N64 Perfect Dark

[Gym Ghingham]

FPS by Rare for N64

GoldenEye007 was a great game for Nintendo but Perfect Dark is pioneering in terms of maneuver, unlock stages, environment interaction and secondary functions in shooting.

A lot of FPS games inspired by this one, also had a hardcore fan base. Some reviewers on popular gaming sites even wrote that it was impossible in 2000's for a company to create a better FPS than this.

I don't know how most people feel about this game, but for me will always have a special place in my heart because it was the one that introduced me in the First Person Shooter world of games. I had a lot of fun playing this and i still clearly remember every time i saved so i had to leave, next time i got the free time to play i was running impatiently to turn on the console, nothing more to add on this.

Something extra about the main character most people don't know, Joanna Dark was influenced by a number of fictional heroines: Kim Kimberly from the 1983 interactive fiction game Snowball, the seductive spy Agent X-27 in the 1931 film Dishonored, the eponymous femme fatale of the 1990 film La Femme Nikita, and FBI agent Dana Scully from The X-Files. The name of the in-game company dataDyne was inspired by Yoyodyne from the 1965 novella The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. Truly a masterpiece for me and believe me when i say the number of fans are maybe fewer in comparison on other N64 titles but the Perfect Dark fans are more die hard even knowing small details that most people and popular gaming sites don't know.

Tell us about games in N64 that are unforgettable and you really loved them, i want to read also about games that introduced you in a certain gaming genre that you keep playing until today. More Threads will follow this one, next week i will have more free time, thank you for reading.

 

[RageBurner]

Perfect Dark is amazing. Along with some other Rare gems and a few other standouts, they almost justify the N64 existing by themselves.

Besides that, Ogre Battle 64 is one of the most brilliant entries in the franchise (we know how starved for RPGs/SRPGs the N64 was, needed a lot of more of em).
I also had plenty of fun with Star Fox 64, Blast Corps and Road Rash 64 (hot take, RR64 is more fun to play that either RR3D or RR Jailbreak).

 

[Skeetos]

This and Conker are my picks for Best N64 game. Perfect Dark is one of my all time favorites too. I even like Zero despite what others think of it. But for the question I'll give you this.

I actually quite enjoy Biofreaks. It has a really unique style to it and the combos are actually quite fun to pull off. This guy on the cover Zipperhead (please don't get mad at me that's actually his name unfortunately) and another character Ssapo were my favorites. Sabotage was a cool character too.

 

[Zooey]

I really loved Perfect Dark. The guns were so creative, which made the multiplayer even more fun. Stuff like the laptop gun which you could toss down as a turret. Also the questline was super long and had alot to unlock and experiment with. It just felt like there was so many hidden secrets. Its maybe not as groundbreaking or iconic as Goldeneye, but it was everything and more, and at the time it really made me excited to own a N64.

My personal favorite is Jet Force Gemini. Playing this in coop was so much fun. And its another one of those games that felt like it had alot of replay-ability, like there was always some secret to find, always something to discover.

 

[Skeetos]

This and Conker are my picks for Best N64 game. Perfect Dark is one of my all time favorites too. I even like Zero despite what others think of it. But for the question I'll give you this.

View attachment 24387

I actually quite enjoy Biofreaks. It has a really unique style to it and the combos are actually quite fun to pull off. This guy on the cover Zipperhead (please don't get mad at me that's actually his name unfortunately) and another character Ssapo were my favorites. Sabotage was a cool character too.

Idk why my message formatted so weird. I fixed it.

 

[RageBurner]

This and Conker are my picks for Best N64 game. Perfect Dark is one of my all time favorites too. I even like Zero despite what others think of it. But for the question I'll give you this.

View attachment 24387

I actually quite enjoy Biofreaks. It has a really unique style to it and the combos are actually quite fun to pull off. This guy on the cover Zipperhead (please don't get mad at me that's actually his name unfortunately) and another character Ssapo were my favorites. Sabotage was a cool character too.

Biofreaks was a great idea on paper, but it should never have been conceived as a one-on-one fighter, if you ask me. To work, I feel it would have needed wide, tall, highly interactive arenas; more Power Stone, less Street Fighter, if that makes sense.

 

[Skeetos]

Biofreaks was a great idea on paper, but it should never have been conceived as a one-on-one fighter, if you ask me. To work, I feel it would have needed wide, tall, highly interactive arenas; more Power Stone, less Street Fighter, if that makes sense.

Yeah that would've been cool. I remember those Tom and Jerry games on the N64 and PS2 did that and were really fun. There's one map in Biofreaks where if you play as whats his nuts with the jetpack you can just casually lodge yourself in the wall, I did it a lot while cartridge tipping, it created really funny results. Honestly if the game was just on a 2D track like the later Mortal Kombat games do it'd be more fun. Like I said the combos are really crazy in the game. I think the N64 controller strangely enough works better than the PS1 controller here.

 

[RageBurner]

I think the N64 controller strangely enough works better than the PS1 controller here.

The N64 controller is a bit underestimated for fighting games. It doesn't look the part, but I feel it works really well (I had KI Gold, felt it played really well).

 

[DunkeyKong]

One of the most modern games for the N64, it's really futuristic for it's time and it still looks pretty good despite how outdated it is

 

[RageBurner]

One of the most modern games for the N64, it's really futuristic for it's time and it still looks pretty good despite how outdated it is
View attachment 24402

Low texture resolution has always been a problem on the N64, but Rare and a few other companies could really make games look visually coherent despite the tiny space on a cartridge (when compared to the CDs that the PS1 and Saturn employed, at least).

 

[tetrobroyg]

I really loved Perfect Dark. The guns were so creative, which made the multiplayer even more fun. Stuff like the laptop gun which you could toss down as a turret. Also the questline was super long and had alot to unlock and experiment with. It just felt like there was so many hidden secrets. Its maybe not as groundbreaking or iconic as Goldeneye, but it was everything and more, and at the time it really made me excited to own a N64.

My personal favorite is Jet Force Gemini. Playing this in coop was so much fun. And its another one of those games that felt like it had alot of replay-ability, like there was always some secret to find, always something to discover.
View attachment 24394finally someone who agrees this was and still a fun Replay ability game from time to time and was also a great game to beat during a casual weekend also during the early times of childhood I had no idea we could unlock the other characters it's like finding Yoshi on top of Princess "peach" Toodstool's Castle (^':

 

[Skeetos]

I like your formatting boy...

 

[Stingy Perry]

One of the great reasons to be a proud owner of N64 back then.

 

[Crashbandi]

The only reason I got a 64 honestly, being a fan of the PlayStation at that time. Me and my best friend in highschool clocked something like 700 hours just playing multiplayer.

A close second for me was Hybrid Heaven, there was just something about that game that had me hooked.

 

[RageBurner]

I really loved Perfect Dark. The guns were so creative, which made the multiplayer even more fun. Stuff like the laptop gun which you could toss down as a turret. Also the questline was super long and had alot to unlock and experiment with. It just felt like there was so many hidden secrets. Its maybe not as groundbreaking or iconic as Goldeneye, but it was everything and more, and at the time it really made me excited to own a N64.

My personal favorite is Jet Force Gemini. Playing this in coop was so much fun. And its another one of those games that felt like it had alot of replay-ability, like there was always some secret to find, always something to discover.
View attachment 24394

I really need to give JFG a spin.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I really wanted to play it, but it's yet another one of those games closed off for me due to the incredibly broken nature of N64 emulation.

 

[RageBurner]

I really wanted to play it, but it's yet another one of those games closed off for me due to the incredibly broken nature of N64 emulation.

You don't need an emulator to enjoy this one.

 

[Viviana Santos]

I really wanted to play it, but it's yet another one of those games closed off for me due to the incredibly broken nature of N64 emulation.

There is the Xbox 360 remaster which is great, and it's also available on Rare Replay.

Post automatically merged: Feb 11, 2025

I love Perfect Dark, by far one of my favorite FPS games of all time.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Thank you, bros. But I'm still stuck: wayyyy too poor to afford such riches.

 

[RageBurner]

Thank you, bros. But I'm still stuck: wayyyy too poor to afford such riches.

I was referring to the PC decompilation rather than the 360 version. Very easy to set up, controls like a modern FPS and has extra options the N64 version doesn't (weapon randomization every round on the combat sim for example).

 

[RageBurner]

Perfect dark so perfect I can´t see shiz

Unless you find the X-ray specs or Farsight.

 

[Skeetos]

Thank you, bros. But I'm still stuck: wayyyy too poor to afford such riches.

There is the PC port someone made. but it was made with stolen code so idk what your opinions are on that.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

There is the PC port someone made. but it was made with stolen code so idk what your opinions are on that.

Well, that's interesting... I'd love to read more about that!

Unfortunately, I'm so broke that I don't even have a PC, so that's also not an option. Thanks, though!

 

[Zooey]

I really need to give JFG a spin.

Its a great game, just might control horribly these days cuz of that whole time period.

 

[RageBurner]

Its a great game, just might control horribly these days cuz of that whole time period.

Haha a bit of jank comes with the territory. Something like Body Harvest is janky by today's standards, but it still blazed a trail.