With the Switch 2 remake of Star Fox 64 now behind us, the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake still on the way, and retro consoles like the M64 bursting onto the scene, the Nintendo 64 has been experiencing something of a comeback in 2026, and with one glimpse at the console’s influence on the gaming industry, it’s easy to understand why. The N64 is responsible for some of the most influential games ever made, many of which helped establish the foundations that entire genres are still building on nearly three decades later, so the fact that some of those titles are being remade makes sense. However, some N64 are better left alone, as their age, limitations, and unmistakable late-’90s identity are often part of what makes them so special in the first place.
As far as why N64 games like Star Fox 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time have received remakes while others haven’t, aren’t, or shouldn’t, it largely comes down to how much a modern overhaul would actually improve the experience without stripping away what made the original special. When considering N64 remakes from that angle, there are plenty of classic games where a remake would be unnecessary, unhelpful, and potentially detrimental to the very qualities that made them classics in the first place. From classics like Goldeneye 007 to Pokemon Snap, here are 10 arguably perfect Nintendo 64 games that don’t need remakes.
By “perfect,” I don’t mean these games are solid 10/10s. What I mean is that they are perfect the way they are, and therefore do not need to be remade.
Paper Mario
Paper Mario’s Art Style Has Already Aged Beautifully
Paper Mario is probably one of the best examples of why not all Nintendo 64 games, or classic games in general, need a remake, and it primarily comes down to the game’s presentation. Paper Mario‘s storybook aesthetic barely ages, and the simple environments actually complement the paper characters. As such, modernizing too aggressively (or at all) could feel unnecessary and defeat the point, especially when the original can still be played on the Nintendo Switch today. Plus, Paper Mario‘s gameplay is simple and approachable on purpose, so remaking it for quality-of-life’s sake wouldn’t really make sense either.
Of course, the biggest argument against Paper Mario being excluded as a candidate for a remake is the fact that the second game in the series, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, originally on the Nintendo GameCube, received a full-blown remake for the Switch in 2024, so why shouldn’t the first game? Firstly, Paper Mario: TTYD is widely considered the best game in the series, so it’s sensible why it would receive a remake over its predecessor. But TTYD actually had identifiable things a remake could improve without changing what the game fundamentally was. The Switch remake heavily overhauled and improved the original game’s fast-travel system, partner swapping, inventory limits, music, galleries, and other quality-of-life elements, while also adding new content such as secret bosses—changes that specifically alleviate backtracking and friction in the original game.
Goldeneye 007
Goldeneye 007 Would Lose Something by Becoming a Modern Shooter
Goldeneye 007 is another great example of a game that doesn’t need a remake, but the argument is a bit different from Paper Mario. Remaking Goldeneye 007 would be pointless for two reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most obviously, is the fact that Goldeneye 007 has been succeeded by countless entries over the last couple of decades, including the most recent entry, 007 First Light. When players can enjoy such a broad library of more modern 007 games already, the argument in support of Goldeneye receiving a remake loses its footing. If it were remade, players would no doubt be arguing what the point of it all is when they can just play another modern 007 game instead.
But another reason why remaking Goldeneye 007 would be a mistake is because the N64 limitations are almost part of the artifact itself. Its controls, visuals, split-screen multiplayer, mission design, and general late-’90s feel are the greatest part of what GoldenEye represents. Goldeneye 007 wasn’t influential because of its story or visuals, both of which a remake would attempt to improve. Rather, it was influential because it proved that first-person shooters could work on consoles and didn’t need to be restricted to PC. That kind of influence can’t be remade, so Goldeneye is better left antiquated.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
Super Smash Bros.
The Original Super Smash Bros. Is Better Left as a Time Capsule
Like Goldeneye 007, Super Smash Bros. is another example of a game with enough modern successors that remaking it would actually feel pointless and like a massive step back. Over time, the Super Smash Bros. series has expanded its roster, refined its gameplay, and overhauled its stage design, so there’s really no need to go back and remake the game that started it all on the Nintendo 64. If it were remade, it would presumably be regarded as a nostalgia-reliant cash grab and would likely have gamers rolling their eyes.
Then there’s the fact that Super Smash Bros. has already finished its job, so there’s no need to bring it back now. It essentially popularized the platform fighter where, instead of draining a health bar, players accumulated damage percentages that increased knockback, with victory coming from launching opponents off the stage. That basic structure became the template for an entire subgenre later occupied by games like Brawlhalla, Rivals of Aether, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and MultiVersus. Since then, every Super Smash Bros. game has built on that foundation, so going back to such basics would feel like tearing all of that down.
Pokemon Snap
Pokemon Snap Is Better Preserved Than Rebuilt
As far as why the original Pokemon Snap doesn’t need a remake—it mostly comes down to its gameplay. Pokemon Snap‘s gameplay is exceedingly simple, and, quite frankly, a loop that I didn’t think would be as addicting as it was when I was a kid. The mechanics in this game are inherently timeless because there isn’t much there that can be improved. The loop of “capturing” Pokemon by taking pictures of them in different stages is still just as fun today as it was then,
Then there’s New Pokemon Snap that should be considered, which has basically proven that a newer Pokemon Snap can exist alongside the original without actually replacing it. In other words, any meaningful attempt to modernize the original would probably end up looking a lot like New Pokemon Snap anyway. At that point, Nintendo would be better off continuing the series with another sequel than rebuilding a game where its simplicity is already part of its identity.
F-Zero X
F-Zero X Is Still Exactly as Fast as It Needs to Be
F-Zero X is likely to be the more contentious entry on this list, primarily because I know there are plenty of people out there who would love to see it remade for modern Nintendo hardware. However, this is one of those cases where getting a brand-new F-Zero game would actually be better than getting a remake of the Nintendo 64 classic. F-Zero is inherently a series that can and should be expanded and built up over time rather than reverting to the basics for nostalgia’s sake, so it would arguably be better served with an entry that pushes the series forward with something entirely new.
This is actually an argument that a lot of players like myself initially had when it was announced that Star Fox 64 would be receiving yet another remake for the Switch 2. Many of us wanted a new Star Fox game instead (or we thought we did, at least), so when we heard that the next Star Fox would actually just be a remake of the N64 game, we were a bit disappointed. Thankfully, we were surprised, as the remake ended up doing enough to modernize the original experience that it felt like much more than a simple nostalgia play. That same approach wouldn’t work nearly as well for F-Zero X, though, because once Nintendo starts adding new tracks, racers, modes, and mechanics to justify remaking it, it would essentially be making a new F-Zero game anyway.
Wave Race 64
Wave Race 64’s N64 Charm Is Almost Impossible to Recreate
Then there’s Wave Race 64, which I simply cannot state enough how it deserves to remain in the past, not because it wasn’t great, but because it was. A huge part of Wave Race 64‘s appeal is tied to what it accomplished on the N64, particularly with its water physics and the way those systems gave every race a sense of unpredictability. Modernizing that experience too heavily could strip away some of the technical and historical context that made it so impressive in the first place.
It’s also similar to F-Zero X in that, as a racing game, remaking it would mean adding new tracks, racers, and modes, and at that point, it would just be a new Wave Race game. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that there hasn’t been a new Wave Race game since Wave Race: Blue Storm launched on the Nintendo GameCube in 2001, so a new entry would be welcome. Perhaps this is one of those series that could be rebooted by giving Wave Race 64 its New Pokemon Snap moment. Even then, though, it still wouldn’t technically be a remake.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Kirby 64’s Simplicity Is Still One of Its Greatest Strengths
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is another N64 game that doesn’t have much to gain from a remake, primarily because so much of its design has already aged incredibly well. Its colorful 2.5D presentation still fits Kirby perfectly, and because the game was never trying to create a massive 3D world or push complicated mechanics, there aren’t many rough edges that modern hardware desperately needs to smooth over. Even today, its level design and slower pace feel more charming than outdated.
But perhaps more importantly, Kirby 64 still has one of the series’ most memorable ideas in its Copy Ability combination system, which lets Kirby mix powers together to create entirely new abilities. That’s the kind of mechanic Nintendo would be better off revisiting and expanding in a new Kirby game rather than rebuilding The Crystal Shards around it. A remake could certainly make the game prettier and add some quality-of-life improvements, but neither would fundamentally improve what already works, and the original’s simple N64-era presentation is part of what gives it so much personality in the first place.
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 2 Doesn’t Need Anything More Than What It Already Has
Mario Party 2 is another Nintendo 64 game where a remake would probably accomplish very little, simply because there isn’t much about its core design that needs fixing. Mario Party has obviously become much bigger and more elaborate over the years, with newer games adding more boards, mini-games, characters, modes, and gimmicks, so Mario Party 2 is more than fine where it’s at. Its boards are easy to understand, its mini-games are straightforward, and the entire experience is built around getting a few people in the same room and inevitably making at least one of them angry before the night is over. None of that needs modern hardware, as it’s essentially like pulling out an old board game and playing it for family game night.
More importantly, Nintendo has already found a much better way to preserve what players love about older Mario Party games without remaking them. Mario Party Superstars brought classic boards and mini-games from the N64 era into a modern package, effectively allowing Nintendo to revisit the best parts of those games without rebuilding any one of them from the ground up. A full remake of Mario Party 2 would therefore feel unnecessarily restrictive, especially when Nintendo could simply continue pulling its best ideas forward into newer entries instead. The original, meanwhile, can remain the wonderfully simple snapshot of Mario Party before the series spent decades evolving.
Pokemon Puzzle League
Pokemon Puzzle League’s Formula Doesn’t Need Modernizing
Pokemon Puzzle League is another one of those games where I just don’t see what a remake would really accomplish. The entire appeal of the game is built around an incredibly simple puzzle formula that still works just as well today as it did on the Nintendo 64, and there isn’t much Nintendo could do to improve that without adding a bunch of things the game doesn’t really need. Sure, the visuals could look better and there could be more characters or modes, but none of that would suddenly make the actual puzzle-solving any more fun.
If anything, Pokemon Puzzle League is probably better off being left exactly where it is, especially because so much of its charm comes from that late-’90s feel of playing a different kind of Pokemon game. A modern remake would either play almost exactly the same and therefore feel unnecessary, or it would add enough new content and ideas that, at that point, Nintendo might as well just make a brand-new Pokemon puzzle game instead. Nearly three decades later, the original is still great the way it is.
Sin and Punishment
Sin and Punishment’s Arcade-Like Design Has Barely Aged
And finally, Sin and Punishment is probably one of the stranger games on this list, but that’s also a big part of why I don’t think it needs to be remade. This is a game that moves incredibly fast, throws ridiculous amounts of action at you, and rarely gives you much time to think about anything other than surviving whatever happens to be filling the screen at that moment. Its arcade-like design is the entire point, and while a remake could obviously make everything look prettier and run more smoothly, I’m not convinced either of those things would actually make Sin and Punishment a better game.
There’s also the fact that Treasure has already moved the series forward with Sin and Punishment: Star Successor on the Wii, rather than simply going back and rebuilding the N64 original. If Nintendo ever decides this series deserves another shot, that same approach would make far more sense today. Give players another completely ridiculous rail shooter with new levels, enemies, bosses, and mechanics, but leave the original alone as the wonderfully chaotic N64 game that helped make Sin and Punishment what it is in the first place.
