Hello there, internet. We're still here processing Nintendo 64 games one brief playthrough at a time, with no obvious end in sight. That's for the best, IMO, as the two games this episode have shown me that there's still plenty of pleasant surprises to mine from the otherwise comparatively small N64 library even if what we're mining isn't so much gold but, like, zirconia. These two games couldn't be more dissimilar in most respects, but I came away from both respecting them more than when I went in, and that's an unusually positive take away from an episode of 64 in 64.

For this episode's preamble stalling topic I'm going to look at another category of N64 games that fit a very specific condition, and one that is a particular vindictive interest of mine: games that were released in Japan and Europe (and sometimes Australia) but NOT North America. My personal collection is replete with these things, so enamored am I by the idea that the one region (my own) that misses out on all the good stuff actually got a break this time. Of course, there's no guarantee these PAL+JP games are all that great—in fact, if they skipped an American launch there's a greater than average chance they aren't—but occasionally you'll get a Terranigma or a Vib-Ribbon you can lord over your yank buddies.

Alas, there's only three such cases for the N64:

• Air Boarder 64, a hoverboard racer from Human Entertainment that didn't review so well.
• Centre Court Tennis, a so-so tennis game from Hudson Soft which has the incredible name of "Let's Smash" in Japan.
• Rakugakids, a visually striking fighter with papercraft graffiti characters that I've only been avoiding so far due to my animosity with the genre.

For that matter, there's also only four Europe-exclusive games of which I'm aware: sim racers F1 Racing Championship (which we covered in Episode 2) and F-1 World Grand Prix II (covered in Episode 3—remember when we got back-to-back F1 games from the roulette? I sure as heck do), as well as the licensed puzzle game Taz Express and the thinky soccer-centric Premier Manager 64. I might actually be OK not encountering any more of these than I already have.

However, what isn't unique to Europeans is following all the rules. These are they:

• The feature's called 64 in 64, so we're playing several N64 games for 64 minutes apiece. Look out for my new half-hour series coming soon, Amiga CD32 in 32 (don't actually hold me to this).
• The two games covered each episode will each receive an elucidating introduction, four quarterly reports on my progress taken sixteen minutes apart, a semi-conclusive take on how well the game has held up, some theorizing on whether it's likely to come to the Switch Online service, and any Retro Achievements I managed to fall ass backwards into while playing.
• In order to qualify for an educational grant, which has yet to transpire, 64 in 64 is ostensibly here to market research retro games on Nintendo's behalf. As such, we're not covering any N64 games already on the Switch Online service or announced to be joining it soon. Miraculously, after almost three months of inactivity, Nintendo actually added something this month: Pokémon Stadium. Sure, it doesn't let you connect to anything with your Pokémon stored on it which debatably was the entire point of the game, but it's better than nothing, right? (Gimme that grant already, my soul's been tainted enough with all this brown-nosing.)

Past episodes? You got it, chief:

(Also, be sure to check out my 64 in 64-adjacent feature, The Kobayashi Mario, which will be updated with part two soon!)

Densha de Go! 64 (Pre-Selected)

• A.I. / Taito
• 1999-07-30 (JP)
• 226th N64 Game Released

History: Densha de Go! (roughly, "Go by Train!", though usually localized as "Let's Go by Train!") is a simulation series from Taito (except recently Square Enix has taken it over) where the goal is to quickly yet carefully set off from and stop at train stations across Japan within a strict schedule. As a simulation game, the player is required to stick to speed limits, obey signals and other prompts, and accurately bring the train to a full stop at the station platform. The first game was an arcade original (because that's how Taito do) that was ported to Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, and the second game followed suit albeit with the Sega Dreamcast and N64 instead. Densha de Go! 64 is actually based on the second game's first revision, subtitled Kousoku-hen ("High Speed Edition"), which was released a few months after the original. Publishers Taito shouldn't be new to anyone, but they are new to 64 in 64: the Space Invaders wranglers were involved with precious few N64 games, including single entries in their Bust-a-Move, Densha de Go!, and Bakushou Jinsei franchises. No guarantees we'll get to the other two of those, but I wouldn't be averse to some Bust-a-Move if it popped up randomly (Bakushou Jinsei 64: Mezase! Resort Ou seems like it'd require a bit more Japanese fluency than I can muster, seeing as it's a sugoroku based on The Game of Life). Contract developers A.I., meanwhile, we last bumped into with Bomberman Hero (Episode 26).

A semi-realistic train driving simulator is way, way out of my comfort zone but I've mentioned a few times on here about how I wish I could draw more unusual Nihon-exclusive games from the roulette and this is one of the few to receive a fan translation. To reiterate a statistic from an earlier episode, just over 1 in 5 N64 games never left Japan, so it feels like we should've encountered more than we have so far. There's a few others I could be confident enough in playing without a translation—Tetris 64 (Episode 1) didn't take much sussing out—but I'm going to slowly introduce more fan-defeated language barrier oddities like this as 64 in 64 progresses. Only major Densha de Go! knowledge I have going in is that there's a lot riding on being able to hit the brakes on the train just right so you make it into the station quickly without going past it; I'm sure I've experienced enough mini-games like that to replicate it here. Famous last words?

16 Minutes In

As was expected, this game is intense as hell. It's also very aware that it's a video game, which is a pleasant surprise for a (mostly) serious simulation of public transportation, but then it is a Taito arcade game. The way you have to quickly adjust for any speed limit changes or signal warnings means you cannot let your attention wander for a second, and that's doubly true when you're whizzing around the Japanese countryside in a shinkansen at the speed of thought. The limited controls are at least simple enough—A and B modify your brakeage while up and down on the D-pad determine your engine speed—and most of the time you want to accelerate to the limit and simply coast by turning the engine off, as you can't brake while the engine is on and vice versa if a sudden change in velocity is necessitated. There's also the horn, which you're required to use at certain points like the start of bridges or long tunnels, but the game's not really fond of giving you any advanced warning of when to use it; like most of the UI pop-ups in this game, you really can't blink or you'll miss it.

I spent most of this first block going over the tutorial (very straightforward, so I'm grateful) and a practice mode with the Akita Shinkansen before opting for the first track of the standard arcade mode, which involves riding the HK100 along the Naoetsu to Uragawara line. I'm certain I'm not going to remember the particulars of most of these "levels", but the verisimilitude is a big part of why people dig this series and for a N64 game it really does look sharp. The GUI might be busy but it's easy to follow too, though the fan translation helps a lot with that.

32 Minutes In

I'm going to sound like every Densha de Go! newbie when I start kvetching about just how exact you need to be. It's evident that a lot of what goes into being good at this game is acquiring a feel for when it's best to start hitting the brakes (gradually, because an annoyed-looking shaken gyaru shows up if you're too rapid with the deceleration) prior to stopping at the final station on the route. Not only do you have to hit 0km/h at the exact right distance into the station but you must also do so at the precise time indicated by the clock: Japan, unlike the UK, is a functional country where all the trains are expected to run on time come rain or shine.

I'm still hacking away at that first route, knowing that the other ones are only going to get harder. The first route has three stages to it, and you only have a 30 second buffer from which it deduct mistakes. Said mistakes so far have included not obeying the speed limit (hard if you're going 90km/h and they suddenly tell you to drop to 35km/h in the next ten seconds without braking too hard and giving everyone whiplash), forgetting to honk the horn, and of course not stopping at a station at the correct distance and time. You can earn bonus time by being exactly correct schedule-wise when passing or stopping at a station though. Every other course besides the Naoetsu to Uragawara line is "Level 2" difficulty or higher, but as I'm getting tired of the picturesque Niigata countryside I'm making a switch back to the Akita Shinkansen which looks to be the next easiest. I'm sure I have enough experience now to drive a bullet train. How hard could it be?

48 Minutes In

Thankfully, the Akita Shinkansen is an E3 model which means it's much slower than the Mach 1 monsters crossing between Tokyo and Osaka in a heartbeat. However, the big difference between the E3 train and the E3 event is that everyone's surprised and disappointed when the E3 train doesn't show up, which means I still have to maintain a high speed and adjust accordingly for turns to get to the end of the line promptly. Naturally I screwed it up right at the end, but I was doing a fine job being punctual through most of the course: the game usually breaks up its courses through stopping stations, calculating your schedule-keeping and accuracy after each one, though with many stations you're just passing by and are only rewarded/penalized on the time taken. This particular course has only one stop at the end, but it's a bit of a trek to get there.

However, were I to try this track again (and I am) then I should be good if I can be a little more prepared for the final stop. Trouble is, the game tells you to maintain an ideal speed—for this shinkansen it's around 110-120km/h—and then suddenly you're 500m away from the station in question and there's no way you're decelerating quickly enough without the emergency brake and/or Spider-Man to help, and both carry some heavy penalties (upset passengers and Green Goblin destroying Madison Square Garden with his pumpkin bombs, respectively). This time, I'm not going to go over 80km/s when the final stretch begins and hope I can just glide into Omagari Station before a clock starts yelling obscenities at me like I'm Vesper Noir in a collaboration with Ouro Kronii. (If I had an editor, they'd probably tell me "fewer Vtuber references, maybe?". I don't have an editor though. I mean, obviously, right?)

64 Minutes In

No early game overs this time, though as you can see from the report I didn't exactly walk away without a few dents in the ol' caboose. This time I managed to reach the final station with plenty of time to slow down and pick the right moment to stop, but got a little impatient and couldn't slow down enough in time: I ended up being five seconds early (you don't get penalized or rewarded for being early) and about five meters over the line. I might've also been a little too brake-happy towards the end there, this time getting a pop-up of an annoyed office lady getting jerked around in her seat (I miss the gyarus). I'll chalk this up as a win regardless, because credits appeared soon after along with some soothing staff roll music to calm whatever apoplexy I may or may not have had about screwing the pooch in the eleventh hour again.

Well, that's the end of our exciting time driving a train at the precise speed limit, though sadly I never unlocked the secrets of multi-track drifting. Even so, I think I acquitted myself well enough as a novice train driver. That is, if you consider failing every course to be "acquitting oneself well enough" but hey, arcade games are meant to be stupidly hard, right? Especially a notoriously tough series like Densha de Go!, right? These don't sound at all like the desperate excuses of a broken man, riiiight?

How Well Has It Aged?: As Well As This Train's Brake Pads. Honestly, I enjoyed my time with Densha de Go! quite a bit, almost surprisingly so were it not for how often you hear about some streamer type trying one of these games out on a lark and getting unexpectedly into it. It's frustrating only to the extent where you kick yourself for not doing better, given how relatively simple it is to follow, which then has you trying again with even greater precision and concentration. None of the courses lasted much more than ten minutes, so while it is disappointing to go hurtling through the barricades at the end because you forgot to start braking way ahead of time it's not super discouraging either. Replaying courses doesn't always go the same way each time; besides the speed limits, which are fixed, you'll sometimes get a signal to slow down due to unexpected track conditions and sometimes you won't and those are the kind of RNG occurrences that keeps you focused and engaged and prevents the game from being too much of a memorization-fest the way some tougher genres like rhythm or shoot 'em ups can be. It may look dry as hell, but it's honest to its roots as an arcade game that moves fast and demands a high level of skill to enjoy. (Either that or I've embraced being an old person even faster than I feared. I hope I don't suddenly acquire a taste for golf games.)

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: Unlikely. Rejoice, however, because there's already a Switch Densha de Go! entry that's way more up to date on all the latest... train... tech. Have trains improved much in the last 25 years? I'm sure train driving games have, at any rate.

Retro Achievements Earned: N/A.

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (Random)

• Traveller's Tales / Activision
• 1999-11-16 (NA), 2000-02-04 (EU)
• =277th N64 Game Released

History: Disney Pixar's Toy Story is an unforgettable CGI animated movie series featuring characters with names like Woody, Buzz, Rabbit, Tenga, and Bad Dragon (he's more of an anti-hero type) as they navigate the enormous world of humans as sapient toys who only come to life when no-one is looking at them, much like SCP-173. Naturally, a movie series this popular spawned a video game or several, and that was certainly the case with the 1999 sequel Toy Story 2. Roughly following the events of the movie after Woody is stolen from a yard sale by the toy collector Al, the heroic spaceman Buzz Lightyear must work his way to Al's Toy Barn to rescue his cowboy bud while fighting off the robotic goons of the evil Emperor Zurg. The game hit almost every platform going with the N64 being no exception; however, it's probably more at home here than elsewhere due to being a dyed-in-the-wool 3D collectathon platformer in the vein of Super Mario 64, complete with a series of (partially optional) challenges to take on in every level. This is also our first encounter with Traveller's Tales on this feature, best known these days for their many licensed Lego games: they only appeared twice on N64, and you might not be surprised to learn that the other game is also a Pixar movie tie-in (Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life).

I guess... this could've been a lot worse? I like 3D platformers and TT isn't a developer known for phoning it in, even if their Lego games have felt increasingly cookie-cutter over the years. I'll be subconsciously comparing it to the last game I played with Toy Story characters—Kingdom Hearts III—so there's no escaping that but I'll be sure to give it a fair shake given the mixed standard of 3D platformers at the time, each suffering their own distinct pitfalls and drawbacks due to being a mostly untested new frontier.

16 Minutes In

This seems entirely inoffensive so far? High praise indeed. Buzz controls well enough, though the camera less so, and he's able to use his little wrist laser in first-person mode if the auto-aim ever proves lacking. Beyond that he comes with a double-jump built in courtesy of his fold-out wings (though they don't let him glide for some reason) and the usual 3D platformer accoutrements like a ground pound and limited-use power-ups. There doesn't seem to be any fall damage—I guess there wouldn't be when you're always falling in style—and I've a generous amount of health to tank all these robot hits. Wow, it's almost like this game was intended for children or something.

The first level has you exploring Andy's House completing tasks for the other toys, each one netting a valuable Pizza Planet Token. I was given the option to leave the stage after acquiring two of them, so I'm guessing the game's pretty lenient when it comes to progress milestones. I'm sticking around for now because I want to gab with the other toys in case this is the only time I see them: Rex operates as a bulletin board telling you what everyone else is looking for; Hamm as you can see wants some coins in exchange for a token (coins are everywhere, and will also drop from enemies one time each); Mr. Potato Head wants an ear back before he'll let me use my own Buzz Lightyear-branded power-ups, the audacious prick; and Bo Peep needs five sheep found across the house. Not met Slinky or the others yet. Been having a fine time so far, though I could do without the endless loop of "You've Got a Friend In Me". I suppose suffering some Randy Newman comes with the territory.

32 Minutes In

Looks like every level only has five tokens, so I was quickly done with the house and have since moved out into the neighborhood exterior. Similar case here: there's a mix of NPC requests and loose tokens to reach if I want the full five, at least one of which is Hamm's request to find a certain percentage (around 50%) of the level's coins. Actually, the other tasks are familiar too: complete a race against RC, find five of something (army men rather than sheep this time), fight a mini-boss, and follow a trail of ever-higher platforms to a token. This game might be even more formulaic than I anticipated.

Even so, I consider any Random pick where I'm not playing sports or a fighter to be a net positive, so I'm just going to enjoy coasting through this totally pleasant if anodyne platformer for the hour's duration without getting too obsessive about collecting everything (challenge rating: impossible). At least the Newman music stopped, replaced by some frantic ragtime.

48 Minutes In

After doing as much as I can in the Andy's Neighborhood level (see two screenshots ago for details) I moved onto the game's first actual boss fight against a red airplane. Since I could tank all its hits easily enough and can charge up my wrist laser for serious damage, it was beyond easy. I'm not necessarily against the idea of games built for a younger audience, but considering the biggest difficulty I could see kids having with a game like this is controlling it in the first place I'm not sure the challenges necessarily need to be this simple to achieve. Like, granted, Super Mario 64 could be a little on the tough side but that's also why many of its Power Stars were surplus to requirement: to have that same redundancy system here seems pointless if all the goals are equally straightforward.

Regardless, after the boss fight I moved onto the Construction Yard from the movie (maybe a different movie) and it's once again a mini-boss, a quintet of NPCs to rescue, a Hamm money-scrounging goal, a platforming challenge, and... oh, it might not be a race this time. Slinky Dog wants to challenge me, so I'll go see what that's about. I'm sure it'll be a fair contest; Slinky always struck me as an earnest kind of guy. I'm getting curious how many levels this has total so I'll be sure to check the Retro Achievements later, but I'm not sure we've even passed the first act yet. Maybe that's a good thing though; you don't want to be half done with a full price retail game after an hour.

64 Minutes In

Man, just after mentioning the easy difficulty the Construction Yard has to throw out a real nasty scaffolding tower full of moving girders and flying enemies with laser beams. Fortunately, and I appreciate that this is one of the earliest 3D platformers that might've done this, the game is fond of giving you shortcuts to activate midway through a series of jumps so you can get back to a checkpoint of sorts if you should fall. By the way, Slinky's challenge was to traverse a field of wet cement to collect five wrenches within the time limit (rule of five is big in this game, turns out) so I'm pretty sure he was trying to kill me. Fair play: he's Woody's friend, not Buzz's.

I fully completed the level with seconds to spare, so I just chilled on the map select for a while. I did eventually figure out what was going on with the camera: it has an "active" mode and a "passive" mode, sort of similar to the camera Lakitu. When active, the camera will always try to center itself behind Buzz which means it's prone to swinging around violently if you suddenly do a U-turn. Passive mode means you have to adjust it yourself with the C-buttons. Once I realized it was automated I stopped trying to fight it to give me a better idea of what was around me, but it's really not an intuitive system. Either way, not my problem any more.

How Well Has It Aged?: As Well As That Meme Asking Why Buzz Would Freeze Like the Other Toys Around Humans if He was in Denial About Being a Toy. Nah, this was pretty good too. For as generic as the game and level design was it had a good head on its shoulders, introducing a lot of quality-of-life features to 3D platformers that some others of the era could've used, such as its ample shortcuts, the GUI's transparency when tracking collectibles, and giving you a way to find out where NPCs were (thanks again to Rex; fake Wallace Shawn was a godsend). It may lack the visuals of Rayman 2, the ingenuity of Rocket: Robot on Wheels, the humor of Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, and controls nowhere near as well as Super Mario 64 but it's certainly not a game I would've been unhappy to rent for a weekend.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: It'll Take Infinity Years (and Beyond). I say that because the PlayStation version is presently available on PS5 as part of its retro game collection PS+ subscription tier, and I've no idea if there's a no compete clause involved. Activision's the publisher though, so if they can spend one week not The Producers-ing themselves to make this Microsoft merger go through then maybe they can talk some more ports. Of course, by then they'll be a Microsoft subsidiary and we'd be in the same situation as we are with Rare and its N64 library. Then there's all the Disney licensing to renegotiate and... yeah, maybe leave this one in the attic.

Retro Achievements Earned: 10 out of 63. Mostly collectibles and story progress, though there's some boss related trophies that require avoiding damage and other limitations. Quite a few missables in there too, which seems surprisingly poor form for RetroAchievements. (And there's ten normal levels, it seems, so I was already 30% done.)

Current Ranking

1. Super Mario 64 (Ep. 1)
2. Diddy Kong Racing (Ep. 6)
3. Perfect Dark (Ep. 19)
4. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Ep. 3)
5. Donkey Kong 64 (Ep. 13)
6. Space Station Silicon Valley (Ep. 17)
7. Goemon's Great Adventure (Ep. 9)
8. Bomberman Hero (Ep. 26)
9. Pokémon Snap (Ep. 11)
10. Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ep. 19)
11. Banjo-Tooie (Ep. 10)
12. Rocket: Robot on Wheels (Ep. 27)
13. Mischief Makers (Ep. 5)
14. Super Smash Bros. (Ep. 25)
15. Mega Man 64 (Ep. 18)
16. Wetrix (Ep. 21)
17. Harvest Moon 64 (Ep. 15)
18. Hybrid Heaven (Ep. 12)
19. Blast Corps (Ep. 4)
20. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Ep. 2)
21. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Ep. 4)
22. Tonic Trouble (Ep. 24)
23. Densha de Go! 64 (Ep. 29)
24. Snowboard Kids (Ep. 16)
25. Spider-Man (Ep. 8)
26. Bomberman 64 (Ep. 8)
27. Jet Force Gemini (Ep. 16)
28. Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Ep. 7)
29. Body Harvest (Ep. 28)
30. Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (Ep. 29)
31. Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (Ep. 20)
32. Conker's Bad Fur Day (Ep. 22)
33. BattleTanx: Global Assault (Ep. 13)
34. Hot Wheels Turbo Racing (Ep. 9)
35. San Francisco Rush 2049 (Ep. 4)
36. Fighter Destiny 2 (Ep. 6)
37. Big Mountain 2000 (Ep. 18)
38. Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Ep. 14)
39. Tetris 64 (Ep. 1)
40. Milo's Astro Lanes (Ep. 23)
41. International Track & Field 2000 (Ep. 28)
42. NBA Live '99 (Ep. 3)
43. Rampage 2: Universal Tour (Ep. 5)
44. Command & Conquer (Ep. 17)
45. International Superstar Soccer '98 (Ep. 23)
46. South Park Rally (Ep. 2)
47. Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (Ep. 7)
48. Eikou no St. Andrews (Ep. 1)
49. Rally Challenge 2000 (Ep. 10)
50. Monster Truck Madness 64 (Ep. 11)
51. F-1 World Grand Prix II (Ep. 3)
52. F1 Racing Championship (Ep. 2)
53. Sesame Street: Elmo's Number Journey (Ep. 14)
54. Wheel of Fortune (Ep. 24)
55. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (Ep. 15)
56. Mario no Photopi (Ep. 20)
57. Blues Brothers 2000 (Ep. 12)
58. Dark Rift (Ep. 25)
59. Mace: The Dark Age (Ep. 27)
60. Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. (Ep. 21)
61. Madden Football 64 (Ep. 26)
62. Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (Ep. 22)

Thanks for the write-up! Having always been fascinated by the train simulators and horse racing games that are released in Japan, but never to the point of actually buying one, I do hope at least one of each genre is released on the Japanese Switch Online service to appease my long-held curiosity.

It seems like the late 90's were the balancing point in quality when it comes to movie tie-in games. The early 90's were all over the place, you would get a Home Alone for every Aladdin. by the PS2 era, movie tie-ins were consistently sub-mediocre. The N64/PS1 era saw these games temporarily balance out at being consistently ok enough. Like, Blues Brothers 2000 is probably the worst one of these you'll find on the N64, and even then it's mostly playable.

It probably has something to do with the changing cost of developing games. The late 90's were probably the point where costs became prohibitive for the real low effort shitshows to be made, but not so high that the remaining committed license holders wouldn't balk at funding a fully featured game. That's my guess at least.

@chamurai: Just the one train driving sim on N64 as far as I know, but there's two horseracing games. Really hoping neither of those show up, they tend to be way more menu-based. Like I'd even know how to raise a champion racehorse even if it was in English.

@borgmaster: That sounds right. 3D game development must've cost an arm and a leg and took way more time besides, so the contractors were probably given the schedules and resources they needed to make them half-decent. Doesn't explain Blues Brothers 2000 but all rules have exceptions. Either way, I guess I won't have to be too guarded when another licensed game shows up (there aren't any next month).

Speaking of next month, well, I really should be careful what I wish for.

I generally grok the references, but that vtuber one did pass me by. (Not a complaint, to be clear — never let anyone stop you from being as esoteric as you want!) Caught that Toy Story joke though. Perhaps that speaks to certain uh priorities/proclivities.

Vaugely recall playing Toy Story 2 along with A Bug's Life as a baby. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to be graced with that one as well! My discerning bratty self would probably classify them as "inoffensive enough."

Ooh, Densha de Go! does look quite charming! Dig it when lesser known gems like that pop up. Or if not gems, per se, at least a pretty, pretty cool, smooth rock!