Nintendo 64

"It was bested by the PS1 in sales and STILL managed to come out on top in terms of game quality."

You've probably heard many things about this console, many of which are probably bad. You hear "The cartridge format killed it" this, and "The games lacked blood" that. That may be all well and true, but that doesn't in any way hide the fact that the Nintendo 64 was one of the most solid consoles to come our way. And in terms of gaming quality, it's arguably one of the best.

Design:
The Nintendo 64 takes the shape of a lumpy rectangular prism. Kinda funky, but at least it's not super-huge and clunky. You can squeeze it into a suitcase fairly easily. The primary color is black, but other colors (like neon green or neon orange) are also available (likely used now). Cartridges look similar to the Super NES ones, except with a ridge at the top, making them slightly smaller in total size. The Nintendo 64 has 4 controller slots in all. If you ask me, the system's design is a little too chunky. On the bright side, this thing's like a tank. It can take one heck of a lot of abuse.

Controller:
The controllers, however, aren't designed the greatest. Even though it slips right into your hand, the grip is really uncomfortable at first, and takes a while to adjust to. And having both a joystick and a control pad in two different locations is both confusing and unnecessary, since pretty much all the games (at least that I've played) only require you to use one of the two control, umm...thingies. But that's probably the only main mediocre part about the console. Everything else is pretty nice.

Games:
Of course, the games. The most important part about any system. Mind you, the N64 has a lot of them. A popular fan favorite is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's considered by many to be the greatest game of all time. If you're a fan of RPGs or adventure games, that would be a decent choice. Also, check out its sequel, Majora's Mask. A personal favorite of mine is Super Mario 64. It's one of the better 3-D platformers to come along, even to this day. Donkey Kong 64 is another really good platformer. Mario Kart 64 is an excellent racing game, if you're into that sort of thing. Other good games I'd recommend are Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Star Fox 64, Goldeneye 007, the Mario Party series, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, some of these games are so big that they require an expansion pack to operate properly. Of course, there are some clunkers, like on every console, and such examples on the N64 include Pokemon Snap and Yoshi's Story, but the good ones far outweigh the bad ones.

Graphics:
The transition from 2-D to 3-D was different and strange for all VG characters. Sure, they may look like nothing now, but back then they were. Though the PC had already created games like this, the N64's graphics were revolutionary to the console business. Compared to the PS1, I'd say it's about equal, if not better for games that were available on both consoles. The N64's polygons are handled pretty well for the most part, even if it does have a bit of slowdown.

Conclusion:
Unfortunately, popularity was lost to the Playstation, so the N64 didn't receive some of the respect it deserved. It had a pretty quick death, too. Once the Gamecube was released, all N64 production stopped immediately, and the console was locked away in Nintendo's closet of nostalgic memories, never to be seen again (at least by developers). Chances are you can find one of these suckers used somewhere. $50 or below is a really good price if you can find it that low, so if you missed out on the 3rd generation of gaming, or a simply a newcomer to the world of gaming, go ahead and check out what ya missed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/16/04