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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Game library Like all Nintendo consoles, a great collection of first-party titles, but only a few standout third-party titles.
- Graphics I always thought the graphics were fuzzy and blocky.
- Controller(s) Why does the controller have three prongs? Who has three hands?
- Design and form factor The design was very different from all other home electronics. I think it still looks pretty good.
- Other features (media, online, etc.) Well, they're nonexistent, so you really can't fault it.
- Noise No moving parts (except for a fan), so it's pretty quiet.
Detailed review
Some really great and memorable first-party titles were released by Nintendo, like Super Mario 64, Starfox 64, Super Smash Bros., and a couple Legend of Zelda titles (among others). A few standout third-party titles were released as well. The N64 was also plagued by some terrible ports from the PS1 and PC. The one that really sticks in my mind was Doom 64. I was a big fan of first-person shooters on the PC at the time, and Doom 64 was the only one that ever made me nauseous.
At a time when everyone was moving to CDs as the medium of choice for games, Nintendo stood fast with cartridges. The only perceivable benefit to sticking with the medium is a lack of load times. The downsides are higher price per game, smaller storage space, no full motion video, and a lack of centralized data saving. My best guess is that Nintendo stuck with cartridges because it allowed them to maintain their notoriously tight control over licensing of technology to third-party publishers.
The worst part about the system was the controller. It had three prongs. Why? For the subset of gamers with three hands? This meant that there were buttons on the controller you couldn't use. If you could, it was very difficult.
I'm thankful for the N64 for some of the great games released on it, but it is the only game console I've ever owned that I no longer have in some form.
At a time when everyone was moving to CDs as the medium of choice for games, Nintendo stood fast with cartridges. The only perceivable benefit to sticking with the medium is a lack of load times. The downsides are higher price per game, smaller storage space, no full motion video, and a lack of centralized data saving. My best guess is that Nintendo stuck with cartridges because it allowed them to maintain their notoriously tight control over licensing of technology to third-party publishers.
The worst part about the system was the controller. It had three prongs. Why? For the subset of gamers with three hands? This meant that there were buttons on the controller you couldn't use. If you could, it was very difficult.
I'm thankful for the N64 for some of the great games released on it, but it is the only game console I've ever owned that I no longer have in some form.
good review!
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review history
- 2011-06-27
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Updated detailed review