This and Mario 64 being the only launch titles were just fine by me. There could not be games more suited to screwing around and exploring than these two.
Back in the summer of 1996 the amusement park I used to go to had a "Nintendome" (Nintendo Dome, people just called it Nintendome). They had both Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 on demonstration there. I was very lucky one day, unbeknownst to me, going in there and finding out that they had the Nintendo 64 with both games to try out. Obviously my initial reaction upon just seeing the demo stands with the console unit itself was enough to nearly cry, but when I first saw Pilotwings 64 my little brain that got used to just play 8-bit and 16-bit games until that point was blown out of this universe. I could NOT believe what I was looking at, much less that I could play them both. Both games just floored me. I will never forget it, it was a magic moment, the entire day was magic.
I had a similar experience. N64 came out in japan many months before it came out in europe. I was reading about it in the n64 magazine and devouring every picture. I still have the magazines somewhere. My imagination was going crazy. And theny mum took me to amsterdam to a shop where they had imported 1 n64 with mario in it. It was playing the intro. I almost cried and was mesmerized beyond comprehension! Still to this day and i am 44yr now i remember that day and the feeling!
I remember when the N64 launched, they would have these stations for you to try out games in the supermarket (the equivalent of Walmart in my country, not from the US), and this was the game on the setup. The problem was these stations weren’t supervised and I promise everytime I got there there was already another kid hogging it for the longest periods of time. I would just watch in awe hoping to get to play it. Then they took it away and never tried it there, not until a few years later a cousin of mine let me borrow it. As you said, I never really played objectives, I’d just glide around looking at stuff. Such good memories.
We had a rule that you could only play until you failed an objective. Crazily enough, most kids were honest about it and didn't just aimlessly fly around!
I played this game so much when it came out. Just flying around trying to get in the barn and out was fun. I was already in love with the SNES version.
I used to fly around in birdman for hours and just pretend there were objectives. I loved the night flights the best just flying around above the island looking out over the ocean.
Pilotwings 64 holds up today, I use to play this game all the time as a kid and even now it's a good challenging game. There hasn't really been an arcade flying game since that I know of. The speedruns of these missions are incredible, I don't understand how anyone does it with original controllers. Also the Dan Hess music is some of the best of the N64.
Man when I was a kid, someone at a convention hooked up this game to a real hang glider. I played it.. Moved my legs left and right for left and right, and pushed and pulled on the cross bar for up and down. I had no idea it was N64 until I crashed.
One of my favorite games of that generation. So many hours and fond memories. I had forgotten how great the soundtrack was until I loaded this video up and heard it and it all came rushing back. Impressive given the tech of the time, too.
Truly one of the best N64 game, with so many fond memories, and it has so many great hidden secrets too! Each level has a hidden star that if you fly into will immediately unlock Birdman mode on that level (easiest to find while using the rocket belt to explore). You can switch from day to night and back on Holiday Island if you fly into the river cave with the rocket belt and gently tap the cage wall. And the Little States Island had the best two secrets. 1) There is a warp from "New York" to "LA" if you are using the rocket belt - at ground level you can find a building in both cities that has a walkway through the building with a 90° turn that when traversed takes you to the other city. This is great for exploring the whole "USA" with the rocket belt. 2) Near the southeast around "Georgia/Florida" there is a highway with a gas station. If you enter the gas station area up close with the rocket belt it refills our fuel meter so you can keep exploring. You can do it with the Gyrocopter too but it is much more difficult - you pretty much have to land on the highway and drive in on the ground, but once you are grounded, it is hard to get airborne again. Still, you can keep driving at ground level and then follow the highways from there with your fuel meter restored, which can be fun!
One of my fondest memories is playing pw64 w my dad and him having so much fun shooting mecha hawk and laughing at the yell when you nail him with a missile! That and the sound track, eveything. So nostalgic. Thanks for playing it!
I consider my perfect file in Pilotwings 64 as my greatest achievement in 35 years of playing videogames. It took me years, but somehow I managed to do it.
My original copy of PW64 has a file on it which is ONE POINT away from perfect. Pilot class hang glider photo challenge - 99 points. I could never do it. 27 years later I played it on the Switch. Got that perfect score. Definitely one of my greatest gaming achievements!
@@bobsilencieux Same here. That's a real tough one. I got stuck on 98 points for years. I couldn't believe it the day I got a 100 score. What a relief!
The Ryucopter has landed! Seeing this game in action during the N64 launch was wild! It just felt revolutionary for its time since it was an open world to explore. It was just such a relaxing and immersive game experience! The music was incredibly good as well! Yes, the controls could be a bit janky, so some challenges could be trickier than they needed to be. I kind of wish Nintendo made a new, modern Pilotwings game. I think the last one was on 3DS, so we are long overdue for this type of game!
I didn't really play Pilotwings 64 much when growing up and didn't remember any of the music, but a few weeks ago I was listening to some remixed videogame music songs to download and add to my playlist... and a remix of that birdman song was among the ones I liked enough to get. It's a very chill version of it called Midnight Altitude.
I didn't appreciate this game as much when I was a kid, but now I think it would be fun. However, the Hanglider theme has always been such a relaxing jam.
My family got this and Mario 64 after I played Mario at a friend's house and I think I played this game just as much as Mario. Amazing experience at the time
Haha! Ryu slid into frame doing the exact same head bob jam out as I was doing. Love this heckin game. I'm a Goose main, but Hawk is always there for me if Goose is struggling on a course. I would also highly recommend the SNES Pilotwings as well!
I remember this game too!!! There are not many console-games I remember from my childhood, because I never had a console. My parents always were against it. But this one I remember playing it when I was visiting friends of mine.
I totally forgot this game existed! My parents rented this game for me like twice, maybe 20 years ago and I have such warm fuzzy memories from playing it. Thank you Ryu for your awesome content and nostalgia feels!
Dude, I haven’t felt a nostalgic rush like this reading the game title in a long long time. My dad rented a Nintendo 64 with this game and it just felt magical 🥹.
I think that for the landing accuracy, you have to not only land in the center of the strip, but also be angled straight as well. I seem to recall something like this being broken out in the original Pilotwings. I only ever had the original, though I have played this one on a friend's N64 back in the day
I lovvvvvved Pilotwings 64 when I was a kid. Happy to see you play it xD Edit: Birdman! Holy moly, that was my favorite thing to do. Just fly around and explore in that mode. This game was such a vibe. Still is
As difficult as the hang glider is I think that the hang glider had the best music. As soon as I saw the alert for this game I clicked (and I would consider Ryukhar doing it a bonus). I spend so many hours playing Pilotwings 64 as a kid and while the replay factor isn't huge, the music is worth it. Let's see some more of this Ryu!
Robin is my favorite character and I was waiting this whole video for you to pick her and laugh at what she says when selected. You picked every character but Robin. LOL
I used to love these games back in the day. I loved the SNES version too. I was debating on what the next physical copy game on the N64 I wanted to get was...now I know haha.
Oh man. I remember I got my n64 on release and they didn't have mario 64 and only had pilotwings, my parents got home and showed me and tried to explain and I was sooooo angry at the time (Musta been 8 or 9 at the time..). But regardless since it was the only n64 game I owned for a while (aside from rentals) I played it and eventually learned to love it and 100% after some time, what a fun game it really is.
I love this game too, but i challenge you to get not gold but "perfect score" for each of the challenges especially for the gyrocopter. You get another screen on perfect score.
I remember playing this game with my best friend back in grade school. We would stay up late trying to get the top scores and shooting down that robot. Good times
It's strange that only MFL survived and every other fllight simulators died off. I loved these games. 0% violence 0% exposition 0% sexuality 100% skill
Heck yeah! Should be a fun one. Edit...it was a fun one. Thanks man. Like someone else said Blast Corps would be fun. *Chilling to the sweet grooves of birdman* haha
Myself and a buddy spent weeks one summer trying to 100 % in points when this came out. We did it but at the cost of 2 controllers. We destroyed the thumbsticks. We also wrecked a few a buttons playing starfox.
This and Mario 64 being the only launch titles were just fine by me. There could not be games more suited to screwing around and exploring than these two.
I spent hours as an 11 year old running around the courtyard and doing flips into the water
@@lNllClK sounds awful, I'm sorry
@@sirmudkipactually I don't regret it one bit, I'll be OK
It's awesome when a release title can show off what a system can do at the same time be an awesome game.
Wave race too.
Back in the summer of 1996 the amusement park I used to go to had a "Nintendome" (Nintendo Dome, people just called it Nintendome). They had both Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 on demonstration there. I was very lucky one day, unbeknownst to me, going in there and finding out that they had the Nintendo 64 with both games to try out. Obviously my initial reaction upon just seeing the demo stands with the console unit itself was enough to nearly cry, but when I first saw Pilotwings 64 my little brain that got used to just play 8-bit and 16-bit games until that point was blown out of this universe. I could NOT believe what I was looking at, much less that I could play them both. Both games just floored me. I will never forget it, it was a magic moment, the entire day was magic.
I had a similar experience. N64 came out in japan many months before it came out in europe.
I was reading about it in the n64 magazine and devouring every picture. I still have the magazines somewhere.
My imagination was going crazy.
And theny mum took me to amsterdam to a shop where they had imported 1 n64 with mario in it. It was playing the intro.
I almost cried and was mesmerized beyond comprehension!
Still to this day and i am 44yr now i remember that day and the feeling!
We always flew around in the Gyrocopter shooting missiles at everything!
My favorite level was always the one where you have to chase down the big robot and shoot it. IIRC the map was basically a mini US.
Well now you gotta do Blast Corps and you have no choice on this matter
Yes agreed! That is one of my favorites on the N64.
My thoughts exactly
I have that game. Never played it… 😅 But I’m all in for Ryu playing the game so I can see what I’ve been missing out on
@@robbertlw9610 Dude! It's sooo good! I play it on Switch and emulation to this day :) try it out man it is fun!
Considering his performance with Pilotwings, he'd get filtered by Blast Corps. That's an extremely hard game to 100%.
The birdman mode is amazing. I used to fly and look around, pretending I could fly away from my problems. It soothed my soul.
I remember when the N64 launched, they would have these stations for you to try out games in the supermarket (the equivalent of Walmart in my country, not from the US), and this was the game on the setup. The problem was these stations weren’t supervised and I promise everytime I got there there was already another kid hogging it for the longest periods of time. I would just watch in awe hoping to get to play it. Then they took it away and never tried it there, not until a few years later a cousin of mine let me borrow it. As you said, I never really played objectives, I’d just glide around looking at stuff. Such good memories.
We had a rule that you could only play until you failed an objective. Crazily enough, most kids were honest about it and didn't just aimlessly fly around!
@@lelandunruh7896 yeah it got better over the years but during Pilot Wings time, no one cared haha
100% one of my all time favorite games man. It's such a fun game, Just flying around doing nothin but crazy shit.
I love this game but this guy really s... super good, wow he's amazing! 😋
I played this game so much when it came out. Just flying around trying to get in the barn and out was fun. I was already in love with the SNES version.
THE MUSIC!!!! ❤ This was a staple of my childhood, and I'm SOOO happy that you like it!
I used to fly around in birdman for hours and just pretend there were objectives. I loved the night flights the best just flying around above the island looking out over the ocean.
This game is a vibe.
Can't wait to play in VR after the decomp is finished.
Recommendation:
Mischief Makers on N64
Yes! Please play Mischief Makers!
Classic!!!!!
"shake shake"
Pilotwings 64 holds up today, I use to play this game all the time as a kid and even now it's a good challenging game. There hasn't really been an arcade flying game since that I know of. The speedruns of these missions are incredible, I don't understand how anyone does it with original controllers. Also the Dan Hess music is some of the best of the N64.
Man when I was a kid, someone at a convention hooked up this game to a real hang glider. I played it.. Moved my legs left and right for left and right, and pushed and pulled on the cross bar for up and down. I had no idea it was N64 until I crashed.
I thought wizards could fly without needing gliders. 😮
One of my favorite games of that generation. So many hours and fond memories. I had forgotten how great the soundtrack was until I loaded this video up and heard it and it all came rushing back. Impressive given the tech of the time, too.
A genre defining masterpiece. Crazy how nobody has created a similar game that can equal the quality.
Just cause 4, once you go get the hoverboard. I can spend hours just jetpacking, wingsuiting and hoverboarding around. It's so satisfying.
@@Super_Ammo
Did they ever fix Just Cause 4 up? From my understanding it had a lot of issues when it first launched.
I remember playing this all night at a sleep over when it came out, and looking for easter eggs and secrets on the maps.
When the N64 came out my friend had a sleep over but we played Mario 64 :) Great memories huh!
This is the most incredible video you’ve done, please do all the other missions, I have seen this video like 12 times
Pilotwings 64 is so underrated. I was able to enjoy this even more than the OG. Also, Robin was my favourite pilot.
This game, Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, and Mario 64 fill me with heavy nostalgia from my early years lol.
Truly one of the best N64 game, with so many fond memories, and it has so many great hidden secrets too!
Each level has a hidden star that if you fly into will immediately unlock Birdman mode on that level (easiest to find while using the rocket belt to explore).
You can switch from day to night and back on Holiday Island if you fly into the river cave with the rocket belt and gently tap the cage wall.
And the Little States Island had the best two secrets.
1) There is a warp from "New York" to "LA" if you are using the rocket belt - at ground level you can find a building in both cities that has a walkway through the building with a 90° turn that when traversed takes you to the other city. This is great for exploring the whole "USA" with the rocket belt.
2) Near the southeast around "Georgia/Florida" there is a highway with a gas station. If you enter the gas station area up close with the rocket belt it refills our fuel meter so you can keep exploring. You can do it with the Gyrocopter too but it is much more difficult - you pretty much have to land on the highway and drive in on the ground, but once you are grounded, it is hard to get airborne again. Still, you can keep driving at ground level and then follow the highways from there with your fuel meter restored, which can be fun!
One of my fondest memories is playing pw64 w my dad and him having so much fun shooting mecha hawk and laughing at the yell when you nail him with a missile! That and the sound track, eveything. So nostalgic. Thanks for playing it!
I consider my perfect file in Pilotwings 64 as my greatest achievement in 35 years of playing videogames. It took me years, but somehow I managed to do it.
My original copy of PW64 has a file on it which is ONE POINT away from perfect. Pilot class hang glider photo challenge - 99 points. I could never do it.
27 years later I played it on the Switch. Got that perfect score. Definitely one of my greatest gaming achievements!
@@bobsilencieux Same here. That's a real tough one. I got stuck on 98 points for years. I couldn't believe it the day I got a 100 score. What a relief!
16:20 i wanne the sequel ... Hawk 2 😂
The Ryucopter has landed! Seeing this game in action during the N64 launch was wild! It just felt revolutionary for its time since it was an open world to explore. It was just such a relaxing and immersive game experience! The music was incredibly good as well! Yes, the controls could be a bit janky, so some challenges could be trickier than they needed to be.
I kind of wish Nintendo made a new, modern Pilotwings game. I think the last one was on 3DS, so we are long overdue for this type of game!
This one took me back! Loved this video, Ryu!
I didn't really play Pilotwings 64 much when growing up and didn't remember any of the music, but a few weeks ago I was listening to some remixed videogame music songs to download and add to my playlist... and a remix of that birdman song was among the ones I liked enough to get. It's a very chill version of it called Midnight Altitude.
I didn't appreciate this game as much when I was a kid, but now I think it would be fun. However, the Hanglider theme has always been such a relaxing jam.
My family got this and Mario 64 after I played Mario at a friend's house and I think I played this game just as much as Mario. Amazing experience at the time
My favorite part of Pilotwings was the glider , seems like the glider is Ryu's nemesis lol
Haha! Ryu slid into frame doing the exact same head bob jam out as I was doing. Love this heckin game. I'm a Goose main, but Hawk is always there for me if Goose is struggling on a course.
I would also highly recommend the SNES Pilotwings as well!
I remember this game too!!! There are not many console-games I remember from my childhood, because I never had a console. My parents always were against it. But this one I remember playing it when I was visiting friends of mine.
These graphics were state of the art. I remember saying look how good this game looks. It can’t get better
I totally forgot this game existed! My parents rented this game for me like twice, maybe 20 years ago and I have such warm fuzzy memories from playing it. Thank you Ryu for your awesome content and nostalgia feels!
I played this game SOOO often when I was a kid. Thanks for bringing back memories. ❤😂
So glad you're playing this Mr Kahr. An excellent, yet incredibly frustrating (at points), launch title. Enjoy!
This may damn well be the best soundtrack in gaming.
I remember when this came out , good times thanks for the trip down memory lane
Great video and cool game 😍
Thank you so much for shooting Mario/Wario in the face! That was satisfying ❤
One of the best parts is the sound effects when you crash into something lol
Ryu, I shat myself when the Birdman theme played.
I love this game i love to explore every single place of this game
Dude, I haven’t felt a nostalgic rush like this reading the game title in a long long time. My dad rented a Nintendo 64 with this game and it just felt magical 🥹.
After playing games like Wave Race 64, San Fran Rush, Golden Eye etc… this game was the perfect game to chill and relax. Love this game still.
Bro has the super Pilotwings concentration face lol 😂
I remember playing this game alot as a kid i would often just fly around, not caring about beating any levels.
I freaking loved this game so much when it came out. Flying way out to wherever was the bees knees.
Man! I look forward to the next part.
IMO, the parachuting is where the real jank is at.
So amazing when it was released. I liked the mission where you have take down the giant destroying the city
a marketed improvement from PW63
birdman track is pure bliss. game is incredible.
LoL give us that bass line again Ryu, very nice! 🤣 Surprised you aren't to 1,000,000 subscribers yet, but it's coming.
Loved parachuting in pilotwings 64 so much
Man, this brings me back. Nine-year-old me was all about this game.
I completely forgot about this awesome and fun game. The nostalgia is real.
We need part 2 of this! 😃 Love this game!
Omfg, memory unlocked! I loved this game
Hi Ryu! This music slaps, thanks for the next 45 minutes of my life!
I think that for the landing accuracy, you have to not only land in the center of the strip, but also be angled straight as well. I seem to recall something like this being broken out in the original Pilotwings. I only ever had the original, though I have played this one on a friend's N64 back in the day
one of my favorite n64 titles, thank you for playing it
Me and my dad played this non-stop (well, in between Mario 64 sessions). It's so good.
The soundtrack composer, Dan Hess, has a channel here on TH-cam. It's not really active but he has a remake of the Birdman track posted there.
Hovering with the jetpack in this game reminds me of flying around with J-Bomb in Blast Corps.
I lovvvvvved Pilotwings 64 when I was a kid. Happy to see you play it xD
Edit: Birdman! Holy moly, that was my favorite thing to do. Just fly around and explore in that mode. This game was such a vibe. Still is
I, too, grew up loving that smooth Weather Channel jazz.
As difficult as the hang glider is I think that the hang glider had the best music. As soon as I saw the alert for this game I clicked (and I would consider Ryukhar doing it a bonus). I spend so many hours playing Pilotwings 64 as a kid and while the replay factor isn't huge, the music is worth it. Let's see some more of this Ryu!
Robin is my favorite character and I was waiting this whole video for you to pick her and laugh at what she says when selected. You picked every character but Robin. LOL
This takes me back and so does Blast Corps. :)
Didn't know Ryu was into VGM / boot vinyls. Cool to see.
With the bird man music, you better tell Tammy to stay away, or you might have a little Ryu soon.
Goemon's Mystical Adventure!
I love how the rings are just a translucent light green lol
tis is by far my most incredible game i played on a giant screen when 64 just got out
this variety content gives me life
Hawk straight-up sounds like Golden Freddy when he screams.
Well now I have to explain why I went home at lunch to my boss. I heard birdman…
I used to love these games back in the day. I loved the SNES version too.
I was debating on what the next physical copy game on the N64 I wanted to get was...now I know haha.
Oh man. I remember I got my n64 on release and they didn't have mario 64 and only had pilotwings, my parents got home and showed me and tried to explain and I was sooooo angry at the time (Musta been 8 or 9 at the time..). But regardless since it was the only n64 game I owned for a while (aside from rentals) I played it and eventually learned to love it and 100% after some time, what a fun game it really is.
I also own the vinyl, and it is amazing. Birdman is one of my favs too.
First minute of the video was full Ryuthany Gameplaytano
Everytime you go through the rings, the sound it makes reminds me of Ecco the Dolphin's sonar.
Other cool N64 games I would love to see you play is Shadows of the Empire, Pod Racer, Wave Racer, and Cruisen USA.
A hidden gem amongst hidden gems is Megaman Legends. If you are ever looking for a new title to try out! Amazing content
I would actually love to see Ryu play Black Myth Wukong. Since it is a short boss rush game. It seems like it would be something he could get into.
"I would love to go hanggliding in real life but... I don't wanna die, so unfortunately we're kinda stuck playing this game"
I love this game too, but i challenge you to get not gold but "perfect score" for each of the challenges especially for the gyrocopter. You get another screen on perfect score.
I throw a little seed out of my window for the birdman
Damn!! Somebody get that video game music breakdown guy (Charles Cornell) on this intro!
You should have considered the characters weight classes. That can make certain missions really easy or really difficult.
I remember playing this game with my best friend back in grade school. We would stay up late trying to get the top scores and shooting down that robot. Good times
You have to play the original pilot wings! Another great game! Especially the end mission!
So many memories unlocked!!
I used to love this game...all I wanted to do was fire missiles at the gliders and shoot Mario in the noise... such nostalgia
It's strange that only MFL survived and every other fllight simulators died off. I loved these games.
0% violence
0% exposition
0% sexuality
100% skill
This was the first game I got for the 64 the christmas of the year it came out. And then I got Mario kart when it came out.
Heck yeah! Should be a fun one. Edit...it was a fun one. Thanks man. Like someone else said Blast Corps would be fun. *Chilling to the sweet grooves of birdman* haha
Chicken Dive was hard as hell when I was a kid !
Spyhunter on ps2 would be hilarious to watch him play.
We definitely need more of this game
Myself and a buddy spent weeks one summer trying to 100 % in points when this came out.
We did it but at the cost of 2 controllers. We destroyed the thumbsticks. We also wrecked a few a buttons playing starfox.
*over here remembering the orginal pilotwings*