Summary
TheNintendo 64was a technical achievement, and one of the first video game consoles to introduce three-dimensional gameplay. A video game might need an extravagant symphonic score, but other times it’s the performance that propels a game to new heights. Just when we thought the PlayStation One was the peak of gaming, Nintendo answered back with the Expansion Pak.
The Expansion Pak boosts the Nintendo 64’s RAM 4MB to 8MB. It helps the system to render objects at a further distance, and it can improve resolutions. The Nintendo 64 will forever be a mainstay because of its advances in gaming, and these great games made use of the Expansion Pak.
Updated July 05, 2025 by Mark Sammut:The specifications have been added for the mentionedN64 Expansion Pak games.
StarCraft 64features on this list thanks to its rather unique use of the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak, though it’s not necessarily for a positive reason.StarCraft 64stands out for being a Nintendo 64 port of the original PC release, as well as its Brood War expansion. Unfortunately, players who failed to read the fine print would find themselves locked exclusively to the base game if they didn’t have access to an Expansion Pak.
Although the main chunks ofStarCraft 64were completely playable, players would hit a wall and be forced to use an Expansion Pak to play through the Brood War Expansion missions.
TheGauntletseries has been around for decades now and is widely considered to be one of the best multiplayer dungeon-crawling franchises of all time. To utilize thefour-player local co-opmode in the N64 release ofGauntlet Legendsthough, an Expansion Pak is sadly required.
With four main characters and several unlockable ones to go alongside them, the game is perfectly geared for four players. The regular Jumper Pak did still allow for three-player co-op, but considering the Dreamcast port of the game required no additional hardware and also packed in some extra content, the N64 release is generally considered to be an inferior port.
Before fans were made to wait forever forthe disappointing release ofDuke Nukem: Forever, theDuke Nukemfranchise was an incredibly popular one.Zero Hourmay not be the best in the series, but it still serves as a pretty decent follow-up toDuke Nukem 3Dand remains a lot of fun to play.
Unlike many of the other games that utilize the Expansion Pak, Eurocom took a slightly different approach when it came to developingZero Hour. Like many of the other Expansion Pak games, it’s possible to increase the resolution, but players can instead opt to increase the frame rate if they so choose.
Though nowhere near as enjoyable asSymphony of the Night,Castlevania: Legacy of Darknessis still a lot better than some of the series' more recent entries. It also contains a remake of the original game while also serving as a prequel, making it a great title for those looking for an entryway intothe world of the Belmonts.
Sadly, however, playing the game with Expansion Pak is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the resolution is increased to 490x355, making everything a lot crisper than it would otherwise be. Enabling hi-res mode does cause some pretty bad frame-rate issues though, leading to many opting to play through the game without it.
John Romero’sDaikatanawas perhaps one of the biggest gaming let down of the 64-bit era. Much likeCyberpunk 2077,the game was massively over-hypedin the build-up to its release, leading to waves of disappointment when players finally got their hands on it. Despite the initial dismay of the gaming community though, there is still fun to be had with the game.
The game is a little reminiscent ofclassic arena shooters likeQuake 3andUnrealand features more than its fair share of gore. The high-res mode that’s available when it’s played with an Expansion Pak does little to improve the visuals, although it does switch video output from a 4:3 aspect ratio to widescreen.
TheTurokseries rarely gets a mention these days, but back in the late nineties,it was one of the biggest and most respected franchises around. The third-party exclusive titles were among the very best in the N64’s library of games and played like a first-person shooter version of the earlyJurassic Parkmovies.
The pick of the bunch was arguablyTurok 2: Seeds of Evil, which was one of threeTurokgames to utilize the Expansion Pak. Much like its sequel andTurok: Rage Wars, playingSeeds of Evilwith an Expansion Pak enabled two special high-res modes, offering resolutions of either 480x360 or 480x232.
This time around, the secondArmy Men Sarge’s Heroes 2took on a more lighthearted tone compared to its former. The game received criticism from critics, but a cult following suggests that people do like this game. It’s feature-rich. This game’s microcosmic setting is appealing in so many ways. Imagine being a tiny figure in a ginormous world.
Using the Expansion Pak onArmy Men Sarge’s Heroes 2boosts the game’s resolution to 640x240. It was one of those games that could be picked up from the local rental store several times without regrets and the bump in resolution made it all the better.
The Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak was not released until late into the Nintendo 64’s active years. For this reason, it was mostly only games from the early 2000s that benefited from the Expansion Pak.
Using the Expansion Pak onPokemon Stadium 2enabled 640x480 resolution. High-definition visuals were not possible on the Nintendo 64, but the Expansion Pak brought players closer to this reality. While this boost did not impact the gameplay in any significant way, the improved resolution
granted players the opportunity to really bask in the game’s 3D visuals, which was a selling point for fans who loved the Game Boy projects.
The Nintendo 64 was the birthplace for a significant number of three-dimensional adventure games. Its capabilities were cutting-edge at the time. TheRaymanserieswent from being two-dimensional to three-dimensional then back to being two-dimensional today. However, we can’t forgetthe groundbreaking achievement that wasRayman 2: The Great Escape.
Rayman 2: The Great Escapewas one of the many masterpiece platformers of the Nintendo 64. It suffered from camera issues like many of the Nintendo 64’s platformers, yet it is an objectively fun game that is only improved when paired with an Expansion Pak.
The originalExcitebikefor the Super Nintendo Entertainment System played phenomenally, which raised the bar considerably for its sequel,Excitebike 64. Despite these lofty expectations, however, the game was able to soar well above them and serves as a more than worthy successor to the original title.
A high-resolution mode is playable if players insert an Expansion Pak into their console. Although the standard Jumper Pak can still be used withExcitebike 64, it is highly recommended to use the Expansion Pak to get the absolute most out of the game.
