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N64 deserves more credit than it gets...

Mario 64
Starfox 64
Mario Kart 64
Ocarina of Time
Diddy Kong Racing
F-Zero X
Goldeneye 007
Perfect Dark

'nuff said.
 
^ All Nintendo and Rare games. What if you wanted a game from SquareSoft, Enix, Capcom, Konami, or any of the other great developers at the time? It's a pretty limited system where 100% of the great games come from only two companies.
 
^ Then you were almost as screwed as you would've been had you been looking for a Nintendo or Rare game on a Playstation. ;)

Obviously the N64 was less than a stellar success for Nintendo, but those games I mentioned earlier form many of my most memorable gaming experiences, and that's all that really matters to me.
 
The anti-aliasing or whatever techniques they use make my eyes hurt, it always turned me off from the N64.

It was bilinear texture filtering, plus the usual resolution was 320x240, so yeah--it could easily look like crap. The low res and filtering were used to help mask the low poly counts and poor texture quality in the first place. There were some really bright folks who figured out how to get good performance out of the system at 640x480, though.

It wasn't a bad system, it was just difficult to leverage its strengths effectively.

PS1 had a bigger library because its barrier to entry was so low. The N64 was probably the most difficult console of its generation to code for, due to some weird design decisions and limited hardware capabilities of its time.

I'd say the Saturn and it's two CPUs would be the worst. Occasionally you could see the power of the thing when Sega put together a masterpiece (Panzer Dragoon Saga), but practically no other developers were able to use the Saturn effectively.

Anyway, the N64 is a great system, but it has its fair share of problems. It had some of the best games ever made released on it, but that's about it. You had 10 A+++ games on it, and nothing else. If you wanted to play something other than an Nintendo or Rare game you were right out of luck. There was nothing else on the system. The Playstation gave you everything the N64 did right (Spyro and Crash) as well as hundreds of other great games of all types.

The other reason people speak badly about the N64 is that it marked the downfall of Nintendo. The N64 began a downward spiral for Nintendo that would last 2 generations and 10 years.

I thought about the Saturn, but I admit I didn't know enough about it to give it a fair shake. I just know it had an odd architecture with 2 CPUs and a handful of other processors, and parallelized computing wasn't exactly a common concept in consoles of the time. I also recall reading 3D functionality was tacked onto the Saturn late in its development, once it was realized the other major consoles of the era would be 3D. I'm sure this made it even harder to code for.
 
I loved my N64 and we probably played games on it more than the other consoles, wearing out GoldenEye, Mario Kart and WCW/NWO Revenge to name three multiplayer games. But there were even less good games on it than there are for the Wii, and for the first year or so you bought it to play Super Mario 64 because there was nothing else worth buying.

Also, the third time was not the charm for Nintendo as they made a few wrong turns took a plunge, basically knocking themselves off as king of the hill. Sony did likewise for their third console. So now how will Microsoft shoot themselves in the foot with the Xbox 720? :p
 
Goldeneye, Starfox, and that pod racer game were a blast for me back in the day. Goldeneye is probably one of the greatest games ever.

These days, my friends and I still regularly play Mario Golf together.
 
oh yeah... I forgot about Mario Kart and Diddy Kong racing. Those are some of the most fun games I've ever played. The replay factor is just ridiculously good.

I got an N64 because I liked Nintendo and Rare games. If I had liked the other stuff I would have gotten a Playstation. I had fun with my 64. I don't regret getting one.
 
I love the N64. I remember waiting to get it for my tenth birthday when it was released and the constant arguments with PS1 owners about the price and the game library but it turned out to be totally worth it. Mario 64 completely enthralled me and the console ended up having just enough killer titles to last through it's lifespan for me. I don't know if there would have been enough if I'd been in the same "buy a game, complete the game, buy another game" cycle I'm in now but for a kid it was amazing.

And yes, four player Goldeneye was great but where's the love for Perfect Dark? It was the same but better in every way (apart from the horrible slowdown). My friends and I spent ludicrous amounts of time on that game.

1.) PS1 owners can kiss my favorite part of my anatomy.
2.) I like Perfect Dark enough to own a copy. That should say a lot right there.
 
I remember when the N64 came out that my jaw dropped open looking at the graphics. Of course they look poor now, but that doesn't really matter. The games (generally) are tons fun to play. The N64 was the last system I bought until the last year or so when I got a Wii (I'm thinking about an X-Box 360 when I find large wad of cash on the street).

There are two regrets about the system.

First, it marked a downtrend in Nintendo games where they basically fell behind for ten years and I still think they're suffering for it with third party support.

Second, the analog stick. I'm not going to bitch about it like other people, but, since I still play the N64, I have to find new controllers on ebay to replace the ones that wear out and I still have to hope that their stick is in good condition. It's certainly a complication that's very real.

Otherwise, great system with great games. The controller looks complicated, but I've never had any problems with it.
 
...and for the first year or so you bought it to play Super Mario 64 because there was nothing else worth buying.

Doom 64. Nuff' Said.

Also, the third time was not the charm for Nintendo as they made a few wrong turns took a plunge, basically knocking themselves off as king of the hill. Sony did likewise for their third console. So now how will Microsoft shoot themselves in the foot with the Xbox 720? :p

Probably the same way they did with the 360, sticking with bad hardware design decisions, knowing that it will cause numerous failures, recalls and repairs.
 
I remember when the N64 came out that my jaw dropped open looking at the graphics. Of course they look poor now, but that doesn't really matter. The games (generally) are tons fun to play. The N64 was the last system I bought until the last year or so when I got a Wii (I'm thinking about an X-Box 360 when I find large wad of cash on the street).

There are two regrets about the system.

First, it marked a downtrend in Nintendo games where they basically fell behind for ten years and I still think they're suffering for it with third party support.

Second, the analog stick. I'm not going to bitch about it like other people, but, since I still play the N64, I have to find new controllers on ebay to replace the ones that wear out and I still have to hope that their stick is in good condition. It's certainly a complication that's very real.

Otherwise, great system with great games. The controller looks complicated, but I've never had any problems with it.

Avoid Madcatz-I don't know how many I bought and broke. Darned stick!
 
...and for the first year or so you bought it to play Super Mario 64 because there was nothing else worth buying.

Doom 64. Nuff' Said.

Mario Kart as well, I believe... maybe not straight away... can't quite remember. Pilotwings was good, as was Waverace and Turok and Starfox were pretty soon after release too. Not a massive library, but it kept us going.
 
I noticed some people complaining about the N64's game library, but can anybody really name, say, ten PS1 exclusives that they still play today versus ten N64 games? I think the N64 would win!

The PS1 may have had more games, but the ratio of good to bad games was something like 1:5.
 
Enix made a REALY good(and sadly under-rated) game for the 64 called Mischief Makers, a 2-d sidescroller with 3D elements. one of the most visually stunning 64 games ever made, and this was BEFORE DK64 and the expansion pak, and someone mentiond the Saturn, my cousin has a Japanese one and a ton of import games, ALOT of the realy good (and good looking) games never made it to this side, like Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Voltage Fighter: Gowkaizer
 
I noticed some people complaining about the N64's game library, but can anybody really name, say, ten PS1 exclusives that they still play today versus ten N64 games? I think the N64 would win!

The PS1 may have had more games, but the ratio of good to bad games was something like 1:5.

Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Armored Core
Einhander
Parapa the Rapper
Tomba!
Tomba! 2
Brave Fencer Musashi
Xenogears
 
Mario Kart as well, I believe... maybe not straight away... can't quite remember.

I always found Mario Kart 64 to be pretty poor. The courses are too long and boring, and it just isnt as fun to play as the snes version or the wii one.
 
I noticed some people complaining about the N64's game library, but can anybody really name, say, ten PS1 exclusives that they still play today versus ten N64 games? I think the N64 would win!

The PS1 may have had more games, but the ratio of good to bad games was something like 1:5.

Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Armored Core
Einhander
Parapa the Rapper
Tomba!
Tomba! 2
Brave Fencer Musashi
Xenogears
Colony Wars
Colony Wars: Vengenance
Colony Wars: Red Sun
Dino Crisis
Dino Crisis 2
Metal Gear Solid
Crash Bandicoot Warped
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Silent Hill
Chrono Cross
 
I noticed some people complaining about the N64's game library, but can anybody really name, say, ten PS1 exclusives that they still play today versus ten N64 games? I think the N64 would win!

The PS1 may have had more games, but the ratio of good to bad games was something like 1:5.

Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Armored Core
Einhander
Parapa the Rapper
Tomba!
Tomba! 2
Brave Fencer Musashi
Xenogears
Colony Wars
Colony Wars: Vengenance
Colony Wars: Red Sun
Dino Crisis
Dino Crisis 2
Metal Gear Solid
Crash Bandicoot Warped
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Silent Hill
Chrono Cross

Spyro 1
Spyro 2
Spyro 3
Final Fantasy Tactics
Threads of Fate
Dragon Warrior VII
Lunar 1
Lunar 2
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
Alundra
Tactics Ogre
Klonoa
 
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