Congratulations Nintendo 64, You're A Proper Grown-Up Now

Best console ever,play it almost daily,currently playing Body Harvest.

I've gone through so many TVs in the living room yet there is still space for the Nintendo 64. I still have it plugged.
Love it.

Some of the best wrestling games ever made on this machine! My musical tribute from last year for your entertainment:

@Shiryu added to watch later 👍

He can legally drink in the US now. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Mario 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Perfect Dark and Resident Evil 2 were amongst my favourite N64 games.

@timson72 You can download the free MP3 version from right here.

Well in that case the N64 became a grown-up three years ago in these parts.

Now this is a proper birthday to celebrate.

patent expired.

"Send in the clones"

Believe it or not my least favourite Nintendo console...it just didn't click with me in any real way, although I did enjoy Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64. Shame as I was looking forward to getting it when it came out.

"(...)the N64 itself wasn't quite the success Nintendo had hoped it would be"

Heh, fun fact: Sega Saturn actually outsold Nintendo 64 in Japan (barely, but still: 6+ million Saturns vs. 5.44 million N64s), mostly due to lack of jRPGs and anime-based games on N64, in comparison to the SS.

Nevertheless - happy birthday, N64! Man, I sure do love this console, it's among my top ten systems ever. Guess I'm gonna celebrate the occasion by breezing through my N64 collection and playing some of the classics later.

I'll go get the beers. . . .

PS. The N64 really did start strong, launching with some truly industry-leading, paradigm-shifting games--and I'm including a bunch of games in the whole "launch window" time-frame here too--and breaking all kinds of launch/sales records, but it missing some popular tech/features of the day (the huge storage capacity of CDs and music playback) and the lack of major third party support, certainly compared to the PlayStation, ultimately led to it losing to the competition.

Just something to think about. . . .

I absolutely love the N64. The framerate in most of the games can be a challenge today though. I'm tempted to start a NTSC collection just for the slightly better performance.

Anyway... Happy birthday N64. Can't believe how old I am now. lol

Harvest Moon 64, the first virtual farm and love simulator that prepared me for showering my wife with presents every day, or at least talking to her, lol.
Goldeneye, which was amazingly better than the movie.
The relaxing feeling I still get when playing Waverace64, Mariokart64, or Cruisn' USA compared to actually driving a car.
The best Mortal Kombat of all time, known as Trilogy.
Turning on one hit kills and 8 fistsims in Perfect Dark to simulate the zombie apocalypse.
Saving teddy bears and mowing down bugs in Jetforce Gemini.
Marathoning for days through Gauntlet Legends and listening to my blue valkyrie tell me: I like food!
Flying every craft on every mission of Rogue Squadron with unlimited lives knowing when I grew up, I was going to become a starfighter pilot.
Taking pics of all the pokemon in funny compromised positions in Pokemon Snap.
Playing Super Smash Bros non-stop.
Being blown away by Ocarina of Time.
Playing the most fun football game ever, NFL Blitz.
Racing airplanes with Diddy Kong.
Enjoying Mario's first parties with his friends and enemies.
Blasting hundreds of enemies in Starfox 64.
Destroying the world in Rampage World Tour.
64 might've just been Nintendo, Rare, Midway, and Factor 5, but they produced some of the best and most fun games ever.
The 64 is happiness.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE mine to. Also Jet Force Gemini and Shadow Man deserve honourable mentions.
I highly recommend the Nintendo 64 Anthology book. It's a fascinating read.

Me and my 3 brothers play Wcw/nwo revenge every christmas. I still haven't found a better local multiplayer game.

No other console or game has wow'ed me like the first time I turned on my brand new Nintendo 64 and played Mario 64. The feeling of freedom was unparalleled.

N64 is probably my fave console for games like Mario 64, Goldeneye, Wave Race, Lylat Wars, the two Zeldas and the best WWF wrestling games of all time!

My favourite console of all.
I have over 160 CIB games for it and won't be stopping anytime soon.

THE greatest console ever made with THE strongest library of any format ever made. It is the ONLY retro collection I have never sold and is still hooked to me TV even today.

I find it strange that Nintendo has found a way to put Neo Geo games on the Switch but not Nintendo 64 games. Nintendo has truly lost their way.

No, that can't be right. That would make me at leastaaAAAAA*dives out of window*

@gb_nes_gamer Yep, Shadow Man definitely deserves a mention. Very creepy game. Unfortunately I never finished it as I got stuck.

Still play my N64 all of the time. Still love it and am finding good games for it that I never played at the time.

Love the N64. But I'm glad to live in a country where you are a proper adult for everything at the age of 18.

That was three years ago...

@Samurai_Goroh lol, same here. We posted six seconds apart.

@WiltonRoots I can agree with this. I'd say from a hardware standpoint, it's easily my least favorite. What were they thinking with that controller? Maybe the Wii being a close second. But there were so many great games, that I still loved it. So many hours wasted in SSB and Mario Party 1-3 during all-nighters with frieds. Those were the day...

Wave Race, Goldeneye, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron 😍

Many people say Nintendo lost to Sony because they went the cartridge route. But look at all the failed CD-ROM systems and peripherals that came before the PlayStation. It's no wonder Nintendo was cautious.

loved 64 hated the controller

This is the first console I bought with my own, hard earned money. I spent an hour when I got home with this beauty just unpacking it and inspecting everything that came in the box. Little did I know then just how many great years I would have with that machine, both alone and with others. Cheers N64.

Great post @Alikan ! I did most of those things too.

Console was part of my teen years. And just like the music of that time holds special memories for those formative years, so does the N64. I can't remember a time before or since where a console had such a prolific stretch of solid to amazing games in its life span (for me personally, at least).

And I am shocked to hear that some hated the controller as its, for me at least, one of the best of all time. Certainly one of the most versatile.

I'll also never forget finally seeing Ocarina of Time in person at demo kiosk in Toys R' Us. I was ready to sell everything to get that game.

@Shiryu - Thanks for the tunes. If I could somehow add up the amount of time I've spent curating my respective CAW legends rosters in Revenge, No Mercy and Mania '00; it would probably, sadly, turn out to be my life's work. Still tweaking move sets to this day.

After finishing reading all the back issues of Super Play, I've now been stuck into its spiritual successor, N64 Magazine. It's great reading views and thoughts from the time, without the benefit of hindsight. Like how excited everyone was for Zelda 64 on the 64DD, and screenshots of Mother 3 appearing in nearly every issue for the first couple of years. Shame that never happened. I also don't agree with some of the reviews, like Body Harvest getting a Star Game badge (85%+).

After starting a small CIB PAL collection a few months ago, I quickly saw the light and got myself an RGB modded Jap console + Everdrive 64. I'm loving it! I can even play some of the 64DD games like F-Zero as they've been converted to work via the Everdrive.

Great console. I don't think any console will ever be able to beat its holy trinity of revolutionary games: Mario 64, Zelda OoT and Goldeneye. Regardless of how they've aged, their influence on gaming as a whole cannot be underestimated. I'm glad I was there to witness them as they happened, whilst in my gaming prime (teenager).

Time to miniaturize.

Nintendo's 'stubborn decision to stick with ROM cartridges' is one of the things that I loved about the N64 that made it great, and the cartridges will long outlive those nasty cheap CDs.

Turok, Turok 2 and Shadowman remain the most underrated, unrecognised gaming greats of all time. I defy anyone to go play those right now and not be blown away by the technical, artistic mastery of those games. Superb. Best console.

@Freek just so beautiful.

Old enough to go out drinking.

Never had an N64.

Great system, blurry graphics and all. Wave Race was my favourite for so long, and arguably still has the best water physics of ANY game since. Later on came Rogue Squadron and, the greatest game ever, Perfect Dark. Oh, and it had the best F-Zero ever. The New Tetris is up there with the best versions of the game.

Let us all play our n64 in celebration for the event.

@stevenw45 what was it for
Let me guess drugs

@Tempestryke I got mine in 2014 for 25 dollars

The console that Nintendo used to replace the Virtual Boy they abandoned after only a few months and a few games. My view of the N64 will always be tainted by the fact that it murdered my Virtual boy!

I never owned on in its own day....Mario 64 really amazed me, I used to go to Toys R Us' demo just to watch it, but then got into PC games before Ocarina came out, and just kind of sidelined it for years. I'll always be a little sad when I see N64, it was the one that broke my Nintendo tradition, and kind of the last of the "old world" of Nintendo (or rather the first of the less than wonderful "new world" of Nintendo that finally ended with 3DS and now Switch.)

The N64 was the first console I owned. I had to go to friends' houses to play NES and SNES (and of course Sega Genesis). But the N64 was all mine and I fell in love with gaming on it. I have such fond memories of Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Starfox 64, ExtremeG, Rogue Squadron/Battle for Naboo, the Cruis'n games, Mario Party, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, and so many others. Such a great console that got even better with the Expansion Pack. I'll never forget my first experience with Starfox 64 and feeling the Rumble Pak go off....life-changing!!!

Damn, has it been that long. I remember wanting this system so badly when it was revealed. Waiting each month for any videogame magazine that had any new info, even if it was just a couple of screenshots of Mario64. I never jumped on the PlayStation bandwagon even though my friends all thought it was the best thing ever. I was Sega fan and stuck with the Saturn, and Sony be damned I wasn't selling out. But the Nintendo64 and Mario64 just blew me away. Mario in 3D, I don't think there has ever been a game since (except maybe Zelda OoT) that I have ever wanted as mush as that one when it first came out.

Congratulations N64! What an amazing console. I've always wanted to play one. Maybe one day.

Think the N64 is my favorite console. Many happy memories of it at Uni.
Would def get an N64 mini if Nintendo released one and made more than thereof them.

Seriously, take a good look at that system. Classic design! That was in the days when videogame consoles looked like videogame consoles and not like set-top boxes.

Wonderful console, wonderful memories. I even took it with me on holidays or to family and friends to amaze them with Wave Race, F-Zero, 1080 Snowboarding or Mario Kart 64.

Played a lot of ISS 98 with my cousin too.

And 4 player GoldenEye, on a portable CRT TV, completely crazy but amazingly entertaining...

The follow-up Perfect Dark was a great game as well, although also less in some parts, but all in all, still a great game that I poured hours upon hours into.

And besides the wonderful Mario 64 and the truly amazing adventure that was Ocarina of Time, I also spent a lot of time on games like World Racing Championship (one of the best looking racing games back then) and the engrossing sci-fi adventure Hybrid Heaven.

And of course anything made by Rare, from the wonderfully simple yet addictive Blast Corps, to the brilliantly cheeky Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Man, where have those days gone...

It went against mainstream thinking of the time, but it's impact on 3D gaming was undeniable. Very proud to be an N64 owner back in the day.

...wow...seems like yesterday...Mario 64, Turok, Shadowman, Rogue Squadron, Resident Evil, Banjo, Beetle Racing, Forsaken, Tony Hawk, 1080, Wave Race, GoldenEye..good times N64...Happy Birthday!...I owe you a beer buddy...

Man, I'm 10 years older than this console. Good times.

My favorite Nintendo console. Nintendo Switch will definitely be the better Nintendo console ever, though I'm old to appreciate it like I did with my Nintendo 64 back in time.

@GravyThief how much did a RGB modded N64 cost you as i need to get mine done but now i see they can actually do a 'True HDMi' mod aswell.

@NEStalgia You sure missed out on a heck of a lot of greatness then, and although the Virtual Boy was amazing in some aspects, it really wasn't that great, and certainly not great enough to miss out on it's successor, which was so, SO much better in dozens of ways.

Going back now without the memories of having played them for the first time all those years ago will more than likely never compare, but there's actually quite a few games that still hold up today gameplay-wise, meaning that a few minutes in, you simply forget all about the big, chunky shapes that the games are made up from and you just start enjoying the games themselves.

And that truly is the magic of Nintendo. For me personally, no other manufacturer has that magic or sense of pulling you in, regardless of the age of the games or the system, although the Sega Dreamcast is a VERY close second, but that truly is the only one.

@XyVoX I got mine pre-modded from eBay (in the UK) for about £70/£80. Just doing a search now on "n64 ntsc rgb" and a few come up for £75 (again this is the UK).
I previously had a PAL RGB modded one, but they're rarer and more expensive (about £130) and you still get rubbish 50hz PAL so I sold that.

I'm not that interested in HDMI as I use a CRT for retro gaming. However I'd still get RGB as if/when I ever did migrate to playing on a HD TV I'd use a framemeister or its successor (whatever that will be), though the framemeister is only economical if you have numerous retro consoles using RGB.

I hear the HDMI mod for the N64 is good, but I find RGB great too. Just don't expect miracles if you're playing on an HD TV, after all the N64 and PS1 were still 240p consoles, even though they made the move into 3D. That's a big resolution gap! 16bit 2D doesn't seem to suffer half as bad.

@XyVoX To add to @GravyThief's comment, here's all the info you'll need, both for RGB and HDMI mods. Shop links are found at the top of the pages:

http://retrorgb.com/n64.html
http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html

And here's a link of a UK-based mod service:
http://www.oldskoolconsoles.com/product-page/ultra-hdmi-n64-upgrade-service-pre-order

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, it's very true that missing out on its own era really changes how you view the content. Though I do admit, while I had Mario 64 envy at the time, even then, the crude 3D worlds didn't inspire me as much as it did some people. I was spoiled by beautiful pixel art on SNES and just couldn't get into the aesthetic of 3D. PC was actually featuring more pixel art and hand-drawn games in that era than most consoles were.

So I'll always have a very mixed feeling about N64. It was definitely the machine where Nintendo "changed" and I wasn't sure I was able to follow them. That's what I loved about 3DS. From N64 through Wii, Nintendo was "different' than the Nintendo I knew. Almost more toy-like. 3DS seemed like a proper reboot to "real" Nintendo. Switch is continuing that back to the future theme in overdrive.

Despite all that, there's still that part of me that will always regret "the Nintendo I skipped." (I skipped GCN as well, was VERY deep into the PC scene at the time....but played the library I wanted to play with a Wavebird on the Wii anyway )

@timson72 ha! me too! i'm in the last region. Love that the guys behind GTA 3 made this before they hit the big time. It's about as open world as N64 gets!

single tear back in Nintendo's glory days

@NEStalgia Yeah, first gen 3D definitely doesn't hold up as well as 2D pixel art, so that's absolutely true. I myself was also more into 2D games, although not on Nintendo: my cousin had a NES and later a SNES (with copy box) but I was a Commodore Amiga guy, and I had a lot of the same games on there, and quite often even with better sound and graphics. And it had some truly great exclusives too.

As a result, I didn't feel like I was really missing out on something, since I could play the games that I didn't have at my cousin's house.

But after the A1200, I dove into Nintendo's realm for myself, and like @bimmy-lee, the N64 was my very first self-bought console, after having seen and played Wave Race 64 at a local game store, and I have never regretted buying it and staying with Nintendo ever since, although I did eventually get a Sega Dreamcast and an Xbox 360.

Still, in my humble opinion, some people (like you) missing out that era because of certain sentiments is a shame really, although somewhat understandable in some respects.

Personally, I'm glad I can always go back with those rosy-tinted spectacles, otherwise I would probably also not be that impressed anymore. But what those memories do, is what I described in the previous comment and it really is a great thing:

They allow you to forego judging the game by its crude looks, and to truly let yourself be pulled in and then you'll find you'll (still) enjoy them anyway. Mario Kart 64 and Wave Race 64 play almost exactly the same as their GameCube successors, so the first steps of those mechanics were already there, and quite solidly I might add.

And there are so many more gems on the system, that I truly feel sad that so many people that actually already were Nintendo supporters/fans back then missed out on them, either by choice or for whatever other reason(s).

I do hope that at the very least Wave Race Blue Storm, Mario Kart Double Dash and 1080 Avalanche were in your library of GameCube games on the Wii, those are must-haves as far as I am concerned.

If not, you should seriously consider going back to those. They're definitely worth skipping a few ACA Neo Geo games for...

I just booted up Ocarina of Time again before I saw this. Even though I never owned a n64 or Oot in my life, I still get the feels from playing it all over again.

The N64 is still my favorite console. I owned 3 and had about 50 games for it. It got me thru my teenage years and we spent a lot of time playing Goldeneye at school. One kid brought his every day and students and teachers played it. He was good and cocky. We set it to 10 lives and I played him one in one. He killed me 9 times in a row, talking smack the whole time. I killed him 9 times in a row. Finally I got the last kill. He packed it up in a huff. But we all still played the next day. I still break it out occasionally but many the graphics are quite painful, I'm talking about you Episode 1 Racer.

Got it on march 5th 1997 , what a fantastic moment that was !
OoT , Goldeneye and Diddy kong racing where my favourites , the music of DKR's hot top volcano track still sounds in my head as if it was only yesterday , brillant .

@ThanosReXXX Well, on the up-side, I probably gained an appreciation for even WORSE graphics on the NES a bit more since the NES was your cousins', so I gained something where I lost something

You know, I never played Wave race or Avalanche. Those kind of games never interested me at the time. I've heard much about Wave Race here, so I may indeed have to go back and try it

I have a 64 but hated the controller and stuff. It really has great games on it, like Ocarina of time, Donkey Kong 64, and Super Mario 64 but I'd rather play the remakes on other systems

Spent most of a pay cheque on one back in the day. First console I bought myself. Felt amazing to rock up at home with Starfox.

Highlights for me were Ocarina, Mario, Starfox, Wave Race, 1080, Rogue Squadron, F-Zero X, Pilotwings, multiplayer Goldeneye and Mario Kart, Resident Evil 2, Blast Corps, Excitebike and probably many others I can't remember right now. Time to dig the old girl out again I think. Goosebumps.

Oh, and carts are the future. Probably.

Edit: I'd love to see modern versions of all of the above on Switch. We're already getting there.

@NEStalgia I'm not going all out with my presumptions here, but I'm almost sure that you will like it. Just like it's N64 predecessor, the water physics are amazing, and of course look a lot better on the GameCube version, even to this day.

I've tried many water scooter/jet ski games since, and somehow, very few of them seem to be able to get it right on all points.

Same goes for 1080: these games were a perfect mix between sim and arcade, whereas series like SSX were only arcade and very over the top, and Amped was a bit too coarse for my taste, although later games did improve.

But I do have to confess that I also like these games because I like these sports in real life as well, so that certainly helps getting into them, but on the bright side it also helps to discern what game is a good representation of the feeling of doing that in real life, and the Nintendo versions definitely score many points in that department.

@ThanosReXXX I have high hopes for Steep. Is that still coming to Switch? I saw no mention of platforms at E3, and I know there were rumors it wasn't coming to Switch anymore, but it was confirmed during the January event....not sure what its status is. I like WATCHING winter sports. I hate snow so I have no interest in real life ones But one of the most fun (PC) games I played for winter sports was the Bode Miller Alpine 2006 game......Steep gives me vibes of that...but it's Ubi so I'll be cautious.

Wave Race does sound interesting though

@NEStalgia Yes, it's coming. That was already confirmed pre-E3. And Wave Race does sound interesting, as in the game's audio...

No really, the officially licensed Kawasaki engines, the water, the ambient sounds, the music. And combined with top notch gameplay and some neat hidden extras, this is simply a great arcade game that really has that great vibe that you'd expect from a triple A Nintendo game.

Correction: The youth of today know damn well how to hold a three-pronged video game controller.

The youth of today actually have common sense, contrary to popular opinion.

I can't believe they developed N64 games with an SGI Indy, there were so much better options! They could have made the N64 itself beefier to accommodate something like an Indigo2. Now THAT, would have killed the PlayStation and Saturn in one fell swoop.

Instead, they chose lower-end hardware, and had it developed on the Indigo "without the 'go'". Thing could have sold at least 70m units with that kind of foundation. I'm sure it wouldn't have costed THAT much more to give its internal tech a little wiggle room.

PS: This comment is totally just an excuse to bring up Silicon Graphics.

@ThanosReXXX Well, I have to get to F-Zero N64 first Apparently Switch VC isn't quite....there...

My N64 is currently on its way to a nice man with a soldering iron who's going to install the Ultra HDMI mod for me. I can't wait to get it back!

@NEStalgia Oh, that's definitely a must-buy as well. Shame on you if you haven't played it yet...

Favourite console ever. Mario kart 64, Zelda Oot, Goldeneye, Mario 64. Amazing 😃

@ProjectCafe Ah... Silicon Graphics, once the holy grail of graphical workstations. I always dreamed of owning one myself, but unfortunately (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) that never came to be.

I do believe that they used stronger SGI hardware when they showcased those early demo's, because nothing that was commercially released on the N64 ever came close to what was promised, even though it was still a great system in its own right.

@gatorboi352 started it 2 nights ago,forgot how big the levels are.

I'm so glad it was a cartridge system. It might have cost them games (and shovelware), but I think it's ended up being the more memorable system in terms of future generations and emulation. Compared to the PS1, emulators don't have to deal with massive ISO with garbage data taking up unnecessary memory, no loading times, and better graphics. 8mb games don't have to take up 300mb of hard drive space.

@ThanosReXXX Let me just fax you my CC, that way you can spend my money for me without the inefficiency of posting on a forum.

I think from a nostalgia perspective the 64 is still my most beloved system (wiiu is my current favorite with switch as best design) as I have a pretty awesome childhood memory associated with it. I asked for the system for my birthday (in October) and my mother couldn't afford it at the time so she put it on layaway. What made it cool was how I found out. Mom made a scavenger hunt full of 10 smaller presents (and my favorite food) because there was about a two hour window between when I got home from school and when my father got off work. I express humor via stories (inherited from mom) and the hints for the hunt were all stuff that had happened to us that was funny. So I got a wonderful trip down memory lane, presents and pan of lasagna (ate it for lunch at school for the rest of the week) out of the whole deal. She honestly could have ended my bday with the stuff I got on the scavenger hunt but when I found a very adorable IOU (which I still have by the way) I pretty much was done for at that point and Mom had best parent of the year (lifetime achievement?) award in my book.
That xmas I got the system and Mario 64, and after getting used to the camera I played that game all day (spent 20 minutes warping Mario's face in the opening) until I passed out on the floor controller still in hand. I feel like all of my best gaming memories are associated with my mother. Serious mother/daughter bonding right there folks.

But yeah OoT, MM, 1080, Wave Race, Beetle Adventure Racing, Fighter's Destiny, Goemon...Such a fantastic system. Except Daikatana and Superman 64. UGH.

@NEStalgia You want some cheese to go with that whine?

@ThanosReXXX Sure, just bill it to the faxed card

@NEStalgia I promise to be very frugal with it...

@UK-Nintendo
Thanks.
I love the box art.

@ThanosReXXX - Interesting that we came to the 64 in such different ways. When the NES launched in the US, I was the target demo. My friends and I grew up with Nintendo, and as we were stepping into early adulthood; the 64 was making the quantum leap into 3D. For people around our age who were on board, it was one of Nintendo's great "right time, right place/you just had to be there" moments. Being immersed in the Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule for the first time in 3D was so exciting that it felt like discovering video games all over again.

@Ryu_Niiyama - What a touching story. Thanks for sharing. I still don't know how my parents afforded a NES when I was a kid, but I knew I was lucky to have it and treated it like priceless art.

"Moved grown men to tears" I've heard it moved the Bubsy 3D guys more to like, foul mouths.
Can't believe it's already a year since we discussed the 20th anniversary.
Weren't 2/3 of those 33 million consoles the American region? Just didn't sell as well in the other regions combined, I believe. (I think GameCube had a similar distribution, surprisingly, since in that generation PS2 was the clear leader but I only remember people hearing people talk about GC negatively when it was released. Guess there was more GC fans than we thought. )

@bimmy-lee heh, I'm the neighborhood rambler.

@ThanosReXXX

Of course it was.

I still wish it was named the Ultra 64, though. Screw simplicity and universality.

I there's a chance I might be getting an Indigo2 soon. If you ever want one, they are FAR less expensive than they were back in the day. Only a couple hundred for a unit today, compared to the same unit that used to cost a couple ten thousand back in maybe '95, '96.

@bimmy-lee Yeah, in a way, it was strange for me too. Back then, in Europe the Commodore computers were far more popular than in the States, but I stepped in rather late with those too. I never had the once-cherished C64 like so many of my European friends, but perhaps a lot had to do with me moving to this region so early, I don't know.

Or perhaps it had more to do with the region itself, since home computers were absolutely a thing over here, as many UK member of over 30 on here will more than likely be able to confirm.

But with having that Amiga home computer, any need or want for a console disappeared completely, since I could do everything those could and more, so I really didn't need any.

The N64 was something else, though. No computer back then could do proper 3D for a consumer price, so to see that going on in a cartridge based system blew my mind. And having played Wave Race in the local game store was equally mind blowing.

It took me all but a minute to get used to that crazy controller and before I knew it, I was racing around a "real" 3D course. I spent the next few months saving up all my money (that I would normally spend going out in the weekends and on comics) to be able to buy it and some games as soon as possible.

By the time I had the money, most games were sold out, so I was only able to get Pilot Wings, but luckily I found an ad from a private owner selling some of his games, through which I was able to acquire mint, boxed copies of Wave Race and ISS 64.

That year, I played all three of those games to bits. And after that came all the other stellar titles. I don't believe I've ever spent as much time on a console since, although admittedly that is also due to working hours and personal goings-on. But oh, the memories...

@electrolite77 That never deterred me for a single second to still enjoy the heck out of it, and personally, I always thought that the Vaseline complaint was exaggerated. Yes, it had a transparency filter plastered over all the games, that made the image blurry/blurrier, but far as I am concerned, it was still miles better than the jaggy and wiggly mini-steck 3D that the original Playstation put out, because the N64's 3D was rock solid.

And moreover, that Vaseline thing seems to be somewhat of a recurring piece of BS where Nintendo is concerned as well, since people were saying the same of the Wii U GamePad, which is even more ridiculous.

"So, Happy 21st Birthday, N64, and have a beer on us!"

I suggest getting non-alcoholic beer.

@electrolite77 Getting rid of it is one solution, giving it the HD mod it deserves could also have been one...

But emulation is the next best thing, although depending on where and how, it certainly isn't perfect. For comfort's sake, I use Wii64 on the Wii, in a version specially adapted to USB devices, and luckily most of the games that I originally played run almost flawlessly on it, tiny hiccups here and there, but not enough to bother me.

Other than that, I use Project 64 on the PC, but that too isn't perfect.

@Mario500 No, he already had that the previous 20 years...

Happy birthday! I remember I was 5 I think when we got ours, my Dad got it for Christmas, and we got Smash, Conker, Paper Mario, and Super Mario 64. Can't remember what else, but it was a great Christmas. I've got lots of great memories with it, playing Conker and Beetle Adventure Racing with my brother, and Paper Mario is still one of my favourites. Something went wrong about 3 years ago, but I'm tempted to get my N64 fixed. It was a great console

@NEStalgia 5th generation Nintendo is one of the best, especially growing up with it to share with peers. That was the time when PC gaming and internet access were privileged novelties, so local multiplayer was at it's peak. You picked one of the worst eras to skip a Nintendo system when it was new.

Feel bad? Go play some classics. Retro gaming is in full swing vogue.

Even if I get Alzheimer's someday, I don't think I will ever forget that feeling of seeing Super Mario 64 for the first time on that Nintendo Power VHS tape. It was like a carousel of revelations and excitement during those times. I begged my parents to rent an N64 for me from Blockbuster before Christmas. Every big release felt like a landmark. I haven't felt like that in years. I think the last time any game made me feel like I had to experience it at all costs was Final Fantasy XI...

Maybe it's just the magic of something which barely exists, and getting to experience the turn of history... It is a good thing that more and more people can experience computer gaming, of course. However, the boutique nature of computer gaming in the 90's made it feel special. Not in a pride sort of way, but in a fortunate way. I feel honored to have lived through that time period of narrow crossroads...

I was in college then. Turok Dinosaur Hunter, Killer Instinct, & Mario Kart. Always kept me & my roommate away from homework.

Actually, N64 had the larger library, and arguably better 3rd party support, RARE and Hudson Soft being a large part of that.

The osk goldeneye 4 player matches, the perfect dark matches, smash bros, mk64, the f-zero X, the mighty Rare ware games,Resident evil 2 on one cart!! Turok trilogy!! DK64!! OoT, loz MM!! Hybrid heaven. Seriously what a console, what a library of games, what fantastic memories

@andrew20 cool

I should pick one up again.

@electrolite77 There are knock-off N64 gamepads, and there are cables to connect those to your Wii U.

As for modding that: true, the process is the same, but I don't like the Wii mode in the Wii U at ALL. Sure, it's handy it's there, but the colors are all washed out and compared to my Wii connected with high quality component cables, the HDMI is surprisingly lacking in the quality and sharpness of the picture, which is so strange to me because the Wii U games look pretty damn sharp, so no idea what happens when the Wii U switches to Wii mode.

And it's not my TV either: I have a decent size Full HD Plasma TV (42" Panasonic Viera) and all the games look great on it, also the old ones. Long as I use the right cables and such. For example: I have my Sega Dreamcast connected with a VGA Box that displays it's native resolution in rock-solid and completely interference free quality, as if my TV was a PC monitor.

But personally, I couldn't get used to how different Wii games looked on the Wii U so, I just keep the Wii connected as well. Got a portable HDD on there and all my games and systems on there: Wii, GameCube, Triforce, N64, SNES, NES, Megadrive, Neo Geo, PSX, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, GBA, GB Color, TurboGrafx16, BoR Engine, Amiga, MSX and ports of Quake and Doom, so all I could possibly want, I have on there.

As for the N64: there are very high quality hardware mods out there nowadays, which work perfectly on any modern TV, even UHD screens.

Just take a look at what I posted earlier in comment #59:

http://retrorgb.com/n64.html
http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html

And here's a link of a UK-based mod service:
http://www.oldskoolconsoles.com/product-page/ultra-hdmi-n64-upgrade-service-pre-order

If you read through that and see the images and videos, that should really make you reconsider.

I remember not even wanting an N64 back in the day. My cousins told me to get an N64, but I wanted a PlayStation and when I'd finally saved up enough money to get one, the Walmart Super Center that I went to was sold out. The lady in electronics was nice enough to call over to another Walmart to see if they had one, but they were sold out, too. Before walking out of the store, I looked around and saw a shelf full of N64 systems and decided to get one.

I had wanted a PSX for FFVII, but I had to miss out. I did get Ocarina of Time, but only just so I could say "I have that game" in case friends asked. They didn't.

I had the gold cartridge, but I let it set on top of my TV as I played Diddy Kong Racing and struggled against the boss Wiz Pig. Eventually I beat him and decided it was time for a different game, so remembering that I didn't like the older Zelda games, I put in Ocarina of Time without expecting much. That game rarely came back out of the N64.

I enjoyed many other games, too, like GoldenEye, Turok, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64, Beetle Adventure Racing, San Francisco Rush, and especially the wrestling games that it had. WWE WrestleMania 2000 & No Mercy are still among my favorites.

I eventually got a PSX with FFVII and couldn't believe to that I actually wanted that game at one point. I just can't figure out why people want to play a game where characters take turns hitting each other. If I'm in a fight, I'm not gonna let the other guy hit me. I even got to play FFX when I was in college and didn't like it, either.

Anyways, much fun was had. Happy birthday N64.

Thanks NL for making me feel old lol.

@Koudai1979 The "turn based masochism" is more reasonable in FF Tactics- the idea being that each turn is just a moment in the span of battle, with ability to evade based on various factors. The ATB system is the issue there with classic FF. (Although if you use Active mode and set the ATB to max speed, FF IV, V, and VI are far faster paced than VII, VIII and IX. Plus no lengthy battle animations to sit through in the SNES era.)

But yeah, in hindsight, I feel like I should have chosen Saturn as 2nd system. FF VII and Tactics had star power, but I had no idea of the rarity those Saturn classics would later have... Just goes to show effective marketing can terminate critical thought if one is not careful.

@electrolite77 http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=82

There you go. USB adaptor for a real N64 controller. No drivers needed to use with an emulator on a PC. As for a Wii or Wii U, well... You can try it, but you're probably going to need a USB Loader mod of some sort. Can't link to that on NL, obviously.

@PlywoodStick I haven't played any other FF games. Maybe if one comes to the Switch I'll give it a shot. If I can I get my hands on a Switch.

The PSX wasn't a total bummer, though. I really enjoyed Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey.

@timson72 I agree, this is the first console I bought from my first job and it was worth every penny. Sad that I never played Body Harvest, but will need to at some point. There are just so many great games on the console that I am the proud owner of 39 of them currently. Other console launches have been great, but the N64 was almost magical when in its performance at the time that was so different from anything else on the market.

<3

As someone who got into gaming with the NES this makes me feel old! Still have my N64 and it still works, great console. Will always be one of my favourites from Nintendo.

@electrolite77 You're welcome.