Nintendo 64 tech demo videos still make us cry

by John Bardinelli { Mar 26th 2007 at 6:28PM }

Remember anticipating a 3D The Legend of Zelda? How about the excitement Final Fantasy 64 stirred up? Gaming was making its first leap into 3D in the mid-90s, and Nintendo was primed to usher in the new generation with its powerful Nintendo 64.

Tech demo videos got gamers hot and bothered with the prospect of playing our favorite franchises in glorious 3D. While the graphics pale in comparison to today's games, we have to admit, they're still pretty cool to watch. Hit the jump for the videos, and be prepared for the tears of joy.

Lost Levels has an extensive feature on the Final Fantasy 64 tech demo, debunking a few mysteries and filling in the gaps in the story. You can also download higher quality versions of the tech demo embedded below.

Tags: earthbound, finalfantasy, n64, nintendo, retro, techdemo, zelda

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tyler @ Mar 26th 2007 6:40PM

I remember when i first saw those tech demos for Final Fantasy 6.. I think it gave me my first hard-on

CJC @ Mar 26th 2007 6:52PM

Just imagine if Final Fantasy 7 really were just a sequel to FF6. The massive legions of Cloud and Sephiroth fanboys/fangirls would never even exist.

Actually, that might not be too bad.

Demaar @ Mar 26th 2007 7:03PM

Thank god OoT didn't look that shitty.

Nova Scotian @ Mar 26th 2007 7:31PM

Using cartridges for the N64 was Shiggy's idea.. do not ever forget that.

shivr @ Mar 26th 2007 7:33PM

lol... the bahamut made the sound of the t-rex from jurassic park. And damn that girl needed some pants.

Oh n64... those were some fun times..

Justin @ Mar 26th 2007 7:35PM

I still remember being amazed the first time playing Mario 64.

Savage @ Mar 26th 2007 7:45PM

Haha #1
Was it Celes's thong that did it? Assuming that is Celes.

That first video was hilarious, the guy talking had a dead stare.

mushiking @ Mar 26th 2007 7:46PM

wow, that Bahamut summon was ass. just looking at this, and how it turned out in VII is hilarious.

Mr Khan @ Mar 26th 2007 7:56PM

1st video: 1 of those games was DOOM, right? and none of them look like any N64 games i've ever scene..

2nd video: Damn that Link looks bad, and is he fighting Metal Link? Maybe that was originally slated for OoT, then shiggy moved it over to Super Mario 64...

3rd video: those graphics looked a bit better than anything i ever saw on the N64, more like something from the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtual On

Phil @ Mar 26th 2007 8:08PM

Nova Scotian, please, for the love of god show me the proof that the reason the N64 stuck to carts is because of Miyamoto.

Last time I checked, it's because Nintendo owned manufacturing plants, didn't want to pay another company (like Sony) royalties for CDs, and because Nintendo wanted to make money off of every single cart that was manufactured - not just sold. Did it kill them? Sure thing, but don't blame Miyamoto.

JRO @ Mar 26th 2007 8:22PM

Lies...

SGI presenter compares DOOM to an actual 3D demo. Doom wasn't 3D.

Presenter says that the free-motion camera that is able to pan around and zoom in on the shark isn't possible using CD-ROM media because CD-ROM media is too slow. This is misleading - drives of the time may not have been as fast as cartridges, but all systems of the time loaded models and textures in to video RAM while displaying them. This included the environments, the character models, all of the textures, etc. Manipulation of this data once in video RAM (or system RAM) was independent on the media from which it origniated.

Eric @ Mar 26th 2007 8:44PM

Can the N64 really produce those graphics?? That dragon looks amazing!!!

Tyler @ Mar 26th 2007 9:18PM

@5 That's how her costume is
@8 That's terra
@9 At the time, those were awesome

hvnlysoldr @ Mar 26th 2007 9:21PM

I don't like FF7 or FF8, FF9 on the other hand I loved. FF9 was the first FF and RPG I ever played, excluding Pokemon, and while the graphics were good for the time it had an artistic style that I just now realized resonated with Nintendo's style. FF7, 8, 10 and later tried to go for as realistic approach as possible while FF9 and FFCC went for a stylistic fantasy touch. While having many options fulfilling my perfectionist needs it wasn't overly feature and options heavy.
I enjoyed FF5 for all its customizable jobs and simple story. I barely slogged and never completed FF6 due to being overwhelmed due to so many options. Tons of spells, weapons, armors, espers, skills, rage, lore, and what have you made me grind through and I lost interest.
FF9 striked a balance between this epic story encompassing five continents on four discs. Lots of monsters that had more than just a color swap. Lots of abilities for each character some of them seeming so personal. Interesting list of weapons and accessories. Since there's no job or gameplay changing accessory requiring re-equipping I could have fun with the equipment and grind for ABP without worrying so much about esper bonuses. The story fleshed out a lot of the characters for me and made a connection. It's one of the few games that I've played through multiple times and also spent some 100 hours on.
I've watched my brother play FF7 and FF8. The over-customization from FF5 and 6 are nothing compared to what could be done on 7 and 8. If 10 and up are similar I'm keeping my distance.
This is a good mock-up. In a way I'm certain FF64 would have looked and played better than 7 but the dang FMVs on 7 hooked everyone. I can't even move around on that thing.

mocax @ Mar 26th 2007 9:27PM

that final fantasy demo was done on a SGI workstation.
Notice the menu bar and mouse cursor.

The interesting part is the use of mouse gestures to execute the commands.

Perhaps a sign of things to come on the Wii?

Miles @ Mar 26th 2007 10:18PM

This is total bullshit. Those games were not tech demos for the fucking Nintendo 64. The Ultra 64 is another story though.

kyou @ Mar 26th 2007 10:27PM

Those were the days... Remember when Rare didn't suck?

C. Baines @ Mar 26th 2007 10:39PM

Available for your home in 1995, only on Nintendo, Ultra 64!

farmok @ Mar 26th 2007 11:13PM

I have to say those bring back memories. I'm still waiting to get as excited about a game as I was about Mario 64. I appreciate the posting of those videos, and those of you nitpicking what they said, its obvious that alot of that was a bit bloated, but since when has a consol manufacturer realy told us the truth about what their systems can do?

And yes, that Zelda tech demo realy sucked, but it was exciting to see it in action the first time, and by the time OoT came out, boy were we surprised.

Anyone have promo vids nintendo power sent out for the N64? Especially the one for Starfox 64.

Shibathedog @ Mar 26th 2007 11:20PM

N64 was so much cooler than PS1. (Ancient fanboy argument...BEGIN!!!)

Kato @ Mar 26th 2007 11:38PM

Damn, the N64 never did anything that looked like that first vid, everything in there was lies.

Rallion @ Mar 27th 2007 12:52AM

First video was just all marketing bullshit. Second was...I don't know. I'm just glad things turned out better than that. The last video...well, here's what's funny. FF7 ultimately looked much much better, sure. However, FF games still haven't demonstrated that much actual connection between combatants. The ninja (I'm hoping I remember his name before I finish typing) flipped the golem-robot-thing over by its head. That just doesn't happen. The combatants don't actually TOUCH.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 27th 2007 3:20AM

*JRO: "Presenter says that the free-motion camera that is able to pan around and zoom in on the shark isn't possible using CD-ROM media because CD-ROM media is too slow. This is misleading - drives of the time may not have been as fast as cartridges, but all systems of the time loaded models and textures in to video RAM while displaying them."

Also keep in mind that really old systems (NES, Genesis) used the ROM chips like memory, while the N64 used compressed data that had to be downloaded and decompressed to RAM before it could be used. The decompression was not instantaneous by any means, so anyone who says that N64 carts had "no load times" is just spreading BS.

Rubang B @ Mar 27th 2007 3:59AM

@kyou, Yes I remember when Rare didn't suck. ::sheds a tear::

@farmok, I have some of those Nintendo Power promo vids. My Star Fox 64 one is lost in my room right now, but I know exactly where my Donkey Kong Country one is. Those videos are still fun to watch, albeit for entirely different reasons.

@Rallion, his name was Shadow if that would've been the same ninja from FF6, and that was STILL the best Final Fantasy combat footage I've ever seen in my life. Imagine a game that procedurally generated the attack animations based on the size and shape of the opponents' heads like that. Too bad they put all the animation into the cut scenes and not into the gameplay.

Almack64 @ Mar 27th 2007 10:37AM

When they annouced the Ultra 64 is exactly when I got my screen name (and evil aol). It was also the only console system I got on launch day. Great memories... well at least the Ultra 64 part.

Oh yeah I still have the Starfox 64 promo vid. It also seems I have one for Donkey Kong Country.

*Walks even farther down memory lane
I really miss those Nintendo Power trading cards...
Man Sega sux, Nintendo Rocks...Sonic is so lame...

*wakes up out of trance
Oh yeah Dreamcast FTW!!!...Wait I mean the Wii

Crono @ Mar 27th 2007 11:43AM

FF7 only looks better because it was a finished product, and this is half a tech demo that not even running on the original hardware. Tell you what, though, if FF7 had come to N64 it would have had 4x the resolution and sharper everything (640x480 N64 vs 320x 240 PS).

It was more nintendo's philosophy towards third parties and their bad attitude akin to "People would buy N64 even if it had no games" that killed them. 3rd parties fled the system. I'm sure there's a way to span a game over multiple cartridges if needed be, though the cost would have been approaching prohibitive levels.

Bughunt @ Mar 27th 2007 2:28PM

Oh yes, I remember this!! A sad sad day it was when I found out this had been scrapped due to a Square / Nintendo disagreement a.k.a The Bad Blood.

Bee @ Mar 30th 2007 2:49AM

jeez! warn me next time when "TJ" from SGI is going to pop up. When "Ultra64" came out, I got to do a photoshoot with the prototype box and controller. We had a Nintendo thug who stood right next to us to make sure the controller wasn't going anywhere!