6. Diddy Kong Racing (N64)

Diddy Kong Racing did for Mario Kart 64 pretty much what Banjo-Kazooie would soon do for Super Mario 64; namely, take the template put down by Nintendo and expand on it with colour and creativity to produce far more than a mere homage. DKR expanded the single-player into an adventure and the addition of planes and hovercraft required much larger, more complex circuits to race around. The game also provided the console debuts of Banjo and Conker. What more do you want, jam on it?

5. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Rare's first foray into the world of DK and his cronies. Despite the visuals not wowing like they did back in 1994, the template put down in Donkey Kong Country would influence every DK title to come. The redesigned DK looked brilliant, the music was incredible, and every aspect of the game demonstrated a stunning attention to detail. While not quite as polished as you remember, DKC is still a classic that should be tracked down and played — which is much easier now that it's included as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Super NES offering.

4. Perfect Dark (N64)

An incredible follow-up to GoldenEye which threw in every idea the developers at Rare could muster (plus a kitchen sink or two), Perfect Dark really stretched the Nintendo 64 hardware and was arguably the most ambitious game on the console. James Bond was never going to be an easy act to follow, but Joanna Dark's noir-ish sci-fi was as good a spiritual sequel as you could hope to have — close to perfect, in fact — and two decades on, it still stands as a remarkable achievement.

3. Banjo-Kazooie (N64)

Rareware put out several platformers on Nintendo 64, each with their own pros and cons, but the Twycross team arguably never topped the debut of the bear and bird. There's something in the precise platforming and fairytale formula of Banjo-Kazooie that resulted in the quintessential 3D collectathon. It's big, but not sprawling; sweet, but not sickly; challenging, but never unfair (okay, a couple of those Rusty Bucket Bay jiggys walk a fine line). From the roaming grublins to Mumbo Jumbo's hilarious transformations, its colourful characters and varied worlds are shot through with humour, adorable animation, tight controls and an 'oom-pah' musical box soundtrack that nails the spirit of a cheeky storybook adventure perfectly.

Mario 64 might have the edge when it comes to prestige, invention and influence — that's the 3D platformer you vote for with your head — but Banjo steals hearts. An absolutely brilliant game.

2. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (not Diddy Kong's Quest) is a beautiful secret-filled game with a gorgeous soundtrack that helps create an atmosphere that sticks in the memory. You end up returning to this simply to enjoy your surroundings and have 'that feeling' again. We've found this to be a feature of many Rare games and the second SNES entry in the DKC series is a prime example. Debate will rage as to which of DKC games is best, but this is up there with the very, very best.

1. GoldenEye 007 (N64)

The best movie tie-in ever made? Not only was Rare's game (which has finally broken out of its Nintendo 64-shaped cell onto Switch and Xbox) hugely influential on the console FPS genre, but it also gave N64 owners a proper 'adult' experience to sink their teeth into. At a time when PlayStation was too cool for school, GoldenEye 007 provided some real ammo in the console wars, and its four-player deathmatches — remarkably, a last-minute addition before the game went gold — led to some of the best multiplayer memories we have, for any system. You Only Live Twice>Bunker>Power Weapons? How about Licence to Kill>Facility>Pistols?

We're easy, but whatever you do, make sure you've got 'Sight ON Auto-Aim OFF'. And no Odd Job.