Nintendo has stunned fans and press alike with the announcement that Jet Force Gemini will be added to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack next month.
Is Jet Force Gemini a good game? Oh yes it is. Does that mean you would want to play it? Well, it certainly depends. But allow me to explain.
Releasing at the same year as Donkey Kong 64, Rare also made some choices that makes Jet Force Gemini tedious to play, but it isn’t as bad. While it doesn’t have anything as close to Donkey Kong 64’s over 3,000 collectibles, it will require that you find and save all Tribals to finish the game.
The eponymous team of heroes, Juno, Vela, and Lupus, are fighting an insectoid army tasked with saving the Tribals from their enslavement. Gemini has to explore 15 worlds to find ship parts and these Tribals to win, but here’s the thing.
The Tribals can die, especially since the insect aliens will try to kill them. So it’s not enough to find them to rescue them, you will have to kill any enemies around you and make sure to get to that Tribal. To add to the frustration, you cannot finish the game if you let a Tribal die, so if it happens you have to start over the whole level you were on from scratch.
Jet Force Gemini is a difficult game too, with a different control scheme from modern games for its shooting action. Lest I be accused of downplaying this game completely, it also happens to be one of Rare’s finest games, and a great crossover between their collect-a-thon action platformers and their first-person-shooters.
Nintendo 64 era Rare had that rare talent of balancing their games’ addictive and frustrating qualities. The game (in theory) should be frustrating enough to make you want to try harder, but not so much that you should quit.
Now, not everyone agrees that Jet Force Gemini is a great game, and it definitely isn’t talked about with as much nostalgia as Banzo Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day. But even Rare’s less good games on the Nintendo 64 is better than many fair to average games today.
Jet Force Gemini was also part of Rare Replay, but this will be the first time that it sees rerelease on a Nintendo platform. This original Nintendo 64 version also boasts Dolby Surround and widescreen support, features which will be interesting to see carry over into this Switch Online release.
So yes, you may want to give Jet Force Gemini at least a curious try when it is published on Switch Online via the Nintendo 64 app. It may not be a fun experience for you personally, but it should prove to be an interesting one for just about anyone.
