Nintendo are the longest-standing player in the console hardware market. As such, they have provided the industry with many firsts, milestones and achievements. At times, their ability to innovate in some areas while stubbornly remaining in the past in others is as impressive as it is infuriating. Never was this contradictory culture as visible as during the life of Nintendo 64.
N64 was the last major home console to use ROM cartridges as their primary data storage medium yet an innovator in 3D game design. Starved of games but providing a hefty portion of the greatest games ever made. N64 was another Nintendo console that was seen as a kiddie console yet gave us the bluest AAA game of the fifth generation in Conker’s Bad Fur Day. One of its best-selling titles provided most people’s first taste of headshots in video games.
Nintendo 64 was ultimately a sales disappointment, trounced into second place by PlayStation. Sony’s debut machine outsold N64 by almost four-to-one. Like the legacy of the original Xbox that came after it, that of N64 is mixed and its contribution to gaming history is disproportionate to its sales.
Tough at the Top
Nintendo found themselves on the backfoot in the early 90s. Their Super Famicom/SNES struggled to regularly display its strengths over MD/Genesis. Sega’s marketing machine was only too happy to aim for Nintendo’s jugular when showing off Genedrive’s areas of 16-bit superiority.
It took until the next generation was on the horizon for Nintendo’s console to overtake MD/Genesis. Late in the game, Sega had started to spread themselves too thin and the blockbuster exclusives dried up. Nintendo dropped bangers like Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars while Sega launched 32x, Saturn and Nomad.
Launching PlayStation
PlayStation launched in 1994/95 and immediately met with success. Sony’s strategy of concentrating on games based on 3D visuals and a tendency towards mature themes resonated with the public.
PlayStation, as a brand and platform, was edgy and cool. It opened up gaming to an older crowd. Sony’s adult-based marketing had also reignited a few lapsed gamers’ love for the pastime.
Nintendo Ultra 64, as it was known at the time, was nowhere to be seen. Like Super Famicom/SNES before it, Ninty’s machine would be two years later than its upstart competitor. Unlike Super Famicom, it would never catch up.
By the time it made its way to store shelves in 96/97, PlayStation was becoming a cultural phenomenon and on the cusp of delivering a fatal blow.
Future Proof
Nintendo’s decision to stick with cartridges for their fifth gen. contender was immediately questioned when initial specs were announced in mid-1994. While CD-based systems had issues at that time, it was already clear that optical storage would be the way forward.
Before it had even launched, N64 was ceding massive ground on this issue alone. Developers liked the idea of huge volumes of data to work with. Publishers like the idea of the cheaper media with a more flexible manufacturing process. Nintendo bled interested devs and pubs. PlayStation and the ailing Saturn would amass vast libraries of over 7,000 and 1,000 games respectively, N64 hit around 400.
For a few months, quality helped offset the slow flow of titles to Nintendo 64. However, the consequences of sticking with carts and alienating talented studios would hit hard in 1997.
Final Fantasy VII was a landmark title in a series that has stood the test of time. It’s rightfully considered a watershed moment in gaming history. For one, FFVII launched JRPGs in the West. But more importantly, it’s the moment PlayStation went from a strong console to a must-own one.
They’ve Made a Huge Mistake
The best-selling JRPG also highlighted the obsolescence of N64’s ROM cartridges in the eyes of consumers. Coming on three discs but at the same price as other games, FFVII would have been impossible on cartridge, something that Square had foreseen. The Final Fantasy developer had been one of the many to leave Nintendo in the cartridge-fueled exodus.
Nintendo made many mistakes with N64. Mistakes which opened the door to Sony to sell more than 100 million PlayStations. Their use of ROM cartridges is certainly the greatest of them. And the loss of Square, in particular, added much to the meteoric rise of their greatest competitor to date.
Exploring A New Dimension
Though PlayStation was the first console to render fully texture-mapped 3D at playable frame-rates, its original digital controller was from the 2D era. Sony had based their pad on that of Nintendo’s SNES but it was clear that 3D games needed more precision than eight directions could provide. It was also becoming clear that users would need control of the camera to truly explore this extra dimension.
Nintendo 64’s controller featured a three-pronged design that allowed players to use a traditional D-pad or a fully-analogue thumbstick.
Players had 360 degree control over their movement in 3D space using the thumbstick – no longer confined to eight directions. It meant ‘run’ or ‘tip-toe’ commands were intuitive and required no button combos. It was a bold control scheme that many had never experienced before and as such, they added training wheels in the form of an octagonal ring surrounding the stick that could guide the stick to the traditional eight directions.
Camera control was handled less gracefully but still remains the first attempt at solving the emerging problem. Four digital buttons, marked ‘C’, were designated for adjusting the in-game camera. These C-buttons were tightly arranged around a central bump so you could roll your thumb around. This meant Nintendo 64 could have four distinct buttons for general control instead of a second D-pad.
While innovative, N64’s controller still divides opinion, though its legacy remains.
Bringing Shooters to the Couch
1997 may have been the year that Final Fantasy VII was fitting Nintendo 64 for a coffin. But it also provided Nintendo 64 with one of gaming’s most influential titles. The story of GoldenEye 007 for N64 has been told many times before but like N64’s controller, its place in gaming history is unquestionable.
While it was far from the first console shooter. Far from the first console shooter not based on a PC game. GoldenEye 007 was the first to make the genre viable on home consoles. Full 3D environments and a control-scheme that allowed players to look around/aim relatively easily did not exist on consoles at the time.
While GoldenEye 007‘s input options are a far clunkier affair than today’s FPS control schemes, it made the complexity of navigating and aiming in 3D space manageable.
The addictive four-player multiplayer was apparently a last-minute inclusion but it spread the competitive shooting craze far and wide. This, in turn, helped millions latch on to online console shooters when they eventually arrived a generation later.
Mechanically, GoldenEye 007 has not aged well but its eight control schemes inspired a blizzard of improvements. Most of the game’s fans know that the game allowed players to use two controllers, one in each hand. Armed with two tridents you had dual-analogue control – the first in console gaming. Though it wasn’t the default scheme and required two controllers, it beat Aliens: Resurrection by around three years.
Imperfect Mark
Nintendo 64 is fondly remembered for its thick concentration of quality games. The distinct, foggy look its games had. The thumbstick that seemed to loosen within minutes of opening the box. The four controller ports that meant you needed a bigger couch to experience its brand of gaming bliss.
But even outside of personal nostalgia and the permanency of some of its library, Nintendo 64 left a huge impact on the company, its rival and the industry at large.
Nintendo 64’s delay opened the door for Sony. Its cartridges helped PlayStation hit the top. The N64 controller took mechanics and controls into the third dimension. One of its most iconic titles successfully transplanted a genre that would dominate console sales for decades. Though it may have been a mixture of good and bad for Nintendo and its fans, N64 left its mark.
We hope you enjoyed the third in our ‘Enduring Legacy’ series, where we look at consoles, peripherals and games that had a true impact on the history of video games. Check out our previous legacies in the series were those of PlayStation 3 and the original Xbox.
