Larceny

Larceny is a homebrew minigame for the Nintendo 64 by RiPpEr253 and released on 13 Dec 2024. It is a 2v2 game where you play as cops and robbers to either steal or protect precious gems in a vault.

You can get the ROM from its download page by using the password minigamemadness and the source can be found here. Note that this is the same ROM that includes all the other minigames released for the 2024 N64brew Game Jam competition.

About Larceny

Larceny is the only 2×2 competitive/collaborative minigame in the entire game jam. You play as either one of two cops or robbers with each team having their own objective. The thieves are on the offensive – trying their best to grab the two jewels in the vault. On the other hand, the security guards have to knock them out with their truncheons before they get to the gems.

Each player type has their own special move that can be activated with the A button. The thieves can jump over walls in order to outmaneuver the guards, and the guards can swing their truncheon around to stun the thieves, making them easier to catch.

The game ends when either both thieves are caught or both germs are stolen. It’s as simple as that.

Credits

The game was made by RiPpEr253, with music by Drozerix

Review and conclusion

Like with Furball before it, Larceny is an achievement in and of itself for being a fully 3D game on the Nintendo 64 made by just one person.

The models are simple yet still cute and functional. There is some animations mission such as the ‘wall hop’ looking like a teleport and actors just disappear into the void when gathered or destroyed.

I haven’t had the chance to play Larceny with four human players, but I believe that it is essential to play this game with human players since the AI is too simplistic to serve as a reasonable opponent in any case. The AI thief will run away from the guard in all cases and the AI guard will get caught on walls, unable to move.

Even then, the game is quite unbalanced. The guards can just camp on top of the gems for an easy win and the thieves can just stall for as long as they want.

Overall, Larceny is not an unpleasant game but it does suffer from a lack of balance and polish. I however do like the intro with the camera swerving around and looking at each character before the round starts.