Editorial | My childhood with the N64.

By Sam Coles:

Now if you know via social media or personally, you would know that I have a love hate relationship with the N64. Now hear me out before you decide to stick a halberd in my gut, as I love the games themselves but the controller is about as intuitive as drinking coffee through a straw, it’s bound to hurt eventually. On the other hand, I grew up with the system and some of the best video game memories with my brothers and just playing it in general. I just want to talk about a few games, and how they had an impact on my life.

I remember when we first got an N64, and the first game that I remembered playing was Super Mario 64 and I was enamoured with the game. As a child it was basically the only game that I would play the worlds, the exploration, power ups and music stuck with me even 15 years after finishing the game. As a child I would imagine myself in the game, performing jumps through the woodland area I live in such as the long jump, although I never perfected the coffee grind. I know I have said the game is very much dated (which I stick by that), but I understand the impact it had in the industry. This game has formed so many memories within my childhood, I would just sit there on the title screen, playing around with Mario’s face and just listening to the updated (at the time) version of the Mario Bros. theme.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask (Yes I’m bundling them together), were games that I didn’t finish until I was a teenager. However they are games that I use to watch my oldest brother play, I was fascinated by the different worlds and temples as well as being frightened by the enemies. Majora’s Mask was a strange experience for me to watch, I was 7 years old at the time and seeing the looming doom that was the moon with its dark eyes and yellow and menacing teeth, would give me nightmares. Majora’s Mask’s ominous atmosphere haunted me throughout my childhood, where I would establish a fascination with it. It wasn’t until years later where I would play through it on the GameCube via the collection that came with a copy of Mario Kart Double Dash, where I would finish it myself. To this day it is my favourite Zelda game.

It wasn’t just singleplayer games that I grew up with; no I have lots of memories of playing multiplayer games with my school friends and brothers. Games like Mario Kart, Goldeneye and Super Smash Bros. these games are truly special. Mario Kart was the cause of many domestic arguments, especially when you obliterated someone at the finish line with a blue shell, yes I remember many shouting matches when that happened. Goldeneye introduced me to the world of first person shooters, and yes the framerate is about as stable as me after four coffees, but it was fun nonetheless with the over top modes.

Smash Bros. at this point was rather rudimentary, where you had about a dozen characters to choose from, compared to the family tree worth you have now. However it still has that frantic fun, this was before people took it seriously in the competitive scene, when Nintendo thought it would be fun for their characters to slap several shades of blue out of each other. I go back to this game often with friends, where we just grab a few beers and just play the night away.

The N64 is a childhood memory that I will never forget, putting aside my cynical outlook on it now it has a lot of great games on it, it is just the controller and framerate, no Sam positive now! As I always say I only criticise because I care and love, I will hold these memories with until the end of time!