well for our slimy friend. The game was met with ire by gamers due to finicky controls, mundane levels, humor that often fell flat, and a level of jank that made the game feel like a chore to play.
That freakin’ springy jump sound effect when your Blues Brother character bounces around each stage is an auditory nightmare. Awful sound effects aside, Blues Brothers 2000 is always, fairly or unfairly, going to be compared to N64 3D platforming juggernauts like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, given their similarities. Taking place across a range of unique locales such as a Prison, Chicago, a graveyard, and even a swamp, this utterly bonkers game won’t bring much joy or excitement to anyone. It’s a standard platformer that did little to innovate or incentivize players to keep pushing through the journey and thus was met with critical negativity for the most part.
Ooof, this one hits hard for those of us that grew up loving the Power Rangers. Coming in with an abysmal 25 Metacritic score, Lightspeed Rescue is downright awful and likely should never have even been greenlit to begin with. You’re seeing this gameplay on screen, right? I guess if you are a fan of utterly bland levels, nonsensical gameplay, tedium, poor use of the source material, and broken messes, then perhaps Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue is a game for you. Sarcasm aside, it’s hard to put into words just how terrible this game really is. Whether watching or playing this game, you will feel the life being sucked out of you. Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue… more like Power Rangers: Rescue Me From This Sheer Dumpster Fire of a Game.
The Batman source material deserved so much more than this back in the year 2000. Maybe Y2K screwed up something along the way with development which led to Return of the Joker, a beat ‘em up arcade brawler game that did little to appease fans of the Caped Crusader. This game featured a new thin and spindly version of Batman who mostly just came across as a wanna-be that clearly drank too much Mountain Dew before going off to save the day if his punch and walk animations are anything to go by. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker doesn't understand what makes side-scrolling brawler games so fun and instead offers up frustration around every corner.
QA must not have been a thing in the year 1999 since somehow a game like Superman 64 was able to be released on the N64. Also known as Superman: The New Superman Adventures if you want to get pretentious about it, this game is a sheer cornucopia of failure around every fog-filled corner of Superman’s world. The first thing you think of when you think of the Man of Steel is how great he is at flying through rings, right? I sure hope you did think of that and only that since that description makes up the majority of Superman 64. Okay sure, there are some on-foot sections where Superman can punch some baddies, but these sections make the ring flying elements look good in comparison. This is one of those terrible N64 games that never should have existed in the first place.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re counting down our picks for the 10 Worst Nintendo 64 Games. For this list, we’ll be looking at the bountiful offerings of awful gaming experiences on the platform. Be sure to grip the awkward N64 controller and let us know in the comments section which games you thought were the worst.
“WCW Backstage Assault” (2000)
The variety of wrestling games on offer in the late 90s and early 2000s was quite staggering. However, this often meant that for every great wrestling game, there was a stinker; which is the case for WCW Backstage Assault. Apart from the horrendous visuals, even by Nintendo 64 standards, this game did little to provide WCW fans with anything apart from something to laugh at. The game just wasn’t fun to play despite having a decent roster and wrestler moveset. It was sluggish, lackluster, and utterly boring. Oh, and the game barely had any variety to keep players hooked for more than a few minutes at best.
“Clayfighters 63 ⅓” (1997)
“Let’s get ready to crumble!!” will either be something that sparks nostalgic joy or will be the bane of your existence as you remember Clayfighters 63 ⅓ for Nintendo 64. While I certainly have some fond memories of pummeling the heck out of gooey clay baddies, this game, sadly, is just objectively not very good. The idea of claymation fights with cartoony character such as Bad Mr. Frost the Fighting Snowman, Ickybod Clay, and Taffy was certainly unique, especially as you punched or kicked each character through the wall into a different room of a stage ,but there’s no doubting that the game was mostly a slog. Controls were hampered by an unresponsive nature and things just got stale quickly, overall.
“Daikatana” (2000)
It’s a darn good thing that John Romero was taken down a peg or two from his ridiculous, almost caricature-like narcissistic, ego-filled place in the games industry with the release of the abysmal Daikatana. Apart from the incredibly out-of-touch and maligned marketing campaign where John Romero thought he was the bees knees (to put it mildly), the game itself is a joke. An attempt to follow up on the successes of Doom, Daikatana is one of the most unplayable and unenjoyable first-person shooters of all time, not just on the Nintendo 64. The game is riddled with terrible AI, confusing and frustrating level design, bugs and glitches, boring weapons, and feels like a Saturday morning chore rather than a Friday night party.
“Quest 64” (1998)
While Quest 64 might look barren, lifeless, and sluggish by today’s gaming standards, there was actually a decent amount of hype and excitement for this title way back in the day. For all intents and purposes, Quest 64 looked to be a colorful and charming fantasy adventure game similar to The Legend of Zelda series. Unfortunately, the game simply isn’t fun to play and has become synonymous with bad Nintendo 64 titles. The title’s ambition seemed to be its undoing, with the likes of large-scale random battles, intricate spells and magic for the turn-based battles, and a large world to explore as the fledgling adventurer, Brian. Playing out as a grand fetch quest, the game was hampered by repetitive and tedious exploration, mindless NPCs, and often frustrating battles. Yes, the game had its charms, but it’s sadly more often remembered for its unenjoyable gameplay and presentation.
“War Gods” (1997)
Why is it that the late 90s and early 2000s fighting genre was so divisive? For every solid Tekken or Street Fighter, there was a War Gods. Coming from the then mighty and popular Midway, War Gods is essentially a Mortal Kombat game in everything but name, but not in a good way. This tedious and annoying fighter for the Nintendo 64 was the epitome of awfulness. Apart from the cacophony of the sound and music design that made your ears bleed, it had a lackluster roster, bland stages, frustrating controls, and general lack of polish that easily makes this one of the worst games on the N64 but also in the genre at large.
“Earthworm Jim 3D” (1999)
The shift into the third dimension marked the downfall for many beloved (and not so beloved) 90s platforming franchises. And yes, that includes you, Bubsy (although you will always have a special, strange place in my heart). Sega Genesis/Mega Drive fans will be well aware of Earthworm Jim with his multiple outings on that platform. When the Nintendo 64 came around, it was the time to bring this earth crawler into the shiny, new third dimension. Well, as you might have guessed from this list, it didn’t go well for our slimy friend. The game was met with ire by gamers due to finicky controls, mundane levels, humor that often fell flat, and a level of jank that made the game feel like a chore to play.
“Blues Brothers 2000” (2000)
That freakin’ springy jump sound effect when your Blues Brother character bounces around each stage is an auditory nightmare. Awful sound effects aside, Blues Brothers 2000 is always, fairly or unfairly, going to be compared to N64 3D platforming juggernauts like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, given their similarities. Taking place across a range of unique locales such as a Prison, Chicago, a graveyard, and even a swamp, this utterly bonkers game won’t bring much joy or excitement to anyone. It’s a standard platformer that did little to innovate or incentivize players to keep pushing through the journey and thus was met with critical negativity for the most part.
“Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue” (2000)
Ooof, this one hits hard for those of us that grew up loving the Power Rangers. Coming in with an abysmal 25 Metacritic score, Lightspeed Rescue is downright awful and likely should never have even been greenlit to begin with. You’re seeing this gameplay on screen, right? I guess if you are a fan of utterly bland levels, nonsensical gameplay, tedium, poor use of the source material, and broken messes, then perhaps Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue is a game for you. Sarcasm aside, it’s hard to put into words just how terrible this game really is. Whether watching or playing this game, you will feel the life being sucked out of you. Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue… more like Power Rangers: Rescue Me From This Sheer Dumpster Fire of a Game.
“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” (2000)
The Batman source material deserved so much more than this back in the year 2000. Maybe Y2K screwed up something along the way with development which led to Return of the Joker, a beat ‘em up arcade brawler game that did little to appease fans of the Caped Crusader. This game featured a new thin and spindly version of Batman who mostly just came across as a wanna-be that clearly drank too much Mountain Dew before going off to save the day if his punch and walk animations are anything to go by. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker doesn't understand what makes side-scrolling brawler games so fun and instead offers up frustration around every corner.
“Superman 64 (Superman: The New Superman Adventures)” (1999)
QA must not have been a thing in the year 1999 since somehow a game like Superman 64 was able to be released on the N64. Also known as Superman: The New Superman Adventures if you want to get pretentious about it, this game is a sheer cornucopia of failure around every fog-filled corner of Superman’s world. The first thing you think of when you think of the Man of Steel is how great he is at flying through rings, right? I sure hope you did think of that and only that since that description makes up the majority of Superman 64. Okay sure, there are some on-foot sections where Superman can punch some baddies, but these sections make the ring flying elements look good in comparison. This is one of those terrible N64 games that never should have existed in the first place.
