The Legacy of Nintendo 64

The Grandaddy of 3D

I imagine most 80's babies have a special place in their childhood for the Nintendo 64, which was released 20 years ago today. I consider this the last truly phenomenal Nintendo console, and the system that lead to Nintendo's downfall. 

Originally called the Ultra 64, The N64 didn't invent 3D gaming. There were some true classics in the early 90's, including DOOM and Nintendo's own Star Fox. The SNES had Mode 7 games, like Mario Kart and F Zero, but they were more of a trick of technology and less true 3D games. By my estimation, the only 3D game that left a lasting mark on pop culture was 1993's DOOM, but PC's were not as ubiquitous back then. Nintendo was about bring 3D to the masses. 

The N64 was the first system I ever saved for and bought myself. In the summer of 1996, me and my brother mowed lawns and did any yard work we could find. I remember being particularly bummed one day when, after a long afternoon of intensive raking, my uncle paid us a mesially $20 between the two of us. We didn't let it phase us though, and that hard work paid off on September 29th, 1996, when we went to Toy's R Us and bought the N64 and both release games; Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. The hype was real. After a summer of hard work, and Nintendo torturing me and my brother by mailing me promo VHS tapes for the N64, we finally had the long coveted console in our living room.

I'll will spare you, dear reader, all the memories we created as we played our two launch titles (all 120 stars baby), and the games that followed, including Wave Race 64, Shadows of the Empire, Mario Kart 64, Turok Dinosaur Hunter, Star Fox 64, Banjo-Kazooie, 1080 Snowboarding, Pokemon Snap, WWF No Mercy, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Diddy Kong Racing, Zelda and the Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, F Zero X, Super Smash Bros, Star Wars: Podracer, Mario Party, Blast Corps, and finally Zelda: Majora's Mask. 

The lineup was amazing. Absolutely some of the best games ever made. The stars of the lineup were Mario 64, which the N64's hardware was literally created to play, Goldeneye, where we dumped hundreds of hours into 4 player(!) multiplayer, Zelda OoT, which is still the template of 3D Zelda games 20 years later, and finally Super Smash Bros, which has subsequently been crafted into the perfect fighting game. 

Nintendo had an amazing system, with some true classics. However, Nintendo's 10 year reign over the video game industry was about to come to an end. There were some problems with the console. First, the hardware was designed from the ground up for Mario 64. That might not sound too bad, but it served as an obstacle, both creatively and financially, for future development of 3rd party games. In short, the system wasn't easy to develop for unless you were Nintendo. In fact, game studio Factor 5, who created Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for the N64, got the German secret service to reverse engineer the N64 so they could take advantage of the systems capabilities, and in turn created the best looking game for the system. 

Nintendo's second downfall is two parts. First, they famously and publicly betrayed Sony by not adopting their disk based technology. Thus, Nintendo chose to use the aging and expensive cart technology, and also created an enemy in Sony who would later over take their domination of the video game market. Compared to developing for the N64, making games for the PlayStation was dirt cheap. The technology wasn't as good as the N64, but ease of development and the low price of disk manufacturing saw the PlayStation usher in the biggest bonanza of creative content since the original NES. 

20 years later, I like to remember the N64 for the breakthroughs we continue to enjoy. The N64 brought us 4 player gaming, a breakthrough analogue stick, the rumble pack, and introduced our favorite 2D games into 3D with grace. Sega only wishes that Sonic fared as well as Mario did into the 3rd dimension. Thank you for the memories, Nintendo.