A decade of Nintendo 64
by Blake Snow 
{ Sep 28th 2006 at 5:00PM }
1UP examines 10 years of Nintendo 64 history highlighting memorable games for a console that lacked third-party support (and games in general). From the article: "[N64] might just be the most controversial console in the history of mass market gaming ... it began the descent of Nintendo from the throne - with this console, the Big N failed to achieve majority sales for the first time in history, and has been unable to regain its glory since."The console's descent from the gaming throne was largely in part, if not fully, to a last minute strategy change with a certain electronics manufacturer. Wikipedia reminds us: "While Nintendo chose the cartridge format for the N64, the company originally signed a contract with Sony in 1988 to develop a CD-ROM drive add-on for the SNES. When Hiroshi Yamauchi read the (already signed by Nintendo) original 1988 contract between Sony and Nintendo and learned that it allowed Sony 25% of the profits from the machine and also a part of games' sales profits, he was furious. He deemed the contract totally unacceptable, and secretly canceled all plans for a joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment."
That CD-ROM drive later became the PlayStation. While not trying to beat a dead horse, what's your take on arguably the most crucial turning point for console gaming given the industry's status quo?
[via Slashdot]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bpops @ Sep 28th 2006 5:04PM
Heres to wishing I hadnt sold my N64 on ebay last year :(
Pedro Van Faulk @ Sep 28th 2006 5:07PM
Wikipedia also forgets some of that story. At the same time, Sony had plans to create a console that would play Snes CD media and their own games on it. Essentially sony was double dipping. That AND the profit thing caused the rift.
H-QB @ Sep 28th 2006 5:08PM
DAMN YOU YAMAUCHI *shakes fist*
Hehehe, Golden Eye and Perfect Dark ^_______^
HotShotX @ Sep 28th 2006 5:09PM
Quite simple, and I think it was best summed up by one of Nintendo's very commercials:
Zelda 64: "Ye Snooze, Ye Lose."
~HotShotX
Bpops @ Sep 28th 2006 5:09PM
By the way, this whole CD drive thing.. how does that (horrible) zelda game for that other CD drive system (was it Panasonic or something.. ) get mixed up in all this. I used to know the story but have since forgotten.
Denney @ Sep 28th 2006 5:11PM
Best console i have ever had. Im never giving it up.
Miniboss @ Sep 28th 2006 5:11PM
"While not trying to beat a dead horse, what's your take on arguably the most crucial turning point for console gaming given the industry's status quo?"
My take: It's about to happen again with a different company...
clo1_2000 @ Sep 28th 2006 5:14PM
A decade later turnabout is fair play?
darryl @ Sep 28th 2006 5:15PM
Yes, the N64 was nearly a total failure. Celebrate that.
vaylen @ Sep 28th 2006 5:16PM
First Atari spurns Ninty and pays the price, then Ninty makes the same mistake with Sony and pays the price.
It would be interesting to see if Sony ever spurns company that ends up being their rival.
I'm guessing it won't be Immersion...
J.Goodwin @ Sep 28th 2006 5:22PM
Sony spurned Microsoft. Microsoft was interested in teaming up with Sony to put a windows based operating system with Direct X on the PS2. Sony decided that they would not be doing that.
Tom @ Sep 28th 2006 5:24PM
Leave it to a loser like darryl to always have something negative to say. Do you always praise sony like a god? What is wrong with you?
I totally enjoyed my N64, I was back in that time a big Nintendo fan. Its still the home to the #1 game of all time, Zelda 64.
Funkbass23 @ Sep 28th 2006 5:25PM
It's Descent, not Decent Blake. Allthough I did and still do find the console to be pretty decent as far as cartridge based consoles go.
nothing dude @ Sep 28th 2006 5:26PM
Nintendo's de-throning was inevitable anyways. The N64 made some of the most influential games ever. Goldeneye, banjo- kazooie, I dont even have to say Ocrina of time. Developers are still copying that game.
Dignan17 @ Sep 28th 2006 5:31PM
If a system is truly defined by the games that are available for it, then you could call the N64 the greatest gaming system of all time.
Wow, was that a fanboy thing to say or what? Oh well, I won't deny it. Clearly they made some mistakes, but I think it's hardly fair to blame Yamauchi for Sony trying to totally screw them over.
CV @ Sep 28th 2006 5:32PM
I actually agree with Nintendo sticking with the cartridge format. The PlayStation had too much loading. I really despised playing games on it.
burnt_secondary @ Sep 28th 2006 5:34PM
On an unrelated note, EA refusing to support the Dreamcast created Sega Sports which became 2k Sports.
Jeff @ Sep 28th 2006 5:33PM
I really don't even care about any N64 game other than Sin and Punishment. But that game alone is reason enough to own the system. You can get Mario titles now on plenty of other systems, but games like S&P are pretty rare nowadays and there aren't many that came after it on a home console... really the only comparable titles would probably be Panzer Dragoon Orta and maybe Rez.
(It's too bad Sega's Planet Harriers never made it to a home system, though S&P is probably still a better game.)
corwin @ Sep 28th 2006 5:36PM
darryl must mean the complete faliures such as goldeneye, perfect dark, Legend of Zelda, etc.
All tree of these titles listed in almost every top ten games of all time list.
s256 @ Sep 30th 2006 4:00AM
There is no way the N64 was a failure. It had the best multiplayer games. 4 player Perfect Dark, GoldenEye, Mario Kart 64, Smash Bros.. I played those for years.
Plus the Zelda games, PD and GE on single-player, Conker, Banjo-Kazooie & Tooie.. there are other games I'm forgetting, of course.
Dracula Jones @ Sep 28th 2006 5:37PM
I'd say that contract was totally unacceptable, too. Rather than toss it, they should have reworked it, though.
I mean, it was a CD drive. It's not like it was some crazy new technology. CDs had been in the market for years by then. There's no reason for Sony to have gotten any residual profit for what would essentially have been an outsourced R&D and manufacturing job.
Usedtabe @ Sep 28th 2006 5:36PM
I still play my 64. Sits right beside my GC, Xbox, Dreamcast, and 360......while my ps2 lies in a corner while i decide what to do with it
Pince @ Sep 28th 2006 5:37PM
I never realised that the N64 was considered such a failure. I mean, sure it was a commercial loss for Nintendo, and they were probably crying about it, but they had to be laughing as they cried, and for this reason.
After a certain point, the N64 pretty much lost all quality 3rd party support (apart from Rare I guess). However, the console still lived. The games still did well. It couldnt compete with the huge flood of games being dumped onto the PS1, but it lived. The reason for this is that Nintendo can almost completely support themselves on 1st party software. They are never going to be able to win good market share without good third party support, but the N64 generation solidified Nintendo as at least one thing: a monolith of first-party driven blockbuster-fueled destruction.
Sure SNES had huge first party games, but in the N64 (and the subsequent GC) generations, Nintendo pretty much carried its console by itself for long periods of time. So, as they were crying because they made some bad decisions, and as sony amassed a library filled with so much stuff that they couldnt help but have a lot of gems shining through the crap, they had to turn to eachother and think "dude, we screwed up, we should be dead, but we arent, because our games kick so much ass". So maybe Nintendo lost the mass market, but even in doing so, they also created a sequestered group of even more rabid nintendo fanboys almost literally willing to kill for them and their rock-solid first party franchises.
At that point, the gamecube could have been a bunch of wires in a cardboard box that ran off of floppy discs, but if it had mario, zelda, smash bros, metroid, etc...it would sell (not sell "like hotcakes", but it would sell). Also, even if the library for a nintendo console was small, you knew that it still have a lot of great games...sometimes games that you cant bear to miss.
The final point is that, maybe the N64 was a commercial failure for nintendo in many respects, but, as a gamer in that time, I had a PS1 (and a saturn for that matter), and I loved my FF and my SOTN and my MGS, but I still wanted an N64. The point I wish to make is, sure, some people may have said "lol, cartridges was a dumb idea, N64 FTL" but I sure as hell don't remember hearing anyone say "Mario 64? Star Fox? Ocarina of Time? Smash Bros?...naw, those suck."...because they don't.
Almack64 @ Sep 28th 2006 5:40PM
I agree those few games they had were great, while the playstation defintely had more games I think the N64 had more mememorable games. True not on par with the success that SNES was but still great. If N64 retained all the great games they had and had just a little more 3rd party support I feel they would have done a lot better. 3rd Party support is just so important these days... actually it always has been.
Matt @ Sep 28th 2006 5:40PM
To be honest, with games like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Golden Eye it was hard to notice a lack of games (at the time). Now we do, of course, but still...
Almack64 @ Sep 28th 2006 5:44PM
@ Pince you said everything I was thinking and more right before my comment got posted. I guess my "I agree" defintely fits though.
mcgoo @ Sep 28th 2006 5:48PM
Even though it was Nintendo's first console not to take first place in the market, to date it is still the most played eariler gen console i see people playing at my university. Most people I know that are and aren't gamers still have this system hooked up to their TV and it is always FUN playing mario kart or goldeneye with other people.
oh, and i've never seen a ps1. you could argue they don't need one since they have a ps2, but none of those people have ps1 games.
Gerwurztraminer @ Sep 28th 2006 5:51PM
Continuing the unrelated note, EA effectively stopping the sale of future $20 football titles by 2K was pretty annoying. As a non-sports gamer (aside from Tony Hawk 1-4 and a few rounds of Tiger Woods '04/'05) I was actually getting excited by the prospect of budget-priced-new-release-NFL games. Buuuuuuut, I'll save my annual $50 for an RPG, not Madden.
Back on topic, while N64 did lose some 3rd party support, and therefore consumer support (I myself followed Square's breadcrumb trail over to Sony) you could say it forced Nintendo to create some excellent games (e.g. Ocarina; which I did not ever play until the GCN re-release).
Mullan @ Sep 28th 2006 5:56PM
It may have failed in sales and market share, but it's the best console i ever owned. Although back then it seemed a lot better because of all the new types of games, mostly because of the change to 3d. Games havent really changed much since then.
SuicideNinja @ Sep 29th 2006 1:40PM
I lost interest in Nintendo as soon as I played a Sega Genesis. Even when the SNES came out, the list of games for the Genesis seemed much more to my taste than the overly-bright colored Nintendo offerings.
When I finally played an N64, I hated the controller, and was glad I got away from the Nintendo trek. I ended up going Playstation because "Sony made good stuff" back then. It wasn't a mistake and I enjoyed the PS1 for a few years.
When I finally got a PS2 and got over FFX and Xenosaga...Playstation started losing its luster. I didn't game much at that point because nothing seemed appealing. I dumped $$$$ and time into accessories, modchips, homebrew, and several games, but I ended up just hating the system. I wasn't getting anything out of it except a hobby of fixing them for people.
I finally bought a Gamecube to play the new Metroids, which opened my mind to different games. Their weak library lead me to an Xbox purchase in attempt to find something else. That was the ticket for me, and I returned to "gaming glory".
One of the two needs to dethrone Sony and put them in their place. Assuming that is Microsoft, they will make the same mistakes as their predecessors, and that would be a good time for a Sony comeback. Nintendo needs to stay around, but I'm happy with them in 2nd or 3rd so they can provide a console for their first party goodness.
Pince @ Sep 28th 2006 6:06PM
@Almack64
Sorry. I hate it when that happens to me (all of the time). You could just adopt my most recent strategy and almost completely ignore everyone else's posts and go on long winding rants for no reason...but, in lieu of that, agreement appreciated.
Oh and just for the sake of saying so, my N64 library is actually almost the same size as my PS1 library. This is, in part, because after the end of the N64s life, the used games sections of stores were filled with tons of old 64 games for cheap. But, even so, all of them are great games and I don't feel that either library is lacking.
Ninegauger @ Sep 28th 2006 6:55PM
The N64 is the best single system I own. Fuck Sony.
Sonic @ Sep 28th 2006 6:07PM
Despite sales, the N64 was home to at least 10 games that redefined gaming as we know it. Some day people will understand that the amount of games does not determine the worth of a system. One quality game on the N64 was worth 100 crappy games on the PSX. Not to say the PSX didnt have good games, but take all the crap away from the PSX and you have about the same ratio of good v. bad games on each system.
PJ @ Sep 28th 2006 6:11PM
Nintendo deserved to be dethroned. I never liked the greedy-ass bastards since the NES days. I'm will celebrate the 10 years of the N64 in my own special way... By playing with my PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360. No love for Nintendo here. Never had, never will.
LaughingTarget @ Sep 28th 2006 6:12PM
Nintendo still won. The N64 was very profitable, and in the end, that is all that matters. Making money. Having a billion customers to your competitions half-dozen doesn't mean jack of the billion seller is losing money and the half-dozen seller is making a profit. The half-dozen guy can keep coming out with new stuff, the billion seller can't.
kimo @ Sep 28th 2006 6:14PM
You know, I read the comments from time to time, and after careful consideration, I think that darryl is one of those message board marketeers that we've been reading about.
But, get this, I think he is probably working for Nintendo or MS. Think about it. I mean, the guy makes me cringe at the thought of what Playstation fans are all about. Shoot, if anything, he is swaying my opinion more toward the opposing consoles.
Anyway, more on point. As much as I do love Nintendo, I am glad they did not make the partnership with Sony. Their philosophies are entirely antagonistic, and the competition was good for consumers in the long run.
Anonymous @ Sep 28th 2006 6:18PM
The image wins for having Harvest Moon 64 in the console.
solomonrex @ Sep 28th 2006 6:20PM
Worse mainstream controller EVER!!!!
I still hate that thing. Stiff, plasticky and just so weird. Between this and virtual boy, I think nintendo should include apology on the boot-up screen of the Wii.
pangit @ Sep 28th 2006 6:20PM
it was just a matter of time back then. ninty could only go so far when the president was a partial nutcase who didnt even like video games.
DG @ Sep 28th 2006 6:25PM
All I know is that there are still N64 games I enjoy playing. On PSX, there's Castlevania SOTN, and...what else?
NoHitHair @ Sep 28th 2006 6:26PM
Between the SNES and the N64, it's difficult for me to decide which one I love more. No matter how many people chastise me for it, the N64 controller is the best accessory I've ever used (except for the wear-and-tear analog stick). And the games, though a comparatively tiny library, were some of the most time-consuming and engrossing I've ever played: Perfect Dark (absolutely no FPS [even on PC] has ever matched this game's multiplayer, even to this day - period), Ogre Battle 64, Harvest Moon 64, Zelda: OoT, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros., Conker's Bad Fur Day, etc.. I really miss those days.
I couldn't care less what anyone else says - Nintendo made the right decision. All that CD's inclusion into gaming gave us are an obsession with graphics and lazy uninspired developers who think "more space" translates to "more polygons" and "more CG".
Mr. Khan @ Sep 28th 2006 6:37PM
The Nintendo 64's business strategy failed because Nintendo failed to give to 3rd Parties, they easily could have re-evaluated the cartridge strategy, since it was 1 to 2 years after the Playstation, 3D0, and Saturn, they easily could have made the console more accessible for 3rd Parties, and then crushed Sony with the might of the Nintendo name
It was Nintendo's assumption that the Nintendo name and Nintendo games could suffice, so they stuck with their awkward format and tried to seize the market solely with 1st Party Gems, which is exactly what they tried to do again with the GameCube,
Nintendo's overconfidence in the power of their own franchises is what resulted in the failures of the N64 and GCN
FSK405K @ Sep 28th 2006 6:40PM
Ahh, the good ol' N64. BEST CONTROLLER EVER, other than Dreamcast. It was acually large enough to fit my hands, not like these annoying Dual Shock 2 things that make me cramp my fingers around the backside.
ken seang @ Sep 28th 2006 7:10PM
The n64 was my favorite console of all time. Growing up playing that system was great, I practically beat half the game at my local video store when I used to rent games. Also, the multiplayer aspect and the no loading time is what caused me to purchased an n64 over the psx. The n64 controller was one of a kind, because back then no one had a joystick like the n64 and also having four controller ports was a plus. With FPS, the n64 was perfect for it and it was definitely meant to play Zelda. The expansion pack and especially the rumble pak made gaming better. The n64 created many standards that we have now in todays console standard and even in the video games.
Great games I recall playing were:
WWF No Mercy
Starcraft 64
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Winback
Zelda: OoT
Rogue Squadron
Mario Kart
Army Men: Air Tactics
Those were the times where you and a bunch of your friends get together at the same location and play video games until your heart gives out. Not how like now we would log online and play against one another from far away, even tho thats fun and all but the feeling of seeing your friend getting owned in Perfect Dark or Goldeneye is priceless...
euan @ Sep 28th 2006 7:17PM
I think the one thing with Nintendo is that it has the experience of many years in the game system business. They have already stated that they will make a profit on every Wii sold. I think they have made a profit on every system that they have sold. They will always be there because software and hardware will always sell at a profit. Microsoft needs software profits from their PC division to support the Xbox. Sony need to sell something like 3 or 4 games to make a profit on the PS3, thats $835 not including accessories that a consumer will have to spend. It's a pretty big gamble on Sony's part.
Whenever Microsoft shoots first and releases their third console before anyone really wants to move to the next gen, Sony might be in a bad situation. However Nintendo will smile to themselves and take their time like they always have content that they have money and will continue to.
jayblezzy @ Sep 28th 2006 7:23PM
N64, Dreamcast, GCN, PS1, 3DO, were the best systems ever made Fuck PJ, and his stupid ass opinions
Koekoenutt @ Sep 28th 2006 7:28PM
All I have to say is one game.... (Which surpisingly was only said by one, maybe two people so far)
Super Smash Brothers.
The creation of one of the greatest game(s) ever.
Zelda:OoT and Mario 64, Along with Perfect Dark/007 were all major hits.. but this game created a house of in its own, later making people buy a Gamecube JUST for the sequel.
foobob @ Sep 28th 2006 8:41PM
Best Nintendo console ever was the original NES, second by SNES. N64 and GC go in 3rd, almost head-to-head in lack of third-party support, but innovative gaming.
I was there when Project Reality was announced by Nintendo and Silicon Graphics, hoping to see DKC action in true 3D. Meh. Still, SM64 trully impressed me the first time i saw it. It's still one of the top 3D platformers ever, the analog motion is top-notch and there's hardly any camera problems at all, except for 3D whinners, that is.
my favs:
* SM64
* Zelda: OoT
* Banjo-Kazooie
* Goldeneye
* Blast Corps
* Conker's Bad Fur Day
* Diddy Kong Racing
* Perfect Dark
* Jet Force Gemini
* Turok 1 (was pretty good at the time)
* 1080 Snowboarding
yes, Rare was truly the sole responsible for any success for the machine. Wasn't it for Goldeneye early on and a steady flow of quality titles, including Banjo, the machine would be a total flop and we wouldn't ever get OoT late in 1998...
meanwhile, Nintendo gave us the usual kiddy trash: Yoshi's Story lame sequel to a true classic and various Pokémon this and that and Mario Party games...
dropkickjohnny @ Sep 28th 2006 8:58PM
People have been saying that the N64 was a commercial failure for Nintendo. Did they lose money on the N64 or was it just a dissapointemnt because it wasnt as succesful as the SNES? The way I figure if they arent taking a loss on the system and its making money, how can it be a failure?
the_game_master @ Sep 28th 2006 8:58PM
So if this is true, then Sony and Nintendo project was before the possible Sega and Sony project. This is really important information in regards to video game history.
Sony and Nintendo project predates, Sega and Sony's failed venture.
read about it here:
http://www.sega-16.com/Interview-%20Tom%20Kalinske.php