N64 did not age well

I grew up with one and decided to whip it back out to play a few games(on a CRT) and damn those graphics are fugly.

I'm a gameplay over graphics dude but we're talking blurry and blockish early 3D game design (usually clunky as well) here.

Most games ran at sub-30 FPS, even the "holy grail" Ocarina of Time, ran at a whopping sub-20 FPS.

Also, the controller is just odd compared to how we control games today, don't give me age as an excuse, the PS1 controller is similar to how controllers are made today.

N64 is the Atari 2600 of 3D.

The controller and graphics where hideous even in its day. I was a Super Nintendo fanboy at the time it came out and I have never been more disappointed in anything in my life. Mario 64 was amazing. But nothing very good came after it. Blurry graphics and copious use of fog. Ugly is an understatement and I'm no graphics whore by a long shot.

The screenshot above was one of its better examples.

I can easily play some N64 games. Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Zelda, etc. Those games are fine.

But the last time I tried playing Perfect Dark I felt like shoving the controller into my eyes.

@brah4ever:

If ya say so. I still think that Super Mario 64 is one of the best adventure games ever. 64's graphics have aged no worse than ps1. Ps1's graphics were wobbly as hell and more pixelated. At least N64 had more clarity. Agree with you on the controllers though. I dunno what Nintendo was thinking!

The graphics are not the problem for the N64, the resolution and frame rates are.

Most games on it were sub-20 fps.

Well, the controller is ..... innovative ( meaning is another classic Nintendo shit gimmick ), the DS1 was there at the same time and it´s really a modern controller in pretty much every aspect, as for the games, I look at them for what they were and really enjoy them as they are.

The N64 was so bad that I thought 3D graphics were just going to be a fad. I was like those silent film fans that thought the talkies we're doomed to failure. I looked at games like Super Metriod and compared them to what was happening on N64 and shook my damn head. Tomb Raider was the only game back then that made me feel 3D was legit.

"I'm gameplay over graphics, now here's a bunch of reasons why the graphics suck".

I mean they arent great or anything. But most of the games are still playable. Especially most of the good ones.

Nope.

N64 and playstation one aged very badly. Both systems are riddled with games that have terrible graphics and incredibly awkward controls. Of course there are a few games that are still great by todays standards but I would argue that particular gen aged far worse than every other gen in the history of gaming

And you know this how?

Graphics still matter to an extent, and can definitely affect enjoyability.

N64 visuals were non-polygonal and extremely block/blurry, not to mention a lot of them feel sluggish due to the low frame-rates.

The thing is, 3D graphics at the time on N64 looked far worse than 2D sprite based graphics. The tech was not there and it felt like a gimmick and like we were going backwards.

@brah4ever:I use a Gamecube controller adapter and theUltraHDMI mod with video deblur turned on. Makes for an awesome experience.

Growing pains. Had to go through them to move the technology forward. Cartoony games looked awesome on the N64 though.

Banjo games, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Pokemon Stadium 1/2 and a few others.

3D games that went for realism were awful. Most wrestling games. Goldeneye. Perfect Dark. Resident Evil 2.

Mario 64 is more fun than a crapton of games this gen.

Keep that in mind a game from the 90's im having a blast playing i pop in new xb1 game im like this is shit bro the graphics are good the stuff looks it doesn't play good it doesn't play like mario.

Exactly. It was a necessary step in the evolution of video games. Most of those old games like Banjo and Kazooie gave me a serious headache to play. I'm one of the very few who thought Ocarina of Time was not good at all. Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were influential but looked pretty bad. When I think of the average N64 game I think of games like Turok. That shit was a graphics nightmare and shows the limitation of the hardware well. Honestly I like Mario 64 and pretty much nothing else on that system. I might be forgetting something though. I didn't buy the Playstation because I thought any console company outside of Nintendo or Sega was a joke but about a month after the N64's release I ran to Sony. Nintendo partially redeemed themselves with the Game Cube but have only pissed me off since.

Most games from that generation, both on N64 and even more so on PS1, have aged badly which is very unfortunate since I had more fun with games during that generation than any other generation. There are a lot of games from that generation that I would love to see get remade with today's technology.

There are a few games from that generation that I think have stood the test of time pretty well and I still enjoy playing to this day. StarFox 64 is still a game that I love to pick-up-and-play sometimes when I have an hour to kill, Mario Kart 64 is still incredibly fun to play with friends and it's battle mode has still not be surpassed, and No Mercy is still by far the greatest wrestling game of all time and I still play it often.

Mario 64 is great. It ain't shit compared to Super Mario 3 so I would go back even further in judging modern games. But your 3D to 3D comparison makes more sense.

Yeah, it's aged terribly, and so it's one of the few of my consoles that I don't have plugged in.

Yeah as much as I enjoy revisiting a good classic there just aren't many N64 games that I care to go back to.

It's not even so much about the graphics to me, most of the games are just poorly designed and run like shit.

what about mario 64 and ocarina of time? Plus its got some decent wrestling games and party games like smash and mario party.

who cares if the games look an run like shit

@ConanTheStoner: Perfect Dark frame rate would drop to the single digits with 4-player split screen. It was a slideshow. Literally.

Uh, everybody?

The games run at sub-20 fps (very sluggish).

That can definitely affect the enjoyability of a game, graphics aside.

dude jumping through paintings in mario 64 was flawless, I don't remember any lag or it was seemless like butter the transitions the look the style the jumps the wall jumps the back flips the long jumps.

you just don't get that variety in new games on ps4/xbone.

you just don't you get like a cinematic walking and climbing simulation thats not gaming brah4ever its just not. IT NEVER WILL BE.

MARIO 64 is gaming.

THere was no lag. Golden eye putting mines on the doors and using my watch to explode them and trick my friends.

THERE WAS NO LAG THERE IS NO FUCKING LAG IN n64 IT ROCKS

Still more fun than the PS4

I never said the games themselves were bad, it's that they've aged badly due to reasons stated above.

There was no lag, bro...N64 IS LAG

While the N64 does have Super Mario 64 and Paper Mario, two games that have aged well and are among my favorites, I agree that the system does feel extremely outdated. I think that the GameCube/PS2 took what the N64/PS1 did and pretty much perfected it, the games on those systems have aged so much better. The N64 was a lot of fun to play back in the day but nowadays it's difficult to go back and play a lot of games on it.

So today, you would get an N64 over a PS4?

I have a pretty high tolerance for shitty graphics, but I can't stand shit performance.

Also, that shitty design part I mentioned is a big one lol. I understand 3d games were still in their infancy so I'm not gonna be harsh about it, but I still don't want to play those games.

lol yeah. And we still managed to have a blast with that shit too lol. But yeah there's no way in hell I'm going to revisit an N64 shooter these days.

The entire gen was an experimental one, developers were trying to figure what worked/what didn't in 3D game design.

Yeah some N64 games are simply unplayable for me now. It's not so much the graphics as it is the performance and that analog stick...eck. That said I am always down for some MK64, Mario 64 or Mischief Makers. Most of the Rare platformers hold up fairly well especially Conker's Bad Fur Day:

Never much cared for the N64 myself, not even as it was my only console during the generation growing up. I played a number of the most remembered games on the platform, and games like Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie still rank high for me as favorites. But honestly I could go the rest of my life without touching an N64.

I'll take the good old PS1 over the N64 any day.

That is right. It was a brave new world and I for one was shittin' bricks and not liking what I saw.

And that was the best part of it. Say what you will about crappy graphics, choppy frame rates and polygonal spheres. The level of creative freedom and foray into the unknown hasn't been seen since. You saw on a monthly basis new games with new concepts and more ambitions. Almost everything else since is basically a repeat of the 5th generation with better graphics.

Yep, which made it a really fun time to be a gamer. Watching all these developers throw shit at the wall to see what would stick. Lots of poor execution in there, but at least it was fun seeing all these new ideas pouring out.

I much prefer the libraries of the NES, SNES and Genesis, but at the time it was a nice change of pace seeing stuff wasn't just another side-scroller or top down game.

I'd say gen 6 had more creativty + the benefit of having more matured 3D mechanics/graphics. Dual stick controls and polygonal 3D visuals.

N64 had the least games released of any Nintendo console (half of the Gamecube which is the 2nd least).

Within 1 gen, this was the visual jump.

Those kinds of frame rates were the norm for early 3D titles. At the time I was just so amazed by the fact that I could move around a 3D environment so the games playing rather poorly wasn't even an issue. Going from 2D sprite based games to 3D was far more mind blowing than even going from SD to HD. We likely wont get to experience that kind of paradigm shift ever again. Well, that is , unless AR/VR have some mindblowing shit in store for us.

My favorite games of the time were the ones that still embraced 2D sprite graphics such as Castlevania Symphony of the Night and R Type Delta. It wouldn't be until the next gen that I would fully embrace 3D. Mario 64 and Tomb Raider (and Resident evil which wasn't exactly 3D) were the only ones I could get behind that I can remember.

edit: Driver was good too.

That too.

Back then I looked at the systems as absolute equals, but these days? There are still a handful of PS1 games that I genuinely enjoy playing just because they're fun games. With the N64 I need to be feeling nostalgic to dive into those games.

@brah4ever: Yep, games are more fun than ps4

Yeah, but this causes people to look at the N64 fondly in a way that for everyone else who didn't grow up with it to not see it in the same light.

Gen 5 consoles were the first 3D consoles yes, after many years of 2D games but for anyone else who grew up in the 3D era and didn't play too many 2D games then the N64 seems pretty overrated.

It's aged the worse of any 3D console, hands down.

I really wouldn't. Gen 6 really wasn't that creative to me. I'd argue Gen 7 was more creative. Gen 6 was really about mastering what Gen 5 had done. All the major titles were more or less concepts we had already seen before. If we stick strictly to console that is. What were the great games of Gen 6? Halo, Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime, God of War, Ico+Shadow of the Colossuss, GTA Vice City/San Andreas etc. Most of these games were heavily based on tried and true concepts.

Gen 7 really pushed forward motion gaming, online took a huge spot, games with emergent game play really started popping out, interactive movies really got some steam and the whole "cinematic video game" concept really took off. Are all of those things positive? Definitely not but I see the 7th gen as more innovative than the 6th which was simply a mastery of the 5th. 5th gen is Super Mario Bros. 3. 7th gen is Super Mario 64.

Yeah I was also a tough sell on 3D gaming. When everyone else was losing their shit about how awesome Mario 64 was, I was feeling like my Mario platformers were dead lol. Not that I didn't think Mario 64 was an insane leap forward, I was impressed as anyone else. But after SMB3, SMW and Yoshis Island? Yeah I felt underwhelmed with the gameplay. Then playing Castlevania 64 after the 2d games... fucking gross.

Ocarina of Time is the game that finally made me a believer.

What does emergent gameplay even mean?

If anything Gen 7 was pretty much an HD gen 6 (with refinements), literally. The pads were the same, and everything.

Motion gaming proved to be a fad, and online gaming already existed to users who had internet in the early 2000s so seeing it on Gen 7 was nothing special. XBL in 2002 had friends list, voice chat, join session in progress, server list, etc.

Arcadey sport games like Def Jam, SSX, Burnout, Midnight Club, NBA Street, Power Stone, etc dying out.

Pretty much Halo, RE4, GTA etc. Influenced all of which Gen 7 would be about, guns and violence and shooter focused. What gen 6 had was the benefit of Japan still being relevant (Konami, Square, Capcom actually made games) and budgets not being out of hand so you had devs bumping out games (many of which are now bankrupt).

Gen 7 brought upon homogenization (tons of gray and brown shooters, companies going bankrupt, entire genres dying out) of the industry and shitty business practices. Its pretty much where it became "cool" to game, in other words it went mainstream.

Quality over quantity. For it's time, N64 games were so amazing that I didn't care if it's overall library was small since the games that it did have were so much fun that I continuously replayed them for many years.

And Gen 5 definitely had more creativity and more revolutionary games than any generation since then. Gen 6 simply took the successful experiments from Gen 5 and repeated them with better graphics and performance.