The 15 Rarest N64 Games

Nintendo is a company that has proven time and time again that it is not afraid to go in new directions or take risks. Consoles such as the Switch and the Wii make great examples of its ethos. The same was true of the Nintendo 64, a system that stuck with cartridges rather than moving to CD-ROMs like the PlayStation and had a distinctive-looking controller that was very different from that offered by its competitors.

The console was also home to some great games, from "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and "Super Mario 64" to "GoldenEye 007" and "Perfect Dark." While these games sold millions of copies, plenty of games on the Nintendo 64 were only released in limited numbers or had special editions that have become incredibly valuable due to their rarity. If you have any of these games in your collection, you might be able to make a small forrune selling them online.

The "Ganbare Goemon" series has been well received in Japan since the release of "The Legend of the Mystical Ninja" and has seen several titles launch in overseas regions as well. Two of those games arrived on the Nintendo 64 in the form of "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon" and "Goemon's Great Adventure." The latter of these was the third game in the series and sees Goemon attempt to win back a resurrection machine constructed by the Wise Man and defeat the evil Dochuki. In addition to the franchise's signature surreal humor, the game also saw a return to the side-scrolling platforming gameplay of the original SNES title.

Although it received a positive reception from critics, "Goemon's Great Adventure" only sold around 160,000 copies worldwide. The most likely reason for this is that the series simply didn't have the appeal in the rest of the world that it did in Japan, as evidenced by the fact it sold double the amount of copies in Japan compared to anywhere else. The humor and references were probably too specific to that region, limiting the appeal in North America and Europe. If you can get past that, though, and want to try out this game, it will cost upwards of $100 for just the cartridge or more than $600 for a sealed copy.

"Daikatana" was a first-person shooter from John Romero, one of the leading figures behind the hit shooter series "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom," and "Quake." His first game after leaving id Software was the 2000 game, which was released only on PC and Nintendo 64. Featuring a famous marketing campaign that heavily featured Romero, it was released to mostly negative reviews with many critics focusing on the outdated gameplay mechanics and complicated story.

Needing to sell millions of copies to be profitable, the sales performance of "Daikatana" was notoriously poor and well below expectations. The Nintendo 64 version was originally exclusive with Blockbuster but rental numbers were also low, prompting the publisher to stock the game elsewhere to try and recoup some of the losses (via Price Charting). This meant that it wasn't worth producing additional cartridges, which were expensive to manufacture, and "Daikatana" quickly became a collector's item. Unboxed versions can reach prices of $80 and sealed copies can be as expensive as $400.

With the release of the Nintendo 64 and other 5th-generation consoles such as the PlayStation, the "Bomberman" series had its first opportunity to enter the world of 3D. The first game from the Hudson Soft franchise to take advantage of the new technology was "Bomberman 64," which launched on the system in 1997. A follow-up to that game arrived in 1999, although it didn't find the same success as its predecessor.

Switching up the gameplay significantly compared to its predecessors, the game introduced some changes to how the titular character moved around stages and how bombs worked. "Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!" also added platforming sections and elements of the action-adventure genre, making it a somewhat divisive game among critics and players alike.

"Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!" was only released in Japan and North America. The fact that it arrived less than 24 months before the launch of the GameCube also meant that it wasn't produced in very high numbers, so it is now considered one of the rarest games on the console with new unopened copies selling for over $2,000.

Arguably one of the most successful spin-offs of the "Pokémon" series, "Pokémon Snap" is a 1999 rail shooter that switches the gameplay up so that instead of shooting enemies from a fixed position you instead take photographs of the creatures in their natural habitats. There are a variety of different regions to visit and almost half of the original monsters featured in "Pokémon Red and Blue," including the likes of Charizard, Pikachu, and Mew. Grades are awarded depending upon the quality of the photographs, with pictures featuring the creatures in interesting poses or performing impressive moves scoring higher.

One of the first "Pokémon" games to arrive on home consoles, it was the earliest opportunity that players got to see the various creatures in 3D as it launched before "Pokémon Stadium." More recently, Nintendo has produced a sequel under the guise of "New Pokémon Snap" for the Switch. A version of the game that falls under the Not For Resale banner is incredibly rare, with very few copies changing hands. However, even loose copies can attract prices of almost $500.

Rare is perhaps best known for games such as "Killer Instinct," "Donkey Kong Country," and "Battletoads," at least prior to 1997. That's when the studio launched "GoldenEye 007," a video game adaptation of the 1995 Bond movie. It set a new standard for first-person shooters on consoles, won numerous awards, and sold more than 8 million copies (via The Guardian). Largely following the same plot as the film, it contained many elements that are considered standard in shooters today, including deathmatch multiplayer and stealth elements.

During the life of the Nintendo 64, it was common for games to be showcased in special kiosks set up in stores. They were essentially marketing tools designed to entice players to buy a game by giving them the opportunity to try it out. Often, the cartridges used for these displays would not be standard copies but special editions marked Not For Resale. Made in small numbers, these are often exceedingly rare and can command large sums of money. That's exactly the case with this edition of "GoldenEye 007 (Not For Resale)," which has sold for more than $1,000.

"Super Bowling" is the name of two versions of the same game that were developed by KID. The first launched on the SNES in 1992 and the second edition was a Nintendo 64 game that featured more advanced graphics and 3D visuals, as well as some gameplay improvements. Players could choose between eight characters, an assortment of game modes, and play with up to three others in multiplayer.

According to IGN, "Super Bowling" was a difficult game to track down even in 2001 just a year after it had been released. A number of factors likely contributed to its rarity, with the most important being that it didn't launch until near the end of the life of the Nintendo 64. It also came from a little-known developer and was the third bowling game to become available on the console. Anyone who does own a copy may well be able to sell it for $600 to $1,100, via sites such as Price Charting.

Despite its name, "Rampage 2: Universal Tour" is actually the third game in the "Rampage" series, acting as a direct sequel to the 1997 release, "Rampage World Tour." Developed by Avalanche Software and published by Midway, it continues the story of George, Lizzie, and Ralph who have been transformed into terrifying monsters. After being captured and imprisoned, three new monsters aim to free them before taking part in a battle to save Earth from invading aliens. Levels usually revolve around causing as much damage to cities as possible, destroying buildings and vehicles to progress to the next stage.

Big Box releases were special versions of games that often contained some sort of extra merchandise for players. This could be anything from an action figure to a story book that necessitated a larger case than normal to contain all of the additional items. The Big Box version of "Rampage 2: Universal Tour" is possibly the rarest of them all and will likely cost anywhere between $1,000 and $4,000, with higher prices for any sealed copies of the game.