This week's stone-cold ten out of ten game is one of Nintendo's best racing games and a game that sadly lives in the same bin as F-Zero. The bin labelled "excellent Nintendo racing game franchises that they will never touch again". There's a few credible rumours that this one is coming to Nintendo Switch Online in the near future and, if it does, I cannot recommend it enough. A real favourite of mine, one of my comfort games and a racing game that sits at the very top of its particular niche within the genre, even 25 years later. Twenty five years! We will all be dead soon.

Welcome To Dolphin Park.

I got my N64 the day of the first UK price drop, thanks to an agreement with my Dad which I think was made under the assumption that the price drop would be a lot further away from launch than what it was. A mere two months after release, Nintendo knocked £100 off the price, reducing the console to £150. While everyone else had Super Mario 64 or Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire to show off their new machine, I opted for the brand new release, Wave Race 64.

Part of this was down to the fact that in the couple of months the system had been available, I had absolutely rinsed the other two titles at a mate's house but the other reason was because I had actually already played Wave Race 64 and had been jonesing for it for MONTHS. See, in 1996, me and the same mate got pulled out of school for a day to go to Tomorrow's World Live and have a big day of science and learning. This lasted minutes because once we had entered the Birmingham NEC, the first thing we saw was a big black truck with a big N64 logo on the side, with the trailer opened on the side to reveal a bunch of demo pods.

We queued up, played some games, got kicked off and queued up again. All day. They had the entire UK launch line up but also some stuff that Europe wouldn't get straight away, like Mario Kart 64 and, of course, Wave Race 64. Like literally everyone who was suddenly told to figure out THAT controller and analog movement in a very short amount of time from zero experience with anything like that beforehand, there was a lot of initial struggle. I wouldn't say I didn't 'get' it but Mario 64 was a bit overwhelming - it wasn't the environment to really take in what was so mindblowingly ahead of everything you'd played up to that point. Wave Race 64 looked amazing but also, it's a racing game. It was more approachable. It completely sold me on analog control almost immediately.

Within one race I was able to appreciate the subtlety of the movement, the ability to turn sharply or make the slightest of adjustments to my racing line. I quickly learned how to ride the waves and how that could affect my lap times and which of the four selectable riders 'felt' the best to me. I could feel it getting its hooks in - I wanted to get good at it - and then, it was home time. I had no idea when I would get to play it again.

The controls of Wave Race 64 feel so... right. Sure, Mario 64 is the perfect combination of hardware, software and input method but Wave Race 64 is a close second. Once again, within that first race, I'd already picked up from where I'd left off at Tomorrow's World Live. The feeling of it had never left me. It's so natural. One of my favourite sensations in any game is when you pull the stick down towards you, either slightly left or right and have the jet ski carve through the water and turn back on itself. It's almost impossible to describe accurately but is so intuitive and instinctive. You can jump into the Dolphin Park training course with zero knowledge of the controls and within minutes of just experimenting and playing around you'll know exactly what you can and can't get away with when it comes to the handling.

You can't, of course, talk about Wave Race 64 without mentioning the water and, specifically, the waves. Shigeru Miyamoto himself maintains that Wave Race 64 uses ‘80% of the N64’s power’ just to run the water effects and, to this day, they're still right up there with the very best of whatever the current generation of games can throw out. Obviously, they're not just visually impressive but are the key element to why Wave Race 64 still feels fresh and fun to play.

The waves aren't totally random - after some extended play you'll notice them appearing in similar places - but this is actually a brilliant little thing. As you go around the courses you'll slowly learn when a large wave comes in and you start to develop tactics around whether to push through them or take a jump off the top of them, with some even allowing shortcuts possible by leaping over parts of the scenery. The way you deal with the constant movement becomes just as important a part of your race strategy as your racing line is. There is some variance that means you're not just on autopilot - usually the speed of which you make it around each lap means you might be in front or behind the timing of a wave appearing, so top lap times sometimes require you to slow down a bit to wait for a wave to spawn so you can use it to your advantage.

The courses are all excellent. There's eight in total, with six available in the first championship with the other two being added one by one as you go up the difficulties. As well as the usual differences in structure and complexity, they also have variances in regards to water movement, size and frequency of waves. For instance, Marine Fortress is set out at sea and has you dealing with waves aggressively crashing against its walls, while Drake Lake has none at all, acting as a faster 'sprint' style race. The best thing about these courses is how they all have their own unique vibe. The aforementioned Drake Lake, with its beautiful mirrored surface and fog that lifts as you go through the laps. Sunset Bay, a big orange ocean of Irn Bru. Port Blue, an action-packed chase around (and sometimes through) giant tankers. The soundtrack fits each level, adding that finishing touch to their atmosphere and also has this brilliant little leitmotif of the Wave Race 64 theme scattered throughout them.

As you increase difficulty, some of the early tracks gain new, more challenging routes. A sluice gate opens in Marine Fortress on the second and third championships that reveals a twisty, turning path that almost halves your lap times. It's not just obvious changes, however. Wave Race 64 is actually made up of slalom races, with yellow and red buoys requiring you to pass either left or right of them. Pass five in a row and you get a full speed boost, miss one and you're significantly slowed down. Miss five overall and you're disqualified. As you move up through the difficulties, the position of these buoys is changed, requiring for not only more skilled handling of the jet ski to navigate them all but also allow for a subtle reshaping of the course, taking you into areas that you may previously have been able to cut past completely.

The N64 was home to a lot of absolutely belting racing games but many would say that those games were bettered by sequels or similar titles that came out after them (although I don't necessarily agree with this in some cases!). The follow-up on Gamecube has its moments but doesn't come close to the quality on offer here. Games like Hydro Thunder are a lot of fun but lack the water effect quality or inspired track design. Underrated PS2 jetski game Splashdown is probably the game that has come the closest to dethroning Wave Race 64 from the top spot but let's just say the overall aesthetic is a bit of an acquired taste. No aquatic racing game has come close to this - it's still unique, it still feels fresh and it, above everything else, is still extremely good.

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