Who else has a soft spot for video game rental stores? Growing up without much money in small rural towns, the local video game store was where we spent our time gaming. However, and maybe this memory is particular only to me, given the aforementioned small towns, the selection at these local rental stores was often slim pickings. Add in that every kid in the area with a Nintendo 64 was also wanting to play Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007, and oftentimes I would find myself staring at the N64 B-List offerings as the only available games to rent.

Little did I know that playing these games would go on to be some of my fondest memories growing up.

Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls

Woo doggy, we’re starting off with a weird one. It’s hard even to describe how this game plays; it’s part racing game, part tower-based platformer, and all chaos. Players control one of several “ball” style characters, ranging from the titular Iggy Iguana, to a Russian robot named Rob-ERT to a literal orb of chattering teeth.

Players race one another around these towers, and do so by using grappling hooks (that just look like extensions of their bodies) to pull themselves up higher and higher levels until they reach the end. There are slowdowns, speed-ups, loops, and jumps, and you can use your grappling hook to impede your opponents.

If it sounds wild, it’s because it very much is. Gameplay is often frantic, with everyone racing to these designated points to hoist themselves up another level, all while dealing with course hazards and other players trying to knock you off balance. Throw in a pretty killer soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself a couch co-op delight!

This one is also available on Nintendo Switch Online (to my sheer amazement) for anyone interested in trying it out.

Flying Dragon

Flying Dragon is technically two fighting games in one; one features a traditional 3D fighter (Adult Mode), and the other a more chibified “SD” version with RPG elements (Child Mode). I’ll be honest, I was so enraptured with the SD version that I have no idea what even went on in the 3D version of that game.

The Child Mode has your characters of various backgrounds competing in a tournament for the opportunity to take down the antagonist, Suzaku. While that’s pretty standard fare for a fighting game, this wasn’t the draw. The main mechanic that interested me in this game is that you can obtain different items that you could then equip to your character, either by earning them through fighting or buying them at a shop.

These items would “evolve” as you used them, becoming stronger and more visually interesting, effectively providing an RPG-style progression system and incentivizing multiple playthroughs. That was basically unheard of at the time for a 1v1 fighting game, and those RPG elements kept me renting this one again and again.

Also, there were metal versions of characters you could play against that were stronger versions of said characters, each with their own unique “gimmick” that made them particularly difficult to defeat. These metal characters would often provide better gear when beaten, and could even be unlocked for Vs. Mode play, which meant you could torment your friends with them as well. Who could ask for more than that?

Ogre Battle 64

I have a soft spot for Ogre Battle 64 and TRPGs in general. This was one that I spent hours upon hours on, and I regret nothing. It’s a TRPG that has you play as Magnus, son of a disgraced former knight and childhood friend to the young Prince Yumil, on his journey as an up-and-coming captain of Palatinus turned champion of the revolution.

There is an overworld map of locations, each of which has its own sections of towns and strongholds that need to be liberated or captured. You have access to several characters, each of which leads a battalion that consists of up to five additional units or creatures of various types. You direct these battalions around the map, where they can visit and potentially liberate the aforementioned towns and strongholds. As your battalions engage with other enemy battalions on the map, the game switches to an isometric view where units attack each other automatically (with some mild direction) in semi-real time.

Ogre Battle 64 is dense. There’s a lot to unpack in here, including branching story paths, multiple endings, promotable and recruitable units (some requiring unique and specific items), inventory management, spell and attack combinations, position and orientation-based battles, an alignment system, and a hidden “Chaos Frame” value that changes with your actions. It sounds like a lot, I’m pretty sure I’m still missing some things.

Still, this was a game I could sink a whole summer into, and as a kid with limited options for gaming, that was about as good as it gets.

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon

Another strange offering, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon has you controlling the titular Goemon as he struggles to prevent the Peach Mountain Shogun gang from converting all of Japan into a giant stage for their entertainment. The plot is as zany as it sounds, but the game is full of silly dialogue and humorous interactions, especially with the aforementioned gang.

Players control one of four characters as they journey around various 3D environments in feudal Japan. Gameplay consists of action-oriented combat sequences and adventure-platformer exploration, with characters attacking using various weapons and abilities (most notably Goemon’s trusty pipe), and also using said weapons to traverse various obstacles in the environment.

Some of the boss sequences involve giant robot battles, as the most absolute jam of a music video heralds the arrival of Impact, Goemon’s giant robot companion. You control Impact from the inside of a cockpit in action sequences that are part frenetic village-destroying minigame and part robotic Punch-Out, making for some of the most fun battle sequences in the entire game.

It’s a silly game, but it knows this and leans into it heavily, leaving the game just brimming with charm and humor.

Space Station Silicon Valley

Space Station Silicon Valley is a platform-exploration game where you play as Evo, or, more appropriately, you place as a piece of Evo. After crash landing on the titular Silicon Valley, a space station host to numerous robotic animals, you are tasked with directing the microchip that was once Evo to effectively “take control” of increasingly bizarre robotic animals, each with their own unique characteristics. I’m talking about jet-engine farting penguins, missile-toting dogs on wheels, and a cannon-laden camel.

Players then take these wacky animals and use those characteristics to traverse different biomes in Silicon Valley, searching for Evo’s remains so that he can return home. Mission directives are given by Dan Danger, Evo’s quirky co-pilot, who remains stuck in the wreckage from the opening sequence of the game. This often results in some humorous dialogue exchanges and some truly bizarre gameplay sequences.

I absolutely adore this game, and even as I sit down to write about it, I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s the quirky robot animals, the strange way with which you overtake their bodies, or the off-beat humor, but something about this game just scratches a silly little itch in my brain.

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