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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
Page:
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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
Page: