Don't forget Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, Flintstones Bowling (which had nothing to do with bowling), Spec Ops, Teletubbies, and Spice World.Originally Posted by Doonzmore
To be fair, N64 had The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-traction which was equally as bad.
I think the N64 was spared the deluge of bad games because no one could find one worse than Superman 64.
The debate about the controller may be old, but that doesn't make it any less valid. It's no surprise that it worked brilliantly with Mario 64, but it just sucked ass for everything else. I'll take a Dual Shock - or even better, a Japanese Saturn pad (best. controller. ever) over the N64 claw any day of the week.
I love the N64 controller. It works great with The Legend of Zelda games (Z targeting), first person shooters, and other platformers (Banjo-Kazooie, Rayman 2, etc.). It's one of my top five favorite controllers ever.
I even thought it worked fine for one on one fighting games (Killer Instinct Gold, Mortal Kombat 4, Mace, etc.), but I could see how a hard-core fighting gamer would disagree.
Didn't Saturn hold this title from 1994 to 1997 or so?
Gamefan was a fantastic magazine. You know what wasn't fantastic though? Having to call them up every month to remind them that you had a subscription because otherwise they would "forget" to send them to you.
Also forgot to say Excitebike 64 is one of the most amazing games ever made. Still the most realistic motocross game I've ever played. I don't know how they programmed it to give you such unique crashes every time but that always blew me away.
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So true. So many good games. My favorite system of all time.
I was one of the few Saturn owners. I got a Saturn in December of 1995 and didn't regret it at all until 1998 when I was wondering where all the Saturn games went. 1996 was an amazing year, game-wise, with a Saturn. I found myself trading in my old systems and games to buy more Saturn games. I had a good friend with a Playstation at this time, and thought it had a fair number of good games of its own. When the N64 came out I thought it was laughable. Who wants to be stuck with cartridges? And two whole games at launch, and if I remember correctly, still fewer than 10 games available by the end of the year. I definitely played more than 10 new Saturn games during that time period.
I always felt like people overrated individual N64 games due to the overall lack of software. It was like, this is our only major release this month, so it must be awesome! There were some times when N64 would get a steady flow of releases for a while, but then it would get very slow and every game was an event.
This isn't to say that N64 doesn't have some good games. I just think its library is kind of pathetic. Compared to Saturn, it was on the market almost twice as long and sold approx. ten times as many units (in North America), and it has, what, 50 more games? Hell, it sold more than twice as much as Saturn and Dreamcast combined and was around for their combined lifespans, yet its library is about 60% the size of Saturn and Dreamcast. Plus, not many multiplatform games were best on N64.
Ok, so have have a lot of haters, and and a lot of fans. Each side has their points. If someone doesn't like the N64, that's fine, more games for me.
The topic however, is off track, it was supposed to be one of two things.
A silly joke thread where we would have funny outlandish comments. (Some of the haters have fulfilled that)
Or seriously discussing how the N64 launch was, and Nintendo's attitude.
Last edited by buzz_n64; 02-02-2011 at 02:33 PM.
There's only so much you can say about the N64 launch specifically. It had two games. It sucked. The end.
I'm sure Nintendo wanted to delay the N64's launch, but competition from Sega and Sony forced it out a little early, so the library was sparse for several months. On the bright side, we got Super Mario 64 on day one, which is still considered a masterpiece. And we got Wave Race 64 six weeks later- another masterpiece.
Blast Corps, Doom 64, Pilotwings 64, and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire held me over until Mario Kart 64.
Then came Star Fox 64... and then Goldeneye 007...
I wouldn't say it sucked, considering one of those two games was hailed as the greatest video game of all time by every magazine and web site.
Last edited by Rob2600; 02-02-2011 at 03:01 PM.
I don't believe it would have been hailed as such if not for the circumstances of its release.
So Super Mario 64 didn't deserve the praise it received?
No. That's not to say it's not deserving of any praise, mind you.
Super Mario 64 is easily one of the greatest games ever. (IMO)
15 years later, I would probably still say that Super Mario 64 is the best free-roaming 3D platformer I've played. It wasn't only hype or the lack of other games, it's just an amazing game and is still recognized as such, by the industry, by players, and by kids that never played it when it was new (or when the N64 was even still alive). It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hard to deny the effort that was put into the game. Super Mario 64 was the game that the N64 was invented for.
So, really, the N64 could have had ONE game at launch and it would've been fine by me. If you were buying the system at launch looking for something else to buy, you were doing it wrong.
In comparison, let's look at the PlayStation's launch with 10 games:
Total Eclipse Turbo
Power Serve Tennis
Street Fighter: The Movie
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
Battle Arena Toshinden
Ridge Racer
The Raiden Project
Kileak: The DNA Imperative
ESPN ESPN2 Extreme Games
Rayman
First off, pretty much no one still knows/cares about these games, not remotely on the level of Super Mario 64 at least. Second, even as collectors, gamers that are more informed and more willing to try out obscure/forgotten games, how many do you guys think are worth giving a damn about whatsoever in this day and age? I would say only four: Toshinden, Ridge Racer, Raiden, and Rayman. And even though those may be worth picking up for cheap, none of those are remotely worth buying the PlayStation at launch for and spending $360 (even more if you picked up a memory card). I would easily say that the N64 had a far more satisfying launch, and I say this despite being a huge PS1 fan as well.
The Saturn isn't even worth comparing because it only had a whopping ONE more launch release than N64. It had Virtua Fighter, Panzer Dragoon, and Daytona USA. But I'd say that was a more successful launch than the PlayStation's as well since those games are still held in decently high regards. They sure as hell weren't worth paying $400 plus the games' prices in my opinion, though. I'll take my N64 and Super Mario 64 for $260 any day, thanks.
What it boils down to is variety. SM64 may be a masterpiece in gaming design, but if you don't like platformers then the entire launch is rendered worthless. The PS1 didn't have a memorable launch but at least there's something for everyone.
Good point. Pilotwings 64 was a nice game, too...perhaps a bit overrated at the time, but still a fun, polished, impressive game.
And of course, within the next several weeks in time for Christmas, there was Killer Instinct Gold, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Cruis'n USA, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and the fantastic Wave Race 64.
Excellent points. So which is better: a launch with one A+ masterpiece game that goes down in history as being one of the best of all time, or a launch with 10 fairly decent games that cover multiple genres?
Which launch is more satisfying at the time? And which launch is looked back on more favorably a decade or two later?
And one of those Saturn launch games wasn't completely finished: Virtua Fighter.
Last edited by Rob2600; 02-02-2011 at 08:15 PM.
All of those magazines and websites lied. I personally didn't like Super Mario 64 or see the appeal but to each their own.I wouldn't say it sucked, considering one of those two games was hailed as the greatest video game of all time by every magazine and web site.
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
They lied? So its impossible to like super mario 64?
Last edited by Richter Belmount; 02-02-2011 at 09:01 PM.
U GAIZ JUST DONT LIKE CHANGE , (builds a artificial foundation here)
Where do I say "it's impossible to like super mario 64"? Look at what Rob2600 typed and then look at what I typed.
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
You said it your words.
U GAIZ JUST DONT LIKE CHANGE , (builds a artificial foundation here)
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