Best Graphics
1		Donkey Kong 64 (N64) By Nintendo / Rare
2		Jet Force Gemini (N64) By Rare
3		World Driver Championship (N64) By Midway / Boss Game Studios
Best Control
1		Mario Golf (N64) By Nintendo / Camelot
2		Super Smash Bros. (N64) By Nintendo / Hal
3		Jet Force Gemini (N64) By Rare
Best Design
1		Jet Force Gemini (N64) By Rare
2		Harvest Moon 64 (N64) By Natsume / Toy Box
3		Pokémon Snap (N64) By Nintendo / GameFreak / Hal
Most Fun
1		Donkey Kong 64 (N64) By Nintendo / Rare
2		Harvest Moon 64 (N64) By Natsume / Toy Box
3		Jet Force Gemini (N64) By Rare
Best Sound
1		Jet Force Gemini (N64) By Rare
2		Donkey Kong 64 (N64) By Nintendo / Rare
3		Shadow Man (N64) By Acclaim

Although graphics, for the past few decades, has been a small part of a video game, recently (through modern technology) a game's graphics is an important part, at least in making a game seem realistic. Animation, photo-realistic backgrounds, and cinema scenes are some of the things that make newer game graphics better. Many more N64 games used the 4MB Expansion Pak last year. In fact, Donkey Kong 64 requires the use of the 4MB Pak, because of its hi-res graphics. But some other games did not need the 4MB Pak to show off some impressive graphics, like Jet Force Gemini, Resident Evil 2, and World Driver Championship. ACM-rendered games are starting to die out. Back in the mid 90's there were tons of them (DKC 1-3, DKL 1-3, Killer Instinct, Super Mario RPG, etc.), but in 1999 there was only one: Mario Party. Game Boy Color games are going very strong, and the graphics of the games are even stronger. You'll probably be seeing 3-D games on Game Boy Color soon, like Resident Evil. Control is important when playing action or sports games. Players would most likely want what they do on their controllers to happen on the screen. Mega Man and Super Mario games have always had excellent play control. In 1999, games such as Mario Golf, The New Tetris, Super Smash Bros., and Donkey Kong 64 were among the games with the best play control. Check what readers of KNP voted as the Top 3 games for best play control to the left. The design of a game includes the following: Story, Plot, Challenge, Diversity of Levels, and Length of the Game. These are perhaps the most important parts of a video game. Check to the right to see what 1999 games made the Top 3 for Best Design. Next to design of a game, fun is probably something a lot of gamers are looking for. There were a lot of fun games last year, but only the three best are shown here. Like graphics, sound has been sort of ignored as a major part of a video game, but recently that's not true. Games like Jet Force Gemini have beautiful background music. You know the DK Rap song on Donkey Kong 64? You wouldn't have seen that a few years ago. Even Game Boy games have gotten better sound, with all the new possibilities of the Game Boy Color.

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