I know what you’re thinking, and no, I didn’t stand on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea to take this picture. It seemed fitting that, as I started blasting out the intro theme tune for Wave Race 64 on Nintendo Music the screensaver on the office TV brought up a scene that could well have been an extension of Dolphin Park!
Yes, Nintendo’s answer to a nostalgic Spotify experience now has 27 tracks from Wave Race 64, a game that when I first played it I thought was one of the most realistic watersports experiences next to actually getting in the ocean myself. It’s funny that when I play games like God of War or Tears of the Kingdom now and I see levels with water I realise how far we’ve actually come, but back in 1996 when it was released and 1997 when it came to the UK, it was seriously impressive.
Produced by the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto, Wave Race 64 was one of the first games on the N64. It’s a game that I’ve got back into recently on the GBA SP clone ANBERNIC RG35XXSP and the small but stylish Trimui Brick, taking all of my concentration power to make sure I slalom through every set of gates on the course. The music made you feel like you were sitting on Huntington Beach in California getting ready to catch some waves and was a cross between Mario Golf & Mario Kart with a cooler, summery edge. Now, you can spend 35 minutes listening to all of the level theme tunes and placement finish tracks while walking the dog, at the gym, or just imagining yourself somewhere warm with no cares or jobs to do.
Head to the App Store or Google Play to add Nintendo Switch Online to your phone and start listening!
