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As you well know the N64 has almost reached the end of the line. Today I will tell you about the ups & downs of the N64‘cos as you well know every console has it’s days in the dog house. As well as a little peek into the future of gaming.
Launched in June 1996 the N64 was to be Nintendo’s finest day, they would sell millions of consoles and games in years to come, little did Nintendo know what was in store for them. After a year or two they realised that they had made a mistake, we all know what that was don’t we? They realised that if they wanted to keep their budget down and compete with the best at the same, time they had to use CD’s not cartridges.
Their finest hours had to be when Goldeneye, Zelda Ocarina of Time and Perfect dark came onto the scene. Zelda was one of the biggest step for the N64with jawdroping graphics and gameplay that won’t bore you, there is also Goldeneye which was to be one of the N64’s post popular games, that is of course until Perfect Dark stepped into the spotlight. Perfect Dark is a real looker, it also used every last bit of the N64’s awesome power. The gameplay in Perfect Dark is just as good as the graphics, this my friends is to be the N64’s Finest hour but sadly from then on it just went downhill from there.
With the exception of a few games, the overall standard of the games that the N64 threw at us has fallen sharply in the past few years. With the production of games slowly coming to a stop and if Nintendo want to save themselves from disaster they had to do something drastic. Thus the Game Cube cropped up opening a new porthole into the world of gaming.
With stunning graphics and ohh so beautiful water effects Nintendo have once again changed gaming forever.
The game Cube also has Internet facilities, which allows online gaming something else that’s revolutionised gaming.
Nintendo have also used disks for the gamecube. Hopefully the GamaeCube will be the most successful games consoles of all time. But wait Nintendo have something else up their sleeves the Game Boy Advance.
With its powerful 32bit processor the Game Boy Advance is the most powerful handheld console ever.
The Game Boy Advance has the capability to produce some killer graphics. It uses cartridges but that doesn’t really matter, as this is a handheld console, so therefore it’s the quality of the games and the gameplay that matter most. I hope this is a success for Nintendo ‘cos it would be a shame if it wasn’t.
Will these two awesome consoles prove to be a success? We’ll have to Wait and find out! Because who knows what the Future of gaming has in store for us.
For me the N64sfirst highlight would definately be MArio 64. A release game that really showed off what Nintendo had managed to produce in a short amount of time. It had gameplay by the bucket and had eye candy all over the place. For me it was the best game I had ever played....until the developers really managed to get their brains working and dive deeper into the depths of the console.
After the release of Mario all of its game were top quality other than a few. The only problem was, was that they were top quality, but they couldn't reach the effort of Nintendo of Mario 64. That was until, as you said Goldeneye was released.
This game revolutionised FPS as we see them. It wasn't just a blast to the finish with monsters and big guns. It added more. It had missions and objectives. You had to use stealth, strategy, things most of us never had used in a game of this genre. Rare had served the N64 one hell of a killer app and it sold by the bucket load.
The N64 was on a high, it had just amazed the gaming world with a great game. The future was looking up for the console. I truely believed the machine was capable of the world. Sadly for me there was a big wait between the release of Goldeneye and the next truely great game.
Okay, the machine had some good games for the next year. Diddy Kong Racing to name but one of them, but it wasn't till the Christmas of 1998 that Nintendo gave us what we were waiting for....
Zelda, ocarina of Time was released. The world of Nintendo went crazy. This game was fantastic. I oculdn't believe this game. It was well and truely mind blowing. A rush from start to finish.
What now I thought as I pulled the cartridge out of the socket...what else can I fill my gaming needs with? Many great games were released....however, after OOT nothing quite felt good enough. It had raised the standards of gaming for me and I was expecting games of the same standard. Unfortunately I wasn't greeted with any.
Perfect Dark was hyped for Nintendo...I mean it even had an advert :P But although it was amazing, it didn't bring back the magic of OOT. From that moment nothing ever did. No game oculd quite reach that level, not even its own sequel Majoras Mask. Nintendo had a quiet period.
*Trumpets start playing*
Rare to the resque. Conkers Bad Fur Day was released. This game was a classic in its own right. Marvelous from start to finish...although unfortunately this was only a matter of about 12 hours. Gaming exctasy was served up and then snatched away from us.
*Meanwhile*
The GAMECUBE is being awaited. The N64 has died out pretty much and all of the Nintendo fans around the world are waiting for it. Along with the compatibility with the GBA this console is a prospect of great proportions. This could well be the console to rejuevinate Nintendo and put them at the forefront of the gaming world once again.
But of course...as you said, we can't really predict what will happen in the future of gaming, but does that mean we can't wait? :)
The names Bond James Bond!
The master System was a good console, which consoles your fave though?