"Had the potential to mop the floor with Sony and Sega but the cartridge format killed its chances of success."

For me the Nintendo 64 (N64) is the quintessential love-hate relationship. The console boasts some of the most impressive software of all time along with a treasure trove of game play and hardware innovations. Unfortunately much of this is overshadowed by a number of very glaring flaws that not only destroyed Nintendo's former dominance in the hardware business but cast serious doubt about its long term survival as a system developer.

System Design:
Aesthetically the N64 looks pretty sharp. The system is a rectangular shape with a curved top, four controller ports (great for multi-player games), and available in a variety of colours to suit whatever your tastes are, though personally I'm partial to the original black version. It also pioneers vibration feedback with the Rumble Pak controller accessory allowing you to feel what you see on screen. Other accessories include a steering wheel compatible with most racing titles, the Transfer Pak allowing you to exchange data between the N64 and certain Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, and the Expansion Pak which adds extra power to the system's RDRAM allowing for even better graphics, frame rate, and texturing. From a hardware perspective the N64 is superior to its contemporaries in most regards thanks largely to its 64-bit processor versus the 32-bit processors of its main competitors.

But as my tagline suggests the N64 had one fatal hardware flaw and that was Nintendo's well intentioned but extremely foolish and short sighted decision to shun the emerging dominance of CD's as the preferred storage medium for video games. Nintendo instead used the more traditional cartridge based format seen in earlier consoles. To their credit cartridges do present a number of consumer advantages; they are virtually indestructible (especially good for parents with younger children), have battery backed memory eliminating the need for a memory card, and best of all have no load times. Unfortunately they present several major disadvantages to prospective developers. Firstly they are much more expensive to produce forcing developers to either charge more for them or accept lower profits. Secondly they are much more restrictive in their storage capacity and lack the option of continuing onto another cartridge as there is with CD's. Not good if you have a game of great length (Final Fantasy VII) or one with an abundance of voice acting and cinematic cut scenes (Resident Evil). And indeed this proved to be very bad for Nintendo as most third party developers jumped ship and began releasing the bulk of their games for the Sony PlayStation. Left with almost no third party support the N64 was left to survive almost entirely on games developed by Nintendo themselves and exclusive second party developer Rare.

Graphics:
Besides the obvious advantage of having the most raw power of its era one of the most notable strengths of the system's graphics are the use of anti-aliasing technology to smooth out polygons and reduce the unsightly “jaggyness” that plagued most early 3-D games. As a result multi-platform games usually look better on the N64 than the PlayStation or Saturn. Many of Nintendo's own titles push the system's abilities to impressive levels creating lush memorable environments in many games. Third party games are generally less impressive rarely tapping the N64's full potential.

Sound:
Because the N64 utilizes cartridges rather than CD's the quality of the audio takes a bit of a hit. The sound is not that bad (certainly not as bad as many people will try and tell you) but you'll hear a noticeable difference in clarity and crispness when compared to CD based consoles. Nonetheless the system succeeds very well in sporting a wide array of games with well orchestrated highly memorable soundtracks such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Star Fox 64 among others.

Controls:
I have mixed but generally favorable views of the N64 controller. The controller succeeds in being complex enough to handle a wide array of gaming possibilities while retaining a button layout that is practical and easy to adapt to. It also retains most of the successful features and general layout of the Super NES controller, including a left of center directional pad, central pause button, right of center action buttons (A, B, and C), and shoulder mounted triggers (L and R). The 4 C buttons are often (though not always) utilized for adjusting camera angles and between first and third person perspectives. The N64 also pioneers a number of innovative features, many of which would become industry standards. Key among them is the analog control stick located in the center.

Before the advent of the analog stick players were limited to using an 8-directional pad to navigate through games, the N64 controller revolutionized the way that 3D games were played by giving players a level of smoothness and natural freedom never before seen. If you have any doubts about the influence of this feature look at the controller of any console released since. The only downside here is that like many original ideas Nintendo didn't quite nail it the first time. Over time players will notice a white powder beginning to form at the base of the analog stick. That's the stick being gradually worn down through rubbing against the side of its slot. Eventually this can render the stick stiff and unresponsive but it's generally more of an annoyance than a serious impediment to gaming.

Another cool addition is the Z trigger located on the back of the controller. The simplicity of this button belies the greatness of its application in numerous titles. In particular it gives shooters like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark a unique level of added realism when blasting enemies or blowing things up. It's a shame the GameCube didn't retain this feature.

Aside from analog stick wear the only other major downside to the controller is its large size and bulkiness. This isn't too bad if you're using the controller by itself but can become cumbersome if you plan on using an accessory such as the Rumble or Transfer Pak.

Games:
As a result of its third party alienating cartridges the N64 has one of the smallest and most unbalanced libraries of any successful console. While it has some truly amazing titles that most gamers owe it to themselves to play almost all of these games were made by either Nintendo or Rare. What little third party support the N64 has consists mainly of mediocre multi-platform titles. The lack of third party support also translates into major imbalances in the representation of certain genres. The N64 contains a fairly strong library of action, adventure, and racing games, a decent selection of sports, puzzle, and shooting games, but almost no RPG's (my favorite genre), tournament fighters, or strategy titles. Numerous beloved series make only limited appearances on the N64 such as Castlevania, Mega Man, and Resident Evil. Others are completely absent including Street Fighter, Metal Gear, Mega Man X, and most painfully Final Fantasy. Another consequence of the system's awful third party support was the stigmatism of being labeled a “kiddy console” as Nintendo has generally shied away from making adult orientated games themselves. Aside from a few excellent shooters and Conker's Bad Fur Day the N64 has almost no strong titles targeted specifically at mature players.

But with all it's third party woes aside it is undeniable that the N64 sports some of the best and most influential first and second party games around. The creams of the crop are Super Mario 64, Goldeneye, and the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (arguably the greatest game every created). Besides being excellent titles all three were highly influential on their respective genres, pioneering numerous game play innovations that expanded upon or redefined what future games should aspire to be. Other excellent titles include; The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros., Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, Star Fox 64, Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, Conker's Bad Fur Day, F-Zero X, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, Wave Race 64, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Party 1-3, Paper Mario, Dr. Mario 64, and Excitebike 64.

Among the most notable third party titles are Harvest Moon 64 and Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber. Bomberman 64, Bust-A-Move 2, Mischief Makers, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and Rayman 2: The Great Escape are also worth a look.

To Buy?:
Growing up with the NES and Super NES and enjoying both of those systems immensely I was extremely disappointed with how the N64 turned out. Nintendo set the bar so high with its first two consoles only to have things come crashing down so soberly with this system that it's impossible for me not to feel a bit cheated. The N64 isn't terrible by any means and I gained a great deal of enjoyment and logged many hours on most of its stellar first and second party games. If you've never experienced the N64 or missed out on some of its key titles its well worth trying to track them down. Or if you own a Wii you should definitely consider researching some of the N64 titles available on its Wii Shop Channel. The N64 had the technology and the innovation but with its marginal library and limited variety of genres the N64 remains an easy system to admire but very difficult to love.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/01, Updated 09/17/07

Game Release: Nintendo 64 Hardware (US, 09/29/96)