Quake II (Nintendo 64 version)

Quake 2 64 Cover Art

A port of Quake II was released on July 7, 1999 for the Nintendo 64 system by Midway Games. Technically very similar to the PC Voodoo accelerated version thanks to expansion pack support, Quake II for N64 introduces some brand new levels with the addition of real time lighting effects.

The port is based on heavily modified Quake Engine used in Quake 64.

The Story

Intelligence reports are sketchy at best, but what we do know is this: The Strogg, a formidable cybernetic race, is determined conquer Earth's population and have launched attacks against our planet. They are an unstoppable evil and they have no reservations about fulfilling their insidious plan — the annihilation of every living thing on Earth.

But Earth has a plan as well. You.

You're a Space Marine, Special Operations; elite among the Forces. You've been dropped behind enemy lines to carry out a reconnaissance mission of the Strogg's home planet. Your objectives are clear: Infiltrate. Destroy. Survive!

Stop the Strogg plan to wipe out Earth and her inhabitants.

Levels

• Level 1: Strogg Outpost
• Level 2: Central Complex
• Level 3: Intelligence Center
• Level 4: Communications Center
• Level 5: Orbital Defense
• Level 6: Docking Station
• Level 7: Strogg Freighter
• Level 8: Cargo Bay
• Level 9: Zaxite Mines
• Level 10: Storage Facility
• Level 11: Organic Storage
• Level 12: Processing Center
• Level 13: Geothermal Station
• Level 14: Detention Center
• Level 15: Research Lab
• Level 16: Bio-Waste Treatment
• Level 17: Access Conduits
• Level 18: Descent To Core
• Level 19: Command Core
• Challenge Level: Twists*

*see Twists section below.

Multiplayer

• DM1: Agony
• DM2: Corridors
• DM3: War Room
• DM4: Twists
• DM5: Fortress
• DM6: Cold Steel
• DM7: Mad Dash
• DM8: Dying Halls
• DM9: Empty Space
• DM10: Overflow

Enemies

Enemy	Easy	Medium	Hard/Nightmare
Light Guard	65	13	14
Shotgun Guard	15	57	13
Machine Gun Guard	12	8	48
Enforcer	101	104	90
Gunner	56	81	99
Iron Maiden	25	31	38
Parasite	11	27	36
Berserker	50	68	84
Mutant	5	5	5
Flyer	71	99	123
Icarus	24	35	33
Gladiator	26	35	46
Tank	5	5	6
Tank Commander	2	2	2
Super Tank	1	1	1
Hornet	2	2	2

There are no new enemies in this port, but most of the enemies from the original Quake II campaign are present. The Technician, Brains, Barracuda Shark, Medic, Jorg and Makron do not appear.

Furthermore, the Hornets which comprise the final boss are equipped with different weaponry than the ones previously seen in the PC version of Quake II; twin hyperblasters instead of twin chainguns, and a rocket launcher that fires a sequence of rockets rather than four simultaneous rockets. However, it has the same overall appearance as the previously seen Hornets.

Items and weapons

The port features only one new power-up, Invisibility. All of the weapons and most of the power-ups from the original Quake II campaign made an appearance, although most power-ups such as Quad Damage are activated immediately upon pick-up rather than being added to the player's inventory. There are cosmetic differences for several weapons - for example, the railgun glows blue instead of red, and the BFG similarly was changed to green instead of blue. The viewmodels for the weapons are layered 2D sprites rather than 3D models, and their choppy animations resemble those of the first Quake rather than the smoother animations the other versions of Quake II possess.

The 3D viewmodels and smoothed animations were restored in the 2023 enhanced rerelease.

Development

When Quake was ported over in 1998, many fans did not buy it because it did not have a similar treatment to Doom 64 (also released by Midway Games) which had a brand new campaign, a few new demons and a new gun, although Quake had less complex levels and only required minimal adjustments for the levels to fit the N64's cartridge size.

Following these results, Midway released Quake II for the Nintendo 64 with a new plot and set of levels. Some of the levels are taken from the PC version's mission packs as well.

The soundtrack was composed by Aubrey Hodges (under the alias Ken "Razor" Richmond). In similar fashion to his work on Doom 64 and Quake's N64 port, the soundtrack has an industrial and ambient aesthetic, and is overall drastically different from the original Quake II soundtrack.

Twists

• After completing the single-player campaign, the player is given a password which allows access to a special challenge. This level is called Twists and is based upon a multiplayer map. The player has a short amount of time in which to defeat four Gladiators and two Hornets. This level can also be accessed via the 2023 Remaster's PC port of the Quake II 64 campaign, by typing the following in the console: map q64/dm4

Links

Soundtrack

Image Gallery - Screenshots

Quake II Nintendo 64 Main Menu

Quake II Nintendo 64 Intro

See also

• Instruction booklet
• Quake II
• Quake II (PSX version)

Videos

Quake II Promotional Commrecial

A Promotional Commercial for Quake 2 on N64 and PSX platforms.