A futuristic racing game, on the same lines of Wipeout, F-Zero and Extreme-G. N64 gave AeroGauge an abysmal score of 10% so I was expecting something especially dreadful from it, but I kind of enjoy it. There are some ways where it’s near enough broken and, like many N64 racers, is light on content, but this is close to being a good game.

AeroGauge does have some extreme problems. The AI players are the biggest one due to how they’re essentially “perfect”, from all of them pulling off the boost start to just all doing the perfect route throughout the level. One slight mistake and you’ll spend the whole race in last place.

The boost start itself is needlessly complicated (hold A+B before the race starts, let go of B when “go” is said) as well as the in-race boosts (hold Z+A, drift turn, then let go of Z+A and press A), both feeling like cheat codes more than part of the game. These issues fundamentally break playing against the computer.

However, the racing itself is just a lot of fun. You don’t drive or hover, you fly through the levels. This separates it from the other sci-fi racing games, and the game managed to be quite exhilarating, even in the fairly pointless time trial qualifying rounds before each race.

Oh, and one of the unlockable vehicles is a Nintendo 64 controller, which is a really neat touch – especially as the analogue stick moves as you tilt it.

AeroGauge definitely has major issues, but there are some neat ideas here and it really needed a bit more development time.

Fun

Foul graphics; cheating computer opponents that zoom away right from the word ‘go’; a tedious race structure, requiring you to pre-qualify for a pointless grid position; four of the most banal, confusing and badly designed tracks we have ever seen… We could go on. Aero Gauge is truly a game beyond redemption.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #17. Review Score: 10%

Remake or Remaster?

I would like to see another attempt at this. Fix the AI issues to make them more like real people, sort out the various boosts and some more tracks.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play AeroGauge