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The Nintendo 64 has aged surprisingly well

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    The Nintendo 64 has aged surprisingly well

    Decided to revisit the N64 library after feeling burnt out with the current gen systems and I have to say the N64 holds up remarkably well, especially compared to the PS1 and Saturn which have aged pretty badly. Graphically the games all look and feel solid and games like Mario 64, Zelda, Star Fox, Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye, F-Zero, Paper Mario, Conker, Perfect Dark etc. are all still perfectly playable and enjoyable. Controls are great and feel solid, zero loading times, lots of replayability and great art styles that went well with the limitations of the machine. At the time one of the issues that people had with the N64 which was considered a major positive for the CD based systems was the lack of FMV, although ironically thats one of the main things that have imo aged PSX/Saturn games so badly, full motion videos that were considered cutting edge at the time just look atrocious now with there being better animation quality found on cheap childrens youtube videos. In contrast the in-game cutscenes for the N64 games have aged much better and adds consistency to the games. N64 had a lot of problems, 3rd party support was abysmal, the variety of games paled in comparison to the Playstation and it was expensive at the time. But overall out of the 3rd gen systems its the one thats aged the best and the one I still go back to. Going through Mario 64, Goldeneye and OoT have almost become a yearly tradition for me since those games launched and Im still not tired of them.

    How about you guys? Do you agree or disagree? Are there any games that you keep coming back to after all these years?

    #2
    Yeah; like you say with the 3rd-party support; I think the Nintendo core titles and a few big hitters have aged quite well, but then most of the N64's other stuff offers little today.

    On a good emulated machine there's a bunch of games I'd like to play; such as all of the fighting games, even if I know they're not great.

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      #3
      I sold my original console a few months ago. Outside of Starfox 64, which is endlessly enjoyable, I struggled to really enjoy much. Blast Dozer I still love, Paper Mario is okay. Mario 64 is always amazing but I've finished it so many times will be nice if that Switch remaster appears. I want to love the console, but other than the 4 titles mentioned here I found everything else clunky and unenjoyable. I still love Nintendo, but not so much love for the 64.
      3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

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        #4
        Couldn't disagree with the OP more.

        N64 games have aged badly in the looks department. I've seen MS PowerPoint presentations run smoother.

        Even Nintendo's best for the system (including Starfox 64 - one of my all-time Nintendo favourites) are a complete visual mess. Really hard to recommend playing the OG versions when the 3DS ports look much better and smoother.

        I've said it before, but I think it's clear why we're unlikely to ever see an N64 Mini - Nintendo would have to do considerable work just to make the emulation acceptable at a 720p/30fps minimum and they don't want to do that. Just shoving the NES/SNES Mini into an N64 shell won't cut it.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Ghost View Post
          At the time one of the issues that people had with the N64 which was considered a major positive for the CD based systems was the lack of FMV, although ironically thats one of the main things that have imo aged PSX/Saturn games so badly,
          Yeah, not having FMV is a major plus point.

          When it comes to N64 gaming, I still think Super Mario 64 is excellent in all departments. It stands the test of time perfectly. I always enjoy going back to Wave Race 64 -- which is easily the best jet ski game ever made. There's something very special about the whole design of the game that makes it a pleasure to play through.

          F-Zero X was never an amazing looking game, but I've always appreciated the silky smooth 60fps gameplay. The graphics are extremely abstract, which I see as a good point next to racers that aimed for realism during that era. The whole design has a very retro vibe that really appeals to me. I'm a big fan of the metal soundtrack, even if I also like the jazzy tunes in the original game.

          Star Fox 64 still looks very nice and plays well. It's easily one of the best games for the machine -- I love everything about it. It's one of few N64 that stil has me coming back for more and more.

          Other games I go back to: Mario Kart 64; Super Smash Bros; Diddy Kong Racing; Star Wars Racer; Yoshi's Story; Doom 64; Mario Tennis; Mario Golf; 1080 Snowboarding; Snowboard Kids; Sin & Punishment; Mystical Ninja.

          I haven't played GoldenEye for ages, but I guess it's all a bit clunky these days. Maybe I'd still enjoy it?

          I'd be happy to buy an N64 Mini if the whole package were top quality and included two controllers. Nintendo has had their N64 catalogue working perfectly under emulation since the Wii days, so I think we might end up seeing a Mini machine.
          Last edited by Leon Retro; 04-07-2020, 17:12.

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            #6
            N64 is the one system I'd say has aged most significantly tbh. The games are all foggy, blury messes. I actually prefer the 3D on PSX and Saturn, both of which have a significantly larger and more varied library.

            I went back to it 8 years ago and once I'd played everything I immediately sold it. I haven't played on one, or even emulated one since.

            I have no desire to replay OOT of Mario 64. Goldeneye is terrible to play today but Snowboard Kids still rocks.

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              #7
              The visual techniques deployed to make games look good on composite make for a mixed bag when it comes to contemporary RGB usage. Some games like Super Mario 64 look great still but Mario Kart 64 somehow manages to have a sharp background and a blurred foreground.

              I love the look of sharp, aliased polygons on the Saturn and PlayStation. They look raw. But hey, it's not like you can play Nintendo games on a PlayStation now is it? Just have to accept the flaws for what they are.

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                #8
                I recently picked up an N64 with deblur RGB and was torn on the graphics. Some games benefitted from the sharpness increase but others showed how the filter was used to mask the inadequacies of the visuals.

                It’s still a very fun system but it has aged, especially the third party stuff. Nintendo themselves made the system shine but others, and I’d include Rare in some cases, seemed to struggle with it. Unfortunately it’s still the only place to enjoy a few games so it’s worth revisiting for that.

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                  #9
                  Sometimes I think the graphics look terrible, but the gameplay on some of it it timeless. 1080, Excitebike, Waverace, FzeroX are all incredible to play and I doubt I will ever decide otherwise. However, sometimes the charm of the characters and settings make the graphics seem better. Jet Force Gemini. Goldeneye. Perfect Dark. Yes, framerate issues abound, but pretty cool.

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                    #10
                    It really depends on how you're playing. All old 3D systems can me made to look good via emulation. I played some Ridge 4 via that autobleem and it looked amazing for its age on my 4k TV. Extremely solid and large graphics.

                    N64 can look good, it can look bad. It's like anything of the era.

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                      #11
                      Playing on a 14" CRT helps a great deal, compared to blowing things up on an LCD.

                      We spent a good four hours between Wave Race and 1080 last weekend. That time just vanished. Playing 1080 with the music turned off is phenomenal. So immersive and cold.

                      Obviously I'd rather be playing Perfect Dark on an Xbox 360 or above. Goldeneye still plays great, with the most satisfying locational damage and that sidey ways strafe sprint.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by nakamura View Post
                        It really depends on how you're playing. All old 3D systems can me made to look good via emulation. I played some Ridge 4 via that autobleem and it looked amazing for its age on my 4k TV. Extremely solid and large graphics.

                        N64 can look good, it can look bad. It's like anything of the era.
                        I was talking mainly about playing the games on original hardware (modded to play on modern TVs is fine).

                        PlayStation obviously has a more varied library of games and in certain genres completely wipes the floor with the N64 (RPGs, Fighting games, racing games etc.) but going back to them on original hardware and trying to play them is difficult, especially with the controls; there are a lot of games that are almost unplayable to me now because the controls are so bad. Graphics are also a pixelated mess, especially when they’re upscaled to modern TVs. The majority of Nintendo’s (and Rare’s) games are still great to control and in terms of enjoyment havent aged at all. Graphics can be a blurry mess but they at least feel solid with little warping or walls disappearing. I still think thats better than how the other systems have age.

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                          #13
                          For me if i'm been totally honest it's aged really badly, the fact there are extensive mods to make it HDMI and de blur the graphics shows just how rank the output was.

                          It depends on exactly which games you are playing both on the N64 and the PS1 though as you can cherry pick certain games and make both consoles look great, the problem with N64 is the textures they are so low quality that they are blurred to hell to hide the fact which brings up that horrible effect where the camera zooms in on a sprite thats really blocky and pixellated but then over smoothed so all the square edges end up rounded and the texture is a blurred blob of a mess it looks horrid, then there's the fog to hide the poor draw distances making enviroments look desolate and then the framerate it's just so damn slow they all feel like they are running in slow motion in the day you didn't really notice but you certainly do now and it's hard to readjust to that speed. Using the framemeister to try and improve the picture on my tv only got me so far, to be honest i havent touched my N64 in a long time i'm talking over 5 years easily, my collection sits in the cupboard above the pantry in my kitchen as it was taking up space. It sits there in case i ever want to play anything and the last time it checked sold for hardly anything so it stays there just in case i ever feel the urge to play. So far i have had no desire to go back and play a single N64 game. People go on about how great the 64 library was but in comparison to other games libraries it's actually pretty weak in fact i class it as one of the weakest libraries out of all the Nintendo consoles (VB been the worst). The 3rd party selection was a lot less than PS1 thats for damn sure and my 64 collection was a large mix of both 1st & 3rd party stuff. Very few devs could work with the 64 well and it shows. A lot of genres totally ignored or the one odd token game. PS1 totally annihilates the N64 library in volume and variety.

                          Yeah mario 64 has a magical quality where it's still fun to play but i can play that on DS no need for the 64. OOT i have played so much that i can't ever go back to it as i'm totally burned out i couldn't even bring myself to touch it on 3DS with updated graphics. The rare 3D platformers were fun but nowadays they just play so rough you don't notice how slow they are running till you play them years later and it's painful. I found it hard to readjust to playing N64 yet i can still play PS1 even now with no problems and have a blast. Yeah PS1 3D games are just as janky but sharp pixels & polygons don't bother me as much as i thought it would. I do agree that some FMV is pretty basic where devs had only just started to learn how to model characters in 3D and it shows but lets not pretend that N64 didn't have games with cutscenes like that too. Not every dev was a god at working in 3D.

                          I'll take the PS1 any day over the N64, back in the day the games were fantastic but in 2020 i still avidly play PS1 as people who have seen me sell kidneys for purchases in the retro pickups thread will attest lol.

                          This is my N64 collection you can see i had a good balance of 1st & 3rd party stuff well for japan i didn't buy many western games at all as they didn't interest me my only western import game was conker. So yeah i played a lot of what the 64 had to offer and it pales in comparison to PS1.











                          Last edited by importaku; 06-07-2020, 12:55.

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                            #14
                            I was blown away by Mario 64 back in the day and it's still a superb game. But that said, even back when it was out, I was never hugely impressed with the N64. I remember people being wowed by the graphics and yet, for me, it always looked like there were no more polygons than the Saturn or PS (whether there was or not, I'm talking perception - so much of the scenery in N64 games consists of absolutely massive straight lines and games that aimed beyond that seemed to have a draw distance of a couple of feet) and the games that looked good were those that required little by way of texturing, so that was more about design than what the system was capable of. Those with busy textures, as others have said, looked like a blurry mess.

                            So yeah, I think it's aged badly but I was never all that impressed by it to begin with.

                            I must admit that I never really bonded with the system. I adore Mario 64 and I think Ocarina of Time is incredible but, beyond that, my memory of the games on the system more fall into "interesting curiosities" rather than games I actually love.

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                              #15
                              The N64 does feel really solid though, it's true it's more solid than PS1 or Saturn.

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