3 Greatest N64 Games Nobody Ever Talks About

Published Sep 19, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Sharmila is an engineer-turned-gaming hardware journalist and freelance contributor at ScreenRant who has been covering the gaming and tech industry since 2021. While she first built her expertise writing about video games, she has since pivoted towards gaming hardware, with a focus on PC components, peripherals, handhelds, and performance-driven tech. When she’s not testing gear or writing about the latest hardware trends, she can usually be found diving into competitive shooters or keeping up with the evolving esports scene.

The Nintendo 64 is remembered for some of the biggest games of the 1990s. Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, and Mario Kart 64 still live on the lips of fans who grew up with the console, and for good reason. As much as they’ve left a lasting impression and continue to be talked about even after all these years, those aren’t the only gems the N64 library featured back then.

It’s just a thing in this industry: For every video game that becomes a household name, there are always underrated titles that slip through the cracks. Why? Well, some end up being released at the “wrong time,” others have limited releases, while the rest simply have to compete with too many big names. A bunch of these were also just weird experiences, which didn’t help their chances of becoming mainstream hits. For the N64 library, it’s a shame because some of its lesser-known games are genuinely amazing.

Discovering those long-lost N64 games today can be a lot of fun, especially when you stumble across something that makes you wonder how you never heard of it back in the day. So, if you’ve already played through the N64’s biggest hits and are looking for something a little different to explore, you’ve come to the right place.

3 Space Station Silicon Valley

A 1998 release, Space Station Silicon Valley is one of those N64 games that sounds completely bizarre when you talk about it—but then you like it anyway. You play as Evo, a small robotic microchip whose spacecraft is destroyed while investigating a space station that has been missing for years. After crashing onto the station, Evo discovers that it has been taken over by genetically modified animals. The catch is that you, as Evo, can’t do much on your own. Instead, you’ve got to take control of different animals and use their abilities to make your way through the station.

It’s a simple idea, but there’s a surprisingly clever gameplay loop to it. A sheep, for example, might be useful for jumping or ramming objects, while a different animal can swim or reach areas that Evo couldn’t access otherwise. Figuring out which creature you need for a particular situation becomes part of the puzzle.

As a cherry on top, Space Station Silicon Valley also has plenty of humor and personality. Its strange collection of animals and ridiculous situations gives it a charm that many “serious” N64 games lacked. Beneath all that silliness, though, there’s a well-designed adventure with exploration, puzzles, platforming, and plenty of secrets to find.

Despite being developed by DMA Design—the studio that would later become famous for Grand Theft Auto—Space Station Silicon Valley never became a major N64 hit. And today, that makes it one of the console’s more interesting forgotten games. It is weird, inventive, and genuinely fun, so if these traits intrigue you, go give it a look.

2 Rocket: Robot on Wheels

Before Sucker Punch became known for Sly Cooper and inFAMOUS, the studio released Rocket: Robot on Wheels for the N64 in 1999. It is a 3D platformer, but calling it just that doesn’t really do justice to the game.

The premise may sound casual: You play as Rocket, a small robot responsible for running a theme park. But there’s a lot more to do than just run the park. For starters, the park is damaged just before its grand opening, leaving Rocket to explore several different areas and repair the attractions.

Along the way, Rocket: Robot on Wheels mixes traditional platforming with puzzles and a surprisingly detailed physics system, which is probably its biggest talking point. Objects can be picked up, thrown, pushed, and used to solve puzzles, and Rocket’s abilities gradually expand as you progress. The game also includes vehicles, which add another layer to exploration and gives the different areas a little more variety.

What may impress you the most is how Rocket: Robot on Wheels gives you a surprising amount of freedom for a platformer on a traditional console. It doesn’t simply ask you to run from one platform to another collecting items, as you’d expect. There are puzzles to figure out and environments to experiment with, and the game’s mechanics often push you to think about how objects interact with one another.

Unfortunately, the game arrived during a period when the N64 already had some very strong platformers competing for attention. With Nintendo and Rare dominating the genre, Rocket never received the same recognition as Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie—and it’s time to change that, yeah?

1 Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon

If you’ve spent enough time with the N64, you may have come across Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon already. But if you’re hearing that name for the first time, you’re seriously missing one of the console’s strangest but most entertaining adventures.

Released in 1997, Starring Goemon follows Goemon and his friends as they try to stop an alien invasion of Japan. Yes, aliens—you heard that right. The game combines exploration, platforming, combat, puzzles, and plenty of Japanese humor, creating an adventure that feels very different from the more familiar N64 games.

There’s just a lot of variety, enough to keep you engaged for hours at a time. Goemon and his companions each have different abilities, while the game regularly switches between larger areas, smaller platforming sections, puzzles, and boss fights. There are also giant robot battles, which are every bit as ridiculous as they sound.

The game’s Japan-inspired humor and presentation can take some getting used to, especially if you’re more familiar with Western N64 releases. But that is also what makes it memorable. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon has a personality of its own instead of trying to imitate Nintendo’s biggest games.

Also, the Goemon series was much more popular in Japan than it was in the West, of course, because of the release constraints. Yes, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and a few other games in this series did release in North America and Europe, but the series never became a major name outside Japan.

And this makes Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon a particularly good example of a Nintendo 64 game that deserves more attention. Explore it today to experience a colorful, funny, occasionally bizarre, and idea-packed retro adventure that’s interesting from beginning to end.