10 Forgotten Nintendo 64 Gems You Need To Play In 2022
It's time to wipe the dust off (or buy a new one for HELLA cheap).
Despite its limitations and relatively short lifecycle, plenty of gamers are still nostalgic for the Nintendo 64. The third video game console produced by the Japanese toy manufacturer Nintendo - and among the first set of home consoles capable of rendering polygonal 3D graphics - the N64 produced plenty of hits and awed many a doe-eyed child back in the late 1990’s.
Just about everyone, regardless of platform affiliation, should be aware of classics like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie and plenty of others.
While there are tons of timeless masterpieces available for the system, there are also tons of hidden gems which, though forgotten shortly after release, now line retro game store shelves waiting to join someone’s collection.
Consoles like the Nintendo 64 and its ilk represented an awkward technological leap for the gaming industry: 3D graphics may have been feasible, but few studios really knew how to handle the new medium. While some titles infamously crashed and burned, there’s a slew of un-recognized games in the console’s library which deserve a bit more recognition, and are still worth playing in 2022.
10. Glover (1998)
Glover is a weird game: a platformer with a distinct twist, the player controls an anthropomorphic glove accidentally brought to life by a wizard. Though the plot is nebulous at best, this sentient glove begins a quest to save that wizard from the clutches of an evil piece of handwear named Cross Stitch.
This may sound ridiculous—and that’s because it is—but Glover was actually a really fun game. The player is tasked with guiding a shapeshifting ball through a series of levels, and it is as imaginative as it is engaging.
This ball can morph into a bouncing ball, golf ball, and a bowling ball among other shapes, and it adds a cerebral element to the platforming. Certain balls are more adept at certain things, and it is up to the player to accurately read the situation.
Glover isn’t exactly a game for everyone: the controls take some getting used to, and the plot, whimsical as it may seem on the outset, is bizarrely dark in places. Yet, there’s just something about playing as a handless glove which warrants dusting off the old N64.