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5) Jet Force Gemini
Platform: Nintendo 64 (1999)
There are some developers who stick to a particular genre of video game and rarely, if ever, stray from it; Rare is not one of them. Case in point, we’ve now arrived at the sixth different type of game on this list, the third-person shooter/platformer Jet Force Gemini. Juno, Vela, and Lupus are the only hope of rescue for the beleaguered race of beings called the Tribals, who are being enslaved and eradicated by the evil Mizar and his army of ant-like drones. Jet Force Gemini featured intense shooter gameplay, having the players take on waves of drones at a time with a wide variety of different weapons to use. All three members of Team Gemini have different abilities that allow players to return to stages and find previously unreachable routes and items. Jet Force Gemini is littered with secrets, boasts an epic score, and has some of the best graphics on Nintendo 64. The only real drawback with Jet Force Gemini is that the controls have a bit of a learning curve; without a second analogue stick, Rare mapped weapon aiming to the C-buttons. This decision is entirely usable, but for some players it can be frustrating. If you can adapt to the game’s control setup, Jet Force Gemini is an amazing experience.
I honestly didn’t enjoy Banjo-Tooie all that much. Banjo-Kazooie was epic and is one of my favorite games ever, but Banjo-Tooie just felt too big to me. It took too long to get around levels, too long to get from one objective to the next, and too long to get between worlds in the overworld.
Then there’s the whole Stop n Swop thing, but regardless. BK, brilliant. BT, ehhh.
Maybe it’s because I have played it more, but I couldn’t get enough of Banjo-Tooie! It felt like everything a sequel should be: bigger, better and with just the right amount of new things to do.
And the less said about Banjo & Kazooie’s adventures post-Nintendo the better :)