Skip to main content

Wave Race 64: 30th anniversary

It's already been five years since I started reviewing N64 games, which means I have an excuse to play Wave Race 64! Did you know it's a sequel to a Game Boy game?

Wave Race 64 is a short game: seven tracks on easy, eight on hard, and nine on expert. A practice course with no other racers has you following a dolphin! The polygonal racers look a little cursed today, but the game successfully simulates racing on Kawasaki Jet Skis. Yes, this is a licensed game. Kawasaki created the jet ski and, at that time, was its sole manufacturer. The physics of racing on water are noticeably different than with a car, in no small part due to waves. The minimal friction on water lets jet skis turn on a dime. Pressing the control stick down during a turn makes it radical, making it easy to do a 180 (whether accidentally or deliberately). Pressing up leans the racer forward, and pressing down leans them back. Be careful you don't knock them into the water with a bad landing after a wave or ramp! The game's biggest strength by far is how well it simulates the feeling of racing on water.

As you race, you must go to the left or right of each buoy, as indicated by either a yellow L or a red R. If you go the wrong way, the jet decelerates greatly. Walls and other obstacles must be avoided as well. If you repeatedly go the wrong way, the race ends and you "retire." In the settings, you can change how many misses trigger retirement. This was the most difficult part of the game for me at first.

There are four racers to choose from, each with its own jet ski. You can customize how they handle and accelerate, if you wish. The game is single player only: you race against the three other racers. After each race, you are awarded points based on how you placed. To proceed to the next race, you must have accumulated a certain minimum of points; otherwise it's Game Over. After a while, I was able to beat all seven normal courses. I upped the difficulty to hard, and now I can't even finish the first race!
A time-trial mode and stunt mode are available for true Wave Race fanatics. In stunt mode, you get points for passing through rings and for performing stunts, like doing a hand-stand. There are no on-screen instructions for how to do these but they are spelled out in the manual.

The music is enjoyable and reminds me a bit of Pilotwings 64. The voice of the announcer, who cries out short commentary in response to what you do, is realistic sounding and somehow adds to the game's atmosphere.

This game was made for people who are into jet skis. I lasted about an hour before I was ready to move on. I'd much rather play F-Zero X or Mario Kart 64, but that doesn't mean the game is bad; it's just not for me. 

Grade: B
Linked Reviews
"The very impressive Wave Race 64 still manages to wow all these years later thanks to precise, elegant controls and wave physics that are yet to be bettered."
— Dave Frear Nintendo Life, 9/10

"The changing patterns of the water movement, rising/lowering tides, and random waves were really amazing to behold on a game console at the time. They keep the title an engaging experience all these decades later."
— Pat Contri, Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the N64 Library, 4.5/5

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Super Mario Bros. 2: The great American Mario sequel

I began my retro-video-gaming quest two and a half years ago with Super Mario Bros. To celebrate this, my 100th review, I've chosen Super Mario Bros. 2, one of my all-time favorite NES games. Super Mario Bros. 2 is a reskin of the Famicom Disk System game, Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic . Howard Philips, the PR face of Nintendo of America in the early days, rejected the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2  ("The Lost Levels") for American release because it was too difficult. Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, helped develop Heart-Pounding Panic. Its creative use of both vertical and horizontal side-scrolling made it the ideal candidate for a Mario sequel. This was a stroke of genius, as it is far superior to the Lost Levels. Its deviations from the Mario formula should not be held against it, because there was no Mario formula back then! Among the many differences from the original Super Mario Bros. is the fact that, at the beginning of each stage, you choose whether ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Demon's Crest: 30th anniversary

Demon's Crest, a kind of sequel to Gargoyle's Quest II on the NES, was not a commercial success. According to Nintendo Power, it even recorded negative sales one week due to people returning it! I understand why, despite the fact the game is good: it's too short, especially if you don't search for all the crests. Demon's Crest is cryptic in a way that reminds me of games from the 80's. To beat the game properly, you need to gather the other four pieces of the fire crest, plus five other crests hidden across seven stages. However—and this is where the designers crucially erred—the most common outcome is to prematurely encounter the final boss, Phalanx, after the fourth stage (he mentions how he didn't expect to see Firebrand so soon), beat him, and get the "bad" ending. The credits roll, and you think, wow, my hour of playing wasn't worth $60. Now, a video-game nerd, such as yours truly, might object and say, "Wait! Can't you see that...
2 comments
Read more

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja: A whimsical adventure in Japan

Growing up, I played The Legend of the Mystical Ninja at my best friend's house (though I was bad at it), and I had been looking forward to trying it again. It's an unusual, fun adventure game. I recently learned that in Japan Legend of the Mystical Ninja was preceded by three Famicom games and followed by three more Super Famicom games, none of which were localized for the West! The Japanese name of the series is Go for It, Goemon! It's based on a 1980 Japanese arcade game called Mr. Goemon. The emulation community put out fan translations of the Famicom games between 2009 and 2017. Surprisingly, no translations of the Super Famicom games existed until 2020, all three created by the same people . The series takes place in early-modern Japan. It has a light-hearted anime aesthetic. The titular character is a spiky-haired kid named Goemon. If a second player joins the simultaneous action (highly recommended), Goemon is assisted by an older, overweight ninja named Ebisumaru. ...
3 comments
Read more