Review #587: Nintendo 64 Memories: Dark Rift

 The darkest rift isn't bad enough for this one.

Part 1: The Flashback
 Dark Rift was one of the first games I rented and one of the first I purchased. Alright, so I was a dumb kid and I loved fighting games, so of course, I loved this game. I don't have many memories of me actually playing this game with other people, but my father was probably one of its many victims, since he'd be forced to play crappy N64 fighting games with me.
 On the other hand, I know for a fact that I played this game by my lonesome a ton of times, and I used to main Zenmuron, I mean, what kid doesn't love edgy robot ninjas?
 ...he was still my go-to guy this time around though.

Part 2: Today
 Fun fact: This is the second game in the 'Trilogy of Terror' I've played for my blog! The fist one being Cardinal Syn. Fun fact two: There's a reason this game is part of the Trilogy of Terror. Dark Rift simply isn't very good... although it's probably not as bad as you've been led to believe.

 The C-buttons are used for Kick, Horizontal Attack, Vertical Attack and Blocking, the L and R buttons are your sidesteps, B is your grab button and A is your... special button? Holding A and moving the directional pad in certain motions performs special moves, but characters have, at most, two A button attacks, most have a single one, which makes me wonder just why this was needed. Why not have the projectile attack as the A button and have a few characters have a second A attack by tapping it while moving or something? Attack strings are surprisingly smooth, but moving around feels very clunky.

 There're 10 different characters(Counting the secret bosses), and something I found rather neat back then, and still did today, was how your character's look depended on whether you were the first or second player. Being allowed to choose between each costume would've been, probably, a better idea, but I thought it was a neat touch then and I still think so today. Kinda. The music has a mixture of a few really GOOD song and a lot of very bland tunes. Regardless of which song you get, none of them fit a fighting game, which is kinda hilarious. The game is a bit light on modes too, all you get is an Arcade ladder, VS Player and Practice.

 Dark Rift is a button masher through and through, with very little content and very little depth to be found. That said, I think it can be fun for a few minutes if you can turn your brain off and enjoy a simple battle of weirdos, because, honestly, characters have very different and weird designs, and attack animations are surprisingly smooth, for the most part.
 3.5 out of 10