🎲 The 9 best N64 games

This is our pick of the Nintendo 64 essentials: the games that have aged best and are worth coming back to the console for. For each one we explain what makes it special, with a couple of tips, and every one of them plays right now in your browser — no downloads, with keyboard, gamepad or touch controls.

#1Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1998 · Adventure · RPG
Link wakes in Kokiri Forest and sets out across Hyrule to stop Ganondorf, a desert king after the Triforce. The adventure comes in two halves: as a child you explore villages, a ranch and the first dungeons, then, after drawing the Master Sword, you return seven years later as an adult to a much darker land. Each dungeon is a puzzle of switches, keys and new tools like the hookshot or bow, ending in a boss fight. Ocarina of Time brought the series into 3D with a lock-on targeting system that made sword fights easy to read, and songs played on the ocarina open paths, change the weather and even move you through time.
Tip: Talk to everyone and listen to Navi; many hints about where to go next are hidden in conversations that seem unimportant.
▶ Play Zelda: Ocarina of Time
#2Super Mario 64
1996 · Platformer · 3D
Super Mario 64 launched alongside the Nintendo 64 and was one of the first games to show how a platformer could work in open 3D spaces. Bowser has taken over Princess Peach's castle, and you explore its halls by jumping into paintings that lead to worlds of snow, sand, water and lava. Each world hides several Power Stars, earned by racing a penguin, beating a boss or reaching some unlikely ledge. Mario's movement is the real pleasure: triple jumps, long jumps, wall kicks and backflips feel precise once you learn them. Nintendo EAD built it under Shigeru Miyamoto, and its movable camera and analog control shaped 3D games for years.
Tip: Before entering a painting, read the name of the selected star; it usually hints at where that star is hidden.
▶ Play Super Mario 64
#3Zelda: Majora's Mask
2000 · Adventure · RPG
Link arrives in Termina, a world parallel to Hyrule where the moon will crash into Clock Town in three days. This direct sequel to Ocarina of Time is built around that clock: you explore, help the townspeople and clear temples until you play the Song of Time and return to the dawn of the first day. Masks, key items and songs stay with you; most other things reset. The Deku, Goron and Zora masks transform Link and change how you move and fight. It is remembered for its melancholy mood and for residents with their own daily routines, whose small stories end up mattering as much as the dungeons.
Tip: Deposit your rupees at the Clock Town bank before resetting the cycle, or you will lose them when you return to the first day.
▶ Play Zelda: Majora's Mask
#4Banjo-Kazooie
1998 · Platformer · 3D
Banjo-Kazooie is Rare's 3D platformer about an easygoing bear and the sharp-tongued bird riding in his backpack, setting out to rescue Banjo's sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda. You explore open, nook-filled worlds, from a pirate cove to a swamp and a haunted mansion, hunting jigsaw pieces and musical notes that unlock new parts of the witch's lair. Along the way you learn moves that combine both characters, and the shaman Mumbo turns you into other creatures. It is remembered for its humour, its music and levels that reward poking into every corner.
Tip: Notes reset if you leave a level or lose a life, so try to gather a world's notes in a single visit.
▶ Play Banjo-Kazooie
#5GoldenEye 007
1997 · Shooter · Action
Based on the 1995 Bond film, this Rare shooter follows the movie's story through missions set at a Soviet dam, a chemical weapons facility and a tank chase across St. Petersburg. Every level comes with a list of objectives that grows longer on higher difficulties, so sneaking with a silenced pistol, avoiding alarms and keeping allies alive matters as much as firing. Enemies react to where they are hit, which made aiming feel fresh at the time. Many people remember GoldenEye 007 most for its four-player split-screen matches, everyone crowded around a single television.
Tip: Start on Agent difficulty to learn the maps; higher settings add extra objectives and tougher enemies.
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#6Paper Mario
2000 · RPG · Platformer
Bowser has stolen the Star Rod and imprisoned the seven Star Spirits, so Mario sets out across the Mushroom Kingdom to free them. Made by Intelligent Systems, this adventure turns the world into a pop-up book of paper cutouts and pairs exploration with turn-based battles. What sets it apart are action commands: pressing a button at the right moment makes jumps and hammer swings hit harder or lets you guard against attacks. Partners like Goombario and Kooper join you, each with abilities for solving puzzles, and badges let you shape Mario's style. Its witty dialogue and gentle pace are why Paper Mario is still so fondly remembered.
Tip: Jump on or hammer enemies in the field before they touch you to start the battle with a free hit.
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#7Mario Kart 64
1996 · Racing
Mario Kart 64 takes Nintendo's kart racing into full 3D: eight characters, from light, quick-accelerating Toad and Peach to heavyweights Bowser and Donkey Kong, race across sixteen tracks split into four cups. Every lap mixes driving with mischief, as item boxes hand out bananas, shells, mushrooms and lightning bolts that can turn a race around in seconds. The power slide rewards practice with small bursts of speed through corners. Above all it is remembered for four-player split-screen, in both races and the balloon-popping Battle mode, which made it a fixture of living-room evenings for years.
Tip: Start with a lightweight character: they accelerate quickly and recover faster from hits while you learn the tracks.
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#8Star Fox 64
1997 · Shooter · 3D
Flying Fox McCloud's Arwing, you cross the Lylat system in on-rails shooting missions on the way to a showdown with Andross on Venom. Each stage takes only minutes: you blast waves of ships, chain hits together, drop bombs, lock on with a charged shot, and now and then break into free-roaming all-range dogfights. What keeps Star Fox 64 so replayable is its branching map, where meeting hidden objectives opens different routes and tougher planets. Wingmen Falco, Peppy and Slippy chatter constantly over the radio, and lines like the advice to do a barrel roll are still widely quoted.
Tip: Rescue wingmen when they call for help; if they get shot down, you lose their support for several missions and miss some routes.
▶ Play Star Fox 64
#9Donkey Kong 64
1999 · Platformer · 3D
Developed by Rare, Donkey Kong 64 sends DK through a series of worlds to rescue friends captured by King K. Rool and his Kremlings. Each rescue adds another playable Kong, until there are five (DK, Diddy, Lanky, Tiny and Chunky), each with their own moves, weapon and color of bananas to gather. Much of the game is spent exploring large levels, swapping characters at Tag Barrels and returning to earlier areas once a new ability opens the way. It is remembered for its huge number of collectibles, its cheerful soundtrack and the hidden versions of the arcade Donkey Kong and Jetpac tucked inside.
Tip: Visit Cranky, Funky and Candy in each world; the moves, weapons and instruments they sell are needed to progress.
▶ Play Donkey Kong 64