Gaming's last stands

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What happens when games machines die

The last stand of: Nintendo 64
Final official UK release: Mario Party 3 (Nov 16, 2001)
Final official US release: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: Aug 20, 2002
Mario Party 3 was the last UK N64 game. It's nice in a way that Mario should get the last say on one of Nintendo's most testing consoles, but we expect UK N64 owners would have liked Tony Hawk's 3. US gamers did get to enjoy that, although it wasn't anywhere near as smooth as the Dreamcast version. Still way better than the over-ambitious PSone attempt, though.

Final Hurrah: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Released on March 5, 2001 in the US and April 6, 2001 in the UK, Conker's Bad Fur Day was about as far removed from a kiddy squirrel game as you could get. Packed with references to films and other videogames and full of mature jokes and imagery, the game was a breath of fresh air for those growing tired of the N64's increasing 'child's toy' reputation.

The only problem was that the console was on its last legs and with only hardcore fans keeping the console alive, few other gamers ever got to experience Conker's delights. Fortunately, the game was given an Xbox remake with Conker: Live and Reloaded. But it didn't sell very well. At all. We guess that those who cared had it anyway and no-one else had any idea what the game was.

Above: Conker on N64 and his Xbox remake (inset). He's right - it didn't look too rosy for N64

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.