20 HARDEST Characters To Unlock in N64 Games

20 Hardest Character To Unlock in N64 Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are throwing some characters of the golden Nintendo age at you, that you might have missed! These are the 20 Hardest Character To Unlock in N64 Games. Let’s go!

Celebi

“Pokémon Stadium 2” (2000)

Celebi in "Pokémon Stadium 2" is not hidden behind one bizarre trick, but getting access to it still takes serious commitment. You first need to clear Round 1, which means working through a huge portion of the game’s tournaments and Gym Leader Castle before eventually defeating the Rival. Only after that does Round 2 open up, allowing Celebi to be rented in the Prime Cup. By then, you have already proven you can handle some pretty demanding battles using rental Pokémon that are not always equipped with the moves you would actually choose yourself. So Celebi basically shows up as a reward for surviving the first half of the game, right before "Pokémon Stadium 2" decides to become even nastier.

Dr. Nepenthe

“Forsaken 64” (1998)

"Forsaken 64" handles secret characters in a very old-school way: it hides them in Battle Mode and barely bothers explaining any of it. Dr. Nepenthe is one of eight extra bikers scattered across specific multiplayer arenas, and unlocking him simply requires finding and killing him during a match. Easy enough, assuming you somehow know which map he is on in the first place. While you search, the battle continues normally, so other players and enemies can make the hunt even messier. There is no grand puzzle or brutal championship attached to this one, just obscure knowledge and careful exploration. It is the kind of secret that probably caused plenty of players to unlock someone completely by accident.

Wolverine

“Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3” (2001)

Wolverine being playable in "Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3" already sounds ridiculous, but unlocking him makes the cameo even stranger. You need to complete every career goal and earn gold in all three competitions with two different skaters. In other words, the game wants something very close to two full completion runs before Logan finally decides skateboarding is worth his time. That means repeating difficult objectives, nailing competition scores and avoiding sloppy runs across the entire career. Plenty of players never bothered pushing that far, which helps explain why the secret was easy to miss. Once unlocked, Wolverine gets unique animations, and moves, very cool.

Alex, Harry, Nina & Kate

“Mario Tennis” (2000)

Unlocking Alex, Nina, Harry and Kate in "Mario Tennis" is less about skill and more about owning a tiny museum of Nintendo hardware. All four come from the Game Boy Color version, so bringing them into the N64 game requires both cartridges, a Transfer Pak and a compatible controller setup. Once connected, you can import the characters along with the stats you built up in the handheld game. That was already a bit of a process when everything was sitting on store shelves. In 2026, it means hunting down old cartridges and accessories that may cost more than expected. No brutal tournament is required here. Your greatest opponent is simply finding twenty-five-year-old hardware that still works. I’m 32 and I barely work.

Pojo

“Mace: The Dark Age” (1997)

Pojo in "Mace: The Dark Age" is one of those secret characters that sounds completely made up until you actually unlock him. First, you have to perform Taria’s execution during the single-player game. Then things get properly weird: plug in a second controller, head back to the character select screen, highlight Taria, hold Start and choose her again. Do everything correctly and she is replaced by Pojo, an extremely angry chicken. None of this is especially hard once you know the trick, but the game gives you basically no reason to ever try it. Without a magazine, cheat book or schoolyard rumour, Pojo should basically never be found.

Sumner

“Gauntlet Legends” (1998)

Sumner in "Gauntlet Legends" is unlocked through a challenge that feels completely disconnected from the rest of the game. Instead of killing hordes of monsters, you need to find a hidden room in Battle World and complete a timed coin-collecting challenge. Once inside, the goal is simple: grab 50 coins before the clock runs out. Easy right? The tricky part is actually discovering the secret area in the first place, then moving efficiently enough to scoop everything up without wasting precious seconds. Fail and you get to repeat the whole frantic treasure hunt again. It is not the hardest unlock in the game, but it is really really strange, and that’s enough for me.

Meat

“Mortal Kombat 4” (1997)

Unlocking Meat in "Mortal Kombat 4" is less a test of fighting skill and more a test of how long a friend is willing to humour you. With two players, one person selects the Group option and must keep winning matches, returning to character select and choosing Group again each time. Do this until you have stacked up sixteen victories, and the next fighter you pick appears as Meat: a skinless human body with all the charm of a medical textbook. There is no brutal boss, hidden fatality or impossible combo involved. It is just repetitive, oddly specific and slightly embarrassing. Somewhere around win twelve, you may start wondering why becoming exposed muscle tissue matters this much, and if you’re my brother, you’ll ruin it for me.

Bret Hart

“WCW Backstage Assault” (2000)

Bret Hart is not hidden behind some impossible match in "WCW Backstage Assault". Instead, the game makes you prove your commitment by clearing the Hardcore Gauntlet five separate times. That means repeatedly smashing through backstage areas full of tables, televisions and anything else sturdy enough to become a wrestling weapon. Plenty of other characters unlock after a single victory or one successful Gauntlet run, but Bret apparently demands a subscription plan. The difficulty isn’t from one brutal challenge, it’s from doing the same mode over and over without losing your mind. Finish it four times and the game still shrugs. Only after the fifth complete run does the Hitman finally decide you have suffered enough.

Shawn Michaels

“WWF WrestleMania 2000” (1999)

Shawn Michaels in "WWF WrestleMania 2000" is locked behind an entire wrestling season. You need to work through Road to WrestleMania, survive months of matches and eventually reach WrestleMania itself as WWF Champion. Win the title and HBK finally appears, immediately turning your victory celebration into another fight. Beat him there and Michaels becomes playable. None of this demands impossible inputs, but it does ask for a long, successful run through the mode before you even get the chance. If your season goes sideways, so does the unlock.

Joker

“Fighters Destiny” (1998)

Welcome to another endurance trophy. To unlock Joker in “Fighters Destiny”, you need to survive 100 opponents in Survival Mode. The problem is obvious: one hundred fights is a very long time to stay sharp, especially when a single bad stretch can wreck the entire run. Early opponents might feel manageable, but by the time you are deep into the seventies or nineties, every mistake suddenly carries enormous weight. There is no shortcut or clever puzzle here, just consistency and nerves. Old guides even singled Joker out as the toughest hidden fighter to earn. By opponent 100, you have probably forgotten what sunlight looks like.

"Y" the Alien

“Vigilante 8” (1998)

Getting "Y" in "Vigilante 8" sends you through a ridiculous chain of unlocks before the alien finally appears. First, you need access to the Sand Factory and Secret Base stages. Sand Factory requires clearing Quest Mode with Dave and Molo, while Secret Base needs Convoy and Sid Burn. The problem is that none of those four characters are available from the beginning either, so you have to complete additional Quest Mode runs with different members of the starting roster just to reach them. One secret unlock leads into another until you've played through the campaign repeatedly. By the time "Y" finally becomes selectable, you’re gonna wanna leave the planet anyway.

Vampire Wario

“Dr. Mario 64” (2001)

One loss is all it takes to ruin your shot at Vampire Wario in "Dr. Mario 64". Let me explain. You have to finish Story Mode on Normal difficulty (or higher) while using Dr. Mario, and every single match needs to be won without a single defeat. That turns what sounds like a basic campaign clear into a full run where mistakes actually matter. Early stages may go smoothly, but later opponents speed things up and leave far less room for a messy capsule placement. There is no recovering with a continue and carrying on. If the board collapses, so does the unlock attempt. It is a short challenge compared with some others, but the pressure builds fast when one bad move can erase everything.

Ness

“Super Smash Bros.” (1999)

Three lives, no continues, Normal difficulty or higher. Those are the rules "Super Smash Bros." gives you before Ness will even consider showing up. You have to clear the entire one-player mode under those conditions, which was a much bigger ask in 1999 when everyone was still figuring out how this strange new fighting game worked. Lose too many lives or use a continue and the opportunity disappears. Even reaching Master Hand with enough stock left can become stressful if earlier fights went badly. Then, after the credits, Ness finally appears as a challenger and you still have to beat him. The game basically checks your homework twice before handing over the psychic child.

Platinum Ryumaou

“Flying Dragon” (1987)

Ten Platinum medals stand between you and the full set of Platinum fighters in "Flying Dragon", and getting them is a proper grind. In SD Hiryu mode, special Platinum opponents can appear during the Circuit, and beating one earns a medal. The catch is that you need all ten, so this means repeatedly pushing through the mode, waiting for the right challengers to show up, then making sure you actually beat them when they do. Ryumaou’s Platinum form is tied to that larger collection rather than one dramatic boss fight. "Flying Dragon" already has Gold variants, secret tournaments and random rewards layered on top, so the whole thing becomes a maze of unlock systems. This cartridge really wanted to become your weekend plans.

Rumble Man

“Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2” (2000)

Eleven Arcade Mode clears is the sort of requirement that makes you question whether the developers of "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing" actually wanted people to see every character. The N64 version hands out secret fighters gradually as you keep finishing the mode: Freak E. Deke arrives after one clear, Michael Jackson after two, Shaquille O’Neal after five, and so on. Rumble Man sits at the very end of that progression, with guides placing him after the eleventh completion, including the necessary Hard run. None of those playthroughs are impossible on their own, but repeating the same mode that many times turns the unlock into pure stubbornness. After you get MJ, what’s the point getting the rest? That’s as funny as it gets.

Cherry

“Fighter Destiny 2” (1998)

Cherry in "Fighter Destiny 2" basically inherits one of the first game’s nastiest ideas. Before the real challenge even starts, you need to clear VS Com with Pierre. After that, Survival Mode demands 100 victories in a single run. There is no checkpoint halfway through, no mercy at 99, and no shortcut once your concentration starts slipping. The difficulty comes from maintaining clean play for an absurdly long stretch while every mistake becomes more expensive the deeper you go. "Fighter Destiny 2" adds a few new systems, but the core problem remains the same: keep winning until the number hits triple digits. Help me god.

Mew

“Pokémon Stadium” (1999)

Round 2 in "Pokémon Stadium" only opens after you've already conquered a huge amount of the game, and Mew is waiting on the other side. You need to clear the Stadium cups, fight your way through Gym Leader Castle and then defeat Mewtwo in the final battle. Only after all of that does the second round become available, where Mew can finally be used as a rental. That journey is tough enough with your own carefully trained Game Boy team, but using rental Pokémon can turn certain battles into a complete tactical headache thanks to some questionable movesets. By the time Mew appears, you've basically finished "Pokémon Stadium" once already. So like, who cares?

Andre the Giant

“WWF No Mercy” (2000)

Opponent 101. That is when Andre the Giant finally shows up in "WWF No Mercy" Survival Mode, after you have already endured one hundred eliminations. Are you guys seeing a theme on the N64? Why wasn’t it called the N100? The big trick when you get to round 101, is that you have to be the person who throws him out. If another wrestler eliminates Andre first, the unlock disappears with him and all that work leads nowhere. There is another route through the WWF Championship story, but Survival is the one that really earns Andre his reputation. By the time he enters, your hands are tired, your focus is probably gone, and the game suddenly expects you to beat one of wrestling’s most intimidating legends cleanly. It is a perfect final test from a game literally called "No Mercy".

Trixie

“Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2” (2000)

Every gap in "Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2" needs to be found before Trixie joins the roster, and that is much nastier than it sounds. The N64 version includes a huge collection of obscure transfers, giant jumps and hidden routes spread across the entire game, including Skate Heaven. Reaching that stage already demands substantial Career progress, so the hunt cannot even be finished early. From there, you are basically studying each level like an engineer, searching for bits of scenery that can somehow be connected with a trick. Plenty of gaps are things an ordinary player would never discover naturally. Eventually, every staircase, rooftop and suspicious railing starts staring at you.

T.T.

“Diddy Kong Racing” (1997)

Twenty tracks stand between you and T.T. in "Diddy Kong Racing", and every one demands serious mastery. First, activate Time Trial and beat each course’s target strongly enough to make T.T.’s ghost appear. Then you have to race that faster ghost and beat it too. Repeat the process across every standard track, including some absolutely miserable hovercraft events. There is no hiding behind Adventure Mode progress or slowly grinding toward the unlock; your racing actually has to be excellent. Clean lines, smart boosts and very few mistakes become mandatory once the harder times appear. By the end, you have spent hours chasing a clock around the entire game. T.T. eventually joins the roster, presumably because you have finally proven worthy of his ghostly goodness.