The Nintendo 64 had many iconic games released during its lifetime. Many of these games live on for their excellent gameplay and, in some cases, their story. When it comes to the story, however, one of the most important parts is executing a solid ending.
While many games released during the N64’s lifecycle managed to stick the landing, others weren’t so lucky. Whether they were rushed or simply ended on a cliffhanger that never got a satisfying conclusion, the Nintendo 64 has quite a few games that tripped right at the finish line.
10 Donkey Kong 64 Has Too Many Endings
While the game was popular when it came out, Donkey Kong 64 has garnered a more infamous reputation as an N64 game that can be hard to go back to. Despite this, the game still holds a special place in the hearts of many fans even today. Regardless of the game’s reputation, the ending is a bit messy, or rather, its endings are a bit messy.
The initial Donkey Kong 64 ending shows the Kongs celebrating back on DK Island after successfully facing off against King K. Rool. Then the scene transitions to them all swimming along with the Kremlin K. Lumsy. Finally, the game ends with a weird blooper-style series of scenes that portray the whole game as a movie. Each ending lasts too long and ends rather abruptly when transitioning to the next ending.
9 Wave Race Has A Very Standard End To Its Races
Wave Race 64 is a Nintendo 64 game that stood the test of time. The players race each other on jet skis through increasingly difficult tracks. The game’s reception was extremely positive and led to a sequel on GameCube years later. Despite the game’s incredible popularity and revolutionary aspects, the game falters with its ending.
Once the player has completed their series of races, they’re rewarded with a trophy at the podium, and they celebrate as the credits roll. Wave Race 64's ending isn’t necessarily bad, but the very standard ending feels jarring considering how revolutionary the game was.
8 Diddy Kong Racing Ends On A Cliffhanger That Never Gets Resolved
Diddy Kong Racing is a classic kart racer. It easily became as popular as Mario Kart at the time and featured the titular Kong with a cast of varied characters taking on the alien wizard, Wizpig, after he invades a peaceful island. It may not be as good as some remember, but overall it's an iconic N64 game.
Diddy Kong Racing’s ending is quite fun, as the player goes through the overworld of the game where they get to watch all the characters celebrate. The game eventually pans out into space, where Wizpig’s ship flies slowly by, implying there may be more of his kind on the way. This cliffhanger, frustratingly, has never been resolved since there was never a sequel, giving the game’s ending a bitter undertone.
7 Banjo-Tooie Proved The Only Thing Worse Than A Cliffhanger Is A Bad Sequel
Banjo-Tooie is an excellent sequel to the massively popular Banjo-Kazooie. After the first game spawned from a canceled Rare game, the sequel expertly added on to the winning formula. At the end of the story, the skeletal head of Gruntilda the witch flees from the titular bear and bird with the promise "just you wait until Banjo-Threeie."
This exciting promise of a third game would be all there was for years until Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts was released. Fans maligned the game for changing everything that made the old games what they were and then insulting the older games at several points. Banjo-Tooie proved that the only thing worse than an unresolved cliffhanger is a cliffhanger with poor resolution.
6 Mario Party 3 Has An Obvious Twist
Mario Party 3 is notable for being the first game in the series to feature a solo story mode while still holding onto the harsh gameplay of older titles in the series. In it, the player works to gather stamps to become the superstar. At the end of the story, it’s revealed the Millennium Star, the being who would supposedly crown the player as the superstar, was a fake the whole time.
It’s a fairly obvious twist that most players likely see coming from the beginning. The fake millennium star has a very large and jagged mustache, which is Mario shorthand for villainous characters. He also has a constant scowl that doesn’t fit a supposedly friendly character.
5 Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes Sprints To Its Conclusion
Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes is a game in a series of imaginative titles that see the player take command of various army men toys like the ones seen in movies such as Toy Story. These soldiers battle other forces of army men in creative locations, like the inside of a house’s refrigerator.
While Sarge’s Heroes is fun and has creativity in spades, the ending flies by so fast it’ll give players whiplash. The game’s ending concludes almost as quickly as it begins, and it is very possible to blink and miss something during its mad dash to the end.
4 Perfect Dark Is A Great Game With A Short Ending
Another excellent game from RareWare’s stellar catalog, Perfect Dark is one of the earliest first-person shooters, not dissimilar from another N64 title, Goldeneye, and is in many ways its spiritual successor. The game features nonlinear objective clearing and can even be completed through more stealth than gunplay.
Perfect Dark features an intriguing and very fun campaign with a very well-done plot. The ending, though, doesn’t quite match the rest of the campaign’s polish. After defeating the final boss, the game concludes very quickly with the main character escaping the exploding base and walking into the sunset with vague words about an orbital bombardment that will take out the rest of the game’s enemy forces.
3 GoldenEye's Gameplay Interrupts What Should Be A Dramatic Monologue
Based on the 1995 James Bond film of the same name, GoldenEye 007 is one of the best N64 games on the console and follows a mostly faithful recreation of the movie. Unfortunately, the movie’s dramatic nature ends up coming second to the gameplay.
During the climactic showdown between Bond and the game/movie’s main antagonist, the player is treated to the dramatic monologue given to 007 during the movie. However, players can interrupt the moment by opening fire on the main antagonist and killing him, destroying what should be the climactic height of GoldenEye 007 and invalidating much of the ending.
2 Blast Corps’ Ending Is A Wall Of Text
Blast Corps is an interesting game for the Nintendo 64. It was developed by RareWare, who released many of the N64’s best titles. It was also one of the first games the developer created for the console. In it, players solve puzzles by swapping between vehicles to move objects and overcome gaps to guide a runaway nuclear missile carrier to safety. It’s a good time, but the ending is a bit underwhelming.
Much of the ending is told through text as the player sits and watches a repetitive cutscene play beneath the scrolling words. It’s very reminiscent of Star Wars’ famous opening text crawl, but instead of giving viewers important in-universe context for the film, Blast Corps’ ending is boring and decides to tell instead of show.
1 Pokemon Puzzle League’s Ending Draws An Unfortunate Connection
Pokemon Puzzle League is basically Tetris with Pokémon scattered across the game. The game itself isn’t awful by any means, even if it took many years to get a re-release, but its ending is certainly one of the worst for such a fun game. At the end, players are treated to an animated cutscene that looks like it was pulled straight out of the Pokemon anime.
In it, Ash Ketchum is named the Pokemon Puzzle Master, to which he shouts in victory, "I won!" as the credits abruptly roll. There’s little fanfare, little excitement, and the whole thing draws an unflattering comparison to the awful Legend of Zelda CDI games and Link’s infamous "I won!" that serves as the concluding line to Faces of Evil.