Highlights

  • The N64 featured some iconic FPS games like GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and even ports of Doom and Quake.
  • However, not every FPS on the N64 was a hit - games like South Park, Hexen, and Forsaken 64 were forgettable.
  • Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. was unoriginal, Turok: Rage Wars lacked dinosaurs, and Daikatana was virtually unplayable.

Despite having one of the worst-imaginable controllers for first-person shooters, the Nintendo 64 actually had a suprisingly-large catalog of FPS games. Considering it's one of the best video game consoles ever made, it's not that surprising that publishers wanted to port their shiny new shooters to Nintendo's smash-hit device, even with the hardware challenges.

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Some of these games were iconic. GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark have gone down in history as some of the best FPS games ever made. The N64 was also home to some impressive ports of famous shooters like Doom, Quake, and even Rainbow Six. As fondly remembered as these games are, not every FPS on the N64 was a hit, with many of them left to rot in the great big bargain bin in the sky and forgotten by the masses.

7 South Park

A Bad Tie-In

south park n64 game
South Park

Platform(s)
PC , PS1 , Nintendo 64
Released
December 21, 1998
Developer(s)
Appaloosa Interactive , Iguana Entertainment
Genre(s)
FPS

The only time the South Park game for the N64 comes up in conversation is when people are discussing bad tie-in video games. Everyone who actually played it back in 1998 has either forgotten it completely, or wishes they could.

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Certainly not one of the best FPS games on the N64, the South Park game was widely panned on release for being boring to play, having bad sound quality, and, worst of all, being unfunny compared to the show. The N64 version, at least, was praised for having decent graphics for its time. The success of both South Park: The Stick Of Truth and The Fractured but Whole has driven the original South Park game from most people's minds.

6 Hexen: Beyond Heretic

Arrived Too Late To The Party

hexen n64-1
Hexen: Beyond Heretic

Platform(s)
PC , Nintendo 64 , PS1 , Sega Saturn , Amiga 1000
Released
October 30, 1995
Developer(s)
Raven Software
Genre(s)
FPS

Hexen was originally released on PC in 1995 but was ported to the PlayStation, N64, and Sega Saturn two years later. Hexen was a sequel to Heretic, a great fantasy-inspired shooter, but unlike the original, it came out to mixed reviews. Unfortunately, the console ports were even less impressive.

The N64 version took a hit graphically as the console struggled to handle the game's DOOM engine. Even worse, the console's controller was a poor match for the game, with some critics dubbing it almost unplayable. While Heretic is often regarded as a classic, the Heretic sequels are largely forgotten. On the bright side, the N64 version was one of the first FPS games to feature four player split-screen multiplayer. Unfortunately, GoldenEye 007 blew it out of the water shortly afterward.

5 Forsaken 64

A Generic Shooter

first person gameplay from Forsaken 64
Forsaken

Platform(s)
Nintendo 64 , PC , PS1
Released
April 30, 1998
Developer(s)
Probe Entertainment , Iguana UK
Genre(s)
FPS

To be forgettable, a game doesn't have to be bad. In fact, being mediocre is almost better. Forsaken 64 was thoroughly mediocre. The 1990s were full of great FPS games and Forsaken lacked the secret sauce that made those games special. The nicest thing critics had to say about it on the N64 was that it had impressive lighting effects.

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Set in a dystopian future, Forsaken tasks players on with flying around maze-like structures, hunting down "looters". Without waypoints, the maps were easy to get lost in, and some reviewers felt the game was difficult to the point of being unenjoyable. With so many FPS games releasing around 1998, Forsaken fell through the cracks, doomed to be forgotten.

4 Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M.

Helldivers On The N64

shooting a giant spider on a bridge in armorines
Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M.

Platform(s)
Game Boy Color , Nintendo 64 , PS1
Released
December 2, 1999
Developer
Acclaim Studios London, NEON Software 1999
Genre(s)
FPS

In Armorines, players take control of one of two marines who've been tasked with battling giant insects, both on Earth and in space. The premise and gameplay were unoriginal, with some critics describing it as a worse version of Turok with bugs instead of dinosaurs.

As unremarkable as the game was, its name may ring a bell among Valiant Comics fans. It was based on the comic of the same name, which followed a group of superhero marines tasked with doing the U.S. government's dirty work. Since the comic only ran for 12 issues and ended in 1995, it's of little surprise the 1999 video game tie-in was quickly forgotten.

3 Turok: Rage Wars

Killed The Single-Player

Turok Rage Wars green tint arena fighting monster with hammer

Released: 1999

Genre: FPS

Developer: Acclaim

Platform: N64

Obviously, the Turok series is anything but forgotten. It's fondly remembered for giving gamers some of the best dinosaur games ever made. The N64 was home to three numbered entries in the series, plus Rage Wars. While the main games are known for their exciting, dinosaur-hunting single-player campaigns, Rage Wars was "multiplayer focused."

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What that actually means is that Rage Wars was a collection of average multiplayer modes packaged with an almost non-existent single-player campaign that obviously recycled the multiplayer modes' content. It was Turok without the dinosaurs, basically. While the mutliplayer mode was fun, it's easy to see why so few people remember Turok: Rage Wars.

2 Daikatana

The Other John Romero Game

A subterranean level in Daikatana
Daikatana

Platform(s)
Nintendo 64 , PC
Released
May 23, 2000
Developer(s)
Ion Storm
Genre(s)
FPS

Daikatana was an early video-gaming lesson about why one should never jump on the hype train. The brainchild of John Romero, father of some of the best Doom games, everyone expected Daikatana to be awesome. It wasn't.

Thanks to several massive delays, by the time Daikatana was released, it was massively behind the other FPS competition on the market, technologically-speaking. While the PC version was bad, the N64 version was virtually unplayable. Comically bad AI, tons of fog, lousy graphics, sickening motion blur, and unusable controls killed the game upon arrival. These days, the only time Daikatana gets mentioned is during online debates about the worst games ever made.

1 007: The World Is Not Enough

The Other James Bond Game

Opening level intro from N64 the world is not enough
The World Is Not Enough

Platform(s)
Game Boy Color , Nintendo 64
Released
October 17, 2000
Developer(s)
Eurocom
Genre(s)
FPS

The N64 had two James Bond games. One of them is remembered as one of the best split-screen games ever made, the other one is barely remembered at all. That's unfair, because The World Is Not Enough was a worthy successor to GoldenEye 007.

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Developed by Eurocom, the game had a great single-player campaign and good multiplayer. For the time, the graphics were impressive, and upon release, the N64 version drew favorable comparisons to both GoldenEye and Perfect Dark from some critics. Unfortunately, The World Is Not Enough always had the odds stacked against it. Its multiplayer simply wasn't as good as GoldenEye's. However good the single-player campaign was, that fact alone was enough to doom it.

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