When it released in 1996, the N64 faced competition from Sony’s PlayStation and its use of CD-Roms. The cartridges of the N64 helped with faster load time, but limited the storage space available to developers and made future backward compatibility nearly impossible. As such, re-releases of N64 games have largely come in the form of digital Virtual Console releases on the Wii and Wii U, as well as the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Despite Nintendo’s efforts to bring a large portion of the N64 library to modern platforms, some games have yet to see re-releases.
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Buck Bumble
Published by Ubisoft, Buck Bumble is an N64 exclusive that warrants attention. Launching in 1998, the game sees players control its titular bee character with action-adventure flight mechanics, drawing many comparisons to Star Fox 64. The game is set in the “far future” of 2010s London where a chemical spill has mutated insects, causing a group of them to form the evil Herd bent on world domination. Buck Bumble joins the Resistance against the Herd, being implanted with cyborg technology that grants him the use of hi-tech weaponry to defeat the minions of the Herd.
The game featured both single and multiplayer modes, which was one of the elements praised by players leading to a generally positive reception at launch. One mode, called Buck Battle, was a PvP-style dog fight where players would take flight with the goal of shooting and eliminating their opposition. Another mode, Buzz Ball, was a variation of soccer where players could shoot their opponent to disable them. While these modes earned Buck Bumble a cult following, its sales numbers were not high enough to earn a sequel, and there has yet to be a re-release via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
Hey You, Pikachu!
Although the Pokemon series is certainly not trapped on the N64, this unsuccessful attempt at a spin-off never saw a future re-release or sequel. Hey You, Pikachu! was designed to capitalize on the mascot’s popularity at the height of the Pokemon craze in 2000. Players were tasked with helping Professor Oak test out his new PokeHelper device that would allow communication between humans and Pokemon. As such, the game relied on the gimmick of talking to Pikachu through the included Voice Recognition Unit (VRU) and microphone that could translate speech into commands for the character.
While the novelty was unique at the time, it received mixed reviews criticizing the very limited gameplay and imprecise nature of the VRU. It’s likely due to the constraints of the required hardware that the game hasn’t seen a re-release. A spiritual successor titled Pokemon Channel was released for the GameCube in 2003 that also featured a Pikachu who players can befriend and play with. However, it has only loose gameplay connections to Hey You, Pikachu!, and can’t really be considered a sequel.
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