Wave Race 64 retrospective: The N64's a-wake-ening | N64 Works
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- The first post-launch release for N64 proved to be as strong as its two day-one titles. Wave Race 64 arrived mere days after SingleTrac and Sony's Jet Moto, but it felt like a massive leap forward in terms of tech and fluidity. Nintendo's x-treme water racer maximized its sophisticated water programming, creating a series of physically and aesthetically varied tracks that felt like no other racing game before it-and while its frame rate and HUD haven't aged well, it's still a blast to play.
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That opening song will never not spark joy in my brain. This is literally my favorite video game of all time.
The lake stage is a memorable moment for me. Initially it looks like a foggy mess intended to hide draw distance: “ugh”. Then the fog recedes as the sun warms everything up and you realize it’s an intentional effect. I’m sorry I doubted.
It would have been an even better subversion of expectations if it had come out after games that had the typical N64 draw distance issues!
Fog in that era had such a bad reputation. XD
It genuinely existed in hardware of the time to function as a graphical effect...
But developers quickly realised it functioned as an easy way to hide pop-in, and that was that.
Now lazy uses of it to hide draw distance problems genuinely outnumbered it's use as a graphical effect to the point that few even remember that it is one...
@@KuraIthys I love the Spiderman games for PS1, but they abused the fog way too much. They even tried to have a story reason to explain the fog, like Mysterio or someone had completely drenched NYC in this impenetrable fog everywhere and that's why spiderman can only swing around the rooftops and never go on the ground, and why you can't see anything in the game except the top thirds of skyscrapers. But yeah despite all that those games are a hell of a lot of fun, and they had absolutely tons of unlockables that today in the spiderman game for ps4 are like DLC I believe, microtransactions. But yeah you could use like 10 different costumes for spiderman and they all had different powers and effects that changed up the gameplay and made new playthroughs a lot different.
Oh and you could unlock things like a mode where every character in every cutscene is constantly dancing and can't stop, and I remember unlocking something where all the dialogue was changed in every cut scene, to something that was absolutely hilarious, I think everyone was wearing a banana costume or something too. It was the most hilarious thing I'd ever seen when I was 8 or 9 years old. I've gotta go and play those spiderman games again in an emulator
Sorry for rambling on about something unrelated, except for the bit about fog
@@JeremyParish Yeah, having gotten this game alongside my N64 that first Christmas, I had no idea about fog hiding draw distance. While Shadows of the Empire used it sometimes, I think Turok was the first game that really turned on the fog machine and that wouldn't launch until March the next year.
The water graphics and physics of this game were truly something to behold, not just for the time, but also today!
Floating Sunfish it holds up incredibly well today for an N64 game
@@lancewwu But but let's be fair it is NOT a sight to behold otherwise today.... but i had this game then and yes, it was very impressive then and it took some years before anyone could equal the water effects.
Yep, I've been a proud PC gamer since 1994, but when I saw Wave Race 64 on my friend's N64 I was like: "What sorcery is this???". Mind you, it was also around 1998 and by that time I had already bought my first 3D graphics accelerator card - 3dfx Voodoo, so I arrogantly thought that nothing on consoles could ever impress me graphics wise. I was wrong.
Still looks beautiful and pleasant to look at despite the blocky graphics. That palette helps a lot.
The water physics of this game absolutely blew my mind and made me feel like I had just entered the future. I was sure that video game technology had reached its peak with this game. I spent so many hours in the practice lagoon just jumping waves, diving under the surface, and doing donuts. To me the races were just a secondary game mode to the real appeal of the game which was as an exhilarating water-based sandbox.
I rediscovered this game recently and it has become one of my favorite N64 games ever. The mechanics, the visuals, the soundtrack, the amazing wave effects and how it impacts your race.
There is so much to say about this game. It is such a damn shame Nintendo only sees it as a tech demo.
There is so much more they can do with this franchise.
I still remember when I first played this game. At the time I was hanging out with a group of friends who would meet at this one girl's house every Sunday to play games and watch anime. She had gotten an N64 at launch and we were loving both Mario 64 and Pilotwings. In order to get to her house, I had to take a bus from one end of town all the way to the other end, and then I had to walk uphill quite a ways. On this day it was particularly hard because of the cold and the fresh snow that I had to trudge through. When I got there, everyone was already playing Wave Race. As soon as I heard the music, saw the graphics, and felt what it was like to bounce around on the water, I felt like I was there with the sun and the waves and everything. I spent the day in this tropical paradise, but eventually it came time to go home, and that meant bundling up in my coat, gloves, toque and scarf to trudge back down the hill through the snow to wait for the bus to take me home. That sense of being so thoroughly transported to another time and place, so different from where I really was at the time, has always made me think of Wave Race fondly, even though I generally don't like racing games at all.
Thank you for your story, I pictured everything vividly ☀❄
I was a day one N64 owner. It was slim pickens at launch. The pre-orders for Pilot Wings 64 was sold out so my second N64 game was Waveracer 64. I bought it just to have a 2nd game. Wooo man I loved that game, so much fun to turn up the wave physics to max. This game, The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation on the stereo, lots of dr pepper
I hope you mean "super cheesy music" in a good way, because WaveRace 64's music is AWESOME (dude)
I mean, obviously!
This is one of the four n64 games that I still play today. Love the colorful visuals, water physics and music.
It took me half of my life to realize this is one of my all time favorite games. It’s so charming.
This was one of the few sports games I really respected as a kid growing up in Florida. The aesthetics of the game and its music frequently hit a hard nostalgic chord for me, and often remind me of the summer trips my family would make to St. Petersburg where we'd spend lots of beach time, and I'd bring my N64 along (not to the beach itself, of course)
honestly aside from how low-poly it is, the water in this game still looks impressive. even today.
25 jears later...still the best water effects and feelings.
Wave Race 64 is STILL the best water based racing game. Even the sequel couldn't top it.
HD Remake on Switch please at 60fps with HD rumble please!
Way to make me excited for a 24-year-old wet racing game, a genre and sensation which I loathe.
Way to make me wet for a 24-year-old exciting racing game.
I absolutely loved Wave Race 64. The controls have such a great feel to them. Still holds up but man would I love a good sequal.
I always thought it would be cool if there was a controller that could input force feedback from this game into the analog stick. Feeling the waves and fighting the current could provide a completely new experience beyond simple rumble haptics.
I remember when this was a boat racing game as shown in the 1995 Shoshinkai Ultra Nintendo 64 presentation.
I remember playing this game on the PJ64 emulator with my younger brother when we were kids. We didn't play the game to race. But we played the game to chase the random dolphin that would occasionally pop out of the water and "Who can ride biggest wave and make the highest jump".
Speaking of wave, the water physics also looked very impressive for its time (even today it still is to some degree) and are incredibly fun to interact with. I never realized this game had very unique water physics simulation when compared to other jet ski games released during or after a few years of its time until I was in my late teens. Which makes me appreciate the game even more than I already did before.
I love getting insights into the N64 relative to the time and competition. This is my favorite console and one of my favorite games.
Considering some of the junk that often shows up near a console's launch, at the time it felt like the N64's lineup had simply trimmed the fat. There were less games but it was like the filler titles had been removed and only the hits remained. Though after a year of that it was clear that, nope, this system just has lousy third party support. But it was a convincing illusion when the first three games were all excellent.
I have to say the N64's launch titles were so good that they are almost the best in its entire library which is a weird achievement to hit for a console platform. Ppl can favour banjo over mario 64 all they like but to me? Nothing on the N64 matched the fluidity and sheer perfection of Mario 64 in the genre until maybe mario odyssey.
i absolutely adored this game, I bought it on the same day I bought the system with Super Mario 64. So many nostalgic memories.
Such an unforgettable game that actually holds up. I wonder if there is a term for "games that shouldnt have been as fun and memorable as they actually were"? Showed it to a younger (mid-20s) gaming fan last year and he agreed that this game is actually really fun and unique, and we raced for an hour! Proven: It's not just the nostalgia of us older gamers!
absolutely loved this when it came out. I was just a kid, and the graphics struck me as being unlike anything i'd ever seen. I still remember how it felt to fly off of a ramp and then splash int the water.
Passing through after experiencing this game for the first time on NSO. It's very impressive.
To say that it apparently used up 85% of the N64s power and for a near launch title, its both s testament to what a technical marvel the system is and the unfortunate circumstance that the system had blown it's load so early on.
The water effects still looks awesome. Nothing blew me away graphically like seeing Mario 64 in person for the first time. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Haven’t has that feeling since.
Quite possibly my most played N64 game of all time as I still play through it at least once a year. Nintendo Blue Skies, a rare event.
This is why I love Nintendo.
They turned "studying the water engine" into a timeless classic! 😂
Wave Race it's by all accounts a revolutionary game. Besides what the video correctly points out about using a complex water simulation (for the time) to impact gameplay, the other factor to take into consideration is that the N64 controller which allows another level of interaction. Since the game is really dependant of the angle of approach between the watercraft and the waves, something that the N64 thumbstick facilitated .
After the virtual console releases of the game, it's legacy was referenced in Wii Sports Resort, where one of the mini games was racing a jet ski on similarly realistic water with physics.
Great video! Love the series
Oh my God I didn't know you had a TH-cam channel.
I used to listen to Retronauts all the time and still come back to check for me episodes every once in a while.
Your voice gives me so much nostalgia for ten years ago.
I wish this video series had continued. I really enjoyed each of them.
Sorry, way too time-consuming for a weekly schedule. N64 games are really involved!
This was the game that made me want an N64 for my birthday. I rented an N64 and this game from the video store ($6 a day altogether I think) and after renting it enough times, my parents bought it for me for my birthday in order to save money. Me and my sister spend so much time beating and lowering the time trail times.
This and Mario 64 was my first games on the N64 surely it's time for a new version of Wave Race!
This video gave me the nostalgia tingling feeling so hard! Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 were the two games my cousins were playing the first time I ever saw a nintendo 64. I think that was probably the highlight of my gaming career when it comes to nostalgia. I grew up with NES and SNES but seeing 3d worlds and interacting with them blew me away. Thanks for the video. I got butterflies in my tum tum!
Loved This game so much I just bought a 64 and got Mario 64 and Wave Race with it! Everything about it makes me drift back to 1996! So good! Great vid!!
The best was unlocking the Dolphin and doing sideways double-backflips with M. Jeter. You had to put your settings specifically and turn and hold back while on the ramp.
I got my N64 late, around the holidays of 1999, if memory serves. I recall that my brother and I got it with an array of games, though there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what was under that gift wrap. Super Mario 64 or Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Not in this household. Body Harvest and WCW Mayhem, come on down. Of course, perhaps by sheer numerical probability, we landed a couple classics as well in that haul: GoldenEye 007 and Mario Kart 64 got an awful lot of play, as did WWF Wrestlemania 2000, a wrestling sim that put Mayhem to utter shame.
Anyway, the point is that while I was loosely aware that there was a game called Wave Race 64, and that a couple of my friends had owned it for years, I never actually played it or even saw it in action. As a result, I also never felt like I was really missing anything until I saw this video. So, thank you Jeremy, for making sure I recognize that my childhood was not all it could be.
Never been water physics in a game since (that I’ve played). Countless hours playing this game back in the day.
I still think the water physics here are awesome
Every single entry in this series is just fantastic (not just N64 but the entire Nintendo retrospective). With the early N64 games, it is fascinating to see what Nintendo got right with 3D that while still dated from a modern perspective Sega and Sony were still playing catch-up on in 1996
Wave Race and 1080 need an HD release with more tracks or maybe a full fledged sequel.
You probably know this but both do have sequels wave race blue storm and 1080 avalanche, but I do agree we need more of both games
@@mylesmclain2816 hello! Yes, I know and I have both. They need another sequel because both are incredible games. Blue Storm came out in 2001 and Avalanche in 2004, if I'm not mistaken. They still look good and play well, but it's been too long.
Still my favourite single player racing game. Incredible game. As someone who worked on the water for over 10 years, the water in this game does exactly what it's supposed to do. I can see a wave in this game and my jetski will react correctly. Amazing. Nintendo have one attempt at water based racing game and they nailed it. Is there a water based racing game as good as Waverace 64 - even today? I don't think so. Feel free to change my mind with some names. I think it'll be a struggle though.
God yes. True story, I've woken up to the music from Southern Island every day for a decade. Just a wonderful soundtrack.
When I got my Nintendo 64 back in 1996, I really wanted Super Mario 64 along with it, but it was sold out. I chose this instead, and it was the best consolation prize ever. Easily one of my favorite N64 titles, my favorite water-based game, with the best example of water physics to this day. The tracks were designed well, the control was tight but heavy, the waves were realistic. How I wish we'd get a sequel by the original team on the Switch.
Loving these N64 works, just began collecting for N64 and am enjoying learning more about the background / environment at release!
Nintendo really did go all-out for a while with realistic sports titles on N64: this, the NBA Courtside games, Excitebike 64, 1080° Snowboarding, the Ken Griffey games. They tried it one more time on GameCube but it wasn't a success and they kinda gave up. It's been only Mario Sports and Wii Sports from then since.
I always thought Nintendo should have made Ichiro Suzuki Presents: Major League Baseball for Gamecube or Felix Hernandez' Perfect Game for Wii.
Excitebike 64 was great
@@kumatmebro315 Totally. It deserves to be remembered as well as the original.
Still my absolute favorite N64 game, my favorite racing game AND my favorite "sports" game in general. When the 3DS originally launched with Pilotwings Resort, I was so enthusiastic about the mere possibility of a Wave Race Resort, but alas... it never happened. What a missed opportunity. I've been looking for an adequate successor to Wave Race 64 and Blue Storm for years, but not a single game that could be considered comparable even comes CLOSE to this experience. For some strange reason, all the jet ski games out there feel like the water is basically the same as a dirt road or something. The feeling is just never really right in those games. Wave Race 64 is STILL the pinnacle of jet ski racing games to this day.
The impressiveness of the physics in this game are so underrated. A real gem. Great video as always.
Probably my favourite n64 game and one I still play today. I would lend out my cart to a friend only to have it returned with his best times recorded so I would then beat his score, this would continue back and forth many times. It was amazing how much time you could shave of a course through much practice and determination. The only thing I'd change for waverace is a solid 60fps frame rate which would look and feel amazing.
Me and my father were really big into stand up jet ski's when this came out. So many good memories
I've been wanting this for years. Thank you!
I have played this game before and it's great. Even if I don't like Wet Racing games that much, it's a blast to play!
Also major props for the return of N64 Works after a large number of breaks for NES and SNES Works episodes.
Can't wait for the next N64 Works Episode of Mortal Kombat Trilogy!
I definitely bought my N64 more for Wave Race than Mario 64 - though I think technically GoldenEye pushed me over the edge. I worked at a Funcoland during N64 launch, and cart prices were insane due to low supply leading us to different distribution channels. Wave Race ran $99.99 from us around Christmas! My discount was 15%...
One of the greatest racing games ever made. It’s tragic Nintendo abandoned this series. I would die if they made a new one for Switch.
To this day, I think the water physics of Wave Race 64 were the most impressive graphics/physics that the whole 5th generation of video games managed to produce. At the time, there was nothing close to as dynamic gameplay as having to adjust your line on the fly to an incoming wave. It's really rather remarkable that they performed such a marvel right next to the N64's launch.
Such a fantastic game I played it to death on release. And still nothing quite like it, I’d love a new game in the series.
I LOVED this game as a kid. It was a really fun racer, i put many hours in to it.
This is really well-written. Thank you!
I played this to death between Christmas of 96 and Mario Kart 64's release in February and I don't think I've played it since. Those voiceovers immediately took me back to those couple months.
I’m glad there are other people who hold Wave Race in such high regard. I don’t think there’s any video game that has impressed me with its water physics as much as Wave Race, ever.
The advertisement @8:18 struck me as somewhat odd. “Kawasaki-Let The Good Times Roll” “lezzez le bon temps roule” it’s a common expression in New Orleans pop culture. I wonder if that’s a common expression in Japanese culture? And got translated as such?
Like... were the developers fans of Mardi Gras? What’s happening here?
“Let the Good Times Roll” is a pretty common idiom. It was the title of a popular song that has been remade (and charted) several times, too. It was the basis of Kawasaki's ad campaign at the time the game was created.
My 1st n64 game. This game is probably the real reason im super into racing games. There was a decent game on original xbox (cant believe they suck so bad at names) that was a sit down sea doo racing it was pretty decent.
I really miss Nintendo sports games ... the N64 had some excellent ones: Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, Excite Bike 64 ... We know that these franchises were canned due to low sales but it would be awesome if Nintendo revised them.
Your coverage is always amazing. But, it does make me appreciate how amazing the Dreamcast launch was; kinda crushed it.
I opened this game on the Christmas right after its release. This was a special time in gaming.
I absolutely love this game. What's funny is that it's a game I got for launch Christmas, despite not asking for it. Realistic games didn't interest me, and all I really cared about was the cartoony Mario 64. But I tried playing this to be nice, and I wound up enjoying it WAY more than I thought.
I hate to do this but a little correction: Ridge Racer didn't have 8 tracks, it only had 1. Somehow that was enough for me when I was 7 and only had this and mortal kombat 3 for my PS1. But yeah it had 1 track. You could unlock a mode where you raced the same exact track but backwards, so I dunno if you can count that as a second track, but yeah. The best thing about ridge racer though was the "devil" car, this all black amazingly sleek looking car that was like maxed out in all the stats, speed, handling, breaking etc. I did manage to unlock it somehow, and it was just amazing racing with it, even though it made it way too easy
But yeah that means wave race 64 is even more impressive than if it has 9 courses compared to Ridge Racer's single course. Did you possibly mean Ridge Racer Type 4 or something? I never had that one but I imagine it has a lot more courses than the original game
The creators of Dead or Alive Xtreme2 placed an homage to wave rare in their game. Complete with stunts, flips and jumps.
Excellent video! I've always thought of this game as being one of the most underrated titles for the N64. I remember picking it up the first day it was available, as I only had Mario 64 at the time. I spent many hours in this game.
The Wave Race soundtrack is one of the best of all time
Great video.
Keep em coming.
I love to see how the world was exp. my favorite console as the games came out.
Man wave race was my jam back then
Bringing me a huge rush of nostalgia for my high school days... excellent review :')
Wave Race 64 is a great little game, I agree with you, you did a good job summarising the game. The only issues I noted with the review was that you said Ridge Racer has 8 tracks, the original just had 1 or 2, Ridge Racer Type 4 had 8 tracks.
God i miss this Series! the music was everything!
the result was unimpeachable. Love you JP
when i played this as a young'un i was very convinced the pink jetski racer was princess peach, and you bet i chose her everyyyy time.
Maybe the most technologically impressive game on the platform and it came out a month after launch
One of my absolute favorite games of all time
Jeremy, you are playing the game really well!
Ahh, this is only the starter difficulty level. I barely made it to the nighttime track on medium difficulty before being chewed apart and spat out...
I really wish we got an arranged soundtrack of this game like F Zero X got so it wouldn’t be doomed to n64 midi sampling hell, because it’s extremely good.
And now it's back for NSO
One of my favorite games ever. It has an amazing soundtrack too.
still the best game of it's type by a bloody mile. Some games just are. A very thorough enjoyable video
I owned Wave Race 64 on N64 and both Wii and Wii U... and I think they readded the Kawasaki brands in the Wii U release... I think anyway, I'd have to boot the game, but I think they did.
EDIT: Yup! At least in my European Wii U VC release, we got the North American 60Hz release, with the Kawasaki ads intact.
Yes. I was going to comment the same. The Wii version is the only one that doesn't have the Kawasaki ads, at least in Europe. And it is the PAL edition with German and English languages and 50Hz, contrary to the Wii U version, as you said.
Great retrospective! This was my most-played of the early N64 titles. Gameplay-wise I'd say it has held up very well, it's still a ton of fun today.
I'd love another Wave Race on the Switch. I loved Blue Storm on the Gamecube, but I never played 64.
This game blew my mind so much back in 96 and I’d argue it’s water physics and graphics still hold up to this very day! They’re that good!
The only thing that dates this game is it’s low resolution and character models but I’ll be damned if those tracks designs and water effect don’t look good today as well.
PS: I can’t believe 2001’s Nintendo let that girl in WR Blue Storm sport such tiny shorts and show half her butt hanging out from them. There’s no way that’d get past Nintendo’s first party watchful eye these days. Especially for a game that was aimed to be E for Everyone.
Why is no one mentioning the perfect controls? In combination with the moving waves and water condition this might be the single best racing experience on the N64 besides Roadsters.
Still love to play it on the Odin…
Good channel, always fun to watch! 🆙
Always loved this game. The music, the physics, the fun!
This game is still really good.
I still play waverace 64 and blue storm quite a lot 😍😍
Oh man I loved this game
Trick points are not featured in the main game, only that one specific mode. Sure, you can do tricks in the Championship mode but what only matters is what place you finished the race in.
I wish they could bring back Wave Race somehow with a fresh look. Maybe a crossover with Splatoon characters and LABO combo.
And so began Nintendo's now decades-old preoccupation with rendering realistic water physics.
I played greatness and never even knew. I still brace myself when crashing into waves
amazing video as always Jeremy.
Water Kombaaat!
I played Jet Moto for a very long time, this was so fun! also Splashdown, Surf Rocket Racer and Rapid Racer, but Jet Moto 1 was the best water racing game for me, part 2 was not bad but had only 10 riders to mess with, and Part 3 did not officially publish in europe, so I imported it, what was expensive but exciting, but it was less fun. too fast and faceless. It was a 989 games development because unfortunately singletrac had quit