I was one of the lucky kids that had a Nintendo 64 in my house when I was younger; I had the luxury of fighting my brothers for a controller, I understood the struggle of trying to yank off the rumble pak (we never got it off; it’s STILL connected), and I remember wanting the see-through purple controller because purple was a “girl color.” If you’ve ever played an N64 console, here’s a list of eight games that you’ve most likely either played or have heard of. And to those of you who have never played a Nintendo 64 before: you need to.

1. "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time"
In this classic game, Link, clad in his famous green, pointy hat and wielding his sword and shield, sets off on an expedition to try and stop Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves, from obtaining an artifact called the Triforce; this important relic gives he who owns it ultimate power. This critically acclaimed game was released four more times after its original release for the N64; it was created for the Nintendo GameCube, the iQue player, the Wii and, finally and most recently, the Nintendo 3DS. Personally, I never played this game on the N64, but my brothers are constantly raving about it and I feel I should check it out in it’s most original form rather than any of the rereleased forms.

Todd Snap is a well-known photographer and has been hand-selected by Professor Oak to capture interesting and unique photos of Pokemon that will accompany his research findings. This game was only rereleased once for the Wii, and its ratings weren’t that great due to its lack of Pokemon to capture photos of as well as courses to play. As pointless as this game was, it was one of my favorites to play because it was super easy and it served as an easy way to pass the time. Playing this game made me feel like a legit photographer when I was younger; I was no stranger to purposely snapping pictures of Pokemon butts just so I could giggle at them later.

The ever-popular and very stealthy James Bond is brought from the big screen to game consoles in this first-person shooter game; playing as James Bond, the point of the game is to prevent a group of criminals from using a satellite weapon in London that would cause a global financial meltdown. As often as I watched my brothers and cousins play this game, I never actually had an interest in playing it myself. I wasn’t one for shooting games back then, but I’d be more than willing to try it now.

If you have never played Mario Kart before, you need to seriously reevaluate your childhood. All you do in Mario Kart is race against your friends or race solo as the characters from the Mario games on multiple different racetracks… and that’s it; you can even sabotage other players and benefit yourself with items that you can get while racing. It’s one of the simplest games to play, but it’s also one of the most fun. This game was rereleased for the Wii back in 2007 and is the only Nintendo console that the game has been remade for. For an adult spin on the game, try “Don’t Drink and Drive,” in which one must chug as much of his/her drink before beginning their race. Once the race starts, you can only drink when your kart is at a full and complete stop because NO DRINKING AND DRIVING, and the point of the game is to finish your drink before crossing the finish line; whoever said video games were just for children was very, very wrong.

Fox McCloud is on a mission to defeat Andross, and with the help of his friends Slippy, Peppy and Falco, and under the control of the first player, it’s more than possible; travel from planet to planet, defeating Andross’ evil henchmen in order to help save the Lylat system. I remember watching my dad play this game all the time and he KILLED it. I, however, totally sucked at this game and probably still would, but at least I still know how to do a barrel roll.

The game to end all games; I’ve never met a single person that hasn’t played this game before. This game contains characters from multiple different Nintendo franchises, such as Mario, Kirby, Samus Aran, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, and so on. Pit these characters against each other to find out who reigns supreme; play on single player mode to get some practice in or play on multiplayer mode and kick all of your friends’ butts. When I played this as a kid, I didn’t really have any strategies because I knew that I would lose to one of my brothers; it was a rare occasion that I beat them, and it still is. This game has been recreated into "Super Smash Bros. Melee" and "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and has been most recently rereleased for the Nintendo Wii U. I’m still waiting for a one-round elimination competition here at San Diego State.

This virtual board game was one of the first games I played since it was really easy to understand and play; in this multiplayer game, play as Mario and his friends and attempt to be the person with the most stars and most coins, but watch out for Bowser and his antics! This game is broken up into the main board on which you can land on blue, red, green, or “Bowser” circles; the color of the circle determines whether you win or lose coins or stars and helps determine your overall fate for the game (the Bowser circles definitely mess with your fate.) The color of the circle also determines what type of mini games you and the other players will be playing in order to obtain more coins. This is the game that my cousins, brothers and I would always play when our families had little get-togethers; all of the nostalgic feels come back when I play this game.

"Mortal Kombat Trilogy" is a fighting game that acted as a follow-up game to "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3"; the only difference between these two games was the added characters and stages as well as the “Aggressor” bar, which when filled makes a character faster and stronger, and a finishing move known as “Brutality,” which is a long combination of moves performed on the opponent which ends in the opponent exploding; cool, right? This was hands-down, without a doubt my favorite game for the Nintendo 64 because even though I wasn’t good, I also wasn’t terrible. There’s just something about the fighting moves and the gore that made me really happy and honestly, the feeling you get when you get your first flawless victory is good enough to give you goosebumps.