Remembering the Nintendo 64

Now that things are getting back to normal, I’ve stepped back into my groove and began reviewing games from the late 90s. So far, I’ve played through, and shared my thoughts on a handful of classic Playstation titles. Now, to keep things from getting too stale, I’m going to also go over a number of classic titles for the Nintendo 64 in the comings weeks and months. I plan to mix things up.

I should state that, much like the Playstation, I didn’t own a Nintendo 64 back in it’s heyday. So I missed out on a number of classic titles the first time around. Of course, many of them I’ve since caught up on, but there’s still a few that I’ve never had the pleasure of sitting down with. I look forward to changing that.

The Nintendo 64 is an interesting machine. It was the successor to the ever popular Super Nintendo and as such, sold quite well upon it’s initial release. But unlike Sony’s popular Playstation, Nintendo chose to keep with game cartridges instead of using optical disks. This meant limited amounts of storage in comparison. It wasn’t long before Nintendo sales began to suffer against the Sony giant.

The system also featured an optional memory expansion pack that added additional RAM to the system. However, very few games were built to support this extra memory. The system also featured an optional “Rumble Pack” that could be plugged into the bottom of the controller to allow for vibration. Speaking of the controller, this is often the most praised feature of the system. The controller for the N64 featured a revolutionary design, that always universally lauded by players. Personally, I was never a big fan. So I’m definately the odd man out here.

These days, many of the most popular titles from the system are available on both the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles. That is what i’ll be using for my N64 playthroughs.