This may be hard for some of you to believe, but I just got my very first N64 the other day. I picked up some systems at a yard sale. A beat up super, an old style playstation with lots of cords. Neither are worth anything because of condition, but they do both work.   and a 64 with Mario 64, super smash bros, wave race and a few controllers. It has a red memory expansion in it. Is that better than the black one? What games are good? Where should I start? Any suggestions? I paid $30 for this stuff. Was it worth it?

the expansion allows you to play games like donkey kong country i think, you need it to play, supposed better grafix. the black is stock, expansion is upgrade. i always liked Conkers, the drunk squirell was awesome.

How much is the expansion itself? Thinking of getting one

you can find them at about $10 on ebay

Yeah the expansion makes it worth it lol. You NEED it to play Donkey Kong 64 and the single player for Perfect Dark, and it enhances other games. Much better than the black one, you can't play DK64 with the black one.

Well one of my all-time favorites is Goldeneye, but the FPS genre hasn't aged very well. If you have no nostalgia to that game then you may not like it. But true must plays that have withstood the test of time are:

Zelda Ocarina of Time (possibly Majora's Mask as well but the reviews are mixed for this one)
Super Mario 64
Banjo Kazooie - Excellent platformer similar to Mario
Starfox 64
Mario kart 64 (though Diddy Kong Racing is a superior one player game IMO)

and that should be good enough to get you going. There's all sorts of other great games but those are the traditional picks.

the expansion pack is mandatory for some of the best games in the N64: Perfect Dark, Conker's BadS Fur Day, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Zelda Majora's Mask...

Other good games include Zelda Ocarina of Time (about time you should play it), Mario 64, Star Fox, Mario Kart, WWF vs NwO, Mario Party, Smash Bros... With those, your purchase will be worth every cent.

You shouldn't apologize for just getting into a system. I am glad you got intot he N64. It is a great system and an easy one to collect for. With just under 300 titles, you should find something for your tastes ( except roleplaying, kinda light there). Anything Nintendo first party is good. I like Wayne Gretzky's hockey ( fun arcade style hockey), just my opinion though.

Yeah, I started out primarily as a role playing game collector ( and strategy guides) nd lack of rpg support on 64 is probably what kept me away for so long. Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I guess with the expansion and smash brothers I could have done worse.  I picked up both those Zeldas for 15 total at a game store since and 1080 for $1. I heard it was good and coundn't beat the price. I'll keep an eye out for those others.

1080 pioneered the whole trickboard genre way before Tony Hawk.  Tony Hawk really took the idea and became the staple of the genre, but 1080 was a huge blast to play at its release.  I'm sure you'll find it was well worth the $1.

If you're in to rpgs, I heard that Ogre Battle 64 is a good one, but I haven't played it much myself.

and Paper Mario. 2 best on the system.....not that you have much more to choose from though.

A few notes 'bout the N64:

- The Black card that's in the ram expansion slot of a lot of N64s is the Jumper Pack, which is pretty much a placeholder for the Expansion Pack. And that's all it is. I personally think that the Expansion Pack is mandatory for any N64 console. You don't need it for everything, but it makes the games that do need it a lot better.

- Get a controller pack for the controller. It's basically the N64 memory card. And it's needed for a lot of games, as many games don't have battery back-up. Get a first-party one, as they're the only ones that have worked for me. Every third-party card I've used has died or was already dead from the first use.

- Some good games you should pick up:

GoldenEye
Jet Force Gemini
Bomberman 64
Rocket: Robot On Wheels
Flying Dragon
Snowboard Kids
Star Fox 64
Hybrid Heaven (Interesting title: Mix of RPG and action)
Pilotwings 64
Ogre Battle 64 (Expensive, but well worth the price, usually...)
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey (Arcade-style Hockey. Great multiplayer game)
Pokemon Stadium
Body Harvest
Quest 64
Banjo-Kazooie

I'll throw in a vote for Mystical Ninja 64 and Mischief Makers.

Seriously, the 64 is a great system and well worth owning.

Back in the day, I bought DK64 only because I wanted the expansion pack to play Perfect Dark. And my ALL TIME FAVORITE N64 game has to be ogre battle. If the current market prices are too intolerable for you, then you can get it on the virtual console for a fraction of the cost.