Nintendo 64 Did the N64 age well?

[Gamepreneur]

What do you guys think, did the Nintendo 64 age well? Of course the graphics are way out of date, but in general do you think the quality of the games and their entertainment value age well? I often times when I am at friends catch myself playing games like Super Smash Brothers still and getting quite a lot of enjoyment out of it, what about you? Do you feel as though there are still many games to come back to and play on this console?

 

[joshposh]

The games are still fun to play. Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Golf 64 are some really cool and fun games. They aren't graphically up to par with what's out there now, but who cares. The games are fun and that controller was revolutionary.

 

[Gamepreneur]

The games are still fun to play. Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Golf 64 are some really cool and fun games. They aren't graphically up to par with what's out there now, but who cares. The games are fun and that controller was revolutionary.

Yep, that's how I feel. I figure if you're ultimately enjoying the game, do the graphics really matter that much? I play a lot of indie games on Steam for example and I often get more enjoyment out of them as compared to games like Witcher 3 and Dark Souls! Classics and Indies always seem to win out for me.

 

[Damien Lee]

Yes, and no.

If we look squarely at graphics, then no. They are definitely poor by today's standards. Even back in the late 90's, people were complaining that the N64's graphics were so blurry looking. Whereas the PlaySation's graphics were improving and becoming sharper as developers were utilizing the higher resolutions.

However, if we look at the console in terms of the overall quality of games and the gameplay they offered it's an entirely different story. I will even go as far as saying that many of the best games on the N64 are far better than most current generation games.

 

[Y0shiM0n]

Yes. Diddy Kong Racing and Super Smash Bros for the most part.

 

[GunGunW]

Yeah. It's not a console I really have any desire to plug in and play now-a-days, but there are still great games for it I'll play on the Virtual Console.

 

[Hyrule Chicken]

There are a few games on each Nintendo console that I feel are timeless, and the Nintendo 64 is no exception. There's a reason why Perfect Dark was released again (on the Xbox), because it's a classic and still fun to play to this day. Once you get past the dated graphics, you find that there's still hours of enjoyment out of the N64.

 

[sleepypuff]

The Nintendo 64 will always be timeless to me and I intend on playing it for a very long time. Graphics are one thing that will age, and maybe a game mechanic or two, but ultimately this console, in my opinion, will always be a classic. There are just too many good games for it not to be!

 

[TJMarian]

The Nintendo 64 was my first real console, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I could write you a novel about why the Nintendo 64 was so amazing, but for this post's sake, I will try to keep it short. The Nintendo 64 was not great because of its cpu or software components, in my opinion it was the games themselves that made the Nintendo 64 so special to me and other boys and girls my age at the time. Super Mario 64 was probably the first 3d game that most of us played, and the game-play itself was phenomenal, but that game arguably started one of my favorite genres of all time, the 3d platformer. The Nintendo 64 had many other memorable titles that I still play from time to time to this day like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Gex 64, Pokemon Stadium, Mystical Ninja, and many more. I feel like today, the Nintendo 64 not only ages superbly, but making more games that were similar to some of those great N64 titles might just spawn another golden age of gaming.

 

[Shane]

The greatest indication that it aged well is the fact they can redo and rerelease something like Majora's Mask and sell a lot of copies.

So I would say yes.

 

[martinearletara]

I work at a thrift store for a living and we get a ton of N64's in stock. So naturally we can't help but to play a game of Mario Kart or whatever we have in stock. I feel like if you think about the fact that the game is over 20 years old... then it takes the joy out of playing it all together. But if you take the age factor away and just play the game straight up... it's just as fun as it was in the 90's, it not more since the handle is a lot easier (depending on the game). Just don't be petty about it.

I think it ages just fine.

 

[RetroZoid]

It may be my eyes becoming rubbish with age, but i'm sure that when i play N64 games through an emulator they look better than they did on the console.

The N64 may have ages graphics wise, but for gameplay ideas and releases,it pushed our ideas of games forward.

For instance, Turok showed everyone that outdoor environments could work in an FPS.

 

[pwarbi]

I think the N64 aged as well as most other video game systems, the problem is, that's not so well.

That isn't the fault of the specific system we're talking about, in this case the N64, I just think that the technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that no console is going to be able to compete with a new system that comes out 3 or 5 years down the line.

 

[aboleth_lich]

Oh yes, absolutely! Its convoluted controller aside, the N64's library is rife with classic gems like Mario 64 and the two Legend of Zelda titles that have aged remarkably well and are as enjoyable as ever today!

 

[RetroZoid]

N64 emulation using a PS style controller has been perfection for me
If only a GameCube emulator would work on my PC

 

[pwarbi]

So after reading the posts up to now on the thread, I'm noticing a distinct lack of love when it comes to the controller for some reason then, that the N64 had?

Who am I trying to kid? The controller was a disaster really, and you'd have thought that a company with the history of games consoles that Nintendo has, they'd at least know how to make a controller!

 

[grahamf]

The N64 was a great console. When Nintendo made games they tried to get the best design out of it without "faking it," so it has a style that matches the graphics well and even holds up. Games from the competition ended up focusing on graphical details that were great for their time but are horribly outdated now - if not outright embarrassing.

 

[RetroZoid]

That's a very good point, graphics will always look out of date in time but good gameplay never dies

 

[pwarbi]

Gameplay is often overlooked, but when you look at a game like Tetris for example on the original Nintendo Game boy. It wasn't exactly anything special to look at, but we all loved the actual game itself, so maybe in the future we need to start evaluating games from a different perspective.

 

[rz3300]

Well I have heard a lot about it being worth quite a bit these days, so I am not sure if that has anything to do with the answer here though. I really have no reason that I would say that it did not age well, but I could be missing out on something. I will just say that it aged well for me, and that I got good playing time out of long after it was considered old. Thanks for sharing.