MrMaguire
Nintendo 64
The N64 is among Nintendo's best video game consoles while also among its poorest in sales. It sold only 30 million units, in comparison to the original Nintendo from the early '80s and the Nintendo Wii, which both sold over 100 million units. Later in the system's life around 1999, the console was released in jazzy clear colours such as the blue and white one pictured, which was surely an attempt to boost sales. There was also a special Pikachu N64 to exploit the Pokemon sensation of the late '90s and early 2000s. But no matter what, the N64 just could not compete with the Sony PlayStation, a product which could have been Nintendo's had they not fallen out with Sony while developing it.
The N64 saw some truly innovative titles, such as Super Mario 64, an early 3D platformer which Nintendo really invested in getting right. And GoldenEye 007 by British developer Rareware Ltd. A true classic, so popular it perhaps surpassed the film on which it is based in popularity. Another Rareware title is the game pictured in the system, Donkey Kong 64.
The wild three-prong controller featured a mechanical analogue control stick with excellent sensitivity, as well as a trigger button on the underside, perfect for a first-person shooter like GoldenEye.
In the mid '90s when the system was released, competitors such as Sega and Atari had already switched from game cartridges to CDs, while the Sony PlayStation was always CD-based. Nintendo stuck with cartridges for the N64, which scared away some developers. Cartridges are more expensive than CDs, and hold less data, but they are solid state and thus more reliable. There is no laser to become dirty, misaligned and worn out, and there are no discs to become scratched and broken. 26 years after the N64's release it is still very reliable.
That being said, Nintendo saw that developers wanted a cheaper storage medium with more space for their games. They developed a magnetic disk drive add-on using technology similar to the zip disk, the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive. Due to poor sales of the N64 in general, the 64 DD was delayed and eventually released only in Japan with few game titles to accompany it. The 64 DD is now a collector's item, these days fetching around £1,000.
Nintendo 64
The N64 is among Nintendo's best video game consoles while also among its poorest in sales. It sold only 30 million units, in comparison to the original Nintendo from the early '80s and the Nintendo Wii, which both sold over 100 million units. Later in the system's life around 1999, the console was released in jazzy clear colours such as the blue and white one pictured, which was surely an attempt to boost sales. There was also a special Pikachu N64 to exploit the Pokemon sensation of the late '90s and early 2000s. But no matter what, the N64 just could not compete with the Sony PlayStation, a product which could have been Nintendo's had they not fallen out with Sony while developing it.
The N64 saw some truly innovative titles, such as Super Mario 64, an early 3D platformer which Nintendo really invested in getting right. And GoldenEye 007 by British developer Rareware Ltd. A true classic, so popular it perhaps surpassed the film on which it is based in popularity. Another Rareware title is the game pictured in the system, Donkey Kong 64.
The wild three-prong controller featured a mechanical analogue control stick with excellent sensitivity, as well as a trigger button on the underside, perfect for a first-person shooter like GoldenEye.
In the mid '90s when the system was released, competitors such as Sega and Atari had already switched from game cartridges to CDs, while the Sony PlayStation was always CD-based. Nintendo stuck with cartridges for the N64, which scared away some developers. Cartridges are more expensive than CDs, and hold less data, but they are solid state and thus more reliable. There is no laser to become dirty, misaligned and worn out, and there are no discs to become scratched and broken. 26 years after the N64's release it is still very reliable.
That being said, Nintendo saw that developers wanted a cheaper storage medium with more space for their games. They developed a magnetic disk drive add-on using technology similar to the zip disk, the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive. Due to poor sales of the N64 in general, the 64 DD was delayed and eventually released only in Japan with few game titles to accompany it. The 64 DD is now a collector's item, these days fetching around £1,000.