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How do you judge a console? By it's games?
Well, personally, I think there's a bit more to it than that. After all, the Neo Geo may have boasted perfect arcade games, but at obver £200 per game(!) you could hardly say that the console was that great! So pricing is also an important factor.
Another is treating customers well- a console with good games, but erratic release dates, massive price variations and no structure to sales can't be considered a great console... the Saturn is just one example of this.
So, when taking all these points into account, and some more, how does the N64 sum up?
Well, on the games front, the console has mixed success. There were some completely revolutionary games- Mario 64, Goldeneye and Zelda must feature as some of the best consoles games ever. For that reason alone, the N64 will be a must have for any serious console enthusiast.
However, during the life of the consoles, quality game releases were erratic. There could be months at a time without a really good game being released. Month between revolutionary games is fine and pretty normal, but months between quality games is just disapointing.
There was also the serious problem of missing support meaning that genres like Realistic Racers and Realistic Fighters were completely missing from the console. Even big genres like RPGs had games few and far between.
Well, moving away from that games, what about the pricing of the console?
I think anyone will agree that games were far too expensive. The only reason for this being that Ninty had decided to use a medium that stored less data but cost more to make.
OK, so there's more to it than that- no loading times vs higher price. Piracy vs more FMV sequences.
But when the other consoles are offering £35 for a new game, and £20 for a platinum game, £50 is far too much for anyone to afford regular games (although by the time a good game came out, you'd probably have saved enough!).
However, one big problem with the console was the marketting- releasing it at £250 and then dropping it to £150 within 2 weeks destroyed customer confidence. In fact, the console only released with 1 game in Japan anyway (with only 4 games 3 months later), and only 3 games in the UK!
So, my views on the console?
In the long term, it is certainly a classic all time must have. Games like Zelda and Mario just say it all!
However, during the console's life itself, the console wasn't anywhere near as great as people made out. Releases alwasy on the horizon and months of waiting just made it unbearable!
Sonic
Well, personally, I think there's a bit more to it than that. After all, the Neo Geo may have boasted perfect arcade games, but at obver £200 per game(!) you could hardly say that the console was that great! So pricing is also an important factor.
Another is treating customers well- a console with good games, but erratic release dates, massive price variations and no structure to sales can't be considered a great console... the Saturn is just one example of this.
So, when taking all these points into account, and some more, how does the N64 sum up?
Well, on the games front, the console has mixed success. There were some completely revolutionary games- Mario 64, Goldeneye and Zelda must feature as some of the best consoles games ever. For that reason alone, the N64 will be a must have for any serious console enthusiast.
However, during the life of the consoles, quality game releases were erratic. There could be months at a time without a really good game being released. Month between revolutionary games is fine and pretty normal, but months between quality games is just disapointing.
There was also the serious problem of missing support meaning that genres like Realistic Racers and Realistic Fighters were completely missing from the console. Even big genres like RPGs had games few and far between.
Well, moving away from that games, what about the pricing of the console?
I think anyone will agree that games were far too expensive. The only reason for this being that Ninty had decided to use a medium that stored less data but cost more to make.
OK, so there's more to it than that- no loading times vs higher price. Piracy vs more FMV sequences.
But when the other consoles are offering £35 for a new game, and £20 for a platinum game, £50 is far too much for anyone to afford regular games (although by the time a good game came out, you'd probably have saved enough!).
However, one big problem with the console was the marketting- releasing it at £250 and then dropping it to £150 within 2 weeks destroyed customer confidence. In fact, the console only released with 1 game in Japan anyway (with only 4 games 3 months later), and only 3 games in the UK!
So, my views on the console?
In the long term, it is certainly a classic all time must have. Games like Zelda and Mario just say it all!
However, during the console's life itself, the console wasn't anywhere near as great as people made out. Releases alwasy on the horizon and months of waiting just made it unbearable!
Sonic
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How do you judge a console? By it's games?
Well, personally, I think there's a bit more to it than that. After all, the Neo Geo may have boasted perfect arcade games, but at obver £200 per game(!) you could hardly say that the console was that great! So pricing is also an important factor.
Another is treating customers well- a console with good games, but erratic release dates, massive price variations and no structure to sales can't be considered a great console... the Saturn is just one example of this.
So, when taking all these points into account, and some more, how does the N64 sum up?
Well, on the games front, the console has mixed success. There were some completely revolutionary games- Mario 64, Goldeneye and Zelda must feature as some of the best consoles games ever. For that reason alone, the N64 will be a must have for any serious console enthusiast.
However, during the life of the consoles, quality game releases were erratic. There could be months at a time without a really good game being released. Month between revolutionary games is fine and pretty normal, but months between quality games is just disapointing.
There was also the serious problem of missing support meaning that genres like Realistic Racers and Realistic Fighters were completely missing from the console. Even big genres like RPGs had games few and far between.
Well, moving away from that games, what about the pricing of the console?
I think anyone will agree that games were far too expensive. The only reason for this being that Ninty had decided to use a medium that stored less data but cost more to make.
OK, so there's more to it than that- no loading times vs higher price. Piracy vs more FMV sequences.
But when the other consoles are offering £35 for a new game, and £20 for a platinum game, £50 is far too much for anyone to afford regular games (although by the time a good game came out, you'd probably have saved enough!).
However, one big problem with the console was the marketting- releasing it at £250 and then dropping it to £150 within 2 weeks destroyed customer confidence. In fact, the console only released with 1 game in Japan anyway (with only 4 games 3 months later), and only 3 games in the UK!
So, my views on the console?
In the long term, it is certainly a classic all time must have. Games like Zelda and Mario just say it all!
However, during the console's life itself, the console wasn't anywhere near as great as people made out. Releases alwasy on the horizon and months of waiting just made it unbearable!
Sonic
Well, personally, I think there's a bit more to it than that. After all, the Neo Geo may have boasted perfect arcade games, but at obver £200 per game(!) you could hardly say that the console was that great! So pricing is also an important factor.
Another is treating customers well- a console with good games, but erratic release dates, massive price variations and no structure to sales can't be considered a great console... the Saturn is just one example of this.
So, when taking all these points into account, and some more, how does the N64 sum up?
Well, on the games front, the console has mixed success. There were some completely revolutionary games- Mario 64, Goldeneye and Zelda must feature as some of the best consoles games ever. For that reason alone, the N64 will be a must have for any serious console enthusiast.
However, during the life of the consoles, quality game releases were erratic. There could be months at a time without a really good game being released. Month between revolutionary games is fine and pretty normal, but months between quality games is just disapointing.
There was also the serious problem of missing support meaning that genres like Realistic Racers and Realistic Fighters were completely missing from the console. Even big genres like RPGs had games few and far between.
Well, moving away from that games, what about the pricing of the console?
I think anyone will agree that games were far too expensive. The only reason for this being that Ninty had decided to use a medium that stored less data but cost more to make.
OK, so there's more to it than that- no loading times vs higher price. Piracy vs more FMV sequences.
But when the other consoles are offering £35 for a new game, and £20 for a platinum game, £50 is far too much for anyone to afford regular games (although by the time a good game came out, you'd probably have saved enough!).
However, one big problem with the console was the marketting- releasing it at £250 and then dropping it to £150 within 2 weeks destroyed customer confidence. In fact, the console only released with 1 game in Japan anyway (with only 4 games 3 months later), and only 3 games in the UK!
So, my views on the console?
In the long term, it is certainly a classic all time must have. Games like Zelda and Mario just say it all!
However, during the console's life itself, the console wasn't anywhere near as great as people made out. Releases alwasy on the horizon and months of waiting just made it unbearable!
Sonic
I agree. I love my N64 but it did certainly get irritating with the release dates. I remember when the first Zelda was due to come out and then it kept getting delayed for something ridiculous like nine months or something. I agree the N64 lacked realistic racers and fighters, GT64 comparing to Gran Turismo and Fighters Destiny comparing to Tekken - not quite the same calibre i don't think.
I didn't actually get my N64 until around about the time that Goldeneye came out so i was able to get quite a good deal for it, something like £160 for the console plus an extra pad, rumble pak, memory pak and any game i wanted.
The N64 certainly had its problems but when it released decent games, they were definitely good ones. Plus if it wasn't for Goldeneye, i doubt there would have ever been Perfect Dark
I didn't actually get my N64 until around about the time that Goldeneye came out so i was able to get quite a good deal for it, something like £160 for the console plus an extra pad, rumble pak, memory pak and any game i wanted.
The N64 certainly had its problems but when it released decent games, they were definitely good ones. Plus if it wasn't for Goldeneye, i doubt there would have ever been Perfect Dark
I was never really put off that much by the price of games for the N64. Having only owned a SNES before I was used to paying around £50 a game. Donkey Kong country was £60 when it first came out on the SNES I believe. But it was a bit silly carrying on this trend when the competition was selling games for half the price...Although I never jumped ship to Sony during this period. Somthin always kept my attached to my N64...Sod knows what it was. Went and bought a PS2 after I realised that.
I didn't buy it until about 2 years after its release and got if for £121 from SR with four pads and Goldeneye.
4 player Goldeneye was worth the price alone.
And although it never had as many good games as the Playstation, when the N64's games were good, they far superior to anything Sony's machine offered.
I suppose that by the time I owned it, the N64 had a reasonable catalogue and the average game price was down to £40. I could also get a fair few decent games second hand.
I was perfectly happy with it, although if I'd payed £250 at launch and payed £60 instead of £20 for Mario 64, I probably would've been pretty disatisfied.
4 player Goldeneye was worth the price alone.
And although it never had as many good games as the Playstation, when the N64's games were good, they far superior to anything Sony's machine offered.
I suppose that by the time I owned it, the N64 had a reasonable catalogue and the average game price was down to £40. I could also get a fair few decent games second hand.
I was perfectly happy with it, although if I'd payed £250 at launch and payed £60 instead of £20 for Mario 64, I probably would've been pretty disatisfied.
I couldn't believe the sudden price drop, and neither could my parents!!
I got an N64 for my birthday in March, just after launch, for the £300 price. I wasn't expecting it because of the high price, and my mum felt.......something undiscribable when she noticed the drop!
I also missed out on man N64 games, brand new, due to the high prices, and the fact that I was only getting £20 a month pocket money - spent on sweets and magazines like GameMaster.
And i'm still getting N64 games now, and I start my job tommorow, so I should be able to get the remaining games I want, and a GameCube in June.
If the prices weren't as high to start off with, then it probably would've been close to the success that the PS recieved. And you people with 30+ games (Cooky and co.) must be millionaires! I only have 16, and a few of those have come from GAD's and Birthdays. I only managed to pay for about 5, some pre-owned. And why didn't they bring the price down after a few months??? Many games have still been around £50 for the last year!
But because of it's games it should be known as a good console, but other aspects can bring it down - like you said.
I got an N64 for my birthday in March, just after launch, for the £300 price. I wasn't expecting it because of the high price, and my mum felt.......something undiscribable when she noticed the drop!
I also missed out on man N64 games, brand new, due to the high prices, and the fact that I was only getting £20 a month pocket money - spent on sweets and magazines like GameMaster.
And i'm still getting N64 games now, and I start my job tommorow, so I should be able to get the remaining games I want, and a GameCube in June.
If the prices weren't as high to start off with, then it probably would've been close to the success that the PS recieved. And you people with 30+ games (Cooky and co.) must be millionaires! I only have 16, and a few of those have come from GAD's and Birthdays. I only managed to pay for about 5, some pre-owned. And why didn't they bring the price down after a few months??? Many games have still been around £50 for the last year!
But because of it's games it should be known as a good console, but other aspects can bring it down - like you said.
I've got 9 games in a year and a half mostly at £30 or lower all new. The N64 is great it's been going for 5 or 6 years and they're still making consoles and while new games aren't being released they are still producing games. For a console to be that succesful it must be good. I have no problems with my N64 and have had a lot of enjoyment. There's no reason why it isn't that good from my perspective. I'm not expecting there to be new games when there are so many quality I haven't got.
shibiovski said:
"I agree"
GrimMetal said:
"I agree with you 100%. "
Solskjær_24 said:
"...but other aspects can bring it down - like you said."
My god! There's a conspiracy- people never agree with my Ninty topics... esp when they're in the Ninty room. What's going on here???
Not bad for 5 mins work eh!
Sonic
"I agree"
GrimMetal said:
"I agree with you 100%. "
Solskjær_24 said:
"...but other aspects can bring it down - like you said."
My god! There's a conspiracy- people never agree with my Ninty topics... esp when they're in the Ninty room. What's going on here???
Not bad for 5 mins work eh!
Sonic
It wasn't really that great, but I like to think it was anyway.
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