Nagano Winter Olympics ’98

Description

Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 features a selection of Olympic events recreated in 3D, with the roster differing slightly between the N64 and PlayStation versions. Two main modes are offered. Olympic Mode – choose a single event and aim for a medal. Championship Mode – compete across seven events, with cumulative points determining the winner. The four owl mascots on the file select screen are the official Nagano Olympic mascots, the Snowlets.

On the N64, players can compete in Alpine skiing (downhill, giant slalom), snowboarding (giant slalom, halfpipe), ski jumping (K90, K120), freestyle aerials, bobsleigh, luge, speed skating (500m, 1000m), and curling. Up to 16 nations are selectable, with Finland and the Netherlands exclusive to the N64 version. The game was notable for including curling and snowboarding halfpipe, which were newly introduced Olympic sports at Nagano.

Released in December 1997 (Japan) and early 1998 (North America/Europe), it received an OFLC classification date on 09/01/1998. It required a large amount of Controller Pak memory (32 pages) to save progress.

While the official license and variety of events were praised reception was negative. The controls inconsistent and the gameplay shallow compared to other sports titles on the system. N64 Magazine infamously scored it just 32%, calling it “quite literally crap.” I can’t disagree, but I can say as a child you could be a lot less critical and put up with poor gameplay if it contained the content you were looking for. Some of the events weren’t all that bad and I recall mostly replaying a selection.