Modern games may no longer support local multiplayer, but that does not mean you cannot go back to your Nintendo 64.
The Play Station 1 may beat the Nintendo 64 in their generation, but N64 won, and with a big difference, in its configuration and multiplayer games, many of which still stand today.
Today, we present a list of the best N64 multiplayer games. Pick one or more titles for you and your friends — you will enjoy them for sure.
The Best Multiplayer N64 Games
17. International Superstar Soccer 64
Before the Konami and EA sports soccer sagas were created, another title reigned as a soccer simulator. International Superstar Soccer 64 holds up very well, and it is not uncomfortable to play today thanks to its arcade style of play.
International Superstar Soccer 64 allows up to four players, and you can even team up against the AI.
Open mode and penalty mode are great options for quickly immersing yourself in a match. However, you and three other friends can also play cooperatively through international and world league modes.
The sequels to N64, International Superstar Soccer ’98 and International Superstar Soccer 2000, are also good alternatives.
16. Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama: ¡Tōkon! Marutama Chō
Susume! Taisen Puzzle Lady: Tōkon! Marutama Chō is the best N64 puzzle game, and it is also one of the best N64 multiplayer games.
This battle puzzle game is similar to the one developed by sega, but much more frantic and very fast.
As with similar games, the goal is to create multiple lines of balls and clear them in one movement. These movements chain combos together, resulting in filling your opponent’s screen with more difficult sealed balls to remove.
It is a heads-up battle until a player cannot deal with its screen full of balls. Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama: ¡Tōkon! Marutama Chō is fast, exciting, and features beautiful 2D animations, a truly underrated gem of this console.
15. BattleTanx: Global Assault
BattleTanx: Global Assault is fun to play even today, as it has a wide variety of game modes for up to 4 players. So if you still have an N64, do not hesitate to give it a try.
Tank Wars mode is the real attraction here. Each player receives a team of AI tanks, resulting in a full-scale war.
You can also team up with a second player in the BattleTanx: Global Assault’s campaign mode.
14. Snowboard Kids
Although it falls short in content, Snowboard Kids is a great installment, but it is a shame that Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing have overshadowed.
Snowboard Kids features an entertaining and catchy soundtrack. It also has a pretty attractive power-ups system.
It is not the most recommended racing title, but be sure to check it out at your friends’ meetings.
13. F-Zero X
It is incredible how fast F-Zero X feels even today. Vehicles move at a fast pace, and the game runs at 60 frames per second, even with four players. It is a challenging game, and the tracks could be more challenging than your friends.
If you lose your vehicle before the end of the race, you can play a mini-slot machine game. Get lucky, and you can drain the energy from an opponent’s car. It is a great way to take revenge beyond the grave, and it keeps everyone alert from start to finish.
12. Gauntlet Legends
Gauntlet Legends stands out for being the best game with a multiplayer cooperative mode of the N64. You and three friends can team up to fight the evil Skorne and his forces from hell.
This title developed by Midway Games is a simple hack ‘n’ slash game that was initially released on arcades.
The depth of this title is more than you see with the naked eye. The opportunity to choose from up to 4 classes and many skills make them a somewhat complex title.
11. NFL Blitz 2000
NFL Blitz 2000 is fast and cool, and much more comfortable and enjoyable than its N64 competitors. This version supports up to four players. Two players can also team up against the AI.
This football title is enjoyable and not monotonous. American football fans adore it, as well as those who do not even know the rules of the sport. NFL Blitz is very practical and is very friendly to newbies who are just beginning to enjoy it.
10. Bomberman 64
The jump to 3D resulted in a war between fans of the franchise at the time, but Bomberman 64 at least does something different. Being able to move in 3D means that you must use different strategies in this game.
For example, you can stun other players by throwing bombs at them – a great way to annoy your friends!
Bomberman 64 multiplayer is very fun. It is a team mode in which you can team up with your friends to compete against AI.
9. WWF No Mercy & WWF Wrestlemania 2000
We could not leave wrestling games out of this list. Currently, they are not having the best time. However, in that generation, it was entertaining to choose our favorite wrestlers and face our friends. Tell me, was it not funny to pick the legendaries HHH, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin to smash our friend with tables, ladders, and chairs?
In the multiplayer mode is in which these games shone. WWF No Mercy & WWF Wrestlemania 2000 offered a great set of fighters for its time, including all of the “Attitude” era. We were also allowed to fight in the pay-per-view themed arenas. There is also a wide range of game options to keep battles varied.
Both games offer a lot of content to be able to enjoy it for many hours without getting bored.
8. Diddy Kong Racing
Mario Kart had a great competitor, which is Diddy Kong Racing. Despite being a Kart game, it showed us things from a different point of view because to go from race to race, we had to unlock levels.
Diddy Kong Racing single-player mode is much more fun, but this game developed by Rare is still fun to play with friends.
The power-ups represented by balloons of different colors are not very varied, but having 20 tracks and several karts to choose from, make up this lack.
7. Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Conker’s Bad Fur Day alone is a real gem, but having a multiplayer mode makes it an almost perfect game. It is considered one of the best action and platform games created for this console.
This tittle has a variety of game modes, some of which are very clever. You can compete in a heist or fight dinosaurs as prehistoric cavemen.
It would be much higher on our list of best N64 multiplayer games, but its technical flaws keep it from the top places.
6. Mario Tennis
Mario Tennis is simply a must-have for your Nintendo 64 collection. Since Nintendo release the well-known Super Tennis for Super Nintendo, no other Tennis game had been just as good as this game until Mario Tennis arrived.
The gameplay is excellent, and the fun is more than guaranteed with the many secrets to discover, the infinite game modes, the multiplayer possibilities, and the large number of characters available.
Despite the characters from the plumber universe are cartoonish, this title is surprisingly serious and realistic. Although there is a special mode in case you are looking for a more “dumb” experience.
This installment is charming and works great, allowing for fast and hectic games with friends.
5. Mario Party 2
This saga is known as “the destroyer of friendships.” Mario Party 2 is a set of mini-games spread across a board game that strikes the perfect balance between skill and luck. It also gives you plenty of opportunities to tease your friends
The first game features mini-games that spin around the joystick, which were very uncomfortable and ended up hurting your hands. Nintendo omitted this style of minigame from the second game.
Graphically, Mario Party 2 game is practically the same as its predecessor. But now the characters will have costumes for each scenario, and the scenarios, in 3D, are quite detailed.
This game brings a lot of fun, and more if you play with one or more friends because a single player can quickly get bored.
4. Perfect Dark
Rare gave us great games, which have become classics. Examples of them are Donkey Kong 64 and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and Perfect Dark was not going to be an exception.
Perfect Dark provides a wealth of options when it comes to game modes, maps, weapons, and playable characters. You can face up to three players, but you can also add up to eight AI bots.
In addition to the standard deathmatch modes, in Perfect Dark you can play cooperatively through the Campaign and “Challenge” scenarios.
And then there is the Counter-operative mode, which is a new twist on the classic cooperative formula. In this Perfect Dark mode, one player tries to complete campaign missions while the others play the role of enemy guards.
Despite its name, it is not perfect. The frame rate sometimes drops, especially when you add AI bots to a split-screen match. And outdated controls have a hard time getting used to it. Even with its defects, it is a game that guarantees many hours of fun.
3. Super Smash Bros
This fantastic title started it all. The Super Smash saga has become a real phenomenon, present in every video games tournament and one of my personal favorite video games of all time, not just one of the best multiplayer N64 games, but one of the best multiplayer games of all time.
Even though the first title of this famous franchise has a small selection of characters and settings compared to the most recent entries in the series, it is still ridiculously fun.
It is the simplicity of the game that makes it so enjoyable even today. It is great for both newcomers and veteran players.
Super Smash Bros is far from the game with the best graphics in N64, but this means that it can maintain an almost stable frame rate. Thanks to that, the fights are quite fluid and hectic, and of course, very fun.
2. GoldenEye 007
GoldenEye 007 is still fun if you take the time to get used to its outdated aspects.
Its multiplayer mode was the coolest and funniest that gamers had seen by that time. There are multiple deathmatch options and great weapon selections, including automatics, power weapons, and remote mines. If this sounds too fancy, then you and your friends can just slap each other in the bathroom of the buildings.
GoldenEye 007 is a game that gave us many hours of fun with its single-player. But its incredible and complete multiplayer mode even gave us more hours of fun.
1. Mario Kart 64
Even though the single-player mode is excellent, the multiplayer mode is more fun and it is easily the best multiplayer N64 game ever made!
The first Mario Kart game came out on Super Nintendo in 1992. It was so popular that it marked the beginning for one of the most important sagas of Nintendo. In N64, the company could not miss the opportunity to launch a sequel. Mario Kart 64 made a significant graphic change, and it brought with it a wide variety of characters and a great variety of tracks.
Kart racing or battle mode matches could not be more entertaining or frustrating. Twenty-five years after launch, it is still just as enjoyable as the first time. This racing title has aged in the best way ever; the frame rate remains consistent with four players making Mario Kart 64 very playable today.
Without a doubt, this is the best multiplayer game on the Nintendo 64.
