{"id":1053895,"date":"2026-06-27T17:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1053895\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:22:37","slug":"the-master-of-multiplayer-finally-playing-n64s-only-8-player-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1053895\/","title":{"rendered":"The Master Of Multiplayer – Finally Playing N64’s Only 8-Player Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"N64<\/a> Image: Ollie Reynolds \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

The N64 is 30 years old! This week, we’re running a series of articles<\/a> celebrating the 64-bit machine, its industry-shaping software, and its effect on a generation of gamers.<\/p>\n

Today, George meets new people with Nintendo’s multiplayer marvel. What follows is an epic session, concluding with the system’s only eight-player game…<\/p>\n

Console gaming is a luxury for me these days. Between dropping kids to school, work, pickup, and bedtime, there are precious few hours available to fire up a game, let alone see it through. I would imagine this is the case for many gamers who, like me, were bright-eyed, bushy-tailed youths when the mighty N64 rolled around.<\/p>\n

With the recently announced Ocarina of Time<\/a> remake and the console’s 30th anniversary upon us, I\u2019ve been thinking about Nintendo\u2019s first 3D machine a lot recently, and whenever my mind drifts to the subject, I always end up in the same place: multiplayer.<\/p>\n

Launching in the same era as the Saturn and Playstation, which both only featured two discreet controller ports, Nintendo\u2019s decision to brazenly slap four ports on the 64’s front (in contrasting colour to the console shell, no less) felt like a challenge to its rivals and an invitation to its players – this machine was going to be the home of some of the best multiplayer titles around.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d play multiplayer on other consoles, sure, but it always felt like you were waiting ages while Players One and Two took their turn, particularly if you had more than three friends round. If you had an N64 and a group of friends, it was unlike anything you\u2019d experienced at home before. A proper group of four all squashed in, huddled round a monitor, while a full other group of four could be behind watching and then all swap in at once. Bliss.<\/p>\n

Finding friends<\/strong><\/p>\n

I miss those days, so I resolve to do something about it.<\/p>\n

First off, I fire up my old Fire-Orange N64 (paid for with pocket money and door-to-door offers of car washes – peak ’90s) and test out some cartridges; everything is still live and kicking.<\/p>\n

\"Paid<\/a>Paid for with blood, sweat, and car wax \u2014 Image: George Banks \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

I have the classics, of course, but out of curiosity, I search for multiplayer gems online – and stumble upon something I didn\u2019t know. There\u2019s an eight-player game for the N64. Micro Machines 64 Turbo<\/a>. And as luck would have it, a very reasonable secondhand copy is available to buy.<\/p>\n

This is it. This will be the crown jewel of an N64 get-together. Experiencing its most multi multiplayer game together in one room. I swoop in and buy the game, then get to work finding other players.<\/p>\n

This is where I begin to get a little nervous. Remember all those things I mentioned that suck up your time as a parent? Well, it turns out it leaves precious little time to form friendships, too – beyond a quick hello and small talk at the school gates or during the occasional play date. Would it even be possible to find seven other people willing to wheel out this creaky console?<\/p>\n

Luckily, I know Alastair and Tom are fellow retro enthusiasts through our mutual admiration of the CRT TV, and they encourage me to pop a message into one of the Dads’ social group chats:<\/p>\n

\n

“Slightly left field question – was anybody here a big fan of the N64?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The replies come in pretty quick. Lots of memories and anecdotes for Zelda<\/a>, GoldenEye<\/a>, Mario Kart<\/a>, and the like with Toby simply replying, “You mean the king of consoles?” before dropping this megaton on us:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A wild N64 in active use! Also, nice fireplace brag \u2014 Image: Toby Nelson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

Not only has he still got one, but it is permanently set up in his living room.<\/p>\n

This is extremely encouraging. I float the idea of an eight-player get-together for an N64 evening and create a new group chat. Slowly, we assemble our team.<\/p>\n

Location, location, location<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea of trying to cram eight men into a living room, playing raucous multiplayer games while children sleep upstairs, is not one I entertain for very long. Luckily, we have a lovely hub in our local park for hire and it\u2019s mercifully inexpensive.<\/p>\n

I walk down after drop-off and meet Anna, who runs the space. I begin to explain to her what the hire is for when she suddenly chimes in with, \u201cOh, my husband Dave is going to that!\u201d The multiplayer gods are with us. She gets it booked in for the eight of us on the day we\u2019ve set aside and we\u2019ll have just shy of two hours to play.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all going pretty well. Too well. Our first small hiccup? Dave messages just before the event:<\/p>\n

\n

“Hey George, sorry to bail, but I\u2019m afraid I can’t make it on Tuesday after all, just realised I\u2019m double booked and will need to be in Cardiff.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dave had gotten Anna tickets to see Take That for Christmas and forgotten about them. Or so he claims. Dave, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an excuse, but just in case it is: Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn\u2019t mean it. We just want you back for good.<\/p>\n

The group contact a few other dads, but work and planning around children is proving prohibitive; we\u2019ll have to make do with seven on Micro Machines. It should still make for some interesting playing. I pack up my N64, four pads, a spare N64, an LCD TV, Tom\u2019s CRT and enough tins of booze, massive bags of crisps, and biscuits to feed a small army into my tiny car and shuttle off to the event.<\/p>\n

Upon entering the space, we realise we\u2019ve done something extremely British. Virtually everyone has brought enough beer and crisps for everyone there to have eight beers and a massive packet of crisps to themselves. During a two-hour event. Dads.<\/p>\n

Tables are hastily laid out to maximise playing time, the TVs are plugged in and consoles connected. My brother-in-law Nic has brought a Yoshi mascot who takes pride of place on the CRT and Toby has even brought along some backup pads and his N64 game collection to boot!<\/p>\n

We are truly spoiled for choice, but opt to begin with a stone-cold classic (you\u2019re definitely thinking about one of two games right now).<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a>The players are ready: back row L to R we have George<\/strong>, Nic<\/strong>, and Christian<\/strong>; front row L to R we have Toby<\/strong>, Tom<\/strong>, Greg<\/strong>, and Alastair<\/strong>. No Dave, sadly. But Could it be Magic? \u2014 Image: George Banks \/ Nintendo Life
\nTwin sticks? Behave yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

The game is GoldenEye, of course, and we decide to play a mini tournament – a four-player round and a three-player round, with the top two from each round then playing a four-player decider; first to five points for each round. We pick names from a hat and first on is Alastair, Greg, Tom, and Toby.<\/p>\n

Nic:<\/strong> Oddjob and slaps?
George:<\/strong> Are you essentially just asking if it\u2019s okay to be an *******?
Nic:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n

Maybe not this round – it would be good to actually make some friends after this.<\/p>\n

\"GoldenEye<\/a> Image: Gemma Smith \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

We opt for pistols and the level Stack, as Toby remembers that it keeps the players in fairly close proximity. I give everyone a brief rundown of the frankly ludicrous controls when Toby then asks:<\/p>\n

Toby:<\/strong> How do you crouch?
George:<\/strong> I don\u2019t remember.
Alastair:<\/strong> Just be Oddjob.
Christian:<\/strong> Wait, can you crouch?
Toby:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s those two (correctly signalling ‘R’ and ‘C-down’) that\u2019s what my muscle memory is telling me. It\u2019s been a while, but it\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s answered his own question about button combinations, which no one else recalled existing, and demonstrated level layout knowledge. We are fearful of Toby.<\/p>\n

Alastair:<\/strong> Do you have to collect ammo and stuff?<\/p>\n

I am fearful for Alastair. And rightly so, Toby swiftly murders him.<\/p>\n

Alastair was barely getting to grips with the inverted axis on ‘C-up’ and ‘-down’, but there is no mercy in this Rare classic. Christian mentions having only played this once or twice and being absolutely atrocious each time – but it can\u2019t get much worse than what\u2019s happening on screen as Alastair, Greg, and Tom are on the lower floor, all attempting to slap each other while Toby picks them off from above.<\/p>\n

The phrase \u2018fish in a barrel\u2019 is lobbed out – an early gauntlet throw down for the night. Greg responds with a kill of his own.<\/p>\n

Alastair:<\/strong> Where are the guns? Anyone?<\/p>\n

In his defence, it is incredibly difficult to see them. Just small black or grey blobs on the ground and our withered eyes trying to pick them out against the grainiest of textures. Alastair then provides some comedy gold when he essentially locks himself into a room and just cannot get out of it – the doors that blend in to the walls really blend in to the walls by today\u2019s standards. “Is it that blurred mess over there or this blurred mess over here?” It\u2019s really not his game, this.<\/p>\n

I had earlier romanticised the idea of firing up the CRT for the fully authentic experience, but given its screen is only marginally larger than one of the current LCD’s four-player quadrants we\u2019re already struggling to see items in, it\u2019s a thought that\u2019s as dead as Tom – as Toby takes him out for the win. Tom\u2019s done enough to secure second, though, and move on to the next round.<\/p>\n

\"Toby<\/a>Toby the Destroyer \u2014 Image: Nic Rowley \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

Tom:<\/strong> Argh!
George:<\/strong> Man, how much did you play this as a kid?
Toby:<\/strong> I went through a spell of playing it Friday evenings after college at Charlie Elderton\u2019s house. Legendary.
George:<\/strong> Was Charlie an absolute god at GoldenEye?
Toby:<\/strong> We all got quite good, to be honest, but it got to the point with him where he knew where you were going to spawn, so he\u2019d be waiting to immediately shoot you in the face.<\/p>\n

Nobody likes a spawn camper, Charlie.<\/p>\n

Myself, Christian, and Nic jump on and Nic basically admits defeat before even starting by selecting a nameless scientist NPC as his character. Has he never seen a Bond movie? I am Boris, mainly so I can say “I am invincible!” before we begin. We head to Complex and what follows is one of my favourite things about couch co op – Toby is hovering, essentially guiding us during the game.<\/p>\n

Toby:<\/strong> There\u2019s body armour up there. The yellow bit.
George:<\/strong> How do you know this? How long has it been? Decades?<\/p>\n

It is so difficult to hit anything in GoldenEye. The notion of standing still to then aim with the reticle is so alien, so we\u2019re just running like headless chickens, taking potshots where we can. I catch Christian in the back and feel pretty bad, then catch some flak from Alastair.<\/p>\n

Alastair:<\/strong> You know how I know you\u2019re a sweaty try-hard?
George:<\/strong> Ha! How?
Alastair:<\/strong> Your grip.
George<\/strong>:<\/strong> Yeah, I change my grip for different games. It\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Claw: it’s normal. (What in the…? – Ed.) \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

I\u2019m quickly flanked by the current non-participants – drawing derision for my \u2018claw\u2019. In my defence, the round finishes off with my emerging through a vent and using said claw to cap off a clean sweep. Five points, no deaths. Invincible I am, though I did have to suffer some slaps from the scientist. I\u2019d love to see that in the next film.<\/p>\n

\"See?<\/a>See? Yoshi approves. (So many questions, George. – Ed.) \u2014 Image: Nic Rowley \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

GoldenEye has already sucked up nearly a quarter of our slot, so we expedite the final with Licence to Kill – one hit kills in Temple. With zero kills between them in the last round, Nic and Christian make way for the top three from the previous round – so it\u2019s myself, Tom, Greg, and Toby. You\u2019d think we\u2019d be getting used to the game at this point, but it\u2019s still a scrappy affair.<\/p>\n

Christian:<\/strong> I think that little blob of pixels is a gun.
George:<\/strong> Oh yeah, thanks. I\u2019ve been trying to open this door, but it turns out it\u2019s a wall.<\/p>\n

Knowing one hit will do the job has certainly sent a ripple of tension through the proceedings. All four players are arched forwards while the spectators engage in hushed conversation about who is where, punctuated with “Oooh!” every time someone is taken out. Just seeing another player is now terrifying as you wrestle to turn your character in time to take them down. If modern shooters are jet skis, this feels like playing with tugboats.<\/p>\n

Greg is a valiant fourth place, while Tom and Toby split the honours for second and, to everyone\u2019s surprise, I manage once again to steal the game with Boris. I refrain from saying the catchphrase.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The final round got tense \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life
\nStart your engines<\/strong><\/p>\n

We could play GoldenEye all night, but we must move on. We opt for the other stone cold classic – Mario Kart 64 (admit it – it was the other one you were thinking of).<\/p>\n

The game doesn\u2019t fire up. Release cartridge, blow, reinsert, good to go. It never gets old.<\/p>\n

The remote for the television we are playing on has long been missing, but Christian manages to navigate the buttons on its side to raise the brightness and backlight, which were both bafflingly set to minimum. A skillset I can\u2019t imagine anyone younger than 30 ever needing to know, but it\u2019s helped considerably here. If only we\u2019d cracked it before GoldenEye, maybe all those doors and walls would\u2019ve been easier to tell apart.<\/p>\n

\"N64<\/a> Image: Zion Grassl \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> What CC are we going for? Being brave with 150? Cowards and doing 50? Or sensible down the middle and 100?<\/p>\n

The general consensus is 150. We are being brave.<\/p>\n

We assign some teams out of a hat for swapping on and off between races and I get lumbered alone. You can\u2019t do a GP in four-player, just VS mode, where you select races, and we settle on Flower Cup as it begins with Toad\u2019s Turnpike \u2014 a series mainstay \u2014 with the theory that we\u2019ll be quite familiar with it.<\/p>\n

Wrong. And 150? Mistake. The races start quick. I\u2019m still offering biscuits as Lakitu gives us the green light. It is not a smooth start for anyone as Mario Kart 64 does not play as we remember, all of us barreling into cars left, right, and centre. Why are the karts so slippery when you jump into a corner? Such an immediate, massive amount of tilt! Want to glide around a truck? Too bad, eat this tailpipe instead.<\/p>\n

Loathing for the incredibly irritating little yellow bombs roaming the track in place of NPCs comes pretty quick, too, as their terrible draw distance scuppers each and every one of us whenever we build up a head of steam.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Urgh, I know Mario Kart 64 is beloved, but\u2014
Alastair:<\/strong> Don\u2019t say something you can\u2019t take back.
George:<\/strong> It\u2019s just my least favourite. I can\u2019t do it! I would rather play the SNES one every day of the week. Ooh, Christian\u2019s got skills!
Christian:<\/strong> I like this one. I remember the SNES one being super hard.
Alastair:<\/strong> (ramming into a bomb) Oh, give over!
George:<\/strong> I think we should\u2019ve picked a slower CC. Oh wow, Alastair is storming into first!<\/p>\n

Cruelly, though, the final lap is decided by a lightning strike, letting me squash Alastair virtually on the line. It doesn\u2019t feel good, but that\u2019s Mario Kart, baby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Oof.<\/a>Oof. Those textures, though \u2014 Image: Nic Rowley \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

The snowmen of Frappe Snowland and boulders of Choco Mountain force howls of anguish as we continue through our GP, struggling at times to even make out where the track is as the blurry textures speed by. In spite of the rough visuals, camaraderie is high, with Alastair and Tom exchanging high fives as they pull off some top finishes, and we are all laughing and giving each other stick when we get derailed or our items fail.<\/p>\n

Toby suggests we sack off the GP and opt for Koopa Troopa Beach for our final race because of the ridiculous shortcut jump – it\u2019s off a giant ramp and through a mountain.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what possessed us to imagine we still had the requisite skills to land this, given everything that has gone before, but the attempts are utterly catastrophic – just Mario and the gang suffering severe concussion while smashing endlessly into walls, ramps, and water, spinning out at an alarming rate. It\u2019s a riot. It may not be my favourite entry, but you can undeniably feel the influence of Mario Kart 64 on every subsequent game.<\/p>\n

Bombs away<\/strong><\/p>\n

I offer up Smash Bros.<\/a> as our next game, but it\u2019s met with a pretty unanimous veto. Just when I thought I was beginning to like these people.<\/p>\n

Instead, we take a look at the cartridges Toby has brought. There\u2019s some pretty left-field multiplayer choices, and one that catches my eye in particular.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>Some unsung heroes amongst these \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Oh, Bomberman 64<\/a>! I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever played it.<\/p>\n

Game doesn\u2019t fire up. Release cartridge, blow, reinsert, good to go. People will tell you it\u2019s not really a thing. Don\u2019t listen to them. Tom, Nic, Christian, and Alastair settle in to discover how it works.<\/p>\n

\"Alastair<\/a>Alastair is ready to drop bombs \u2014 Image: Greg Puttock \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

A much harder task than it sounds. Nobody, not even Toby, who owns the game, is 100% sure what is going on in this one. I was expecting the usual Bomberman grid and \u2018plus\u2019 shaped explosions from the bombs, but of course, this is a 3D console and keen to show off its 3D capabilities. As such, the four typical Bombermen are running around but the explosions are funny little domes of fire. Some people are kicking the bombs, there seem to be power-ups, but we aren\u2019t entirely sure what they do.<\/p>\n

Before we can really decipher any of it, it\u2019s the end of the round and Nic has emerged victorious!<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Does anybody know how?
Nic:<\/strong> I kicked the bomb and I won.
Christian:<\/strong> Yeah, when you get hit by a bomb, you do actually die.
Greg:<\/strong> Quite the discovery.
Christian:<\/strong> I thought that\u2014<\/p>\n

No time for Christian to finish, another round starts. And almost immediately, another round is complete. Nic wins again!<\/p>\n

\"Death<\/a>Death came pretty swiftly \u2014 Image: Christian Olesen-Scott \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

Toby:<\/strong> I don\u2019t understand what is happening?
George:<\/strong> It\u2019s your game!
Toby:<\/strong> I only played the one-player.
Nic:<\/strong> Well. I kicked the bomb and I won.<\/p>\n

Solid strategy. Nic also discovers that you can punt other players to stun them. My wife has informed me of his prodigious skill at administering covert dead legs during childhood; such malevolence is a blessing in this arena.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> What are those fire things? Do they make your explosions better?
Alastair:<\/strong> That\u2019s what she says.<\/p>\n

Nice. Tom stays on, Toby, Greg, and I swap in and we are still none the wiser. “Do we press A to kick it?” “Wait, you can move as a ghost?” “Oh – I\u2019m tiny! How did that happen?”<\/p>\n

Crucially, in spite of the bafflement, we are still having fun. It\u2019s very fast-paced and the room is very noisy. A great find, but time is evaporating.<\/p>\n

\"Kicking<\/a>Kicking worked well. We think. We honestly don’t know \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> It\u2019s great to play a game you don\u2019t really know!
Toby:<\/strong> Do you think we better Micro Machines Up?
George:<\/strong> Let\u2019s Micro Machines Up.<\/p>\n

Micro Machining Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the weirdest thing I\u2019ve said in a while. But we\u2019re finally here – we are finally going to try out the Nintendo 64’s biggest multiplayer game.<\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t know who at Codemasters came up with the idea of sharing an N64 gamepad, but they are an absolute anarchist genius. It turns out that to facilitate eight-player you use the D-pad and C buttons as two sets of directional inputs – effectively having a D-pad each to turn your car left, right, and press down to brake while it auto accelerates.<\/p>\n

\"Micro<\/a> Image: George Banks \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

But \u2014 and this is a substantial ‘but’ \u2014 they made the baffling decision to not use down as down, left as left and right as right, but instead assign left, down and right to up, left and down respectively on the D-Pad and left, down and right to down, right and up respectively on the C buttons. Yes. It\u2019s as simple and intuitive as it sounds.<\/p>\n

The select screen basically demonstrates this by \u2018splitting\u2019 the N64 controller in half. Were they under the impression this was possible? Unless there is an incredibly special and rare N64 pad I am totally unaware of, this setup seems to encourage you to sit facing the other player in order to have the controls mapped correctly, while craning your neck to look at the screen.<\/p>\n

I grant you, sharing the pad was always going to be awkward, but if that\u2019s the case, why not just keep them upright and have each person hold a prong? It\u2019s SO WEIRD.<\/p>\n

\"Codemasters<\/a>Codemasters are chaos monkeys \u2014 Image: George Banks \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

We pull names out of a hat and somehow I am on my own again, but Alastair is paired with Nic, Tom with Christian, and Toby with Greg. Each pad is one team of two cars, red, blue, yellow, and green. We pick up the pads. They are not built for grown men to share. Having learned from our Mario Kart mistake, we opt for turbo level one, though Nic is feeling ambitious.<\/p>\n

Nic:<\/strong> Is there a boost as well?
Alastair:<\/strong> (indicating the minuscule amount of pad available) Considering what I\u2019ve got access to here\u2026<\/p>\n

Cheesy Jumps is our first race, set on a dining table. Classic Micro Machines. The first track gets underway and almost everybody speeds straight off the table, except a plucky yellow. It lasts about four seconds.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Who\u2019s yellow? Hooray!
Tom:<\/strong> It\u2019s us, but I don\u2019t think that was me.<\/p>\n

I simply cannot get to grips with this at all – I am trying to simultaneously control two cars with opposite controls to one another, but it does give me a good chance to observe. Conversation is frantic and loud. All the team members are essentially trying to strategise and figure out what is happening in real time between super short bursts where cars are just getting flung off a chair or waterlogged in an errant puddle of milk. I have a recording of the chat and, genuinely, it\u2019s so cacophonous I can barely decipher anything.<\/p>\n

Yellow team takes the first round by simply not dying the quickest.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Does anyone have any idea how that actually worked?
Tom:<\/strong> If I was controlling the car that I think I was controlling, then yes. I think.
Alastair:<\/strong> I had a similar feeling.
Christian:<\/strong> I feel like mine didn\u2019t even start going in the right direction initially.
George:<\/strong> Incredible.
Greg:<\/strong> If I don\u2019t press anything, it goes straight, right?
George:<\/strong> In theory.<\/p>\n

Cereal Killer is next – great track name, same theme as before. We\u2019ve figured out that you earn points by being the last colour team alive during each phase, and lose points by crashing out. When there\u2019s a single car left, all the cars are replaced and the next phase begins, until a team has acquired the necessary points to win the round – and the whole game is nothing more than steering to stay on the track. Simple enough, we just didn\u2019t have time to take it in before. Something key emerges during the setup, too.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Ah! Right, you need to try and keep an eye on which car is your car. Look, for each team there\u2019s like an F1-style car and a boxy thing.
Everyone:<\/strong> AHHHH!
Tom:<\/strong> Oh, it wasn\u2019t me then. Christian, you did well!<\/p>\n

Yes, that would’ve helped. And so it proves, as we have our first phase that lasts longer than 10 seconds.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Guys, an impressive run!
Alastair:<\/strong> It helps when you know what car you are.<\/p>\n

The greens, Greg and Toby, are really getting into the swing of it. Greg has had some super laps and sussed that it\u2019s a \u2018tap-tap\u2019 type of game. Generous of him to release this information, and it makes things much more level into our final phases – with Christian and Toby enjoying a pretty intense duel lasting almost a full minute, which Christian edges. High fives abound again. It doesn\u2019t even matter when you crash out, it\u2019s just fantastic watching the energy of the players and the chaos of keeping their car on the track afterwards.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s precious few minutes left and Alastair suggests a different racing biome. We plumb for the Snooker\/Pool Table. Another Micro Machines all timer – and where we should have begun, as there aren\u2019t precarious edges to instantly fly off of.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>It is insane to ask people to share a pad like this \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

It proves to be an absolutely incredible finale. Everybody has found their feet with the game and each phase results in a two-, three-, or four-car chase for a good length of time, with jumps, skids, and collisions peppering the competition.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> Oh my god, this is thrilling! Why did we wait to play this? It\u2019s incredible.
Christian:<\/strong> When you get down to a few, you think, \u2018Oh – I\u2019m at the front so I can actually see where I\u2019m going.\u2019
George:<\/strong> Yeah, you don\u2019t get all that stretching when there\u2019s more players. It\u2019s almost like it\u2019s easier when there aren\u2019t eight cars involved.<\/p>\n

Cheers are positively erupting when a single car ends the phase, regardless of team affiliation. Then something curious happens. Some of the cars have little pincers on them. But nobody can suss out what they can do. Until\u2026<\/p>\n

Alastair:<\/strong> I think this game has produced the highest number of swears per second.
George:<\/strong> 100%. Good call on the track, too. But we\u2019re low on time, we might have to call it quits.
Tom:<\/strong> No.
George:<\/strong> I\u2019ve got the pincers again, too, but I\u2019m still not sure what they \u2014 oh! Ah! AHH! I don\u2019t know how I did it!<\/p>\n

The pincers shoot forward and drag your opponents back towards your car! They are an absolutely sublime edition and Greg eventually discovers it is done by pressing the shoulder button that corresponds to your side of the pad.<\/p>\n

Tragically, it\u2019s too late to fully enjoy it – our time is up. Nintendo simply must bring this to NSO. I can’t think of a better title suited to the Joy-Con.<\/p>\n

Game over<\/strong>
\n\"N64<\/a> Image: Zion Grassl \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

We indulge in a few drinks afterwards and chat about our experience that night, our memories of the 64. We even suggest starting up a club to make coming together and enjoying old consoles a regular thing.<\/p>\n

George:<\/strong> What would we call it?
Alastair:<\/strong> Pixels and pints?
George:<\/strong> Technically polygons, but pixels is better.
Greg:<\/strong> I just said I was going to help with a research project. Got me out of the house no problem.<\/p>\n

Greg is a genius. I even get a message the next morning from Tom marvelling at how, despite how busy modern life is, a 30-year-old console can provide so much fun and connect people for friendly competition.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true. The N64 has the uncanny ability to bring people together around it – and there\u2019s a game for everyone, too. Whether it was Toby and I ruthlessly stalking the halls of GoldenEye, Alastair and Tom taming the slipperiness of Mario Kart, Nic gleefully wreaking havoc in Bomberman, or Christian and Greg mastering the tappy turns of Micro Machines, everybody found their game and had a great time playing the others. The time absolutely flew by and we could\u2019ve spent the whole evening on any one of those experiences without getting bored.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t tried the Nintendo 64\u2019s multiplayer magic first-hand, I urge you to do it. On the walk home I thought of my childhood friends I\u2019ve lost touch with, whose houses we would crash into nearly every weekend to enjoy this wondrous machine. I didn\u2019t realise how sad I had become to have lost that, but I\u2019m so happy I have new friends to enjoy it with today.<\/p>\n

All it took was a little chat about Nintendo\u2019s best \u2018friend\u2019 machine. There\u2019s life in the old boy yet.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The N64 – still great fun \u2014 Image: Alastair Stevenson \/ Nintendo Life<\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

George is a stage and screen actor and voiceover artist with a deep love of gaming and all things Nintendo. His writing has appeared on Nintendo Life and Time Extension, and he’s the host of NintenDormant<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Ollie Reynolds \/ Nintendo Life The N64 is 30 years old! This week, we’re running a series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1053896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[12871,126,59728,287918,128,8425,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-1053895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-anniversaries","tag-features","tag-n64","tag-n64-30th-anniversary","tag-nintendo","tag-retro","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116823233379303532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1053896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}