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Editorials 
Worst 10 Sports/Racing Games
- By Rob
Schlicht
Even with games like Mario Tennis, F-Zero X, and NFL Blitz out for the system, the N64 has had many sports games that we only wish we could forget.
1.) Carmageddon 64
Rob says:Ugh. It pains me even to write this. Carmageddon 64 is not just the worst racing title to come out on the system. It is the worst game of any sort on the system, and ranks up there among the worst games of all time. The PC versions, when they came out, bucked the norm. Sure, it was a race, but you could earn bonus points by taking out pedestrians on your way to the checkered flag. The graphics were very acceptable for the time, the sound was decent, and with a gamepad, it controlled adequately. This game would’ve been mediocre at system launch, but it was just a complete travesty by the time it actually made it out. Instead of pedestrians, you hit zombies, and they didn’t have nearly as good of animation as they did in the PC game, several years ago. The graphics are muddled, with the worst textures since the Saturn, and a wall of fog to rival Turok. The controls are among the worst on the system, and probably were made that way to take your mind off the other horrible features. Avoid at all costs.
2.) Nagano Winter Olympics
Travis says:Nagano Winter Olympics 98 is the kind of game that looks good when it’s first played, but after ten minutes that’s all she wrote. Even with twelve distinct and differing events this game doesn’t hold a players attention. Some of the events like the bobsled can be very enjoyable. Others however are what send Nagano to the bottom of the bargain bin. Speed skating is a good example as it is button mashing at its very worst. The gameplay aside the graphics are average, and neither enhance nor hinder the experience. The sound however is Nagano’s greatest aspect. Everything from the crowd reactions to the sound effects are top notch. Too bad the control and gameplay had to suffer or this game could have been elevated past the junk it is.
3.) GT64
Travis says:Imagine a racing game with detailed graphics and textures, sound that envelops and mesmerizes you, and more tracks than you can shake a stick at, all running at a smooth 60 frames a second. Pleasant thought isn't it? Now try to envision a game that is the polar opposite. Something so hideous, so downright terrible, that no sane gamer would dare rent let alone purchase. If you are having trouble picturing such a game then take a look at GT 64. With its washed out graphics, almost utter lack of sound, and a framerate slower than molasses, GT 64 is about as bad as they come. On a console littered with bad racers this game takes the checkered flag as the worst of the worst.
4.) Acclaim Wrestling Games
Travis says:The Acclaim wrestling games WWF Warzone, WWF Attitude, and ECW Hardcore Revolution will be considered one game for the purpose of this list. In fact that is the main the reason these games are on it. Aside from small graphical upgrades, roster changes, and minor gameplay enhancements, these three games are virtually identical. The games do have their good points though. A create-a-wrestler feature was introduced with WWF Warzone and slightly improved upon in the other two. There are an enormous amount of gameplay options in WWF Attitude, and in all three titles the wrestlers themselves look excellent thanks to soft skinning technology. All of this however doesn’t counter their difficult control setup and arcade fighting style combo system. Getting the wrestlers to do anything is a lesson in futility. Even performing a simple grappling move is a chore. In games designed with wrestling in mind a clunky control scheme is worst feature they could ever have, and all of Acclaim’s wrestling titles possess it. Combine that with the lack of variation between the three titles and you have a recipe for some of the worst wrestling games on any console, Nintendo or otherwise.
5.) Mike Piazza Strikezone
Travis says:In 1998 the Nintendo 64 had three baseball offerings to choose from and competition was everywhere. The excellent All-Star Baseball series had started with the release of ASB 99. Nintendo themselves had published the Angel Studios developed Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr. Life for a baseball fan was good. However all was not perfect. There was a third baseball game released in that time period and compared to the aforementioned titles it just plain stinks. That game is Mike Piazza’s Strikezone. To this day it remains the worst baseball game on the system for a multitude of reasons. Terrible graphics, lackluster sound, and virtually no strategy in the gameplay are just a few of them. Truly this game has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and is deserving of a place on this list.
6.) Midway Hockey
Rob says:Looking back on the N64’s life, I’m noticing more and more instances of developers releasing the same game multiple times, while changing only one or two features on it. Sure, this has always been done, but never has it been so flagrant. Wayne Gretzky’s 3-D Hockey was an average game when it came out. It was a very aracadey version of hockey, with flaming pucks and brickwall goalies. It was fun for a few hours, until you realized there was no difference between any of the players, and the score always ended up the same. A year later, Wayne Gretzky’s 3-D Hockey 98 came out, and I still can’t find a single feature that was changed from the original, other than new rosters. Finally, Olympic Hockey ’98 came out, which was the exact same as the other two games, but it used different countries rather than different teams. It’s appalling when a developer tries this hard to make you buy the same game three times.
7.) Cruis’n Series
Rob says:Back in 1994, when it was one of the two games being developed for the arcades that would also come to the N64, Cruis’n USA was very cool looking. The game allowed you to race across America, and everything was very cutting edge at the time. So what happened? Well… It was cutting edge in 1994 in the arcades… but when late 1996 rolled around and the N64 launched, it was horribly old. Sporting the worst pop-up in recent memory, notoriously annoying sound, and worst physics engine possible, Cruis’n USA was a bad game. That didn’t stop Williams, though. They released Cruis’n World, a game where you drove all over the world. It was the exact same as the original, but with a new trick system (because the physics weren’t unreal enough yet), and implemented everyone’s favorite feature: A horn that you could blast continuously. Words cannot express how annoying this was. Finally, the last (please, God) game in the series came out, Cruis’n Exotica. The big improvement? Hot rod cars, and selectable drivers. Whoopie! Go buy World Driver Championship, do yourself a favor.
Cruis’n USA Review
Cruis’n World Review
8.) WCW Mayhem
Travis says:The Nintendo 64 is home to some of the best professional wrestling games ever developed. On the flip side it also sports some of the worst as well. WCW Mayhem is one of them. The game is the first on the system to allow players to wrestle outside of the ring, the wrestlers are detailed enough, and the motion captured moves are adequate, but the control and gameplay are horrible. The wrestlers walk like robots and respond even worse. The outside areas are little more than a room with sloppy textures and a few obstacles scattered around, and the game’s create-a-wrestler feature is a joke. Perhaps if THQ hadn’t published such amazing wrestling titles (WCW Nitro excluded) then Mayhem would be a little easier to accept. Released they were however and with the bar set so high, WCW Mayhem stands revealed as the mediocre game that it really is.
9.) LEGO Racers
Travis says:The Nintendo 64 has been short in some areas of software like RPG’s and certain sports games, but never has it had any lack of racing games, especially cart themed ones. On any other system Lego Racers would be an acceptable game in its own right. With relatively nice courses and an impressive create-a-cart feature it is a simple yet solid racer. However on the N64 this game comes of as nothing more than a clone to some of the best cart racing games ever made. Games such as Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, and Mickey’s Speedway USA make Lego Racers look shoddy in comparison. Every one of those three games has some aspect that makes them enjoyable above and beyond anything Lego Racers can produce. Maybe it’s the Nintendo and Rare magic, or perhaps it’s just the fancier courses and more challenging gameplay. Whatever the reason, if there were a race for cart game supremacy on Nintendo’s machine, Lego Racers would come in last.
10.) Offroad Challenge
Travis says: It’s not very often a game comes along that advertises in the title the very thing that it does not possess. Not once in this ridiculous game is there any shred of a challenge, and to add insult to injury your vehicle never leaves the road. All of this would be forgivable if the game had something worthwhile to offset it. Good graphics and sound perhaps, maybe even some nice gameplay elements. Unfortunately this exercise in futility has none of them. Not a single aspect of this game is above sub-par, its just that bad. Without a doubt this game deserves its rightful place in the N64’s hall of shame, no questions asked.
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