This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64
Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64 is a first-person shooter in which Joanna Dark investigates a conspiracy surrounding dataDyne for the Carrington Institute. Her first assignment begins in a heavily guarded corporate building, but the case grows into a conflict involving extraterrestrials. You find contacts, use equipment and complete the objectives associated with your chosen difficulty. Simply clearing a room of enemies is therefore not always enough: sometimes you must protect someone, gather information or operate a device before proceeding.
The weapons have a secondary function that changes your approach. The Laptop Gun, for example, can work as an automatic sentry, while other equipment helps with reconnaissance and infiltration. At the Carrington Institute, you practise with weapons and gadgets. During missions, you alternate precise shooting with searching and reading your assignment. Higher difficulty settings add objectives, allowing you to replay a familiar location with a different plan.
With an Expansion Pak, you can play the campaign alone or cooperatively with two people. Counter-Operative instead lets a second player take over enemies to stop Joanna. Combat Simulator offers local battles for up to four players and computer-controlled Simulants; each human player needs their own controller. Progress can be saved on the cartridge. This is the original Nintendo 64 game, not the later Xbox adaptation with online features.
Region and language
Our Nintendo 64 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
A Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak is required for Perfect Dark's campaign, two-player cooperation, Counter-Operative and Combat Simulator with three or four players. Without this memory upgrade, a limited portion of Combat Simulator remains available for one or two players. The Expansion Pak is not included with this complete game edition unless explicitly stated; a Controller Pak is not a substitute.
Manual
Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Perfect Dark
Rare developed Perfect Dark after GoldenEye 007, and Nintendo released it for Nintendo 64 in 2000. The team continued with espionage missions seen through the protagonist's eyes, but replaced James Bond with an original character and a science-fiction world. Locations, weapons and the story no longer had to fit an existing film. Joanna Dark received her own employer, adversaries and training environment, while the familiar objective-based structure remained.
In an original Nintendo interview, Rare explained that work began in late 1997 and took around three years. Almost every part of the GoldenEye engine was revised. Martin Hollis later described how science-fiction fans within the team, his interest in Philip K. Dick and the popularity of The X-Files helped determine the direction. The initial idea of quickly reusing existing technology thus grew into a much larger project.
That expansion is evident in cooperative play and artificial opponents. Rare explained that Simulants first had to learn to navigate arenas reliably, before being adjusted to different skill levels. The extensive campaign and the largest local battles required extra memory through the Expansion Pak. The Nintendo 64 release therefore represents a distinct step after GoldenEye: related controls and mission structure, but a new universe and more ways to approach an assignment with others.
Similar games for Nintendo 64
GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark share focused espionage missions, equipment and additional objectives at higher difficulty on Nintendo 64. GoldenEye follows Bond through recognisable film locations. Perfect Dark builds an original science-fiction world and gives weapons additional functions. If you particularly enjoy repeating a mission to complete it more thoroughly or carefully, both provide the same reason to reconsider a familiar route.
The World Is Not Enough likewise has you gather information, use gadgets and protect people on Nintendo 64. A Bond film takes centre stage there, and you work with his equipment. Perfect Dark uses Joanna and alien technology, with separate cooperative and Counter-Operative games. The memory difference also matters: Perfect Dark's campaign requires an Expansion Pak, whereas The World Is Not Enough's works without that upgrade.
Doom 64 likewise gives you a first-person view along your weapon and an ammunition supply to manage on Nintendo 64. Progress there revolves around demons, keys, switches and finding the exit. Perfect Dark more often requires a specific action or protecting a character. Doom 64 remains a solo journey; Perfect Dark adds cooperation and separate local battles.
Jet Force Gemini shares the alien threat and futuristic arsenal, but usually shows its heroes from behind on Nintendo 64. You explore with Juno, Vela and Lupus, using their different abilities. Perfect Dark stays with Joanna and discrete missions. The difference becomes apparent when returning: in Jet Force Gemini you seek passages and Tribals, whereas in Perfect Dark you try to complete additional mission objectives.
As a platform game, Super Mario 64 differs greatly from Perfect Dark, yet both let you revisit a familiar location with a clear objective on Nintendo 64. A star guides Mario's jumps and exploration. Joanna receives a list of objectives and works with weapons and devices. Mario's movement through space takes centre stage; in Perfect Dark, your main decision is how to carry out the mission.
