It is not entirely known why Nintendo chose to stick with cartridges for the N64, though official statements from Nintendo of America cited cartridges having significantly shorter load times than optical discs many people have also inferred that the use of cartridges was for greater protection against piracy, as their last experiment with a disk-based console was infamous for its rampant piracy problems during its lifespan. This, combined with Nintendo's draconian reputation for censorship, prompted many third-party developers to abandon Nintendo in favor of Sony when the latter company released the disc-based PlayStation (which ironically started out as an add-on for the SNES before talks fell through due to its proposed contract giving Sony full rights to the games that would be released for it). Unlike competing consoles, Nintendo rejected the use of optical discs for their newest console and stuck to the "tried-and-true" cartridge route, disappointing both fans and developers due to cartridges at the time having significantly less storage space and greater manufacturing costs. This venture, with the help of Silicon Graphics, was intended to create a graphics processor that would send video games into the 3D realm, confident that it would appeal to fans of CGI, especially since CGI-heavy movies like The Abyss, Jurassic Park, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day were becoming increasingly popular partly because of this new technology.Īn early screenshot with the "Ultra 64" logo. In 1993, development on the Nintendo 64 was started as "Project: Reality" as a successor to the SNES. Production for the N64 ended worldwide in late 2003. Nevertheless, it did make its mark on history with its innovative controller and true 3D capabilities. Games such as Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, F-Zero X, Super Smash Bros., and GoldenEye 007 helped sell over 32 million N64 systems worldwide, though it wasn't enough to surpass the PlayStation 1. Nintendo's defense was to say that cartridges were still the media of choice for home consoles because they did not suffer from slow loading times and were somewhat more practical than CD's.Īt the time, the Nintendo 64 was the only true 64-bit system and the first with built-in four-player gaming. Not only were cartridges more expensive and had less capacity than CDs, but it also meant that Nintendo would be the only supplier, enforcing their grip on licenses. The decision to choose cartridges over CD's did make quite a few third-party developers to turn away from the system all together. The Nintendo 64 would be Nintendo's last home console to use cartridges until the Nintendo Switch in 2017, though Nintendo's handhelds would continue to support the format. The SNES was a 16-bit console, and the next console to be released was the Nintendo 64, completely skipping the 32-bit era. As part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, the N64 leaped from 16-bit sprite-based graphics into a polygon world thanks to its powerful 64-bit CPU and GPU. The N64 was Nintendo's third major home video game console, and was originally codenamed "Project: Reality" while it was being worked on by Nintendo and Silicon Graphics (SGI) in April 1993 to create a next-generation 3D console. In South Korea, the console was called Comboy 64 and was distributed by Hyundai instead of Nintendo. Named for its 64-bit processing unit, it was first released in Japan and North America in 1996, followed by Australia, Europe, and other parts of the world in 1997. Romaji: Nintendō Rokuyon) ( N64), stylized as NINTENDO⁶⁴, is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo.
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