Compare Banjo Tooie for Nintendo 64 to Destruction Derby for Nintendo 64

Left for worm food under a huge boulder at the conclusion of Banjo-Kazooie, Gruntilda the witch is back and boy, is she mad. Forming a coven of co-conspirators with hideous sisters Mingella and Blobbelda, Grunty has hatched a madcap plan to regain her former beauty by using the Big O'Blaster (B.O.B.) to suck the life force from B-K's island. Naturally, Banjo, the ever-cheerful bear, and Kazooie, the wise-mouthed breegull who camps out in Banjo's blue backpack, will do everything in their power to stop Grunty's nefarious plot. Developer Rare (Donkey Kong 64) has greatly extended replayability by adding 14, count 'em, 14 multiplayer games. In keeping with Banjo-Tooie's tongue-in-cheek character, the multiplayer games include daft versions of soccer and bumper cars as well as first-person shooters in which you lock-and-load an egg-shooting Kazooie. Solo players can refight bosses and replay Banjo-Tooie's myriad minigames as often as they want. Less

Don't believe the Internet rumors: This isn't an L.A. freeway sim. And it sure ain't no Virtual Chess 64. Strategy and tactics go out the welded-shut door when a chance to blindside a rival motors into view. Test-driving a new race game typically includes ramming the competition, just to see what happens. Go on, 'fess up -- you do it too. But until now, no N64 developer has capitalized on the basic human instinct to mosh at 100 mph. Fortunately, we can all sleep soundly, now that developer Looking Glass is working feverishly on Destruction Derby 64. An early burn (pun shamelessly intended) shapes up as a fun four-way fender-bender with a modest one-player World Championship mode tacked on. When racing solo, you get points for dinging opponents and even more for knocking them out of the race. Less