The Nintendo 64 was infamous for its lack of traditional role-playing games, especially in light of the booming success JRPGs were having on the PS1 in the wake of Final Fantasy 7. The platform's most traditional RPG is probably Quest 64 – an infamous game that's nonetheless getting full recompilation effort from fans, which could end up delivering a robust PC remaster of a long-maligned game.
Fans of numerous N64 games have been at work on decompilation projects, where they essentially pick apart a game's code to understand every aspect of it. Recompilation, then, is the process of putting that code back together in a format that can run on other types of hardware. A number of recompilations for the stone-cold classics of the N64 library – games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Star Fox 64 – have already resulted in full PC remasters offering support for modern controllers, 60 FPS action, and a wide array of visual and gameplay improvements.
Of course, Quest 64 is no Mario, Zelda, or Star Fox. The game has genuine fans – shout out to Quest 64 Official, one of the few bright spots in the dismal world of social media – but it got dismal reviews at launch and over the years became a punching bag for the N64's broader RPG woes. The game's defenders, however, will tell you that its empty world and lack of storytelling are simply distractions from a robust battle system with a unique take on magic.
The mystery of whether or not Quest 64 is good may rage on for the rest of our days, but it certainly seems that it's about to get a lot easier to view the game's merits when it's broken free from the constraints of N64 hardware.
These are the best N64 games of all time.
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