N64 Controller Showdown: One Year Later
A year has past since I decided to buy and test some new controllers for my N64. I was very pleased with the quality and functionality of all three controllers I purchased, with the exception of the crack that developed on the cheap knockoff of the original design. What shocked me, however, was the fact that is the one that has seen the most use. Although I do genuinely enjoy the Tribute and Brawler controllers, I just associate the old trident design with playing N64 games, and that’s something only the cheap knockoff can offer.
The Tribute 64 has seen very little use since purchasing and testing for no other reason than it’s a bit small and the balance being a bit off when a rumble pak is installed. That’s not to say I dislike it by any means, it’s just the other controllers are more comfortable in my hands. Plus, and this might seem like a cop-out, the packaging it comes in makes the controller look really good as a display piece, so I would just rather leave it on display than use it.
Now the Brawler 64 is truly a beast of a controller. It’s rugged, feels great to use, the analog stick is really good, the button layout was well thought out and executed and the balance when a rumble pak is installed doesn’t affect it at all. My only complaint is that my brain just has some weird disconnect with the Brawler 64 and expects me to be playing an Xbox instead of the N64. In the case of the Brawler 64 it’s definitely not packaging keeping me from making this my go-to controller as the box for this controller is completely opaque and I would much rather pull this controller out to observe its beauty from time to time than leave it sitting, or more accurately hidden, inside the box.
And finally we get back to the extremely cheap knockoff that somehow takes the win. Sure, the plastic is cheap and there is absolutely no innovation or changes in design, other than an upgraded analog stick, but I really think that’s why it became my go-to controller. For years my favorite N64 controller was my OEM yellow controller because none of the third-party controllers I own felt right. I think the fact this controller feels most like what I’m familiar with is a major factor in it being used the most. Not to mention it saves wear and tear on my aging OEM controllers. I would rather a cheap knockoff break than any of my original N64 controllers. Speaking of which, that crack by the analog stick really does bother me, but it seems stable, although for how long I don’t know.
Mario Kart 64 vs Diddy Kong Racing: Who wins the race?
The Nintendo 64’s library is peppered with classics, including two standout kart racers in Mario
Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. Powered by their own merits, each title exhibited strong,
unique features that gave the system a powerful one-two punch in a young genre. More
importantly, each game is responsible for tons of memories, flying tempers, and late comebacks
amongst friends. Whether you were hosting a childhood sleepover, having a few coworkers over
for drinks after a long week, or just kicking back and playing either game on your own, you could
always find refuge in Mario Kart 64’s Block Fort or Diddy Kong Racing’s challenging single-
player mode. However, while there is no debating the fact that both games are incredible, only
one can reign supreme. Let’s revisit the age-old clash between these two goliath titles. Ready,
set, go!
Gameplay
One of the most important aspects of any kart racing game is how it plays. All sorts of nuts and
bolts go into crafting strong racing gameplay, a category in which Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong
Racing share exemplary status.
Good gameplay begins with control: you need a strong sense of speed, reliable steering and
drifting, and tight mechanics. When all these factors come together, the player can artfully and
smoothly navigate winding tracks and erratic enemy drivers. Throw in items and other bells and
whistles, and the games will shine to a whole new degree.
It is beyond the basics of kart racing where Diddy Kong Racing sets itself apart. It has three
different vehicles – karts, hovercraft, and planes – all of which are tons of fun to use. It features
more strategic items than the chaotic roulette in Mario Kart 64: you can stack items to boost
your power-ups, so you’re constantly facing a choice between burning an item right away or
waiting a bit to get something stronger. Finally, aspects such as shorter tracks and the absence
of fate-defining items like Mario Kart 64’s Lightning Bolts leave no room for error. Diddy Kong
Racing is deeper mechanically and has more variety in its racing. It comes away with the win on
moment-to-moment gameplay.
Single-player
Sometimes, you just want to kick back, relax, and make some computer-generated racers eat
your dust. In the case of Mario Kart 64, you cannot do much more than that – the game’s single-
player amounts to some Time Trial challenges and grabbing Gold on enough Grands Prix to
unlock Mirror Mode. It’s a good time, but it’s far from expansive.
Diddy Kong Racing, meanwhile, is on its own level – in fact, it’s got arguably the best single-
player campaign of any kart racer in existence, even more than twenty years after its initial
release. Progression through the single-player requires special balloons, which are earned
through challenging races, strategic silver coin challenges, boss races, and much more. The
deeper, purely skill-based gameplay is enough on its own to propel Diddy Kong Racing past
Mario Kart 64 in the single-player arena. Combine that with loads of content and personality,
and we are in the exalted presence of the definitive single-player kart racer.
Multiplayer
Diddy Kong Racing takes the cake in single-player offerings. That is tough to argue. But what
about multiplayer, the real bread and butter of the genre for most of its fans? Here, Mario Kart
64 begins to narrow the gap between the two games.
Mario Kart 64 is renowned for its multiplayer. The game has everything you could want in a
multiplayer kart racer, including a host of fantastic battle maps and tracks which Diddy Kong
Racing can’t quite match – there’s nothing quite like sending your friend over the edge of
Rainbow Road with a well-placed green shell. Additionally, while Diddy Kong Racing’s
mechanical depth strengthens its overall gameplay, accessibility is a major benefit for
multiplayer in Mario Kart 64. It is a lot easier to pick up and play, which means anyone who
wants to join in can simply grab a controller and have an excellent time. Plus, flattening your
friends after shrinking them with lightning is just plain satisfying.
Any mention of Mario Kart 64’s multiplayer is incomplete without a bit of praise toward its
friendship-shattering battle mode. As far as a comparison with Diddy Kong Racing, the
conversation begins and ends with a balloon battle on Block Fort. Mario Kart 64 wins this round.
Tracks
Ultimately, even though Diddy Kong Racing has a few more tracks overall, Mario Kart 64 comes
away with a narrow advantage due to its more diverse locales and a handful of iconic, thrilling
courses. It is not quite fair to say “quality over quantity” here, since Diddy Kong Racing still has
excellent track design by its own right, but Mario Kart 64 wins this one by making more out of
less.
Diddy Kong Racing features twenty smaller tracks, with each set of four adhering to a specific
theme, such as a medieval village or a winter wonderland. Conversely, Mario Kart 64 pulls out
all the stops with extravagant, expansive tracks that are an absolute joy to play.
Each game’s track design caters to its respective strengths. The shorter tracks in Diddy Kong
Racing demand skill and strategy: you have got sparse time to correct mistakes, and you need
to plan your routes carefully, especially in silver coin races. Mario Kart 64, meanwhile, builds
large, exciting courses prone to tense item volleys and legendary come-from-behind victories.
Struggling to stay on Rainbow Road, dodging traffic in Toad’s Turnpike, picking a route in Yoshi
Valley, watching for falling rocks in Choco Mountain, and plenty more adventurous situations
make Mario Kart 64 a winner in track design.
Graphics and sounds
Both Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing are overflowing with vivid retro charm. The sights
and sounds of each game make for a wonderful, nostalgic overload of a simpler time in video
games. Each game utilizes vibrant colors and upbeat, striking jams that will rest in your head for
hours on end. Here, variety wins the day: Mario Kart 64’s diverse array of tracks makes for more
memorable scenery and more distinct music, even though Diddy Kong Racing is still excellent
by its own right.
Overall Winner: Mario Kart 64
The race between Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing predictably comes to a photo finish.
Two developers at the top of their game, Nintendo and Rare showcased new heights for kartracing that, along with Crash Team Racing on PlayStation, marked a golden age for the genre. However, only one of these iconic kart racers can take first. Ultimately, Mario Kart 64 wins off its addictive multiplayer mode and fantastic set of winding, colorful courses, but Diddy Kong Racing is still a wonderful title, especially for those who prefer single-player gaming. At the end of the day, the real winner is anyone who has had the opportunity to experience both of these amazing games.
Guest Bio
Ana Sz. Bio: It all started in my friend Sophie´s house playing Super Mario Bros., NES was basically my first love. I’m a fan of retro games, especially RPGs and Platforms. This passion got me to create Myemulator.online where I write reviews for all the games I use to play with.
You can find Ana at MyEmulator.online or on Instagram.
N64 Controller Showdown
This year has allowed me to spend more time with my Nintendo 64 than ever before. This extra time allowance also helped me to decide that acquiring more games and controllers for the console would be a beneficial move. After thoroughly enjoying most of the games I’ve acquired, I have to admit that I’m also quite fond of the controllers I now own. After giving each of my new controllers quite a bit of play time I feel I can now discuss the three different N64 controllers and how I feel about them.
First up I’ll discuss the unbranded fire orange N64 controller. With its OEM design this controller stirs up a lot of nostalgia from all the great memories I’ve had using the trident shaped controller. The controller feels great in my hands, the buttons have a good snappy response when pressed and the analog stick is something I wish I had for all my OEM N64 controllers. However, this controller is not perfect. A small gripe is that the sleeve on the controller plug is grey instead of a matching fire orange. I also don’t like the area where, on the OEM controllers, the logo would be. I feel they should have just left that area out of the casting entirely. The real problem with this controller though is that after a week of minimal use the plastic by the analog stick started cracking. I’m not sure whether more cracks will start in the future, or even whether this crack will continue to grow and ruin the controller entirely, but if the crack never happened I honestly wouldn’t have anything negative to say about this controller.
Next is Retro-bit’s Tribute 64. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? From its comfortable yet compact Hori mini style design to the satisfying feel of pressing the buttons and even the analog stick that feels almost exactly like a Gamecube, this controller just ticks all the boxes. At first I was afraid it might be a bit too small for my hands, but that never became an issue. This controller is almost perfect, almost. My only real complaints are that plugging the controller into, and removing from, the console is a bit of a hassle. It’s just too tight. Also, if you plan to use a rumble pak you’re in for a bit of a balancing act. That’s not to say it’s unbearable, but it does become noticeably top heavy when a rumble pak is inserted.
Finally we have the Retro Fighters Brawler64. If you’re looking for a more modern design with complete functionality for the N64, the Brawler64 is your controller. Very comfortable design, buttons are easy to access and the layout is very modern. The analog stick is really nice, but nothing more extraordinary than the two other controllers. The Brawler64 does have one feature the other two don’t, and that’s a turbo function. I’m not always a fan of turbo but each button can be programmed or cleared individually at your will. If I had any complaints about the Brawler64, personally, it would be that the design is a bit too modern for my liking. Don’t get me wrong I love modern controllers, but somewhere in my brain there is a bit of a disconnect where a controller has to fit the console I’m playing. One extremely small thing to note is that the analog cap made my thumb sticky for a little while after using the Brawler64 for the first time, other than that this controller really is amazing.
I personally feel all three controllers serve their purpose and have their own strengths and minor weaknesses, but I truly like them all. If I were forced to pick one and only one of these I would most likely pick the unbranded fire orange, even though it’s the lowest quality of the bunch. I know, I can hear your sighs of derision from here, but hear me out. While the Brawler64 and Tribute 64 are both absolutely amazing controllers, my brain just has that muscle memory of holding the trident design of the original controller when I play N64 games. This may be what has put me off using any of my other third-party N64 controllers more than the OEM controllers. Without a doubt I will definitely be using all three of these controllers at one time or another, but I just feel there is no substitute for the weird controller design Nintendo originally released with the console, love it or hate it.
GT64: Championship Edition
A short while ago I reviewed World Driver Championship, a game I played in an attempt to find out if the Nintendo 64 ever had a Gran Turismo killer. Although I’ve come to really enjoy World Driver Championship, the game that caused me to start this quest was GT64 Championship Edition. I had played GT64 through an emulator quite a few years ago, but due to limitations in the emulator I never really got into the meat of the game. After acquiring a real cartridge I felt it was time for me to fire up the console and give the game a play through to see what it contributed to the racing video game genre.
The first thing I noticed was how similar the GT64 and Gran Turismo title screens are, with GT64 even seeming to be trying to upstage Gran Turismo. After pressing start it’s time to select a mode, of which there are three, along with records and a very sparse options menu. The main part of the game is the Championship Mode, which is pretty self-explanatory, but there is also Time Trial and Battle Mode. Both of these modes will pit you against the clock, except in battle mode with the added competition from AI or another player. Once the mode has been selected it’s time to pick your car. The game tries to trick us into believing there are fourteen to choose from, but there are really only six different licensed cars. Twelve of the fourteen teams are real 1997 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship teams, the other two are there to represent the game developer and publisher.
Title screen comparison.
After you’ve selected the mode and chosen which car, team and style of transmission you want you’re given the option to modify the Com Team Entry, a feature I didn’t bother much with after I found out I couldn’t fill the field completely with the exact same car. Next you’ll be allowed to select your racing parameters in the form of which level you want the AI to compete at (Easy, Normal or Hard), how many laps (3, 6, 12 or 24) and how you wish to qualify (3 Laps or Special stage). Special Stage puts the player on the track with a singular warm up lap and a singular timed lap to determine where you’ll start. The three lap option gives the player three laps to make the best time. If qualifying is available in a racing game I usually forgo it to get to the action quicker, that’s not possible with GT64. You must qualify and that’s all there is to it.
If you thought now was when you would be allowed to qualify and finally get to race, you would be wrong. The next menu is where the player is given the chance to adjust their car’s setup, do some testing on the track in free run, start qualifying, load a car setup file from the memory card, or quit out completely. Allowing a car setup to be saved and loaded from a memory card felt the most like a Gran Turismo feature throughout this game. Something to keep in mind is that you can adjust Transmission, steering, brakes, tires, front and rear suspension, front and rear downforce and gear ratio, but only in a very simplistic way. Each item has a set of numerical values at the bottom of the screen, which is essentially just a more complicated slider, that explains how each number selected will affect the car. After dialing in your car you can test it in free run or qualify as-is.
Finally, we’re on the track and ready to go, and let me tell you, after a few weeks of playing World Driver Championship I have to say I can’t remember the last time I played a racing game that made me battle the car more than the AI. In World Driver Championship drifting could be used as an effective way to overtake or corner any given turn, not in GT64. Just as turning seems to be effective enough to make the corner your car throws itself into a drift that nobody asked for and will remain as such even when you let off the gas, causing you to wrestle for control to get the car pointed straight ahead again. At first I was frustrated but I eventually started slowing down at each corner, to the point I thought I was losing time for sure, and feathering the throttle until my car hooked and could make it through. Although I felt I was going too slow, apparently the game felt that was the perfect tactic, and it works. Sadly the fun that I learned to start having was short lived as there are only three tracks with a few variations. That’s not to say they’re not fun, but it wouldn’t have hurt to add a fourth or fifth track.
The visuals of the game look nice, I wouldn’t say they are top notch but I feel they would pass for a mid-life PS1 game in terms of quality. There is some pop up on items in the distance but finding my way around a track was never an issue. I did believe, for a short while, the fog to blur the render distance was pretty bad, later I realized that was only that particular race’s weather conditions and not always the case. Car shapes look fairly decent, even though half of them are merely rectangles with rear spoilers attached, but they do represent that vehicle pretty well for the time.
GT64 Championship Edition started out with noble intentions, but like so many other games it missed the mark. In my opinion World Driver Championship is the superior game between the two, but GT64 is still a decent racing game, once you learn to handle the car. If you took the good qualities of World Driver Championship and combined them with the good qualities of GT64 Championship Edition I think that game may be remembered today as a decent Gran Turismo clone. Even a simple combination such as choosing cars and rise through the ranks like in World Driver Championship coupled with the ablity to adjust the car’s settings before a race like GT64, probably would have been something remembered fondly today.
Peripheral Vision: Third-party Fire Orange N64 Controller
Ever since I bought and reviewed Retro Bit’s Tribute 64 I’ve wished they made one in the fire orange color. Sadly, they do not, although an orange version was part of the 2019 color poll on their social media — and it lost.. to Classic Grey! So what is a person to do when they’re too cheap for their own good? Go to Amazon and buy a third-party controller in the exact same color to tide them over until they can find the genuine article. I could have purchased the OEM fire orange controller, but for under half the price I chose the third-party option so I didn’t have to worry about spending all that money on a controller and getting one with a worn out analog stick.
I’m just going to guess all third-party N64 controllers that look like the OEM controller are probably coming out of the same factory and just being branded differently, so I bought the cheapest one I could find. Once it arrived I plugged it into my N64 and immediately noticed that the plug slid in like a normal N64 controller, as opposed to the Tribute 64 which took a bit of force to press in and pull out of the console. I also noticed the oblong oval Nintendo used for their logo is still embossed into the controller, but there is no logo within. I have seen this on many third-party N64 controllers in the OEM shape, but the controller would do just fine without it. It would feel wrong for a third-party brand to use this for their logo, so I think it should be removed entirely. Just my two cents.
This controller feels pretty much how I would expect a brand new N64 controller to feel, with the plastic’s texture being more pronounced and not worn down from years of use, like my used controllers. In terms of durability it seems durable enough for normal use, but I wouldn’t dare torque it too much or spike it on the floor in a fit of anger. This controller is definitely NOT as durable as a real N64 controller. For some odd reason the A and B button’s edges are slightly more sharp than the OEM buttons, but all the buttons do have a crisp and satisfying pop when they’re pressed down. When compared to a genuine N64 controller they’re approximately the same weight.
The analog stick is where this thing shines. Compared to even my best OEM N64 controller this thing is absolutely amazing. Very smooth, seems very precise, although I’m used to used N64 controllers, and it always returns to 0 when I let it go, with no wiggle or wobble. Upon close inspection it seems the analog stick is actually metal covered in plastic to make it look and feel like the original analog stick. I don’t know what the insides look like, but analog stick technology has come a long way since the N64, so I’m hoping this thing holds up for many years to come.
I truly wish this was an OEM controller, but for what it is I think it’s $15 well spent. The orange color of the translucent plastic, I think, is absolutely beautiful. My only real complaint is the plug being grey plastic instead of matching like the OEM controllers do, but even then it’s really just a minor nitpick. Currently I don’t see any down sides for this controller, but if any do arise I’ll be sure to add an addendum to this review and make them known. Until then I think this has become my go-to N64 controller, allowing my OEM yellow to take a bit of a vacation during my current N64 game stints.
World Driver Championship
The Nintendo 64 has a lot of great racing games, but most of them are kart racers or adapted from the arcade. Don’t get me wrong, I do love those types of games, but I’ve always wondered if the N64 ever birthed a competitor for Sony’s racing simulation Gran Turismo. After a bit of internet research I came up with a few candidates that may be able to answer that question. The one I decided to try first is World Driver Championship.
World Driver Championship isn’t exactly a racing simulator, but it does boast 15 world driving teams, 10 tracks throughout the world, 20 events spread across two different levels of competition and 30 highly detailed cars with realistic handling and physics. Starting off, the game allows the player to choose from only a few of those teams, race for them and earn points to rank up and unlock more team options and better cars to drive. Each team offers a different style of car with a few upgraded versions which become unlockable, but at first the car options are very lackluster, and kind of difficult to drive. Once you’ve chosen which team you’ll drive for you can start a series and do the best you possibly can. Each series has two different sets of points: the points you earn that determine where you place in the series, and points toward your overall rank. The player starts at rank 30 and will earn points to work their way up to 1st place from there.
In a way World Driver Championship can be looked at as a racing RPG, but only for the fact that you sometimes have to grind out the same series of races a few times to get enough points to gain better cars to be competitive in another series. Earning the gold trophy will unlock a new racing series, but if you didn’t earn enough points to unlock a car good enough to compete in that series you’ll just have to keep grinding. This can be a bit frustrating at first as, previously mentioned, the handling on the beginning cars can be a bit difficult. If you’re having a problem with any particular race the player is given the option to practice the track as well as qualify for a better starting position before actually taking part in the event. However, if you drive poorly during an event the AI are not very forgiving, and last place can sometimes be a very familiar finish.
Graphically World Driver Championship is very impressive for a Nintendo 64 game. There is even a high-res mode that doesn’t require the expansion pak, although it does crop it down into a letterbox shape on the screen. Draw distances are seemingly endless as I’ve never noticed any fog and minimal pop up, so I can focus on the horizon and where my next turn will be. Truthfully sometimes this game feels like a Playstation game with the graphics and way it renders everything. As if that wasn’t enough, entire races can be viewed as a replay and even saved to a memory pak.
However, all things have their dark side and this game has a few things that do annoy me. First there is a complete lack of ability to personally upgrade or modify your car, with only upgraded versions you unlock from ranking up being offered. Another gripe that I have is there seems to be an invisible margin on each AI car which, if hit while trying to overtake, will send the other car flying in the right direction, while slowing your car down by at least 70%. Sometimes you’ll be holding a line in a turn then, suddenly and mysteriously, find your car spinning out wildly, allowing you to watch all the cars pass you as you wonder what just happened. Lastly, this game doesn’t seem to fully understand drafting and its importance within racing games as a way to help pass and overtake opponent vehicles. Sometimes you may seem as if you’re drafting and gaining on the AI, while other times there seems to be no possible way to draft at all.
World Driver Championship isn’t perfect, but it does scratch that itch for a more realistic driving game on the N64. Oddly I both enjoy and detest the ranking system. I enjoy it because obviously every game needs a goal to accomplish, but the fact that you’re given cars that seemingly fight against you at the beginning, causing you to race the same races over and over to unlock better ones, robs the game of some enjoyment. Sticking to it, learning each track and its variants, and just doing your best is the only tactic I’ve found that works. World Driver Championship isn’t a terrible game, by far, but the beginning does feel needlessly complicated just to pad out a sense of accomplishment.
A Tribute to the Nintendo 64
As the Nintendo 64 nears its twenty fourth birthday I can’t help but feel ever more enamored with the aging console. You see, when I was 16 I walked into a Target store and experienced Bloody Roar playing on the Playstation kiosk, and being 16 meant expendable time and income were my only assets. It was right then and there that I made the choice to buy myself a Playstation. Within an hour I was back home playing through a demo disc and thoroughly loving it. Nearly all of my future paychecks were spent on Playstation games, so I never had any reason to so much as think about the Nintendo 64.
I do, however, have fond memories of spending countless weekends at a friend’s house who had what felt like every gaming console imaginable. Nearly every single Friday I would rush home to ask my parents if I could go spend the weekend at my friend’s house. The weekend would often start at a local rental place by the name of Movieland USA. My friend and I would often pick up racing games, or at least something that we could compete against each other in. There is still one game he and I both remember, with varying degrees of details between the two of us, but we do agree that whatever it was that game was obviously fun enough to still remember. Even with all the fun we had I never saw anything within the Nintendo 64 that struck me as a console I needed to own, as I was still trying to financially support my Playstation addiction.
I didn’t personally own a N64 until ten years ago, just before the vintage gaming boom really took control. I saw a Nintendo 64 for sale on Craigslist and decided to purchase it. Prior to that I did pickup a few N64 games from thrift stores that were too cheap to pass up, even knowing full well I didn’t have a console to play them on. As the Nintendo 64 games continued to fall into my hands, slowly, throughout many many thrift store trips, the N64 became an important console to me on a more personal level.
A year or so before buying my first N64 my life fell apart at the seams, so I relied heavily on video games to take me away from reality. Besides using them to escape reality it helped rekindle some of that nostalgia of spending weekends at my friend’s house and it also set me on a journey to discover a console that I had never given a fair chance before. One of my favorite N64 games at the time was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, with its bright banana yellow cart. I own the Playstation version, but for some reason the N64 version calms me and helps me unwind after dealing with the reality of life.
Fast forward to 2020 and life has yet again become a sea of anxieties, unknowns and for much of the world’s population a lesson in desperation. With all the consoles I now own I’ve preferred to pull out my Nintendo 64 far more than I have any of my other options. It seems the Nintendo 64 has also been receiving quite a bit of love from third-party companies like Retro-Bit with their Tribute 64 controllers. Current situations plus brand new controllers, that are actually really good, plus games being readily available from online retailers means I’m finding myself wanting to discover, and rediscover, what exactly the era of the Nintendo 64 was all about.
I still believe the Playstation is superior in terms of performance, but the memories of time spent with the N64 throughout my life, coupled with the unknown territory that I’m still exploring about the console and its library has made it an important console in my life. Recently I’ve discovered games such as Diddy Kong Racing, BattleTanx Global Assault and most recently World Driver Championship, which absolutely blew away with how good the game looks compared to many of the other racing games on the console. The more I play these games the more I want to fully explore the N64 library, and that is what keeps me focused on the good times that are still ahead.
Times get tough and scary, but if you manager your assets wisely and focus on a hobby you truly enjoy things do get better. Now more than ever I think it helps to find that hobby, or in my case console, that most interests you and give it what attention you can afford. If you’re like me pull out your old consoles, blow off the dust and give it a go with a game you may have never given a proper play through before. Or maybe a game that brings back a lot of nostalgia, like sitting down with friends or family for a round of Mario Party, just make sure everyone wears palm protection.