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I think the N64 is Nintendo's worst machine and era
- Thread starter enigmatic_alex44
- Start date
PandaShake
Member
It had quality without enough variety.
dampflokfreund
Banned
No, N64 was great with lots of amazing games and good hardware.
Worst era is WiiU. Glad its over
Worst era is WiiU. Glad its over
legacyzero
Banned
Hell no. N64 is the greatest of all time. Wii was embarrassing
swarley64
Member
Pretty much this.
Metroid Prime was amazing, I personally loved Wind Waker. Eternal Darkness was kinda cool. But I didn't like Smash or F-Zero as much as their N64 incarnations, Mario was a huge disappointment, and every other good game (that I played) on the system was multi-platform. (Well, technically RE4 was exclusive for about six months.)
It's my favourite Nintendo home console. It absolutely lacked variety, but it also has a disproportionate amount of SSS tier games, including some of my favourites ever that still play great.
And what on Earth is so bad about the controller? 8-years old me could figure out how to operate it, it's your fault if you couldn't. Nice, big d-pad, 6 face buttons, it was actually pretty great IMHO.
And what on Earth is so bad about the controller? 8-years old me could figure out how to operate it, it's your fault if you couldn't. Nice, big d-pad, 6 face buttons, it was actually pretty great IMHO.
HiredN00bs
Member
Super Smash Bros.
Mario Golf
Mario Tennis
Mario Kart 64
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Super Mario 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mario Golf
Mario Tennis
Mario Kart 64
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Super Mario 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Raptomex
Member
I have an N64 modded to output via RGB. It doesn't look half bad.
Deputy Moonman
Member
As others have said, the N64 was the king of multiplayer. What it did with 4 player split-screen was incredible at the time. The multiplayer aspect of the console alone makes it better than most, not to mention that those multiplayer games were spectacular and groundbreaking. Golden Eye, Mario Kart, Smash Bros had exponential replay value. I never got into the wrestling games, but there was more than one from what I remember: WWF No Mercy and WCW/nWo Revenge were highly popular. If you wanted an arcade in your room to play with friends, the N64 was it.
Other notable multiplayer games: Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, Diddy Kong Racing, Star Fox 64.
Then you add in some of the best single player games of all-time with Zelda: OoT, Zelda: MM, and Mario 64. Am I on crazy pills with people saying it's the worst of the Nintendo consoles?? Limited game library or not, the N64 is easily above both the Wii and the Gamecube.
Other notable single player games: Banjo Kazooie, Rogue Squadron, Paper Mario, Bomberman64, Donkey Kong 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Mario Tennis. There are more that I can't think of off the top of my head, but I'm easily in the quality over quantity camp. If I'm taking a single console, i want some of the best games of all time.
Other notable multiplayer games: Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, Diddy Kong Racing, Star Fox 64.
Then you add in some of the best single player games of all-time with Zelda: OoT, Zelda: MM, and Mario 64. Am I on crazy pills with people saying it's the worst of the Nintendo consoles?? Limited game library or not, the N64 is easily above both the Wii and the Gamecube.
Other notable single player games: Banjo Kazooie, Rogue Squadron, Paper Mario, Bomberman64, Donkey Kong 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Mario Tennis. There are more that I can't think of off the top of my head, but I'm easily in the quality over quantity camp. If I'm taking a single console, i want some of the best games of all time.
Here Ill just make my own list of good Wii console exclusive titles. Bolded are games I consider to be contenders for best game ever (like I did with my N64 list).
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Twilight Princess (was exclusive for like a month, its other version was on a dead console)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Skyward Sword
MadWorld
Boom Blox
Super Mario Galaxy
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Boom Blox Bash Party
No More Heroes
No More Heroes 2
A Boy and His Blob
Mario Kart Wii
De Blob
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Kirby's Return to Dreamland
The Last Story
Pandora's Tower
Xenoblade Chronicles
Little King's Story
Metroid Prime 3
Metroid Other M
Monster Hunter Tri
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Punch Out
Rhythm Heaven Fever
Wario Ware Smooth Moves
Wario Land Shake It
Sin and Punishment Star Successor
Sonic Colors
Super Paper Mario
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
Zack and Wiki
Trauma Team
Truama Center New Blood
Wii Sports
World of Goo
La Mulana
This is a great list but I think it doesnt have anything over the 64s list.
The N64 revolutionized gaming, and that is no small feat. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time might be the two best and most influential games of all time. Behind that, yeah, its almost empty. So while I think the absolute best on the N64 is as good or better than anything on any console - the lack of depth means that it ultimately ends up the worst Nintendo-console outside of the Virtual Boy. Basically, I agree with the OP.
moltonasty
Member
IDK OP...it's kind of the best local multiplayer console of all time so I'm inclined to disagree...but then again, aside from the Virtual Boy it does have the worst first party lineup for any Nintendo console..so I guess you're right?
Though Mario 64 is still one of the GOATS, and the DS port was pretty terrible
Though Mario 64 is still one of the GOATS, and the DS port was pretty terrible
Magicpaint
Member
N64 was a revolution. It genuinely changed and shaped the videogame landscape. It;s absolutely one of my favourite consoles, despite lacking in variety. Also at the time the lack of load times was a huge positive for me compared to the PS/Saturn.
People saying the Wii was bad simply dont know what they are talking about and probably either never got one, or wasnt interested in exploring its library because of their hatred for motion controls. The Wii has amazing depth, as showed by the lists people are posting, and its best games are just as good as the best on any system. I even really loved the kind of thirdparty support it got, with a lot of unique stuff that made it stand out. All in all, the Wii is the third overall best home console Nintendo has produced, behind only the Nes and Snes.
dcx4610
Member
The N64 was easily their worst and it started the downfall of Nintendo as the dominant brand.
I was a diehard Nintendo fan and remember not even being that impressed when I saw Mario 64 at Toys R Us. I was into PC gaming after the SNES and PC was already doing more interesting things with better graphics. I was also letdown with how the N64 was promised to basically be a home SGI machine with the exact same graphics as Killer Instinct in the arcade.
They stuck with carts and charged huge licensing fees which drove 3rd party companies away. The controller was also polarizing and just didn't feel right unless a game was as specifically programmed for it.
I think if you are in your early 20s, you are incredibly nostalgic for the N64 since that's what you grew up with. For me, I grew up with the NES and that's what I'm nostalgic for. I make no bones about the NES being the best just because I think it is. Likewise, if you look at the N64 objectively, it certainly broke a lot of ground for console but I think the long term impact it had on another Nintendo was extremely negative.
I was a diehard Nintendo fan and remember not even being that impressed when I saw Mario 64 at Toys R Us. I was into PC gaming after the SNES and PC was already doing more interesting things with better graphics. I was also letdown with how the N64 was promised to basically be a home SGI machine with the exact same graphics as Killer Instinct in the arcade.
They stuck with carts and charged huge licensing fees which drove 3rd party companies away. The controller was also polarizing and just didn't feel right unless a game was as specifically programmed for it.
I think if you are in your early 20s, you are incredibly nostalgic for the N64 since that's what you grew up with. For me, I grew up with the NES and that's what I'm nostalgic for. I make no bones about the NES being the best just because I think it is. Likewise, if you look at the N64 objectively, it certainly broke a lot of ground for console but I think the long term impact it had on another Nintendo was extremely negative.
Soapbox Killer
Grand Nagus
What other system has Tetrisphere? The greatest puzzle game of all time...NONE.
You right.
I thought the impact of the moments of N64 are better than its legacy. The first time you play Super Mario 64 is magical without question. Coming from 2D gaming this was and still is the most impressive transition I have ever experienced.
Pound for Pound, Ocarina of Time is still the best game I have ever played
Now there are other games that were great as well but the overall generation was a flux for Nintendo. Gamecube was better than Nintendo64 in every way save for the 2 examples above.
Did I mention Tetrisphere and the lack of ports to anything else? Game could have rocked on 3DS..and the music!!!!
You right.
I thought the impact of the moments of N64 are better than its legacy. The first time you play Super Mario 64 is magical without question. Coming from 2D gaming this was and still is the most impressive transition I have ever experienced.
Pound for Pound, Ocarina of Time is still the best game I have ever played
Now there are other games that were great as well but the overall generation was a flux for Nintendo. Gamecube was better than Nintendo64 in every way save for the 2 examples above.
Did I mention Tetrisphere and the lack of ports to anything else? Game could have rocked on 3DS..and the music!!!!
The Albatross
Member
I agree with you that the N64 is awesome... but real question, did the N64 change the videogame landscape, more so than say the PSX?
I'd say Mario 64 changed the videogame landscape because suddenly you had a bunch of Mario 64 ripoffs (Gex: Enter the Gecko, Croc 1 and 2, Spyro, etc), but long term, I think the next generation of consoles -- the Xbox, PS2, and GameCube -- were much more similar to the direction that the PSX went in than the direction that the N64 went in. And the generation of consoles after that, the 360 and PS3 seem like direct offspring from the Xbox and PS2, while the Wii is genuinely something different altogether. But back to the N64, most of the defining characteristics of that console seemingly ended up being dropped in favor of design decisions that the Playstation took, CDs, memory card storage, dual analog sticks, multiple triggers, the now fairly standard controller layout, etc.
Nintendo has certainly been defined by the N64, most 3D Marios and 3D Zeldas follow a formula that the N64 versions of those games introduced, but I think it's obvious to say "Nintendo was changed and shaped by the N64," but I'd say the videogame landscape was more changed and shaped by the PSX than the N64 directly comparing those two consoles alone.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
For those bringing up GameCube as the worst...I think you're nuts.
I also think you're forgetting some of that greatness.
- Pikmin 1&2
- Fire Emblem
- Luigi's Mansion
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron titles
- Warioware
- Paper Mario TTYD
Seriously good games.
Kicks the snot out of N64.
I also think you're forgetting some of that greatness.
- Pikmin 1&2
- Fire Emblem
- Luigi's Mansion
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron titles
- Warioware
- Paper Mario TTYD
Seriously good games.
Kicks the snot out of N64.
Agreed! Add Capcom 5(4), Baten Kaitos 1+2 and Tales of Symphonia and its leagues ahead. Those 3 RPG alone make it more worthwhile than the N64
Cipher Peon
Banned
For me, it's always been the SNES that was Nintendo's worst generation. Out of the entire library the amount of games I enjoy I can count on one hand and it's full of games I hate.
Earthbound is p nice though.
Earthbound is p nice though.
spookyfish
Member
I love the GameCube, but I think the N64 gave me more memorable experiences than the 'Cube did.
I can't hate on the generation that gave me Turok 2, Rogue Squadron, Shadows of the Empire, Zelda: Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooies, *and* Super Mario 64.
GCN, however, did give me Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. which are two of the best games ever made.
Damn. I don't know ...
I can't hate on the generation that gave me Turok 2, Rogue Squadron, Shadows of the Empire, Zelda: Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooies, *and* Super Mario 64.
GCN, however, did give me Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. which are two of the best games ever made.
Damn. I don't know ...
IM sorry OP here are just a few reasons to own this console alone. I believe a lot games in this list have aged well and they are still funs to play.
If I saw this thread a year ago, I would have said no way... but after finally getting a decent retro gaming setup with a CRT and all my old consoles, and actually going back to play some this stuff again, it doesn't sound so crazy.
When it came out games like Mario64 and Zelda were absolutely mind blowing, and they still hold up and are worth playing, but other than that...
It had some good games, but even a lot of stuff I used to really like (1080, Goldeneye, Turok) just isn't that great to play nowadays. Turok is especially bad, like for me, unplayable bad. The controls are a mess, you're surrounded by fog 3 feet in front of your face at all times so you can never see anything, it's a lot worse then I remembered.
Starfox is still pretty cool.
I think my rating would be:
1. NES
2. SNES
3. Wii
4. WiiU/Gamecube/N64 are sort of interchangeable?
When it came out games like Mario64 and Zelda were absolutely mind blowing, and they still hold up and are worth playing, but other than that...
It had some good games, but even a lot of stuff I used to really like (1080, Goldeneye, Turok) just isn't that great to play nowadays. Turok is especially bad, like for me, unplayable bad. The controls are a mess, you're surrounded by fog 3 feet in front of your face at all times so you can never see anything, it's a lot worse then I remembered.
Starfox is still pretty cool.
I think my rating would be:
1. NES
2. SNES
3. Wii
4. WiiU/Gamecube/N64 are sort of interchangeable?
Diddy Kong
Banned
Nintendo and Rare were the dream team. Nintendo would have been much better off keeping them.
N00b Saibot
Banned
GameCube was amazing
Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time formed the basis for how all third-person games control in 3D.
kimifan141
Member
i would buy a nintendo 64 in a pinch just to play wwf no mercy , pokemon stadium series+gb games it allows. i loved the star wars games too, for me the worst nintendo console has to be the wii u
I really disagree that the only important games on N64 are Super Mario 64, OoT and MM. The library has so many more phenomenal games that go unrecognized. Each of these is totally worth owning (maybe with the exception of Animal Crossing because the GCN port is way better).
Super Mario 64
OoT
MM
Super Smash Bros
Paper Mario
F-Zero X
Bomberman 64
Star Fox 64
Mario Kart 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Wave Race 64
Blast Corps
Conkers Bad Fur Day
Mario Tennis
Mario Golf
Mario Party
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3
Custom Robo
Doom 64
Dr. Mario 64
Excitebike 64
Goemon's Great Adventure
Golden Eye
Killer Instinct Gold
Kirby 64: Crystal Shards
Sin and Punishment
Animal Crossing
Bangai-O
Mischief Makers
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
Perfect Dark
Pilotwings 64
Pokémon Puzzle League
Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2
Pokémon Snap
StarCraft 64
1080° Snowboarding
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
Bust-A-Move '99
Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition
Gauntlet Legends (in my opinion, this is the best home version of the game)
I'm totally missing a few gems, but that is a very solid library for a Nintendo console. It just pales in comparison, however to the Saturn and the PS1.
Super Mario 64
OoT
MM
Super Smash Bros
Paper Mario
F-Zero X
Bomberman 64
Star Fox 64
Mario Kart 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Wave Race 64
Blast Corps
Conkers Bad Fur Day
Mario Tennis
Mario Golf
Mario Party
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3
Custom Robo
Doom 64
Dr. Mario 64
Excitebike 64
Goemon's Great Adventure
Golden Eye
Killer Instinct Gold
Kirby 64: Crystal Shards
Sin and Punishment
Animal Crossing
Bangai-O
Mischief Makers
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
Perfect Dark
Pilotwings 64
Pokémon Puzzle League
Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2
Pokémon Snap
StarCraft 64
1080° Snowboarding
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
Bust-A-Move '99
Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition
Gauntlet Legends (in my opinion, this is the best home version of the game)
I'm totally missing a few gems, but that is a very solid library for a Nintendo console. It just pales in comparison, however to the Saturn and the PS1.
Fire Emblem looked like N64 games I'll give you that.
Magicpaint
Member
The N64 changed the shape and direction in a very different way. Playstation's impact mostly came in the form of demographics -- it introduced gaming to a new age block and expanded the market significantly, and of course a lot of it had to do with content that was only possible with CDs which N64 lacked, along with a kind of branding that was possible with the ushering of 3D gaming. N64's impact comes from the mechanics - it shaped how 3D games would play (SM64), had games that would be prototypes (SM64, OOT, Body Harvest) to the open world genre that currently dominates the landscape today. It was also the console that ushered in the console FPS experience that is also prevalent in the market today.
Boy Wander
Member
Having thought about this a bit more, I'm not even sure it's possible to be objective about this kind of thing. So much of it depends on what stage of your life you were at when a particular console launched and how much you were looking forward to said console. Definitely the N64 marked the start of an era of Nintendo lacking decent 3rd Party support on their home consoles and definitely it had a distinct lack of content in certain key genres such as RPG or Fighting Games. It had fucking SM64 though, and OOT and Goldeneye, and BK and Conker, and Diddy Kong, and Wave Race, and fucking Blast Corps. I just can't let myself diss any console too much that has so many games that I played and loved the hell out of in my late teens.
Dev history dump warning! TL; DR = it was a pretty great console to develop for.
So the N64 has a very soft spot in my heart. My first job in the game industry was coding PilotWings 64. I "lucked out" in both a literal and a sarcastic sense, in that I had the opportunity to make one of the two Japanese launch titles for a brand new Nintendo console as a looooong time Nintendo fanboy.
In a sarcastic sense, because it was.. rather intense.
Anyway, the hardware itself was GREAT to develop for. The early dev kits were expansion cards that fit into SGI Indy workstations, so I had a goddamn SGI on my desk which basically felt like a super computer to me at the time. The monitor was a 21'' CRT behemoth. It was awesome.
The CPU being a MIPS in the same family as the workstation meant that it was all the same Unix compilers and tools I'd been using for a long time.
The unified memory architecture made a bunch of things super easy. As one example, a coworker of mine added a debug mode where you could use the joystick and control the start memory address of the frame buffer, so you could basically just scroll left and right and visualize all of memory - hit a button and the tool would print what structure or buffer in the game was located there, so memory profiling was basically just "hey what's that big black spot of all unused 0's in the memory?"
4mib at the time felt like a lot of ram, and it was really flexible since there weren't many restrictions on what you could put where. The cartridges were small (PilotWings shipped on an 8mib cartridge. To put that in perspective, that's a single 1024x1024x16bit uncompressed texture.) We compressed the crap out of everything, even going so far as to write a custom module loader so we could more easily swap out chunks of code and leave them compressed on the cartridge when they weren't needed.
The CPU supported floating point math in hardware! This was back when that was a big deal.
I could go on and on, but yeah, it was great.
So the N64 has a very soft spot in my heart. My first job in the game industry was coding PilotWings 64. I "lucked out" in both a literal and a sarcastic sense, in that I had the opportunity to make one of the two Japanese launch titles for a brand new Nintendo console as a looooong time Nintendo fanboy.
In a sarcastic sense, because it was.. rather intense.
Anyway, the hardware itself was GREAT to develop for. The early dev kits were expansion cards that fit into SGI Indy workstations, so I had a goddamn SGI on my desk which basically felt like a super computer to me at the time. The monitor was a 21'' CRT behemoth. It was awesome.
The CPU being a MIPS in the same family as the workstation meant that it was all the same Unix compilers and tools I'd been using for a long time.
The unified memory architecture made a bunch of things super easy. As one example, a coworker of mine added a debug mode where you could use the joystick and control the start memory address of the frame buffer, so you could basically just scroll left and right and visualize all of memory - hit a button and the tool would print what structure or buffer in the game was located there, so memory profiling was basically just "hey what's that big black spot of all unused 0's in the memory?"
4mib at the time felt like a lot of ram, and it was really flexible since there weren't many restrictions on what you could put where. The cartridges were small (PilotWings shipped on an 8mib cartridge. To put that in perspective, that's a single 1024x1024x16bit uncompressed texture.) We compressed the crap out of everything, even going so far as to write a custom module loader so we could more easily swap out chunks of code and leave them compressed on the cartridge when they weren't needed.
The CPU supported floating point math in hardware! This was back when that was a big deal.
I could go on and on, but yeah, it was great.
Goldenye and Perfect Dark redefined the FPS on consoles (Halo improved it later)
The console redefined the multiplayer by having 4 controller slots instead of two.
And even the c buttons were somehow the first right stick on many games.
Lux R7
Member
this
Yeah, I completely disagree with the OP. If I had to drop every console Nintendo ever made for eternity..and pick ONLY ONE.
I'd pick either the N64 or the SNES.
No other option would even be considered.
Nope, we're not taking this away from games like Bomberman and Micro Machines. The N64 may have taken them to a new level, but that'd be like ignoring Goldeneye and Perfect Dark because of Halo and CoD.
PhilTheAussieGuy
Member
In retrospect the N64 is probably the worst video console Nintendo has put out to return to in 2016 simply because it was a rough 3D transition and the low resolution, janky frame-rates and unrefined ideas for many of the games on what actually goes into building a good 3D game.
But if you compare era vs era it just has to be the Wii U that is the worst Nintendo console ever. The N64 had some all-time great games that helped usher in the 3D era while the Wii-U was just left to die. Not that the Wii-U doesn't have some great games, but certainly not as many as the 64 in its day.
But if you compare era vs era it just has to be the Wii U that is the worst Nintendo console ever. The N64 had some all-time great games that helped usher in the 3D era while the Wii-U was just left to die. Not that the Wii-U doesn't have some great games, but certainly not as many as the 64 in its day.
Also the N64 had the original Rogue Squadron and it (arguably) had the best version of Resident Evil 2. N64's lineup is definitely solid.
Toadthemushroom
Member
Japanmanx3
Member
Yeah...no. The system that gave us Smash Bros can't possibly be the worst at anything son.
dreamlongdead
Member
These games are not actually a strong argument for proving GameCube had a better library than N64. It just means you liked those games better and think they hold up better than most stuff on N64. It's a valid opinion, but generally not the consensus.
It's interesting how varied the responses have been between N64, GameCube, Wii, and WiiU. Wii certainly has flaws, but it shouldn't be in any running for absolute worst Nintendo console. At least we're all sensible enough to agree that NES and SNES are at the top.
My consistent argument in this thread is to highlight that N64 and Wii have solid support compared to GameCube and especially WiiU. You and others in this thread are just outright ignoring games on the former consoles to prop up the latter consoles.
GameCube and WiiU didn't really do enough to address N64's deficiencies in the fighting, RPG, rhythm, and 2D action genres. WiiU, in particular, is severely lacking in variety by current standards. N64 is getting criticism because its games don't look and play well these days, but I just don't agree with that.
I understand the concept of personal preference, though. I took this thread a little seriously at times, but I'll just leave things at that. We all just have different opinions, and I just reacted to stuff that simply sounded crazy to me.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
I 100% agree.
Suburban Thug
Member
Yup, N64 was pretty bad in my opinion. Small library, weird 3 prong controller, carts, etc...That while gen was underwhelming though.
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