REVIEW: Top 10 Nintendo 64 games of all time

There are days when I feel like I'm a very old-fashioned soul... particularly when it comes to gaming. While I love playing up-to-date sports games or the latest Call of Duty game just as much as the next person, something about playing classic video games just brings me back to my childhood and delivers so much more than an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 game ever could.

Because of my affinity for old games, I've decided to make lists for the Top 10 games for old systems. This week's system is the Nintendo 64,  which launched in North America in 1996. It was the last system to use ROM cartridges, and is widely believed to be darn near indestructible. The N64 was and still is, perhaps, the perfect machine. No disc read errors or red rings of death, no scratch discs and no need to beat the crap out of it and blow in its slot to get it to work like its ancestor, the original Nintendo. My own N64 has outlasted a Playstation 2, and it was purchased many years before the Playstation 2 was even released. In the event of a nuclear holocaust, the only survivors would be beetles... and the Nintendo 64.

However, enough of my gushing remarks about the best gaming system ever. As promised, here are the Top 10 games for the Nintendo 64.

10. NFL Quarterback Club '99 - The list starts of with a football game, but it's not Madden. Any true N64 enthusiast will tell you that the best football action on the system was not from the storied Madden franchise, but rather was from the Quarterback Club series, which featured Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre as the cover athlete.

This game was unique because it was one of the first sports games to feature the option to Create Your Own Team and add only players from the free agency. It also allowed you to create your own playbook and had great sound and graphic. It had a season mode but lacked the depth that we see now in football games, only allowing the player to go through the 1998 season. However, back in those days, you didn't really know to expect anything different.

The most interesting thing about the game was its gameplay, which was fairly realistic when you wanted it to be, but also had one giant loophole in accuracy. When scrambling, the quarterbacks are nearly impossible to take down.

9. Super Smash Bros. - Super Smash Bros. was the first of its kind, gathering iconic characters from all sorts of different Nintendo genres and pitting them against each other in staged duels. The characters include Mario, Kirby, Link, Star Fox, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and a future other gems from both Nintendo. There are also four unlockable characters in the game, which are unlocked by completing the "Classic" mode on different difficulties, and they are Luigi, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff and Ness.

The single player "Classic" mode isn't exactly a time-consumer, and can usually be finished within 15-20 minutes depending on individual skill level. The real draw for the game is the four-person multiplayer, which enables you to go up against up to three other people using an array of fighting moves, which are unique to each character, as well as objects that fall out of the sky. In "Classic" mode, you win a match by knocking the opponent off the screen, either by throwing them or making them fall off a cliff. In the multiplayer, the emphasis is more on the time limit and how many times you can beat up the opponents. You can even fight in teams, going 2-on-2, 1-on-3 or 3-on-1, if you don't want to do a free-for-all.

8. Cruis'n World - This arcade favorite is everything a racing game should be. You start out by picking which car you want, then race around the world in tournaments, all the while earning custom car boosts and paint jobs by placing in races. This game, especially when played multiplayer, is extremely exciting and has enough jumps to keep things interesting. By double-tapping on the gas and moving the car in a certain direction, you could pop wheelies or even put the car up on its side wheels. When done on the top of a jump or behind cars, you can flip your car.

The different courses are broken up by skill levels, which include Easy (Germany, Egypt, Hawaii, Russia, Florida), Medium (New York, England, France, Kenya, Japan) and Expert (Italy, China, Australia, Mexico and the Moon). The game has the option of up to four-person multiplayer, which makes it extra exciting and competitive because it means someone won't place in the Top 3 (too often with two players it becomes a Ricky Bobby Shake-and-Bake situation, with one player getting first place and the other getting second place). Amongst the multiple options for cars, you can choose from a Toyota Supra, a Dodge Ram, a Ford Econoline, a 1994 Ford Mustang, a Humvee, a police car, a taxi and a school bus.

7. Banjo-Kazooie - Banjo Kazooie was one of the earliest platform games released with the Nintendo 64, and remains to this day fairly entertaining despite obviously being a children's game. The plot of the game is that Gruntilda, an ugly witch with a knack for rhyming, kidnaps the most beautiful girl of all to steal her beauty. Classic Sleeping Beauty. However, the knight in shining armor this time is Tooty's brother Banjo and his faithful companion Kazooie. Banjo is a bear that carries Kazooie, a large bird, in his backpack at all times.