Ocarina of Time stands in the class of games that will receive ultimate praise until the end of time, and rightfully so. Hailed as an almost perfect game for the time of its release, I would like to believe that is close to the truth. Ocarina of Time feels as if it's the foundation for how to make an RPG-esque adventure game. The worthwhile and lengthy narrative brings life to the standard hero's tale with a great cast of characters and world-building. By the time I finished the game, the many sunken hours felt worth it. The game's progression and climactic build had me attached to every play session. I knew what was coming, but I still itched to see it all happen. Although much of the layout of Hyrule is dated by today's standards, it still felt fluid and exciting to explore with fresh eyes. In classic Zelda fashion, there are hidden secrets everywhere. So, even if im staring at low-poly textures, it's with a fun purpose. The downfalls to Hyrule start to arise once you have had your fair share of the game. Land starts to feel a little bare or sluggish to traverse. At the point of scouting for all the heart pieces and gold skulltullas, the game also loses some flavor. Finding them all is a cryptic hassle, and there's little reward to even doing so outside of personal satisfaction. Cryptic hassles are also the main reason I couldn't edge this score to a 9/10. There are specific points of progression in a main or side quest where the game will throw a one-liner riddle at you to solve. If you wanted, you could spend hours mashing every button with every item or talking to every NPC in the game just to get an idea of what to do. Most of the riddles are fun to solve, but without a guide or already knowing answers from experience, solving a couple here or there can spoil some parts of the game. Learning to bottle the blue fire broke my brain for the worst. Honestly, my favorite puzzle/riddle was figuring out the entirety of the water temple, as it's one giant integrated puzzle box. Outside of the obvious metal boots dilemma, the Water Temple has received way too much hate over the years. It's also dripping in atmosphere, pun intended. Gameplay-wise, all I can say is it plays pretty darn well. Everything is pretty simple and intuitive, and for an early beta of a fully fleshed-out targeting system, the z-targeting does a fine enough job. Only in select moments with many enemies or multiple points of focus does the z-targeting become a hindrance. I'm talking about you Bongo-Bongo!!! For a first dip into 3D Zelda, they pretty much hit the controls and handling on the head. And what can be said that hasn't been about the music and its integration into the narrative of the game? Hot diggity, this game is pretty good.

As one of the most praised titles in gaming history, Sumer Mario 64 will never falter in bringing fans back to enjoy the ride. I did not grow up with an N64 and first played this title as a part of the 3D All-Stars Package deep into the void of COVID-19. Coming back now to complete the 120-star challenge on the Switch's Nintendo's N64 simulator my thoughts remain mostly the same. I like Super Mario 64, but I don't love it. I could never focus any of my complaints about this game on the developers. The game is a launch title transitioning a 2D franchise into a previously unexplored 3D world. The game was always likely to be too bold as a platformer for the tech backing it. One major technological fault is the game's camera system, which is, by far, the most obnoxious game-killing feature. Treated are we to such a freeflow selection of jumping moves in Super Mario 64 and objectives to challenge you to move in all directions. Access to such fluidity of movement is ideal until the user tries to make a precision jump with a handicapped viewpoint. Why are the viewpoints limited? The game's third-person camera does not sufficiently adjust on the spot. This occurrence happens at least at one specific map point on most levels. And as users progress to stages where they can fall easily off the map, they will be frustrated after the camera fails them. Some of the basic polygonal models to jump on or off of can also produce awkward results with some of the slipperiness of Mario's movements. Again, this is likely due to the fault of the system's technology and it not having the capacity to produce bigger maps with more complex models. What I love about Super Mario 64 is it is easy to pick up and complete on any given weekend. The design for the time is also creatively pieced together. The design model of providing different objectives amongst the same 3D course is fun and forces you to traverse every corner of the map by varying means (Some levels do this a lot better than others). The artistic detail in each level can lack a little beauty and flair, but usually, gamers returning to their stomping grounds will be too focused on the precision movements to care as much. I want to shout out the Dire, Dire Docks theme! What a serene banger. It made up for my lack of motivation playing both the aquatic-based levels. Super Mario 64's swimming mechanics are okay, but they don't match up to the movement satisfaction provided by triple jumping and wall kicking. The rest of the soundtrack is good enough to immerse you in the cornball world of Super Mario 64. The games' power-up mechanics could have been more fruitfully designed, but again, with the limitations of the N64, making this happen would've likely taken another year of development. I love the idea of the flying cap, but managing the flight controls is like trying to ride down a mountain bike path on a razor scooter. You don't know where you will end up despite your best intentions at maintaining control. Similar awkward mechanics are why Super Mario 64 will never be my go-to treasure of 3D platformers to pull from. It's fun adjusting to the movements and learning to traverse each level efficiently, yet little annoying moments remain around each corner that take you a bit out of the game. For the time, Super Mario 64 was probably one of the best compact games ever released. But I don't personally rate games on how they presented themselves in their era. I only have an opinion on how I enjoy them now. And as great as this game is, many other platformers, including in the Super Mario franchise, would be considered foremost as my deserted island option.

While attempting to expand my familiarity with Nintendo 64 games, I thought I would start with a title-release game that wasn't the almighty Super Mario 64. At the time, I could see people having a blast back in the day with this game with its mix of open-world exploration and tough precision challenges. However, exploring empty polygonal terrain with janky cameras isn't as appealing through a modern lens. I found more worth in completing the missions with a gold medal ranking. There isn't an incredible amount of content to Pilotwings 64, so learning to master the controls for each vehicle is how to get your money's worth. The controls are pretty straightforward and match most arcade setups, but mastering the physics of each mode within the game's environments will take some time. The jetpack and gyrocopter missions are some casual fun. Though, the hang glider is pretty stinky. That thing after the first mission is a slog, and landing it with accuracy feels like trying to guess a coin flip correctly five times in a row. I ignored the final hang glider missions simply because they weren't as fun and more obnoxious than challenging to get through. It's a shame because the hang glider missions feature a serene little tune instilling calmness in such a depressing world (the real one, not the game). However, I could not remain calm after hang-gliding for four minutes on each mission just to get no points by crashing the landing. The extra unlockable modes do provide extra gameplay length and charm. I found trying to get perfect bullseyes with the bonus cannon vehicle intuitively satisfying. One thing I strongly dislike about Pilotwings 64 is it will find ways to create dead time near the start or end of some missions. You will be eager to replay or skip a mission but will get stuck in some lengthy animations before moving on. With no nostalgia bias, the game is still enjoyable, to an extent, even with these lazy quirks. Land that gyrocopter in the middle of the landing strip for maximum points! Or park this game in a middle-of-the-road category and leave the keys in the vehicle.