Interviews are CC BY-SA 4.0
Towards the end of 2020, I participated in the N64Brew Game Jam. All of the participants ended up producing original homebrew for the Nintendo 64. Each entry had its own character, plus it was a lot of fun to play everyone's work. Quite a few of us also had enjoyed the Nintendo 64 in our formative years, so it was neat to revisit the console as adults.
What I found interesting though, was the history of people doing Nintendo 64 homebrew decades before us. It's not too hard to find those old ROMs and demos, but it's not always easy to get a sense of the stories behind them. I wanted to ask the creators of those projects what their experiences were like. Their works seemed mysterious by internet standards; like artifacts of an ancient civilization.
Given that everyone's releatively still active on the N64Brew Discord server, I figure I'd try to document the stories behind the entries today. My hope is that you'll be able to understand the experiences of the people making these games. They're each a gem in their own way, and I don't want that to be lost to time.
64noid by gamemasterplc
Big Burger by Allie
Castle64 by manfried
JUIC'N 64 by kivan117
Kumi-Daiko Beatoff 64 by Samuli, Routalanttu, Petteri, and RufioV
Lunar Assault 64 by danielface
Retro Dash by SpiritOf1776
Sblobber64 by vrgl117 and Isabel
Shrunk in the Wash? Just add water! by joeldipops
Tecto by InTheBeef and Wiseguy
Telocation Gemini by lambertjamesd, jtn191, and Cobra!
Test 3rd Person Demo by Wademalone and Geist
The Swoop 64 by Zest, miluaces, Catonator, and arookas
Thornmarked by Vanadium and wallmasterr
Website by Daniel Savage
Interviews are CC BY-SA 4.0