The Best of Spaceworld

By IGN Staff

The following impressions were written on the way home from Nintendo's Spacworld event:

Spaceworld has been over for approximately two days now. While the show consisted of only Nintendo 64, 64DD and Game Boy titles (no Dolphin to be found) and lacked any real surprises, it was still quite an event chock full of some stellar software. Of course, the big games of the show ¿ at least from an American standpoint ¿ were Legend of Zelda: Gaiden, Excitebike 64, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, Bio Hazard 2 (Resident Evil 2), Kirby 64, Mario Party 2 and Mother 3 (Earthbound 64. But don't be fooled, there were also a fair amount of potential sleepers in the making as well, as quality software seemed to overflow from the show floor.

The following are my personal favorite games, along with brief descriptions of each and why I like them:

Legend of Zelda: Gaiden
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Here we have the no-brainer. The big follow-up to the highly successful Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Gaiden featured its own section at Spaceworld, playable on roughly 15 different kiosks and accompanied by an hour and fifteen minute wait. While the line to play the game was awful, the pay-off was certainly worth it. Before I talk about this one, let me quickly clear up a common misconception surrounding it. Game-designer Shigeru Miyamoto is not behind Gaiden. Rather, a good chunk of Ocarina of Time's design team is working on the game and Miyamoto overseas it every now and again when it has passed through another benchmark.

With that said, Gaiden is amazing in every sense. The title, which won't run without the 4MB Expansion Pak, features huge worlds with far better texture design. More enemies on-screen with a better framerate. New items, more masks, the ability to change into different characters and use their abilities to accomplish specific tasks and a new storyline.

On the flight out to Japan, Peer and I were discussing Gaiden and this quote was said by one of us: "Gaiden looks great, but I don't think I'm as excited about playing it as I was Ocarina of Time." And this seemed to make sense. After all, Ocarina of Time was completely original, epic, and years in the making. We're on the flight home, though ¿ less than a week later ¿ and I can tell you that opinion exists no more. I can't wait to play Gaiden. .

By the way, I hate flying.

Kyojin no Doshin 1 (Doshin the Giant 1
Developer: Param (Marigul)
Publisher: Nintendo

Kazutoshi Iida, the designer behind Tail of the Sun (PlayStation) brings his considerable talents to Nintendo in this 64DD only game... for the time being, anyway. Doshin the Giant is an off-the-wall title about a big, funny looking yellow giant who must find a way to coexist with villagers on an island he inhabits. The game uses the 64DD's clock for events that take place in real-time. Therefore, if I was to play Doshin for a little while and then shut it off before going to bed, eight or so hours will have passed in the game the next morning I boot it up. Obviously, this particular aspect of Doshin was not demonstrated to us, so I couldn't say for sure what will or does happen ¿ but something does. This, however, is hardly the reason why Doshin the Giant is such an interesting piece of software. The game succeeds on the same levels as a title such as Space Station: Silicon Valley for being admirably unique. After fooling around with the game for a little while, I found that I wasn't quite sure what the purpose was. Sure, I got to walk around an island, transforming myself from a good, yellow giant into a mean, red giant from time to time. I could help villagers by planting trees for them if I so desired. Or I could wipe out entire villages with the thrust of my fists. If I performed good things for the people I would be granted hearts. If I wreaked havoc upon the people I would be given skulls. After collecting a certain amount of either, the giant would grow in size. But why? And how big? How could I get bigger by doing evil things? And what the heck did it all mean? I still don't know. And I want to play it more than ever.

Excitebike 64
Developer: Left Field Studios
Publisher: Nintendo

If you read my updated preview of Excitebike 64 then you already know how I feel about it. This, I must admit, was one of my top three of the show. The game features an amazing 3D engine that seems to run in a medium/high-resolution mode and all with a pretty good framerate that is not detrimental to gamreplay. However, I should note that the fluidity is not always steady. The game slows down a bit when there are loads of polygonal bikers on-screen at once ¿ and by loads I mean roughly 10. That's quite a bit, mind you, especially for a game that's running in medium/high resolution mode. The title also chops a bit around corners. So, if I'm riding a bike up a mountain everything looks beautiful and runs great. But when I round a corner, the framerate stutters slightly before smoothing out. Nothing terribly annoying, but something Left Field oughta look into all the same. With that said, the visuals in Excitebike 64 are fantastic. Textures are highly detailed, as are objects, backgrounds ¿ you name it. One particular area of the title lets players jump over a moving train and it looks absolutely brilliant. Easily one of Nintendo 64's most graphically outstanding titles yet.

The game's high-flying stunt system is what will surely set it apart from the pack (other than its stunning visuals, of course). The A button accelerates the bike while the Z-trigger acts as a nitro boost of sorts ¿ just like in the original. The problem with using the Z-trigger too much is that a player's bike will eventually overheat ¿ another characteristic of the original. So, the idea is to use the Z-trigger wisely, which often results in holding in down for a second or two before going over a jump. Once in the air, 32 stunts are possible ¿ everything from kick-outs and no-handers to spins. Stunts are performed using the camera buttons with the analog stick and it all works ingeniously. But there is a lot more strategy to this game than pulling off stunts. Players have to think while they are in the air and accurately balance their bike so it lands properly on the ground. Otherwise, touching down with earth again is going to hurt quite a bit and riders are likely to go for another ride right through the air head first.

With the track editor feature (which we haven't fully explored) and the many levels, bikes and tricks we've yet to see, Excitebike is going to be excellent all around. The only mystery surrounding this title is why Japanese lines to play the game at Spaceworld were virtually non-existent.

Perfect Dark
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo

Let's pan back to May's Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) '99 for a moment. Perfect Dark debuts in playable form. It features its own gigantic section of the show floor equipped with Perfect Dark girls dressed to kill. It's on tens of flat plasma screens. It plays great. But it wasn't as crisp as I imagined it would be and the framerate was considerably choppy at times. I walked away from the show satisfied that it was still very good, but needed a lot of work.

Spaceworld. A decent-sized crowd of Japanese gamers wait in line to play Perfect Dark. I wait right behind them. The game is running on regular televisions. I notice right off the bat that it looks very sharp. Is this running in medium resolution mode? It must be. A Nintendo representative confirms that the game is using the 4MB Expansion Pak for a medium/high res mode. Very nice. I wait in line and watch some more. One kid is playing the first area ¿ the same level we played extensively at E3. Lots of slowdown. At one point, the game drops in framerate to a slide-show level. I focus onto another screen where a player has selected another level. All of a sudden the framerate is fine. Everything is running smoothly and boy is it sharp.

It's my turn to play. I select the first level and realize that everything ¿ including the level layout and menu design ¿ appears exactly the same as it did at E3. Is this the same version? You bet. The only difference is that it's no longer running on plasma television screens. I begin the first level and start killing some bad guys. Control is very tight, despite the fact that I have everything configured to GoldenEye standard. The weapon selection screen has been borrowed from Turok 2. Quick and easy access to guns. Good. I whirl around a corner and run down a flight of stairs. Running into a group of enemies, I pull the trigger and don't let go. Same death animations as in GoldenEye. This is obviously an out-of-date version of the game. Still, it's playing great and for some odd reason I don't mind the choppy framerate as much as I would in a game like Turok 2.

I beat the level and go into the next one. The environment is beautiful and the sound, which is almost inaudible over the roar of Spaceworld, is still catching my ears and I'm loving it. I wish I could play this game on a surround-sound stereo, I mutter to myself and play on. Targeting enemies with the smoother framerate in the second level has become much easier. I hold down R and blast away. Down they go. There is blood on the walls. Will that remain in the final? The game's M rating says yes. I play on. It isn't long before I come into possession of a new, more powerful weapon. Oh yeah ¿ now they will all pay. It's an automatic. I hold down the button and let a group of enemies have it. Very little slowdown ¿ a direct contradiction to the first level. This is fun, I think to myself. This is really, really fun. And look at how early the damn thing is.

It was in that moment that my anticipation of Perfect Dark grew considerably. While the game is not without its problems ¿ and if you're reading, Rare, fix that first level ¿ everything clicks together wonderfully regardless. It has a certain polish about it that says, "Yeah, I'm related to GoldenEye. But I'm much better." All of this, remember, is coming from an early version of the game that was previewed for the first time months ago. Who knows what those zany Brits have implemented for the title since then. I know I can't wait to find out.

By the way, I should probably note that both Donkey Kong and Jet Force Gemini were excellent as well. However, since I plan to have big write-ups for both of these games in the coming week and a half, I'm refraining from mentioning them in detail here.

Mini Racers
Developer: Looking Glass Studios
Publisher: Nintendo

Mini Racers was unveiled in playable form a few months back at the Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The game is very much a cross between Super Sprint Championship and Rock 'n Roll Racing, if you're familiar with those games of past. Only, this Looking Glass developed racer for N64 features spruced up graphics, realistic car physics, multplayer modes ¿ and in fact a split-screen two-player mode ¿ a custom track generator and a track editor feature. There are loads of cars to choose from and the same can be said for the levels, which are highly varied from track to track.

Mini Racers isn't necessarily the type of game that one might take to at first glance, but gameplay mechanics do not lie -¿and this game plays wonderfully. Sadly, I didn't get as much time as I would have liked with the game during E3 and I decided I wasn't going to let this happen again. After waiting in line for 20 minutes or so, I was playing. The track design starts off very simple, catering to the novice player. With each race, though, it becomes a little more difficult. Standard acceleration is done with thre A button and the Z-Trigger serves as a nitro boost ¿ very Excitebike-like. Pressing the button lifts the front end of cars off the ground in a match-box-esque fashion. The tracks, meanwhile, have very realistic 3D terrain that can be jumped off ¿ and sometimes must be jumped off ¿ while racing. Control is very responsive and feels very much as if we are controlling tiny cars.

I was very surprised at how well this title played and the graphic polish that accompanied it at Spaceworld. Definitely a strong addition to Nintendo 64's line-up.

Kirby 64
Developer: HAL Laboratories
Publisher: Nintendo

If I were to judge by the length of waiting lines alone, Nintendo's Kirby 64 would have been the biggest game of the show -- hands down. The game carried with it an hour and a half wait -- 15 minutes longer than Zelda. And for good reason, too. The long anticipated 64-bit update to the Kirby franchise has been a long way coming. Remember Kirby's Air Ride was scheduled to release soon after the launch of Nintendo 64. Well, it's finally arrived -- completely changed -- and in good form.

Kirby 64 follows in the tradition of other Kirby games in that is primarily a 2D platformer. However, the game, like Yoshi's Story before it, boasts that "2 1/2D" look about it, meaning that the environments are largely polygonal and scroll in the background, in turn serving up a semi-3D visual look. The great thing about Kirby 64, other than its stylistic appearance, is that Kirby -- everyone's fat gelatinous glob -- can morph into just about everything, and he does. From spiky balls to refrigerators, players have a huge degree of options over what they can do with Kirby. The little guy can also take on the abilities of enemies he as gobbled up, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities. Sheer options and dead-on controls make this one a winner.

Mother 3 (Earthbound 64)
Developer: HAL Laboratories
Publisher: Nintendo

What's this? An RPG for Nintendo 64? Mother 3 (or Earthbound 64 in the US) has been in development for approximately one million years. The game originally started out as a 64DD title, but was consequently switched over to the cartridge format after HAL realized the 64DD was doomed from the start. Now, some three years after we first heard about it, Mother 3 was finally playable at Nintendo's annual Spaceworld show in Japan. While it's a little too off-the-wall in style and premise to appeal to everybody, I'm confident that the wait was, at least for the most part, worth it.

Players control the Cowboy-esque Flint and his two kids Lucca and Klaus, as well as their dog Boney. The storyline is still very much a mystery, with Nintendo revealing only that Flint and family are on an adventure to find out what a mysterious UFO that has landed outside of their hometown is doing there. The game uses a strong 3D engine that enables players to see very far into the distance (though not as far as the Zelda franchise on N64) and environments are detailed and atmospheric. The quest is highlighted with a never-ending selection of game-engine cut-scenes that look better than most anything I've seen for the console. The only problem with the title is its battle system, which transpires in first-person mode and is more confusing than it is anything else.

All in all, nearly all of the titles presented at Nintendo's Spaceworld were top quality. I'm very excited about the software to come. The only real disappointment that comes to mind is the 64DD-only Sim City 64 -- a game that looks bland, features choppy framerates and can be truly be summed up as "too little, too late."