This old N64 game looks pretty good, except for the inventory screen which is completely black or corrupted depending on which video plugin you pick. Probably something to do with 2D moving backgrounds, if the screen looks anything like in the Gamecube version.
There is a lot of complicated looking stuff in the cfg file that I have not touched. Anyone play this game and get it working better?
I personally own the Japanese N64 version, and have played it on my Pandora as well. I've used the English patch once before, but it wasn't all translated, and I found it awkward to have some stuff English, some not, so I simply went with the original version. As far as playing on the Pandora goes...I used just about all of the default plugins, without changing the config at all, and the menu is indeed messed up in all of them. One of them I used (I can't recall which one, sorry...) did actually show the items and the cursor, they just looked glitchy, and worse yet, when using that plugin, the framerate drops dramatically, although you might be able to get away with it if you overclock on a 1GHz Pandora. What I did though, was simply memorize the names, and locations of my items, while keeping in mind the size of my inventory being a 5x3 square. What's also important to keep in mind, is that when selling items in たぬきさ (Tom Nook's) shop, the cursor goes to the first item available by default. Here's an image of the menu for comparison's sake:
(<-- P.S. the little pencil on the left side isn't there in the N64 version.)
If you've never played the original before though, and especially if you can't read Japanese, I
highly recommend you playing the Gamecube version instead on Dolphin, or some other means. It is indeed a port of the N64 version, (so much so, that when you run the disc, it actually loads the ENTIRE N64 game into the Gamecube's RAM, so you can actually take the disc out once it boots up) except with enhanced features, including a museum, tailor, mayor, island accessable with a GBA, and more. I have a TON of nostalgia for the first game, so if you have any questions on how to play, PM me and I'll be sure to help you out. The hardest part is getting through Tom Nook's jobs at the beginning, after that, the game really begins.
...Oh, and as far as "strange, unstructured, open-ended" kind of games from that era, I know quite a few actually, it's kind of an odd hobby of mine to play strange games, (
especially from that era) ones that I would look for are:
N64:
Mystical Ninja series, (one is a Zelda-type 3D adventure, the other is a 2.5D platformer)
Sin and Punishement (an early rail shooter, also, Japan only, but there's an English patch online)
GC:
Cubivore, (play as a cube-carnivore that devours everything in sight in a surprisingly disturbing manner. Technically an N64 port, but it never actually came out for N64...)
Doshin the Giant, (Nintendo's version of a God Sim. Help your villagers, or destroy them, it's up to you. N64DD port. PAL only)
Giftpia, (same makers as Chibi Robo and Captain rainbow. Give gifts to villagers and try to help them out. It's a...very strange game...Japan only (There
is an English text translation online though!))
Homeland, (one of the few online GC games. (And the
only to use the little known build-in GC online setup menu!) It's still playable online in fact due to custom servers. I've been online a couple times myself. Also, Japan only)
And that's all I can think of for now, it's a start at least!
