The Nintendo 64 in Retrospect

[Blueguy1]

As a kid in the 90's and early 2000's, the Nintendo 64 was one of the first consoles I ever owned. It is my favorite gaming system of all time.

That said, when it first came out, it did not have a lot to offer, not even close to the launches of the Saturn and Playstation (Though most of its launches were really good). In addition, a lot of the earlier games were covered in distance fog, taking away pre rendered backgrounds. It was also missing a lot of great third party titles the Playstation had. Over time, however, the games got a lot better, and used much less distance fog (or none) to make them look a lot better. The console also lacked an abundant amount of titles compared to its competitors. As a result, I dislike when it's compared to the Snes. It never really had a chance to get as much of titles as the Snes did. Obviously since it was cartridge based and the games were kind of expensive, third party's switched over to the Playstation, and Nintendo was left behind in second place.

In retrospect, however, I argue that now the Nintendo 64 is better than it once was (and it was really good at the time). This is because all the games have been released, and the games (at least to me) seem to be less expensive and longer lasting than the PS1's games. Most of my friends still have an N64, and it's huge when it comes to multiplayer. Seriously, this console set the standard for multiplayer games (Goldeneye, Super Smash Bros, Mario Party, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, San Francisco Rush, Pokemon Stadium, Mario Kart 64, etc,), games that people still play on the original console to this very day. 

I am also fascinated by the console's limitations, seeing as it was cartridge based, and seeing what Nintendo could do with its games. And if you think about it, the console has a quality over quantity approach not seen in most consoles. The library is limited yet filled with many quality games, as well as hidden gems that people overlooked at the time.

In conclusion, I think's better now than it was back in the day for these reasons.

What do you guys think? Agree or disagree?

[JWK1]

I've stated in the past, the fifth console generation is my least favorite.  I loved 2D games and sprites and I completely wrote the Playstation off when I saw the ugly polygons and horrific controls for its rudimentary 3D action games.  And in retrospect, I was right.  Those games have aged like milk, getting more and more rancid with each passing year.  It was modestly successful with retrogamers with the few 2D games that Sony allowed on its system-- Symphony of the Night, The Oddworld series, Klonoa, etc. are still good games to this day.  The Saturn also struggled with 3D games, but it was a beast with 2D fighters and shmups and even had a few good 2D beat em ups and platformers.  It's my favorite console of that generation, though I'll readily admit it's library was modest.  

The N64 was the most surprising.  I expected Nintendo of all gaming companies knew its roots and would bring gaming back to reality after the initial PSOne games looked and played so terribly.  When I saw Mario 64 for the first time, I honestly felt betrayed.  I hated it and to this day, I consider it one of the most overrated games of all time.  I understand how innovative it was and appreciate its place in gaming history.  But again, I dislike the game itself.  But yes, you're correct.  It was the go-to system for multiplayer games.  I put hundreds of hours into Golden Eye, Mario Kart 64, NBA Hangtime, etc. with friends.  It was certainly a fun multiplayer system.  But besides Paper Mario there weren't a whole lot of single player experiences I would still consider essential.  (Ocarina of Time's update on 3DS helps it dramatically, imo.  The textures on the original N64 version are pretty tough to digest in this day and age).

[LoganRuckman1]

JWK, as a huge fan of the N64 and Super Mario 64, your post saddens me. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, though.

[Jon1]

I've been outspoken in the past about the terrible fog problems with the N64. Another problem was that in most games the polygons looked ugly. Unless they were using the cartoonish look (Mario,Banjo) it was a huge problem for most games. A few games looked good, like Goldeneye. But it is hugely essential for a 3d system that your polygons look good. I remember when I was 14 I got an N64 and told my parents that this system was going to be so incredible that I'd never need another system again. I had extremely high hopes for the system. Obviously, from that point of view it was a bit of a letdown. The biggest problem was that they put out so few games each year that it was a pain to own one. Of course we can look back now and pick which games we want to play, but back then it was terrible. If I didn't also have a ps1 (which was putting out hundreds of games each year) I would've felt like I was getting screwed. It's still one of my favorite systems though. And now you have the whole library at your hands.

[Rev1]

Despite not having the largest game library and the graphics looking worst each year, I still love the N64. It is one of my favorite consoles of all time and the fact that it still had a very solid collection of Nintendo exclusives makes it a wonderful console. This was also the last generation where people still did group multiplayer (before online gaming started to take off, sort of in Gen 6, big time in Gen 7) and the N64 has so many great multiplayer games it makes the console very hard to overlook. I'm probably biased because I have so many good memories of the console growing up, but that's a lot of what makes a person a retrogamer, the games that defined them in their childhood.

[LoganRuckman1]

I actually like the blocky graphics of the N64. It's really nostalgic for me and it's charming, in a way. And though it's library wasn't the largest, almost all of it's good games were absolute classics, nay, masterpieces. Another thing, the N64 was tailor made for multiplayer. To this day, the N64 is my 2nd favorite console, 2nd only to the Super Nintendo.

[Blueguy1]

[QUOTE=LoganRuckman]I actually like the blocky graphics of the N64. It's really nostalgic for me and it's charming, in a way. And though it's library wasn't the largest, almost all of it's good games were absolute classics, nay, masterpieces. Another thing, the N64 was tailor made for multiplayer. To this day, the N64 is my 2nd favorite console, 2nd only to the Super Nintendo.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I don't know what people are talking about. The graphics for the N64 still look awesome. I love them. Many great games, and maybe the best multiplayer console of all time.

[rift1]

i picked up wcw/nwo revenge for 3 bucks just to test my new 64...graphics look a lot worse than I remember...but hopefully other games are better

[LoganRuckman1]

[QUOTE=rift]i picked up wcw/nwo revenge for 3 bucks just to test my new 64...graphics look a lot worse than I remember...but hopefully other games are better[/QUOTE]
Yes, the graphics might be bad, but the game is really good. Wrestling games and Nintendo 64 went together like peanut butter and jelly. What did you think about the game itself, besides the graphics?

[soporj1]

[QUOTE=LoganRuckman]I actually like the blocky graphics of the N64.[/QUOTE]

Then you'd absolutely love the graphics of the Atari 2600!