[00:00]
Welcome to the Cartridge Archive, the show dedicated to chronicling the complete Nintendo 64
library, one cartridge at a time. I’m Jamie. And I’m Adam. Each episode, we pull another game from
the shelf and explore its impact on Nintendo 64 history.
[00:30]
From beloved classics and hidden gems to forgotten curiosities and infamous disasters, no cartridge
is left behind. Along the way, we’ll examine each game’s story, development, legacy, collector
value, and the impact it left on the Nintendo 64’s library as a whole. Then, we will put it through
the rigorous and totally patented 64-point inspection to determine whether it has what it takes to
become certified 64. Alright, so welcome back everybody. We’ve got another great game lined up for
you today.
[01:00]
I guess we’ll determine shortly if it is great or not. Yeah, how great are we talking? I guess we’ll
figure out how great, but today we’re covering Mission Impossible. This is one that I suggested. We
kind of, obviously we’re going to get to all of them at some point, but we’ve been doing a little
bit of kind of like a trade-off. Pick one, pick the other, pick something that’s culturally relevant
at the time. And so this is one of the ones that I chose because I had it when I was younger.
[01:30]
How about you? Did you have much experience with this game prior, Jamie? No, no. I actually, I never
touched this one. I never owned it. I have it now as part of my ongoing efforts to try and collect
all of these pieces of plastic, but I never had an opportunity to really dig in and play it. So I’m
glad you selected it because it was an opportunity for me to actually jump in on it. I’m a huge
Mission Impossible fan as far as, you know, the IP and the movies. Love the movies in particular,
but never played this game.
[02:00]
It just wasn’t on my radar at the time. I had limited bandwidth as to, you know, what I could play
and what I could afford. And this one just didn’t make the cut. So I’m excited about getting to jump
in on this one. It was a cool opportunity to play it. Yeah, I don’t know necessarily how it came to
be one of the ones that I owned. You know, like you said, you kind of have so much money, so much
time, especially in younger days. And so I somehow ended up with it at one point or another. And it
was kind of crazy going back and playing it for this. There were parts that I just ran through like
it was second nature.
[02:30]
It was like I hadn’t touched it in 25, 30 years. I just ran through it like it was I’m just playing
it all over again like I’m 14 and just crushing it. And then I went back a couple of days later and
I was completely lost. Like I just forgot everything that I was supposed to do. So, OK, that sounds
a little closer to my experience, but we’ll get into that when we start diving into it. So let’s
let’s kick this whole thing off. And you want to jump in with today’s history lesson? Let’s do it.
In 1966, television audiences were introduced to the Impossible Mission Force,
[03:00]
a secret government agency that confronted global threats using disguises, spycraft and instructions
delivered by self-destructing tape recorders. 30 years later, director Brian De Palma and producer
star Tom Cruise reinvented Mission Impossible for the big screen. The 1996 film introduced audiences
to IMF agent Ethan Hunt and transformed the television property into an action franchise that would
eventually spawn eight films and earn nearly $5 billion at the box office.
[03:30]
At this point, however, only the first of those films had been released. It featured a complex
storyline with memorable action sequences, most notably the iconic scene of Hunt dangling from the
ceiling of a secure CIA vault. If any movie was suitable for a game adaptation, it was Mission
Impossible. Ocean Software began working on that adaptation prior to the Nintendo 64’s launch. Known
for popular licensed games including Batman and Jurassic Park,
[04:00]
Ocean announced Mission Impossible in May of 1996 as one of the earliest third-party projects
planned for Nintendo’s new console, set to release just a few months after launch in December 1996.
The San Jose-based development team envisioned an ambitious spy simulation built around stealth,
gadgets and cinematic set pieces rather than constant action. Those ambitions quickly exceeded the
Nintendo 64’s capabilities. What happened instead was a development process that would take nearly
three years
[04:30]
and felt almost as impossible a mission, as the name implied. Much of the delay stemmed from the
team being unwilling to release a game they considered substandard. However, the production was also
at the mercy of rights-holder Viacom, who had demanded that violence and gunplay be limited in line
with the Mission Impossible formula. The developers also chose not to recreate the film scene for
scene, but followed a similar storyline. The game’s 20 levels featured many of the film’s
characters, locations, and story beats,
[05:00]
while adding in additional IMF operations exclusive to the game. While Ocean struggled to complete
the project, another spy game was infiltrating consoles. Rare’s GoldenEye 007 had also started
development before the N64’s launch, but reached store shelves in 1997, almost a full year before
Mission Impossible’s release. Its enormous success redefined expectations for console shooters and
set a new standard for licensed games. Due to the timing, it was inevitable that comparisons between
the games
[05:30]
would influence the ongoing development of Mission Impossible. After GoldenEye’s release, the team
at Ocean scrapped a planned feature to have menus and objectives presented through a wristwatch-
style interface to avoid being too similar to James Bond’s Q-Watch. During the final year of
development, French publisher Infogrames acquired Ocean and transferred the project from San Jose to
a new team in France. The new team simplified character models and environments and removed features
to better meet performance and storage targets.
[06:00]
After years of delays, Mission Impossible finally arrived on the Nintendo 64 in summer 1998. What
emerged was not another GoldenEye. Rather than running in with guns blazing, Mission Impossible
emphasized avoiding combat, gathering intelligence, and thinking strategically. Tools like cameras,
tranquilizer darts, and lockpicks emphasized stealth over action. Despite these differences, Mission
Impossible struggled to escape the shadow of GoldenEye. Reviewers praised its varied objectives and
espionage mechanics,
[06:30]
but criticized its sluggish controls, inconsistent gameplay, and lack of multiplayer. Even so,
Mission Impossible went on to become a commercial success, selling more than a million copies. Three
decades later, the most interesting question may no longer be how Mission Impossible compared to
GoldenEye, but what broader impact it had on stealth games as a genre. We’ll explore if its
ambitious ideas still work today, as well as they did in 1998. Today, on the Cartridge Archive, your
mission, should you choose to accept it,
[07:00]
Mission Impossible. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Sound effects, sound effects,
sound effects. I’m really good at Mission Impossible sound effects, as the little tease at the end
of last week’s episode. Clearly, my resume speaks for itself, I feel. Yeah, the modern-day Michael
Winslow. That’s the guy’s name, right? That’s a name, yeah. The police academy guy. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like to consider myself a thespian when it comes to stupid sounds.
[07:30]
Full disclaimer, the suggestion was to put a tease at the end of last week’s episode to tease this
one, and I was trying to describe to Adam the sound effect that we should pull from the Mission
Impossible intro, which I vocalized into a microphone, which was being recorded, which was my error,
and that’s why that was the clue that you got at the end of the episode. So thanks for that one. I
am an agent of chaos, so.
[08:00]
All right, so let’s dive in on this one and start reading the back-of-box quote. Good morning, Mr.
Phelps. Prepare to enter the most demanding and dangerous mission impossible ever. Your mission,
should you decide to accept it, will be to guide your team through a spectacular series of
authorized worldwide missions encompassing over 20 levels of gameplay. Razor-sharp reflexes. The
ability to make quick decisions, strategic thinking,
[08:30]
and an extremely high level of accuracy will prove essential. As always, should you or any member of
your I.M. force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. As
usual, Ethan Hunt will be your point man. This game will not self-destruct in five seconds, but you
may. Good luck, Jim. That was pretty good. That was a pretty good voice. Thank you. I got to make up
for my previous sound effect attempts earlier. Yeah, it sounded kind of like the, what’s the guy’s
name, Kitteridge or whatever.
[09:00]
It actually kind of sounded like him or somebody. Kitteridge. Yeah, that’s, I’m glad you got that.
That was what I was channeling. You know, I’m good method actor on this one. Yeah, it sounded pretty
good. Thanks. Now, now I think you’re patronizing me to try and make me not mad at you for the whole
thing. But anyway, so I think this is interesting right off the bat that they are making the back of
the box directed at Mr. Phelps, who, spoiler alert, if you haven’t seen Mission Impossible, is the
bad guy. So the idea that they mention Ethan Hunt as a throwaway and direct this to Jim, I thought
[09:30]
was really interesting and kind of weird, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, I guess the game
came out close enough to the movie that there are some people that won’t necessarily know that he’s
the bad guy. And jumping ahead, the ending of this game does a pretty piss poor job of actually
communicating that he was a bad guy. Yeah. But it just felt weird, considering how all of the
marketing for the movies, every single time one of those things comes out, it’s always talking right
to Ethan. I guess that is true, because it was a little bit of a misdirect in the movie.
[10:00]
Like, it kind of starts like, he’s the central guy. And then all of a sudden, you realize, as the
movie goes on, that he’s the bad guy. And I guess being closely-ish related to the movie and being
close in time to the movie, it makes, I guess, a good amount of sense to not necessarily spoil one
or the other through the other, so. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. I mean, we’re 30 years later, I
can be a bit more pessimistic about it, I guess. I guess that makes sense, but it is weird.
[10:30]
Okay, well, you know what? I’m going to further dunk on this. Yeah, we can say whatever we want now.
It says, your mission, should you decide to accept it? Wasn’t it, if you choose to accept it? Isn’t
that kind of like the famous line? They kind of botched their own line. That’s how I remember it. I
don’t know, unless we’re having like a Mandela effect thing. But yeah, I believe I took that
directly off the back of the box. And if I’m, unless I just completely missed it, I don’t know why I
would have typed it wrong. So, very well. And I think it’s even bold, like it was on the box. So, I
think that is a weird way that they altered that, because everyone remembers it
[11:00]
the same way. Yep, zero out of 10. Not certified 64. Let’s end the episode right now. Oof, I don’t
know if it’s going to get a zero, but I guess let’s see how we do. Yeah, let’s jump in on this one,
and let’s start the 64-point inspection. All right, it’s time for the 64-point inspection. This is a
carefully crafted evaluation designed to judge every Nintendo 64 game through a series of 10 tests.
[11:30]
For each test, we’ll present the evidence, make our case, and put it to a vote. If the game passes
the test, it earns 10 points. If it fails, it earns none, and if opinions are split, then the game
will be awarded 5 points. Any game that earns 64 or more points passes the inspection and receives
our coveted Certified 64 Seal of Approval. So, with that said, let’s start the inspection. Test
number one, the memory pack test. I’m sure there was something. Ah, yes, now I remember.
[12:00]
Is this game still remembered today, or has it faded into obscurity? Would the average gamer
recognize it today? That’s a tough one, because Mission Impossible is a property, is known. As we
said in the history lesson, and you mentioned a moment ago, you like the movies. There are now eight
movies, so there were seven that came out since this game released. So, I don’t know that the game
itself is remembered, but I know that the property is remembered. So, I don’t know. What do you
think on that?
[12:30]
Yeah, I agree. I don’t think this game itself is really on anyone’s radar. Time has been kinder to
it, and there are, like you said, a lot of fans of the franchise. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a
lot of fans of the franchise don’t even know this game was ever available. You know, it’s been a
long enough time, and it didn’t exactly make waves. And obviously, it gets compared to GoldenEye,
and then even Metal Gear Solid, which came out just three months later, as far as the whole
espionage action infiltration kind of gameplay. It’s kind of understandable why this game would kind
of fall into obscurity pretty fast, and
[13:00]
there isn’t really much reason to bring back this game. So, while the franchise is definitely
something that holds in people’s memories, I think the critical reception of the game being a little
less harsh of this game now doesn’t really mean that the game itself is actually fondly remembered.
So, I think I would fail this one. That is very true. I guess when you do look at it that way, one
game but seven subsequent movies, I think there’s
[13:30]
probably more people going, how come there isn’t a Mission Impossible game than going, hey, do you
remember that one Mission Impossible game? Because it’s been a really long time. So, I think you’ve
convinced me, I think I’m going to say, also fail. So, that, I think, between the two of us, that’s
a fail for the first one. All right, moving on to test number two, the Rumble Pack test. This is the
Rumble Pack, the coolest cinematic gaming experience there is.
[14:00]
Does this game really take advantage of what made the Nintendo 64 unique? Four-player, multiplayer,
analog controls, accessories, and other signature N64 features. So, yeah, this game does use the
Rumble Pack, but that’s about it. Internal saving is all done on the cartridge, which is a good
thing, but it doesn’t take advantage of the controller pack in any creative way. There was a plan to
use the 64DD for this, which I thought was interesting, but that was abandoned, and as we know, the
game had a troubled development cycle, so it doesn’t
[14:30]
necessarily surprise me, you know, the more that we found out about this game as it was being
cooked. But, yeah, the plan was to have the DD offer additional missions that would be added later,
I guess, almost like a DLC of some sort, which I think is pretty cool, but they never did it, so I’m
going to fail it. I think I’m in the same boat. Like you said, Rumble Pack support, that’s cool, and
it makes decent enough use of it, but it doesn’t do really anything else. It doesn’t have analog
controls. I mean, you use the analog stick to move, but it doesn’t do anything that you couldn’t
[15:00]
have done some other way. Honestly, the controls are a little kludgy in some places. They’re not
great. So, yeah, I think I’m going to go with fail as well. So, test number two, again, a fail. Not
doing great so far. Test number three, the expansion pack test. That is one powerful piece of
machinery. Does this game deserve an expansion, sequel, remake, or modern successor? Was there
enough here to justify a future beyond the original cartridge?
[15:30]
I say as far as the game goes, not really. I don’t think that there is a lot there. Obviously, with
the movie series, there is a good bit of story. There are a number of things there, but it’s not
necessarily by nature of the game’s success. It’s by the movie’s success. And I’m assuming that
because of how difficult it was to get this game off the ground, because it had a very rocky
development, I just don’t think anyone saw necessarily the real big push to make a whole lot more
games.
[16:00]
There was a sequel. I guess this game was ported to the PlayStation later, which I don’t know that I
realized. And there was a PS2 era sequel. I guess I’ll go past because it did get one. And I do
think with the movies, if they were able to factor in some of that stuff and make even like a Lego
Mission Impossible or something like they’ve done with Batman movies and stuff, even something like
that would be pretty cool. I think there’s enough content there to make something. So someone else
decided they didn’t need one, but I think I would take one if they made it.
[16:30]
At the very least, it has gotten something. So I think it’s a reluctant pass, but it’s a pass. Yeah,
no, I’d agree. Based on the question and the test here, it does pass just by default. It did have a
PlayStation 2 and Xbox era sequel. I picked it up in order to prep for this episode, and I have not
played it. So it lets you know how compelling it was and probably answers the question as well, as
far as whether it deserved to have a sequel or a modern successor. It got one, but I did want to add
that the PSX port of the game apparently had increased
[17:00]
vocal added to the game. So it had more voice lines, which I think is hilarious because when I was
playing the game, Ethan’s voice in this game sounds like a cranky old man to the point where I
actually thought until later in the game, it was felt talking to him through the radio about what he
was doing, kind of judging him, you know, like, good job. Well done. You got him. I didn’t realize
that was actually Ethan talking like I’m doing a good job.
[17:30]
I got him. At one point, he says like, rock steady for no reason. I’m like, I don’t understand. But
during the rappelling down the laser shaft scene, if you hit the laser beams, he routinely says, I
singed my hair. So I was like, oh, that’s him. He’s using first person. That’s his voice. I had no
idea up to that point. I thought it was just a weird disembodied Jim Phelps character talking to
you. So that’s weird. If the game got more voice, I hope it got better voice.
[18:00]
No offense to the voice actor who probably did a very good job, question mark, doing this game. But
yeah, it sounded really weird. And I think it would be interesting to hear him attempt to get
through some of the other lines that are in the game. While I’m on this rant, there is a couple of
lines in the game that really make Ethan come out as a bit of a dick. And to hear them said out loud
in this not Jim voice would be pretty hilarious. There’s one point in the game where you find a
fellow agent who’s been captured and tortured
[18:30]
and you get to him and you’re supposed to try and extract him, but he doesn’t make it. And he’s
doing one of those death rattle kind of giving you a clue as to where you’re supposed to go next.
He’s like, and it’s all written out, right? And it’s just, I can’t remember what he says, but he’s
like, Ethan, ellipsis, ellipsis, I left ellipsis in the corridor, ellipsis, for you to find, you
know, it’s one of those sort of things. And it does go on too long. But as soon as he dies, he does
the like, and flops in the chair.
[19:00]
And then Ethan’s first line is, I had a feeling he wasn’t going to finish that sentence. And I’m
like, bro, he just died trying to help you out. And he’s just being such a dick about it. And in the
same mission, or no, maybe the mission before that is a counter spy. It’s this lady that’s following
you around. It’s actually one of the cooler parts where you have to sort of evade her and lure her
into the bathroom and take her out where no one can see. And right before he kills her, he goes
like, good night, sweetheart. And then kills her in some way or knocks her out. I can’t remember
what it is. And she lets out this like huge scream.
[19:30]
And then you hide her body in the toilet. But I’m just trying to imagine that being voiced by the
same guy that’s like, rock steady. I singed my hair. And yeah, I just I kind of want to play the
PlayStation version of this more than the Nintendo 64 one now. That seems a little a little not spy
ish for the record to just, you know, to to bring someone into a bathroom and then you like yell
something weird at them and then they scream loudly. And you’re like, there’s no way anyone’s going
to know this is happening. Oh, 100 percent.
[20:00]
There’s a party going on where there’s like vague piano music being played. Everyone in this creepy
Russian suit Soviet spy mansion or wherever you are heard all of that. And also on top of it,
there’s already a dead dude hidden in the stall next to the one that you put the lady in. So this is
already a very suspicious bathroom as far as murders and screams and sassy comments from Ethan Hunt.
So I weird move. It was a weird, weird spot in the game. But back to the original question, the
audio and and the voice, that’s that’s apparently
[20:30]
something that did get improved in the sequel. So something, something, something, let’s pass this
one. I do think that that is if you went certified 64, all that good stuff, that’s a fail as far as
best day to be a janitor when you go and you have to clean up two dead people out of a bathroom.
That’s not great. So I would fail that. But I am going to pass the category because it did get a
sequel. Moving on. Test number four, the barrel roll test.
[21:00]
Do a barrel roll. Impressive, Star Fox. How impressive was this game for its time? Did it push
boundaries of technology, gameplay, graphics or innovation? I say on this one, it did. I have a few
things to say on this one that I thought were interesting features. It was something that I think
came up in the history lesson. If I remember, I may have actually left it out for sake of time so we
can talk about it more here. But one thing that it did that was really sort of notable is, you know,
the Hitman series
[21:30]
is very well known for disguises. You take someone out, you take their clothes and you go to pretend
to be them. But the first Hitman game didn’t come out until I think it was like 1999 or 2000. And so
this actually predates that by a year. In theory, it was supposed to predate it by another couple of
years before that. But you are able to take people’s clothes and do stuff. It’s got in the embassy.
There’s a part where you stick like smoke generator things like smoke bombs in the vents to make it
seem like there’s a fire. You get everyone to evacuate.
[22:00]
You go steal a fireman’s outfit and come back and try to evacuate people because now you’re there to
save the day. Like there’s a lot of really cool stuff like that. There was there’s a lot of changing
disguises, putting on masks like in the movie to become someone else. The way it’s animated is a
little strange. But you go through and do stuff like that. And then lastly, spoiler alert, there is
a part where you are no longer Ethan. You’re acting as a sniper covering Ethan while he tries to get
through a busy train station.
[22:30]
And in 007 First Light, which came out this year, you don’t do exactly that. But there is a part
where you’re sort of working through an area and you have someone who is a sniper covering you and
you sort of collaboratively you’re fighting people. And you say, hey, can you get that guy for me?
And I was like, dude, this is just like Mission Impossible. And it’s been years. So I think there
are a lot of really cool set pieces. Obviously, the dangling on wires and singeing your hair a
number of times thing. Also, there’s a lot of stuff in this game that was pretty unique.
[23:00]
And in some cases, I wouldn’t say revolutionary, but at least to some extent, innovative. I think
even today, there’s not a lot of games that pull necessarily those particular cards. And I think
that’s pretty cool. So I think I would go with a pass on this one. Yeah, no, you took the words
right out of my mouth. Those are all the points I was going to try and touch on as well, to be
honest with you. Hitman and Metal Gear Solid, I would say. What those games do later on in their
more successful franchises, I think were teased and
[23:30]
kind of hinted at with Mission Impossible here. And the game had its struggles, but the ambition was
definitely there. So it was innovative. And I think it would have been even more innovative had it
been given all of the opportunities to be developed the way that they were hoping to. But yeah, so
scale-wise and breaking up the missions in the way that they do, I think, it was different. At the
time, it was very much World 1, World 2, World 3 kind of thing, and the missions would be a mission
and be self-contained.
[24:00]
The fact that missions 1 through 4 kind of get bundled together and oftentimes exist in the same
spaces, but then 4 or 5 might be unique. That was cool. And as you mentioned, yeah, they do hit on
some of the key moments. The train scenes in particular were interesting. And then obviously the
hair singeing was cool. And just being able to take scenes from a recognizable movie and recreate
them in a playable way, arguably been done better and differently in other games before and after
this one, but get added to the pile as to how impressive this game was under the hood.
[24:30]
So I would agree. And I would say this is definitely more pass than fail. So I would pass this one
too. I agree. It is pretty wild to think that the game got delayed for so long because they had to
scale it down because they were so ambitious. It makes you wonder what would have come from the
development cycle if they were able to achieve all that. So I think that’s going to be a pass. Test
number five, joystick gymnastics test. Yeah. How well does this game play today?
[25:00]
Are the controls and cameras still enjoyable or are they working against the player? Uh, quickly.
No, they’re not enjoyable. They are not. Fail. Yeah, that last test we rambled for quite a while.
This one, the controls are not very good. Fail. I think that’s about it. Yeah. Yeah. It’s chonky.
It’s really chonky movement. It sucks when you have to navigate jumping over floor tiles and weird
random lava pits and, uh, acid pits in hallways. There’s a lot of like weirdly dangerous hallways in
these buildings.
[25:30]
And the gameplay is just not designed for any form of precise platforming. It’s, it’s really
annoying. You got explosive blocks, just like blocking hallway doors and stuff. It’s just, it’s just
weird. Some of the hazards in this game just seemingly were designed for a totally different move
set and it just doesn’t really make too much sense. And, you know, aiming is very forgiving, which I
think is, uh, is telling that they knew that they didn’t have a particularly good aiming system on
it. It’s much easier to just shoot from the hip or in some cases try and shoot from the hip and run
[26:00]
over and just start punching people. Cause apparently your fists are as powerful as bullets in this
game. Oh yeah. And it’s just, it’s just kind of clunky. I mean, it’s when you’re sneaking around and
you’re avoiding combat. Cool. I get that. That’s, that’s kind of one of the big points of this game
is something that they were trying to work towards as we know. But the whole gameplay around gunplay
is, is, is a miss. I will say that, um, switching items is interesting how they’ve tried to
accomplish it, but it’s pretty poorly mapped. I sat there trying to do the face mask swap over the
first guy for a long time.
[26:30]
I had to look up online a couple of times how to actually do it, read the answer and still couldn’t
fucking do it. So it was, it was, it was kind of annoying. I want to get the hang of it. You get the
hang of it, but it was, it was frustrating considering they make you do that as one of the first
things in the game. I imagine there were quite a few people that were gated from experiencing, uh,
the large majority of what made this game good. I mean, the whole first snow level is abysmal. The
fact that they stick you out in there before they let you get into the meat of the game, in my
opinion, um, is, is a shame.
[27:00]
And the joystick gymnastics is a good point, a good, a good opportunity to kind of talk to that is
that just this like clunky struggle that is the mechanics of how you control the game really
detracted from the whole thing. So for that reason, I would, I would give it a fail, but I will give
it one, uh, besides the ease of, uh, of, uh, shooting and the forgiveness that they give you in the
aiming. Um, they also do the body dragging for you in the few instances where you have to hide the
body. It just humorously jumps to a cut scene where you see the feet like sort of being dragged
[27:30]
around the edge of a table or chucked in a bathroom stall or whatever it might be. Um, and that’s
good because one of my least favorite things in video games is when you’re trying to loot a body or
move a body and you end up picking them up. And then it takes you 10 minutes to go through the set
them down animation cycle. And you’re getting shot at by others, whatever it is, Assassin’s Creed
games are notorious for this. Um, it’s very frustrating. So I like the fact that they just kind of
cut to the chase and they’re like, Hey, let’s just show this person comically being removed from
play, uh, only comes into, into play when
[28:00]
it’s a storyline beat. Everybody else just sort of magically raptures and evaporates once you kill
them. But, uh, you know, important bodies seem to, uh, get hidden. And, uh, that was one of the
things that I did like that they didn’t have to force me to have to do that on top of all of the
other annoying things I have to do just to give someone a note or an invitation or wear their mask.
I will say, I have one more point on this. It’s clear that you did not go to spy school because I
think the true hallmark of any good security posture is the treacherous hallway.
[28:30]
I think it’s, it’s kind of just a known industry sort of standard thing that if you need to have a
strong security posture, treacherous hallway is at the top of the list and explosive boxes are
probably not as high. They’re probably in the middle of somewhere, but, uh, yeah, the hallway that
just shows your ignorance to the spy craft, I think. So I, I have no counter argument to that. So
fail to you, but also fail to the category. It’s got aggressive.
[29:00]
Test number six, the bum to the base test. How good is this game’s audio? Does it have a memorable
music, iconic sound effects, or the kind of soundtrack that sticks with you long after you put the
controller down? Got an opinion on this one? I mean, I think we’ve already established that the
voice acting and stuff like that is not great, but the music is not bad. You know, obviously the,
uh, the mission impossible theme itself is pretty iconic and, and very well known. It famously names
the theme for mission impossible.
[29:30]
That’s the official name of it. That’s pretty good. By, uh, Lalo Schifrin. Schifrin? Schifrin, I
think. The theme for the TV show MASH is called like suicide is painless or something like it, like
it has like a theme or a name outside of that. But no, on this one, they were like, what should we
call this? I guess mission impossible, man. That’s sick. Let’s go with it. Like that’s, yeah, it’s
pretty crazy, but well, not even that let’s call it the theme from mission impossible. Very on the
nose. But yeah, I think a lot of the music during the levels and stuff is not bad either.
[30:00]
I think otherwise it’s serviceable sound effects and stuff aren’t the best, but the music is, is
pretty okay. So I think it’s, and, and, and again, based on the, just how totemic, uh, you know, it
is how, how big and how well known and recognizable immediately, even through mouth generated sound
effects, if you heard it at the end of the last episode, the mission impossible theme is, I think
that alone is, is probably worth it. Just the fact that they got it in there. They had the official
theme. They had the official license.
[30:30]
They did not have Tom Cruise. We’ll talk about that a little bit more in a minute, but yeah, I
think, I think overall it’s pretty good. I think I will pass it for the music. Yeah. Um, the, the
mission music repeats itself an awful lot and it’s not particularly impressive, but it does have the
theme for mission impossible in it. And that, you know, that was my ringtone for a couple of years
that I, like that’s iconic music. Everyone knows that. So I, it has to pass, I think. All right.
That’s a pass then. Test number seven, the smash invite test. Will this battler live up to
expectations?
[31:00]
Does this game have characters, worlds, music, or ideas worthy of a place in super smash brothers?
So this one is a bit tricky because Ethan Hunt is a legitimate contender from a mixed media
perspective, you know, kind of like solid snake was, uh, when he got added. But, um, the thing is
that the nomination has to be from this game. And I think the Ethan Hunt from this game, uh, would
not really be the appearance that would make it into smash. And I can’t really say that that’s a
winner as far as getting the nod.
[31:30]
Um, Tom Cruise. Uh, yeah. If you get Tom Cruise in the game, I think he should make it into smash. I
think that’d be cool. You know, you have his super fast running powers and his weird Scientology
mind manipulation moves and stuff like that. Maybe have a Maverick, Maverick, uh, Top Gun jet
fighter, final smash, or maybe just a sweet volleyball montage. I’m not sure. All about that. I’d
say if he would put his likeness in the game, go for it. We know that’s not going to happen. But,
uh, this version of the weird blocky headed sounds like an old man protagonist that
[32:00]
is apparently Ethan Hunt, uh, and the assorted cast members that go along with him, the levels. I
just, I don’t think that there’s really, uh, any chance that any of this could be put into the, put
into this game. Uh, you mentioned it already, actually. Um, what was the scenario with Tom Cruise?
Like specifically not wanting his likeness in this game? Yeah. I don’t know if it’s necessarily what
the reasoning is, but he is, I guess, famously always asked that his likeness not be used in games.
So there have been Top Gun games.
[32:30]
There’s been a minority report game. There’s been a days of thunder game and he did not appear in
any of those. If his character did it, it would either have his name and not look like him, or it
would just have a different name. It was just in that universe. And I don’t know. I think some of it
could be, I don’t know. I wouldn’t necessarily want to see myself getting killed in a game. I
wouldn’t want to be in Fortnite where it’s like the whole point is run around and get killed. But I
guess if they pay you enough, plenty of people have done it. Shout out to Eminem, Ariana Grande and
some of these folks.
[33:00]
But there’s something about it that he does not agree to that. And so to this day, he has still
never been in a game, even with some of those movies being well over 40 years old. So he says no.
And so I agree with, with you that if it were Tom Cruise in the game would be pretty cool. But here
it’s not. And that could be partially why there’s no sequels as well. And I think maybe some of it
too is if he’s in a movie and it’s good and the game is bad, people may associate the two together.
Like, well, the movie can’t be that good because the movie’s bad or the game is bad or something.
[33:30]
I don’t know. But yeah, fair enough. Yeah. I think the only other thing we have mentioned is that
the music is pretty good. But I don’t know that the music alone necessarily, it’s good, but it does
its own thing. I mean, honestly, it’s great, but it’s not something that necessarily fits for Smash.
So we touched on the music earlier, and I think the music is a standout point to this. But the music
isn’t from this game. The game has that music in it. I can see the Mission Impossible theme being a
cool thing to be added into Smash Brothers. But at that point, you might as well put the James Bond
theme in Jaws and all of that
[34:00]
because you’re not really paying homage to a specific game. You’re just doing pop culture music for
media and movies. So I would agree. I think this one is still a fail. That’s a good point. That’s a
good way of putting it, that it is not that the music from the game is what gets featured. It’s the
music of the property that happens to be in the game. That doesn’t really fit in the same way. I
think that’s a, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. So I’m going to also go fail. We already
gave him the point on the audio because of the music. I don’t think we can give him two points for
that one.
[34:30]
So this is all you get, Tom. Sorry, that’s a fail. Test number eight, the 101% test. Oh, they are
running up the score. Is this game worth fully completing? Are there extra challenges, collectibles,
and secrets worth the effort? So this one was weird because the plot of the movie, you’ve already
mentioned that the game kind of deviates from the main plot beats to flesh out the full game and
some things it recreates and some things it retells, some things it kind of just skips.
[35:00]
But the main plot ends and then you get like another mission back in the snow that kind of mirrors
all of the worst parts of the initial setting just to kind of throw together some cool action set
pieces. They just seem to like want to get these all at the end. So there’s this cool night vision
on top of a moving vehicle section. There’s a gun turret on top of a gun ship. And that’s cool and
all, but it’s just it’s really disjointed. So at the end of all that, you just get this really weak
finishing cinematic where you and
[35:30]
your low poly lady friend get a smoochy kiss on top of a submarine. And that’s that’s pretty much
the cut scene that you get. Besides that, you do unlock this retread where you get to go back into
the mansion area mission and you get to kind of walk around this bonus area where all of the NPCs
are representative people from the development team. So you can just walk up to them and they’ve got
like awkward textured faces on them that
[36:00]
supposedly represent the very boxy faces of the people that worked on this game. And you can just go
up to them and they have some sort of inside joke that clearly makes sense to them or they find
hilarious, but you just feel totally on the outside of as you’re walking around and they just say,
you know, I’m the programmer. I do this. And I don’t know. It’s extremely self-indulgent and
definitely more rewarding for the development team than it is for someone who just slogged all the
way through Mission Impossible, in my opinion. But that said, as an amateur indie developer myself,
I think it’s a great idea.
[36:30]
And I would love to put myself in the end of my own video game. And, you know, joking aside, it
could be a really cool way to incorporate people like Kickstarter backers, for example, or extended
audience folk. I don’t know if you need to force it into the game the same way that they kind of ham
fisted it into the end of Mission Impossible. But, you know, it’s a notable addition. So I think
it’s cool that they did that. I don’t know how well they executed it, especially after the crappy
cut scene beforehand. They try to then one-up that by having another smoochy kiss in the hallway of
the mansion,
[37:00]
at which point all of the programmers and developers stand around and clap for you while you smoochy
kiss for what seems like five minutes. I don’t know why it lasts as long as it does. And there’s,
like, confetti and everything. And that’s the ending. You just watch them do it again. So that part
was weird. But despite all of the idiosyncrasies of the ending and the weird timing, I am going to
just, I’m going to go with a pass on this one.
[37:30]
Okay. Yeah, I do agree. I think I always admire the amount of work that people put into making
games. I think that’s really cool. So to kind of take this little moment of self-indulgence, it is
kind of a funny sort of, a little bit of maybe self-aggrandizing thing. But I do think it is cool.
One thing I think is kind of funny, too, is that the difficulty levels of the game are possible and
impossible instead of, like, easy and hard. I think that’s kind of funny.
[38:00]
And so if you go through it, you beat the whole game, you get through it, you do it on impossible
and all this other good stuff. I don’t know that it’s worth it, but I do think that it’s kind of
cool. You don’t see a lot of games do that, where they put themselves front and center and they have
the quirky piano music playing while you walk around in this embassy. So it’s a little weird, but I
do think it’s funny enough. And if you do happen to see it, you’re like, I wasn’t expecting that at
all. It’s kind of like in the first Lego Star Wars game where you collect absolutely everything,
[38:30]
but it’s based on the prequel trilogy. And then when you get it, you get, like, another small
section that’s based around the original trilogy. And it’s like, that’s kind of cool that I did
that. Yeah, I remember that. So I think it is an unusual pass, but I think I will also give it a
pass. So let’s call that a pass. Okay. Test number nine, Wario’s Wallet. Oh my God! Is this game
worth the price of admission today? If you’re spending modern collector money,
[39:00]
are you getting your money’s worth? So according to price charting, the loose price for this is a
very reasonable $5.62 US and a complete in the box with manual. You’re looking at $37.88. So quite a
jump up if you want to get that. But if you’re looking for a clean eBay cart, you’re looking at
about $8.10 bucks plus your shipping. That’s, to me, an easy pass. This game is not available on any
other services. There’s no other way to play this. You can play the PlayStation version of it if you
want to.
[39:30]
But as far as collecting games for a Nintendo 64, that price point, it’s kind of a no-brainer. I
think it’s worth doing. I think the value is there. The game, for all of its faults, isn’t one that
I necessarily can say that I strongly recommend. But from a collector perspective, there’s a very
low barrier of entry. And I think this is an affordable addition more than it is a worthwhile play.
Yeah, and I think I agree with that. It is, like you said, there’s nowhere else to play it. If you
want to play it, it’s pretty inexpensive.
[40:00]
I mean, you can’t even get a burger at a fast food place for $5 or $6 anymore. It does look like the
PlayStation version is right around the same as far as value goes. I just looked it up on price
chart. It looks like it’s in the $5.99 or so range. So probably within a dollar or two of this. Even
if you absolutely hate it, it’s only $5 or $6 or maybe $10 to $12 by the time you have it shipped
and everything. And I don’t think that’s unreasonable. And if it is something where you are seeking
out,
[40:30]
you are collecting the game, it’s a very small ask to have something else in your collection. So I
think that’s, I’d say it’s a pass. Yeah, it’s important to know that both Adam and I do collect
games. And we probably have a pretty big library of games that we grab and pick up with the intent
to play and then we don’t actually get around to it. So take that with a grain of salt, but it’s a
$5.62 grain of salt. That’s true. I’ve got some absolutely awful games for the PS3, but I’ve got
like 150 something games and I’m like, this is terrible, but I have it and no one else does.
[41:00]
So why not? Wow, yeah. So yeah, I would say pass. I think I’ve got like five PS3 games. So that’s
impressive. Well, you have 300 or 200 and something in 64 games. So we’ll meet in the middle
somewhere. Yeah, but one of them is Mission Impossible, which is not doing very well on the score
chart right now. So I don’t know how impressive that collection is either. But only a scant less
than $10. There you go. There you go. So pass. Test number 10. The last one here is the Nostalgia
Goggles test.
[41:30]
Does this game genuinely hold up today or is its reputation being carried by nostalgia? So Adam,
this one was your suggestion. This was your game that you’d played. Where do you fall on this?
Because I think it does not necessarily rest on nostalgia a good bit. I kind of like the music. The
admiration for the property and the franchise as a whole
[42:00]
is greater than for this game specifically. So I don’t think that the game holds up particularly
well, though I did enjoy it as a kid. And playing it now, I’m like, oh, I remember this. But it
wasn’t like, I remember this because of how much I loved it. It’s just kind of like, it’s not the
worst game I’ve ever played, but it isn’t very good. And I don’t think there’s a lot of people even
enjoying it a good bit as a kid. I don’t look back fondly and go, that’s one of my favorite games
I’ve ever played. So I think that it is not necessarily propped up by a great deal of nostalgia.
[42:30]
Like we said earlier, there are probably people out there, it’s been so long that they go, I kind of
wish Mission Impossible had a game because they may not even realize that it had one. So it does not
have a great deal of collective memory and admiration around it to the level that the movies or the
TV show might. Yeah, yeah. I’m going to just default and follow along with you there because I
didn’t have the nostalgia going for it. But I will say that I had not heard anything favorable about
this game in the years since.
[43:00]
So I think as far as it being in the zeitgeist, I don’t think it has a big reputation that’s held
up. And I don’t think it’s really talked about from a nostalgic perspective. It does do some pretty
cool, you know, nods to other things in there. I mean, like we said, it recreates some of the scenes
from the movie really well and you could be nostalgic for that movie. But I guarantee you, you’re
much more likely to be like, hey, you know what? I feel like watching Mission Impossible more than
you would feel like, hey, you know what? I want to dust off my copy of Mission Impossible. Sure,
yeah. So I think what you’re saying is,
[43:30]
is the fondness for the franchise and the movie more than this game’s actual execution. Another
thing that they did that they recreated that I loved made me laugh out loud. We didn’t get a chance
to mention it earlier, so I’m just going to chuck it in now. The Han Solo chasing the stormtrooper
scene. Again, in one of their hazardous hallways that they have in this game, you chase after a
trooper because you’re able to shoot them pretty easily. You jump over some awkward puzzle and you
shoot the guy and move on to the next one. You do this a couple of times. You get to this guy and
you don’t get to shoot him.
[44:00]
He just runs away. So then you just start chasing him down this hallway. You chase him around a
corner, you chase him around a corner, and then you get around the corner and he’s turned around and
there’s four dudes behind him and they’re all shooting at you. I’m like, oh, they did the Han Solo
thing, like in the Death Star hallway. So I did appreciate that. And that may be nostalgic for other
things, but yeah, I can’t, I mean, I never played this game before, so I can’t say I’m nostalgic for
it. And I, you know, with the exception of you suggesting me play this, I don’t know if it would
have come back around in my life
[44:30]
should I not have become a amateur podcast attempt to a collector. Sure. Well, and I think, you
know, if we weren’t planning on playing every game, I don’t know that it’s one we would have
revisited, but our goal here is to hit the majority of them. So it was going to come up eventually.
And I do think that that is, you know, not to pull another thing from Tom Cruise, but it’s like
people are more excited about the Top Gun movie than they would be any of the games that have come
out. And there haven’t been very many. People are going to be more excited about the Days of Thunder
movie
[45:00]
than they are the game. And I think it’s the same thing here. There’s some really good, exciting
movies to watch. There’s a game that isn’t quite as exciting. And some of that is the nature of
video games. You know, most people, if it hasn’t been updated, you have to go dig out some piece of
hardware or buy some new piece of hardware to play it in a modern sense. It’s not going to resonate
in the same way, but there are games that people will go out of their way to find, and this is not
going to be one of them. All right. With that all said and all categories completed, what’s the
final score for Mission Impossible?
[45:30]
Surprisingly, for as many things as we said about it that were not favorable, it got a 50. Okay. So
not terrible. And I don’t even think the worst that we’ve seen. But it is not real close, but…
Still shy of being certified 64. Yeah, I just… I mean, the price is right, and the franchise is
cool, but is this an essential element to any Nintendo 64 library? I would argue no. It’s not going
to get the knob.
[46:00]
Not… Yeah, not likely. Cool. All right. Well, there you go. So 50, not quite, certified 64. So
what do you think this game could do to get over the line? What do you think they could have added,
or what would you change with a little bit of armchair engineering to get it that extra couple of
points it would need to become what we would consider certified 64? One, get Tom Cruise, I guess.
And also, I would have liked to have seen sequels.
[46:30]
I know that doesn’t affect this game specifically, but I really like Mission Impossible 2. 3 is
very, you know, very well respected for how good it is. I think sequels would have been great if
maybe someone gave it a chance. But I think based on things that could have realistically happened,
there was a good bit of ambition. We mentioned a couple of times. I appreciate the amount of effort
that went into this game. For it to still come out and have some amount of innovation, it leads you
to very much wonder what else could have been there. So if there was some way they could have either
gotten a larger capacity cart to get more sound
[47:00]
or get more, you know, graphical assets and stuff into it, I would have liked to have seen how it
would have turned out because it may have been a pretty impressive thing by the time it was done.
Yeah. No, yeah, it definitely got a bit of a bad shake. But had it got a chance to be what it was
originally intended, I think we’d be having a very different conversation. One thing that they could
add to it, and this is just me riffing on it, the mask swap animation, you touched on it before.
It’s weird looking.
[47:30]
So, like, when you change masks in this game, which is obviously based off of the movie where they
would have these realistic masks where Ethan would be able to portray different people. In the game,
when you change into this mask, you kind of just, like, weirdly move your hands around your face,
and then you slowly fade into another, like, polyagonal, why is that word hard for me, model, or
retexture. And, like, your clothes change as well. So he does this, like, weird kind of, like, dance
maneuver thing with a camera on his face with a slow crossfade,
[48:00]
and it’s really weird. It looks like he’s shampooing his hair. So, like, if they added some, like,
sexy saxophone music in the background or, like, a Vidal Sassoon logo in the bottom corner, I think
that would be a pretty good addition. That’s obviously a dumb ask, but I would get excited about it.
And then the other thing is Jean Reno’s character. Jean Reno was always my favorite part of that
first movie. I love that guy. I think he’s amazing. His character was mentioned in a cutscene, but
he doesn’t feature. He’s the guy piloting the helicopter
[48:30]
in the final train mission. Well, the not final train mission, because this game decides that a
final boat mission needs to be the final mission. And he was just, like, totally cut from the game,
and that’s a shame. So if they had him back in there, I would have been happier to see some more
characters that I recognized, because that guy rules. But, yeah, that’s a shame. So put him in the
game with some sexy saxophone shampoo, and this would be a 10 out of 10 for me. It is kind of weird,
because it’s such a thing in the movie that’s like, oh, wow, that’s so cool. And they’ve, you know,
obviously stuck to it
[49:00]
a handful of times throughout the rest of the movies. That it is a very poorly presented thing that
they… It’s really poorly done. Considering it’s, like, the main gimmick, it’s pretty rough. Right,
because it is such, like, a main component of what they do. Like, they shoehorn it in, like, many
times. Like, in the first, I don’t know, probably three or four levels, you do it multiple times.
And so it’s just kind of like this never-ending thing where it’s like, if it’s going to look so
awkward, or if you’re going to do it that much, you’ve got to make it look a little more… Or just,
you hide a body with just a fade to black
[49:30]
and come back up. Let’s just do that again. I just, it disappears, I come back, and I’m a different
guy instead of the awkward, what is it, herbal essentials or whatever, where the ladies, like, moan
in the shower. Yeah, pretty much. And then, like, one of the missions, you disguise yourself as a
firefighter. So, like, why not just have him go off screen and then come back out wearing the
firefighter outfit? But no, he does this weird Herbal Essence commercial, and then, like, a helmet
with visor materializes around your face. It’s just, it’s really weird. Yeah, it’s not even a mask
at that point. It’s like, you just literally morph
[50:00]
into completely different clothes. And it’s like, I don’t think that’s how that happens, even with
technology. Yeah, so that’s a bit of a miss, and I think that that would have been an opportunity to
improve the game. Whether or not that would have made the whole thing certified 64, I don’t know.
But, yeah, room for improvement. Sure. So, moving on, let’s go into the Lobo Learnings section. In
this segment, we take a look at today’s game through the eyes of an indie developer, or an aspiring
indie developer. That’s me. What lessons can we learn from this game decades later?
[50:30]
What ideas are worth borrowing? What mistakes are worth avoiding? What made this game work? And how
might these same principles apply to modern game development? Lobo Learnings is brought to you by
Lobo Destroyer, which is our own Nintendo 64-inspired 3D platforming adventure currently in
development. If you’re enjoying the podcast and you’re a fan of the Nintendo 64, please consider
giving us a look up. You can find us over at lobodestroyo.com. That’s L-O-B-O-D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-O dot
com. And because that’s ridiculous and hard to spell,
[51:00]
all of these links will also be in the show notes. So, yeah, looking at this game from the
perspective of someone who’s trying to make a game today, it was actually a little bit reassuring to
see how the longer development time struggles and the moving targets affect even a legitimate
professional team like this. And it makes it exponentially harder to deliver a game the longer your
development cycle takes. So if you hit technology snafus or shifts or expectations change
[51:30]
or funding issues or whatever it might be, other games can beat you to the market, which we
absolutely saw with Goldeneye on this one. So then you have to rethink things on that front. And,
you know, this is all stuff that has happened to Lobodestroyo multiple times. So I take a quantum of
solace, har har, knowing that this happens to other franchises and other teams as well and has been
happening for nigh on 30 years now. So I don’t know if it’s something I’m necessarily learning from
this, but it does make me feel a little bit better
[52:00]
about my own shortcomings. That is definitely, I could see that being a reassurance that even the
big guys miss sometimes. And so it’s good to know that them hitting those same delays with dozens of
times the resources you have means that it’s not just you, you know, and that’s definitely a, puts a
positive spin on things. That’s a very nice thing to say. But I mean, we obviously have much more on
our side as far as technology goes now. You can do a lot more with a lot less people
[52:30]
because there’s just so many more tools and resources available. So I can’t pat myself on the back
too much, but it is interesting to see that these struggles show up over time in different
capacities than they have historically, and they’ll continue to do so. So that’s something that I’ve
become acutely aware of since starting on working on Lobo Destroyer. Yeah, and for anyone who wants
to go look, check out the catalog of Ocean Software because they really did put out, and they didn’t
always develop, sometimes they develop, sometimes they publish, but they had a very large number
[53:00]
of very large name, movie, and TV show-based games. So it’s pretty surprising to see the licenses
they were given. So yeah, it’s definitely quite the catalog. All right, well, that’s the end of it
for this episode. I’m not all that shocked at the final results, having just played this new and
recent as someone that doesn’t really have a fondness for the game from its original release. But
I’m glad I got to play it,
[53:30]
and this was a good, this is kind of what this podcast is all about and what the collection for me
is all about as well. It’s making me play things and appreciate things that I wouldn’t have
otherwise given the time of day to. And yeah, so thank you for suggesting this one. I will try and
repay the favor and pick an equally good game for you to have to struggle through, maybe with better
controls. We’ll see when it comes to my turn. Well, at some point we’re going to pick them all, but
I guess depending on how you’re feeling a certain week or certain day, you can pick something a
little more punishing
[54:00]
to get back at me. So I guess we’ll see how that goes. Yeah, we will. All right, thanks guys,
appreciate it. We’ll see you in the next one. The Cartridge Archive was created by Jamie Guy and is
produced and hosted by Jamie Guy and Adam Jones. Our music is by the mysterious Breakmaster
Cylinder. Visit thecartridgearchive.com for more information or join our Discord. You can find links
to both of those at tap2ad.me slash TCA pod. That’s tap the number to add.me slash TCA pod. You’ll
find that and all of our other links
[54:30]
in the show notes. More episodes of The Cartridge Archive are available wherever you get your
podcasts. And as always, thanks for listening. Then there’s no time to waste.