Ah, yes. Today, is September 29, 2006, and it marks the 10th anniversary of the US Nintendo 64 launch. I'm sure all of you have had plenty of wonderful memories over the past ten years with Nintendo's legendary system. To celebrate this anniversary, this thread will take a look at the history of the Nintendo 64 for the past ten years.
1993-1995
Actually, the Nintendo 64 story began a few years prior to its release. The Super NES still had a pretty solid share of the console market, but its 16 bits were overshadowed by the 32 bits presented by the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation. In addition, the Virtual Boy had flopped. Nintendo knew that in order to secure their future, they needed a new system to continue their tradition of quality. It is believed that Nintendo started working on their "Project Reality" as early as 1993. However, Nintendo's new 64-bit system (nicknamed Ultra 64) was not actually revealed until November of 1995. The games that were shown with the system include extremely crude versions of Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Star Fox 64, Super Mario Kart R (which included Magikoopa as a playable character) etc.
1996
Notable Games: Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, Wave Race 64, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Cruis'n USA, Killer Instinct Gold
In February, Nintendo revealed that the name of their new system had changed from the Ultra 64 to...the Nintendo 64! Ooh, what creativity, but apparently the "Ultra" name had been copyrighted by Konami. It was also revealed that development on the system and its games were not going along quick enough to meet its original launch date of April 21, 1996. However, this only means that Nintendo was able to show off the new system at E3 1996 in May, where it made quite a big splash. In fact, the console seemed so promising that TIME magazine ran an article about the system in their issue from May 20, 1996.
At last, the system was ready for launch in Japan on June 23, 1996. Released with the system but sold separately were the console's first three games. Hana Shogi was a third party title based on the chess-like game in Japan. Pilotwings 64 was a decent flight simulator based on its SNES predecessor, but it paled in comparison to its companion title, Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 was a landmark title that successfully placed Nintendo's plumber mascot into a 3D world. Its beautiful 3D graphics dazzled gamers, and it was complemented by excellent 3D controls that made use of the analog stick on the Nintendo 64 controller. The game was not just pretty graphics. It had a lengthy quest and excellent level design, and was deemed by many as the best game of all time. However, as long as Super Mario 64 was, it was unable to make up for the fact that Nintendo had been so eager to get their system on the market that they just didn't have much time to complete very many games. This lack of games on the market was one of the biggest problems that plagued the Nintendo 64. Japanese gamers were stuck with only three games for a whole three months, from June 23 to September 26. They finally got to play Wave Race 64 when it launched on September 27. After that, games began trickling out.
At about the same time, the Nintendo 64 was making headlines in the United States. The console was meant to launch on September 29, but many stores began selling their consoles on September 26, three days before the official release date. This lead to major confusion and situations where systems were sold out even before the official launch, but even so, the Nintendo 64 launch was one of the most successful of all time. And American Nintendo 64 owners only had to wait a month to get a new game, as Wave Race 64 launched in early November. Wave Race was followed by several other titles, including Killer Instinct Gold, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, an arcade hockey game that was the first game to make use of the four controller ports that the Nintendo 64 offers, twice as much as the Super NES and the Sony PlayStation. However, 3D Hockey pales in comparison to the other game that used all four ports that launched in 1996 (at least in Japan): Mario Kart 64. By the end of the year, the future seemed extremely bright for the Nintendo 64. It had excellent sales and a wonderful future. The only blot that appeared was that Square was moving the Final Fantasy series from the Nintendo 64 to the Sony PlayStation because they disliked the lack of storage space of the Nintendo 64 cartridges, but at the time it didn't seem like it would have made much of a difference. Besides, information regarding the Nintendo 64 Disc Drive had already begun to leak out.
1997
Notable Games: Mario Kart 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Blast Corps, Star Fox 64, GoldenEye 007, Diddy Kong Racing, Tetrisphere, International Superstar Soccer 64, Mischief Makers, Bomberman 64
Prospects for the Nintendo 64 were extremely high at the beginning of the year. The high sales of the system were carrying over from 1996, and the best-selling Japanese title Mario Kart 64 made its debut in February, and it became one of the hottest games of the system, selling a million copies in a little more of the launch. At the same time, Nintendo was preparing to launch the Nintendo 64 in Europe. Despite a worldwide price drop by the Sony PlayStation, the launch was still relatively successful. The PlayStation price drop also led to the first major price drop by Nintendo. The system launched for $199.99, but it was down to $149.99 by the middle of March 1997.
In the software side of things, Mario Kart 64 and its insanely addictive multiplayer mode had catalyzed sales. In March, Acclaim launched Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. It was only the second game that gotten a Mature rating from the ESRB (after Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Doom 64 was third), but it was different in a two ways. First of all, Acclaim made an extremely big deal about the release. And second of all, it was actually a half decent game. Another game that was released in March was Blast Corps. It was a crazy but innovative title from Rareware, who was an important developer in the Super NES era responsible for games such as Donkey Kong Country. The game was one of those love it or hate it games, but more importantly it was the first of the high quality and innovative games from Rare (Killer Instinct Gold notwithstanding.) Not only did Rare develop Blast Corps, but in early 1997 they had five games in development: GoldenEye, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie (formerly known as Dream), Donkey Kong Country 64, and Conker's Quest. In fact, these games by Rare were the major titles from E3 1997. May 1997 marked the launch of Star Fox 64. It was a fun and highly addictive rail shooter with memorable lines, but most importantly it was packaged with the Rumble Pack, the device that was designed to allow you to "feel" the action by vibrating the controller. This rumble technology is now built into controller, but it was extremely innovative for its time. It was so popular in Japan that they re-released Wave Race 64 and Super Mario 64 with rumble technology. However, the bubble was about to burst for the Nintendo 64.
A report by Business Week in June 1997 reported that the Nintendo 64 had sold over 2 million units in its first eight months, which was about as much as the PlayStation in its first year and a half on the market, but only in America. (The Nintendo 64 was struggling to keep up with the Saturn in Japan.) A shortage of PlayStation consoles certainly helped to put PlayStation sales in check, but analysts say that Nintendo 64 sales were slowing mostly due to the lack of variety and sheer amount of games on the market. There were less than 20 games in America by June 1997. Sure, a large percentage of those games were high quality, but gamers didn't seem to care. Final Fantasy VII launched for the Sony PlayStation in August 31, 1997, and rumors of Namco bringing Tekken 3 to the Nintendo 64 turned out to be false, and the game stayed PlayStation only (as did Tecmo's Dead or Alive.) After the summer of 1997, Nintendo 64's share of the market would slip away. But the Nintendo 64 didn't go down swinging. In August 1997, Rare's highly anticipated GoldenEye 007 was released. It was the second first person shooter to hit the N64 in 1997, and universally agreed to be superior to Turok. The excellent engine and multiplayer modes made GoldenEye of the most popular games of all time, reaching the top of the sales charts, and stamping its legacy on gaming even nine years later. It would eventually win the first Academy of Interactive Arts and Science award for Game of the Year.
The Nintendo 64 had other games to offer to gamers in 1997. Two addictive puzzle games were released in the second half of 1997: Tetrisphere and Wetrix. Treasure went back to gaming's 2D roots with Mischief Makers. Bomberman 64 provided gamers with a 3D version of the classic Bomberman series that came packaged with a highly addictive multiplayer game. But the high point of Nintendo 64's Q4 lineup was another Rare game, the kart-racing Diddy Kong Racing. Diddy Kong Racing had gotten insane amounts of pre-orders that transferred to an insane amount of sales which helped lift sales of the N64 for the end of the year. Overall, 1997 was a year of ups and downs for the Nintendo 64. The system had enjoyed excellent sales for most of the year in America, but found its sales muddled in Japan. The top selling games of the year were mostly Nintendo 64 games, but Nintendo found themselves behind the Sony PlayStation in total hardware sales. The system enjoyed the success of the Rumble Pack, but found its Disc Drive delayed again and again. The N64 had gotten several great games from Rare, but lost its chance to get several high-profile 3rd party games. Even so, Nintendo entered 1998 with high hopes, with games such as Yoshi's Story, Banjo-Kazooie, and Zelda 64 on the horizon, as well as the highly anticipated Disc Drive.
1998
Notable Games: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Yoshi's Story, 1080 Snowboarding, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Madden NFL '99, International Superstar Soccer '98, Snowboard Kids, F-Zero X, Body Harvest, Space Station Silicon Valley, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Quest 64
1998 was a cornerstone year in gaming, and it was an extremely important year for the Nintendo 64 mostly due to the release of the long-awaited Zelda 64. However, as we all know, the game was not released until November, so the first ten months was mostly waiting for the release of the game. The first few months of 1998 were relatively slow. There was nothing to maintain the momentum from the hot sales of GoldenEye and Diddy Kong Racing, as the most anticipated games in Q1 were 1080 Snowboarding and Yoshi's Story. 1080 Snowboarding was a great snowboarding game, while Yoshi's Story was a game whose quality was masked by a saccharine sweetness and a simplicity that prevented you from exploring the game to the fullest. The biggest Nintendo news came in April, and it was that the Poketto Monstuaa TV show was returning to the airwaves after being off the air for four months following the seizure fiasco.
The dearth of games for the system in early 1998 was not the only thing troubling the Nintendo 64. A Famitsu report showed just how poorly the Nintendo 64 did in Japan. The report showed that the Nintendo 64 finished in third, even behind the much maligned Sega Saturn. But polls show that things most Nintendo 64 owners want Zelda 64, so conditions would probably improve by the time the game of the century is released. However, two notable titles were released in June to help satisfy the thirst of N64 owners. The first of these was Quest 64. It was another one of those games that some gamers loved while others despised, but it is significant for one major reason, its genre. The Super NES was one of the best systems for RPGs, with classic titles such as Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan), Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG etc. However, the departure of Square from the N64 led to a terrible famine of RPGs from Nintendo's newest console. Quest 64 was the first actual RPG to hit the N64, also some of its detractors say that it sucks too much to be an RPG. The other game was the platformer that began its development as "Dream:" Rare's Banjo-Kazooie. Seen by many as a very good Super Mario 64 clone during its development cycle with its platforming and collecting elements, Banjo-Kazooie shattered all expectations with its stunning graphics, colorful characters, and brand new moves. Banjo-Kazooie made splashes in America, but it didn't help the N64 at all in Japan...because it didn't launch there until December.
As the date to the Zelda 64 launch (November 24) drew closer, the amount of games released for the Nintendo 64 began to increase as developers that signed on in late 1996/early 1997 began finishing their games. September was a major sports fest, as sequels to Konami's International Superstar Soccer 64 and EA's Madden 64 hit store shelves, and both games improved on the original renditions. And Midway bought their classic arcade series NFL Blitz to the Nintendo 64. Meanwhile, the sputtering sales for the N64 in Japan began increasing first with the futuristic racer F-Zero X, and then with Pokemon Stadium, a game that did not even include all 150 Pokemon! F-Zero X hit American shores in October 1998, but this version of Pokemon Stadium never did make its way overseas, even when the popularity of Pokemon was at its zenith. (The game we know as Pokemon Stadium is really Pokemon Stadium 2, and the game we know as Pokemon Stadium 2 is really Pokemon Stadium Gold/Silver. Confusing, neh?) Meanwhile, DMA Design, the studio best known for its daring Grand Theft Auto series on the PlayStation, released their two games for the Nintendo 64: Space Station Silicon Valley and Body Harvest. Both were maddenly difficult games with fantastic gameplay and terrible graphics...kind of like the games that DMA Design is known famous for. However, it was clear that this was not enough to save the Nintendo 64 from falling behind the Sony PlayStation, who got over their shortage from early 1997 and countered with spectacular RPG titles and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. But these games did accomplish their purpose...they made the maddening wait for Zelda 64 seem far shorter than it really was.
November 24, 1998
It's here...the most anticipated game of all time (up to 1998, that is.) In 1996, Nintendo successfully moved the Mario series to 3D, and in 1998, they were equally successful with Zelda 64. The epic adventure dazzled gamers around the world, and even convinced some stubborn PlayStation owners to try out Nintendo's black box. The game picked up high praise from almost every source, as it claimed perfect scores from news sources including EGM, Gamespot, IGN, and Famitsu. It had shattered pre-order records set the year before by Diddy Kong Racing, and managed to claim top spots in Japanese and American sales charts. At last, things were looking up for Nintendo's console both in Japan and America. And before the year was up, the Nintendo 64 managed to launch two more games that were very good: Turok 2 (the sequel to Turok), and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (not the sequel to Shadows of the Empire, but it's from the same developer.) Nobody seemed to notice that the 64 Disc Drive made almost no news during the year.
1999
Notable Games: Mario Party, Beetle Adventure Racing!, Super Smash Bros., Star Wars: Episode I Racer, Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap, Jet Force Gemini, Superman 64, Donkey Kong 64, WWF Wrestlemania 2000, Resident Evil 2, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Harvest Moon 64
Optimism was high as Nintendo entered the final year of the millennium (although some argue that 1996 should have been the first year of the next millennium.) A Japanese report early in the year ranked Nintendo as the 2nd best electronics company in Japan in a ranking that takes into account everything from stability, product strength etc. (Sony was number 1.) Many wonder if 1999 would be there year when Nintendo finally breaks out and regains the promise that it had displayed in 1997. However, as in 1998, the Nintendo 64 entered another period of software shortage to begin the year. Sales were still high in both America and Japan thanks to Ocarina of Time and Pikachu Genki Dechu (a quirky Pokemon communication game), but they couldn't last forever. The only significant game to come out in January was Castlevania (often called Castlevania 64, because Castlevania purists hate associating the N64 to the more worthy Castlevania on the NES.) Meanwhile, Japan had gotten the Nintendo-themed fighting game "Nintendo All-Star Dairantou Smash Brothers," which gave sales a dramatic but temporary boost in Japan.
In February, America saw the release of the (relatively) popular Mario Party. It was a highly addictive multiplayer game (provided you have multiple people) and performed extremely well. (Unfortunately, this success of the first Mario Party game led to a grand total of six sequels over the next six years.) And in late April, Nintendo launched the American version of Smash Brothers barely three months after the Japanese release. This also made waves in software sales. However, in May, Nintendo began to reveal signs of the future by announcing the Dolphin during E3. However, the Super NES had several strong years even after "Project Reality" was announced, nobody could have expected anything different from the Nintendo 64. I mean, even though the Sony PlayStation came out from a 1997 slump to grab a stronghold on the gaming world, but the Nintendo 64 was performing well in America and even starting to pick up steam in Japan, strengthened by games such as Zelda 64, GoldenEye (only in America), Pokemon Stadium 2 (only in Japan), Mario Party, and Smash Brothers. The Disc Drive was still struggling to get onto the Japanese market, and Titus's Superman game really, really, really, really, really, really sucked, but things didn't seem that bad.
While Superman 64 was very bad, there were other good games that made up for the stinker. Star Wars: Episode I had stormed onto the cinemas in May after a wait of a decade and a half, and the Nintendo 64 got a very good rendition of the game based on the most exciting sequence in the movie. In July, Mario hit the links with some of his friends from the Mushroom Kingdom along with some strangers in Mario Golf, a game that sparked the beginning of a beautiful collaboration between Nintendo and Camelot Software. Another game was the first Pokemon title to hit the Nintendo 64. Pokemon was a major craze in Japan, where it is known as Poketto Monstuaa, and the craze hit America in 1998 with the launch of the two Game Boy games as well as the TV show (when it was still good), so fans were excited to see Pikachu and friends on the N64...unfortunately, the game wasn't an adventure game or even a battling game...it was Pokemon Snap. Still, it was intriguing enough to generate some sales. Kemco released an N64 rendition of their classic Shadowgate franchise. Konami mixed and matched different genres in Hybrid Heaven. And Acclaim went mature once again in the M-rated Shadow Man.
The second half of 1999 was perhaps the most active period in the history of the Nintendo 64. Nintendo was coming out with six cool new colors for their traditionally black system, and they really were pretty cool. The 64DD was finally ready for release in Japan, and an enormous amount of games were finally making their way onto the market. THQ had previous wrestling success on the Nintendo 64 with WCW vs. nWo Revenge, but they finally hit the big time when they came out with WWF Wrestlemania 2000. This game was hailed as the best wrestling game perhaps of all time, and sold extremely well. Capcom's Resident Evil series was a highlight of the PlayStation, but the presence of FMV was a big hindrance that prevented the series from coming to Nintendo, but Capcom proved that it was possible when they ported Resident Evil 2 onto the biggest cartridge in N64 history. Ubi Soft had come out with a trio of platformers, the most significant of which was Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which brought the limbless hero into a lush 3D world. After a couple of failures, 3DO finally found some success with BattleTanx, and BattleTanx: Global Assault had improved upon the original, and gave them an excuse to torment the poor teddy bear that starred in their popular series of commercials. Natsume took their popular Harvest Moon game for the Super NES and updated it for the N64. Despite dull graphics and lacking sound, it remains one of the highlights of the Harvest Moon series and one of the most addicting games on the Nintendo 64. And Konami came out with an improved version of the Castlevania game that was released in the beginning of the year. While many people agreed that Legacy of Darkness was the better game, its reviews didn't quite match those for the first game because it was just too little too late.
But the biggest developer of the year was undoubtedly Rare. Rare had built up a huge following with hits such as Blast Corps, GoldenEye, Diddy Kong Racing, and Banjo-Kazooie. In 1999, they provided gamers with a double dose of goodness, similar to how two DMA Design games were released in the same month the year before. The first of these games was Jet Force Gemini. The Nintendo 64 had several great first person shooters, but it was seriously lacking in the third person shooter genre, with Ocean's Mission: Impossible and Koei's WinBack: Covert Operations being the only major titles. Rare tried to combine FPS gameplay, TPS gameplay, and the platform gameplay that they were so good at in Jet Force Gemini. Jet Force Gemini was a massive game with plenty of ant-like drones to shoot and plenty of Tribals to save...too much Tribals to save. In the end, the sheer size of the game led to mixed reviews. Even today, some people loved the game while others hated it. In the other game, Rare decided to stick with what they were best at: platform collectors. Donkey Kong 64 hit shelves in November, and it was so big and beautiful that it just could not play without the Expansion Pak, the graphical enhancer that was actually released the year before but played only a minimal role in improving the graphics for games such as Turok 2 and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. But so essential was it in getting Donkey Kong 64 to work that the game came packed with an Expansion Pak. Rare worked hard to make Donkey Kong 64 as massive as they can, with five characters, seven huge levels (that dwarfed the levels in Banjo-Kazooie) and mountains of things to collect. In fact, they seemed to have included too many things to collect. While the platform elements were terrific, the sheer amount of work in collecting and switching just overwhelmed many gamers, and once again there were as many that hated the game as those that loved in. And everybody hated Beaver Bother. So in the end, despite a weak beginning, the Nintendo 64 finished strong, with Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. leading consoles sales for the year. The launch of the Sega Dreamcast, which did not match the Nintendo 64 in sales in Japan despite superior technology, proved to be no match for the Nintendo 64 in America. Even so, 1999 did not turn out to be the year that the Nintendo 64 smashed the Sony PlayStation as was expected, and the Disc Drive turned out to be a flop even before its release, but once again Nintendo had high hopes going into the new millennium.
2000
Notable Games: Mario Party 2, Pokemon Stadium, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Perfect Dark, Excitebike 64, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Mario Tennis, Pokemon Puzzle League, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Ogre Battle 64, The World is Not Enough, WWF No Mercy, Banjo-Tooie, Hey You, Pikachu, Sin and Punishment, Star Wars: Episode I - Battle for Naboo
If you've been paying attention not only to this thread but to the history of the Nintendo 64 when it was still going on you should notice a trend. Every year begins slowly only to pick up speed during the summer and finish strong during the second half to bring spirits up for the following year until the vicious cycle begins again. This had happened in 1997, 1998, 1999, and once again in 2000. There was a grand total of one Nintendo 64 game to hit market shelves in January...just one: Mario Party 2. At the time, Mario Party was still seen as an excellent multiplayer title, and the release of the sequel was welcomed, even if some of the mini-games were the same. March saw the release of the much-anticipated 3D Pokemon battling game, Pokemon Stadium. The game was one of the best-sellers in Japan, and was highly anticipated among Pokemaniacs in America, who came together to make it the best selling game in 2000 as of March. Of course, a good 80% of the game really was battling, so while the people that loved the Pokemon battles in the Pokemon Game Boy game enjoyed it, those that really didn't found themselves playing endless rounds of Sushi-Go-Round. The game was also significant in that it launched the Transfer Pak, which allowed for the transfer of data between the N64 game and Game Boy games. It was later used to good effect in games such as Mario Tennis, Perfect Dark etc. Unfortunately, Nintendo did not use the Transfer Pak in how it should have been used...like the Super Game Boy on the Super NES. Another game that crept into markets was the Nintendo 64 version of the wildly popular Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series that debuted the year before on the PlayStation.
All this was only in preparation of the most anticipated game since Ocarina of Time, at least in America. GoldenEye was a major hit, and although Rare was unable to secure the Bond license for future movies and games, they were still hard at work on making their next FPS title: Perfect Dark. The game stars Joanna Dark, a new but highly talented agent and tracks her as she performs her first (or what people thought was her first) mission. But more importantly, the game promises to improve on GoldenEye's solid multiplayer mode and will even make use of the Game Boy Camera by putting your face in the action. However, the game saw endless delays as the multiplayer mode was beefed up and the face-mapping feature was removed. However, at long last, the game was ready for launch in May, and it was almost everything that people expected it to be. The single player adventure mode was fun (but accessible only with the Expansion Pak), but the multiplayer was absolutely stocked. It wasn't even called Multiplayer like it was in GoldenEye. Instead, it was known as the "Combat Simulator." There were lots of levels, guns, gameplay modes, and lots of other features to choose from. These can be unlocked in 30 increasingly difficult challenges that you can take on by yourself or with up to three friends. There were simulants of many different types that made it possible for you to enjoy all by yourself. And there were literally thousands of possible ways to make a unique character, with different heads (including the head of Shigeru Miyamoto) and bodies to choose from. The game can save your character (up to 4 on cartridge and even more on the Memory Pak), and keep track of your data. The game also had a co-op mode and an innovative counter-op, where one player plays as an enemy and can spawn over and over again, provided there are still people to spawn as. The only drawback was the framerate, which can get downright vicious with four players. The framerate, plus the overwhelming amount of options in the Combat Simulator and the single-player that paled in comparison and as a result didn't seem quite as strong as GoldenEye were the reasons why Perfect Dark is relegated to the title of Second Best FPS title on the Nintendo 64 today.
Meanwhile, good news was coming from Japan. The Nintendo 64 had finally outsold the PlayStation. After three years of playing second fiddle to Sony's 32-bit machine, the Nintendo 64 was finally on top. Of course, the launch of the PlayStation 2 kept Nintendo 64 from taking number 1 overall (and could have even contributed to the win), but that's beside the point. Excitebike 64 was one of the games released alongside Perfect Dark. It was a motorcross racing title that was an update of the NES classic with brand new courses, tricks, and game modes. It won praise from many game review sources, including EGM and IGN, but gamers were not quite as enthusiastic. Gamers were more enthusiastic about Kirby 64, the game that finally saw HAL's pink puff get a starring role, after Kirby's Air Ride took a ride through development heck. Despite its cute exterior, Kirby 64 was a solid and extremely difficult 2.5D platform game that allowed gamers to mix and match entertaining abilities to progress through worlds. It was a best seller in Japan, and it turned out to be a best seller in America as well. Also released was StarCraft 64, the Nintendo 64 port of the classic Blizzard strategy game. While it had much more to offer, the game didn't quite do as well, because what's the point of split screen multiplayer for StarCraft?
The rest of the summer was full of good and bad news. One piece of good news was the release of the second major collaboration between Nintendo and Camelot: Mario Tennis. One piece of bad news was the cancellation of the much anticipated Mother 3, which would be Earthbound 2 had it come to America. Another piece of good news was the domination of Paper Mario and Mario Tennis on the Japanese sales chart (even coming out on top of the PlayStation 2 in software sales for a couple of weeks.) Another piece of bad news was that America was hit with a severe software shortage in which the only good games were Mario Tennis and Pokemon Puzzle League (the Pokemon remake of SNES's Tetris Attack.) However, the Nintendo 64 ended the year on a strong note like the three preceding years. First of all, Nintendo 64 owners finally got a true Strategy game when Ogre Battle 64 is released on American shores. It's not really an RPG title, as it plays much more like an RTS, but it does feature an epic quest and storyline and some highly addictive gameplay. And it officially entered cult status when Atlus allowed only a very small number to be shipped; making it one of the rarest Nintendo 64 games of all time. James Bond also makes his return to the Nintendo 64 in The World is Not Enough, a FPS that may not have been developed by Rare, but still surprised people with its quality. THQ came out with another wrestling game with WWF No Mercy, a game that many claim outdoes even WWF Wrestlemania 2000 (although I really can't detect any major differences between the two.) And in Japan, Treasure came out with Sin and Punishment, a high-quality arcade-style rail shooter that was released halfway finished with its localization process. Star Wars: Episode I - Battle for Naboo was a title from LucasArts that satisfied gamers' requests for a battle title based on the hit 1999 film. Hey You, Pikachu was the American release of the popular Pikachu Genki Dechu title from Japan. It came packaged with a microphone that worked better than most people said it did (or maybe my sister was just very good with the mic) as well as an $80 price tag and a Pikachu-themed Nintendo 64.
And then there were the two most significant titles. After creating a hit with Perfect Dark, Rare churned out another quality title in the form of Banjo-Tooie. Set two years after Banjo-Kazooie, Tooie sends bear and bird in an adventure that was bigger and (as many claim, although some would disagree) better than their last. Rare toned down the amount of collecting from Donkey Kong 64 for Tooie, even though it was still higher than in Kazooie. The brand new stages were varied and huge, and the addition of fun new minigames, insane bosses, and the opportunity to separate the duo took the gameplay to a whole new level. And there were still unsolved mysteries about what Rare was planning to do with the Stop 'N Swop. The other game was even bigger. While gamers had to wait six years between Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time (even though they did have Link's Awakening to keep them happy), they only had to wait two for Link's next adventure, and it was out of Link's world! The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask places Link in the mysterious land of Terima, where he embarks on an epic adventure that has nothing to do with Zelda or Ganon. Accompanying Link was the ability to transform into difference races with unique abilities, different masks with different abilities to help Link accomplish different tasks, and an annoying fairy wannabe by the name of Tingle. Link's new adventure garnered universally high scores (except from Gamespot) and some even claim that it was better than Ocarina of Time. Once again, the Nintendo 64 had entered on a strong note, and with Paper Mario and Conker's new adventure on the horizon, things were looking up, but would it last?
2001
Notable Games: Paper Mario, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Pokemon Stadium 2, Mega Man 64, Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, Dr. Mario 64, Mario Party 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Animal Forest
Once again, Nintendo left the first two months open to allow for the continuation of sales for games released in late 2000. The only significant title in these first two months came in February with a game marked the debut of Capcom's classic Mega Man on the Nintendo 64. Mega Man 64 was nothing more than a port of Mega Man Legends on the PlayStation and by no means stands up to the classic Mega Man titles that had come earlier on the NES and the Super NES, but for gamers starved of Mega Man action for the first four years of the N64 lifespan, Mega Man 64 was a welcomed reprieve. Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage was released a month later. It was highly anticipated because of its status as an RPG, but it received poor reviews from both critics and gamers. Pokemon Stadium 2 was an update of the best-selling 2000 title that allowed Pokemon trainers to fight with the brand new Pokemon from Pokemon Gold and Silver. Of course, the two biggest titles were once again by Nintendo and Rare.
Conker's first actual adventure had begun its development way back in 1997 as Conker's Quest. The game was later renamed Conker: Twelve Tales, but it was later scrapped. In 2000, Rare made an announcement that shocked almost everybody. Conker was making an appearance, but it won't be in a cute, cuddly world like in Diddy Kong Racing, Twelve Tales or in GBC's Conker's Pocket Tales. Instead, Conker will be making in appearance in a crude and bloody world full of profanity and bathroom jokes. Yes, Conker's Bad Fur Day will be Mature rated by being immature. And it was finally released in March of 2001. The game differed from Rare's other platform games in that it moved along on a linear storyline and contained almost no collecting whatsoever. It also contained some of the wittiest cutscenes in Nintendo 64 history, highlighted by the appearance of the opera-singing Great Mighty Poo. And it had solid gameplay. Yet due to its controversial nature, Nintendo virtually stayed away from the game. Rare handled publication on its own, only the third time that had happened in their entire history. (The other games were Diddy Kong Racing and Jet Force Gemini.) Nintendo limited its coverage of the game to only one line in the E3 2000 issue of Nintendo Power, and advertisements appeared only in adult magazines such as Playboy and Maxim. Needless to say, Conker's sold very poorly, far below what a game of that caliber had deserved. The other game wasn't quite so controversial. Paper Mario was an RPG title in the vein of Square's popular Super Mario RPG, and took its place as the best true RPG on the Nintendo 64. As a 2D character in a 2.5D world, Mario traversed his kingdom to save the seven star spirits from their captivity so that he could once again defeat his nemesis Bowser. It was a rather contrived storyline, but Paper Mario offered refreshing gameplay that mixed platform elements even during the battles as well as creative characters.
Yet even so, the end was near for the Nintendo 64. Scores of games ended up being cancelled or shelved until the Gamecube (including 40 Winks, Carnivale, Resident Evil 0, Dinosaur Planet, Animal Leading, Eternal Darkness etc.), and after March of 2001, there were less than half a dozen games slated for release, and Nintendo began showing off the Gamecube during E3 of that year. (My, such parallels between the final years of the Gamecube and the N64.) This sudden turn of events had shocked owners of the Nintendo 64. The future that had seemed so bright at the end of 2000 now seemed grim at best. Owners loyal to the Nintendo 64 only had the past to cherish, for its future had been all used up. One of the games to be released after Paper Mario was Dr. Mario 64, the release of the classic puzzle game which included a four-player mode. Yet despite similar gameplay, it still did not have the charm of the older games. Another game was Mario Party 3, the third installment in the popular party series. The game included 70 new mini-games, but lacked the charm of the first two games, mostly since it had too many random mini-games. Japanese gamers got to enjoy a horse racing game and a bizarre communication game known as Doubutsu no Mori, which translates to The Forest of the Animals, or simply Animal Forest. And in August came the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 in the United States, the game that was originally cancelled but then made a stunning return over a year later. In October, two games were released: bam's Powerpuff Girls: Chemical Xtraction and Crave's Razor Freestyle Scooter. Unfortunately, both of the games were bad, but Razor Freestyle Scooter was available only for rental. One month later marked the launch of the Nintendo Gamecube, as well as the release of the final PAL Nintendo 64 game (Mario Party 3), and the Nintendo 64 officially became a Legacy System.
2002
Notable Game: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Ah, so the Nintendo 64 had finally joined in the ranks of the legacy systems. It has become one of the many systems whose enjoyment is derived from enjoying what had come in the past (its legacy) as opposed to anticipating games that will be coming out in the future. As the Nintendo 64 settled into its new role, it began disappearing from major electronic retailers such as Best Buy and ended up in retailers of used video game stores like Gamestop and EB Games. The price of the console, which had sold for $199.99 when the system launched, was down to below $99.99, perfect for gamers that never bought a system to finally own one of the classics. The Nintendo 64 is able to finally settle back and watch the trials and tribulations of the Gamecube as it matches heads with the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's X-Box. Yet even though it had acquired the status of a legacy system, it was not completely dead. No, not everybody had given up on the Nintendo 64. Activision had a classic series in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and they were willing to do anything to maximize the exposure of the series, going as far as to release Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the Nintendo 64! So in August of 2002, a year since America saw their last new Nintendo 64 game, a new game was coming out for the N64! And it was not a bad game! However, this business decision was bizarre at best. Why would Activision be releasing a game on a system that's been essentially dead for the past year? Even the major Nintendo fans would have already gotten the game for their brand new Nintendo Gamecube. Nobody knew. Needless to say, THPS3 for the N64 did not make much of a mark on the sales charts, but it was out there. And that was the only significant news for the Nintendo 64, but it was rather significant.
2003-2005
The Nintendo 64 was no longer in stores, but it was not out of sight. For the next several years, as the days following the final Nintendo 64 games passed, the Nintendo 64 slowly entered into the realm of the old-school. People were quick to play the PlayStation 2 or the GameCube or the X-Box at get-togethers, but if they wanted a dash of nostalgia, they would plug in the Nintendo 64 and play a couple rounds of GoldenEye or Mario Kart 64. In 2003, Nintendo offered one of the most alluring packages to reward those that have pre-ordered The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Not only did the special disc include the complete copy of the legendary N64 title The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it also included Ura Zelda, the Ocarina of Time remake for the 64 Disc Drive that was almost identical, but featured more difficult puzzles and remade dungeons, kind of like the second quests in the first Zelda title or in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Ura Zelda was never released in Japan, but it made its appearance in the special disc under the name The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Later in the year, Nintendo started another promotion that offered the Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for anybody that registered two games to My Nintendo in a certain period of time or who subscribed/renewed their subscriptions to Nintendo Power. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition included the two Zelda games on the NES, as well as the two for the Nintendo 64: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Unfortunately, Master Quest was absent, and Majora's Mask was extremely buggy, but it was a unique opportunity for Zelda fans.
In 2004, Nintendo 64 continued to collect dust on some gamers or enjoy lots of love from a smaller number of gamers. In late 2004, the Nintendo DS launched, and one of their launch titles was Super Mario 64 DS. Sure, it was almost the same game as the Nintendo 64 classic, but it had enough changes to show that Nintendo was able to improve on a masterpiece. Super Mario 64 DS had new levels, more stars, multiple characters etc. 2005 was a relatively big year for the Nintendo 64. By then the Nintendo 64 had gotten used to its status as a legacy system and was enjoying some pretty good attention at garage sales or in places such as Gamespot. Hundreds of new Nintendo 64 owners were appearing every month or so, and all of them had questions about what were the great Nintendo 64 games to get.
In late 2005, Nintendo Power began announcing the top 200 Nintendo games of all time as an update to the top 100 list from 1997 (which was dominated by Nintendo 64 games such as Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64.) The more recent list was dominated by NES and Super NES games (mostly because those systems had far more games than the Nintendo 64), but there was a good amount of Nintendo 64 games on the list. In fact, a Nintendo 64 game had once against ended up with the title of the #1 game. In 1997, it was Super Mario 64. In 2006, it was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The other Nintendo 64 games on the list were: Super Mario 64 (down to 5), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (15), Super Smash Bros. (19), GoldenEye 007 (20), Mario Kart 64 (53), Paper Mario (63), Conker's Bad Fur Day (65), Blast Corps (71), Star Fox 64 (73), Harvest Moon 64 (78), Jet Force Gemini (79), Mario Tennis (91), Pokemon Puzzle League (92), Rayman 2: The Great Escape (93), 1080 Snowboarding (97), Mario Party (98), Perfect Dark (100), Ogre Battle 64 (111...a bit low if you ask me), Pilotwings 64 (117), Banjo-Kazooie (119), Mario Golf (126), Wave Race 64 (127), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (139), Pokemon Snap (154), Beetle Adventure Racing (158), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (166), and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (170). And in a recent episode of G4's Filter, the Nintendo 64 was selected as the best console of all time, perhaps for its innovation, its insanely fun multiplayer, and the sheer percentage of AAA titles despite its small library. (I wouldn't know because I haven't seen the actual episode.)
2006
First of all, E3 provided information about Nintendo's newest system, the Nintendo Wii. One of the key aspects of the Nintendo Wii is the addition of the Virtual Console, which makes it possible to download and play old Nintendo games as well as games from other consoles. In an press conference in mid-September, Nintendo announced that you pay for Virtual Console downloads with WiiPoints, and all Nintendo 64 games will cost 1,000 WiiPoints, which is approximately equivalent to $10. Super Mario 64 has been confirmed as one of the original available games. Furthermore, Rare announced that they are planning to develop Diddy Kong Racing DS, which is a port of their Nintendo 64 classic but with several new additions!
Oh, and before we forget, it's...
The Year of the Nintendo 64's 10th anniversary!!!!!!!!!!
So yes...that was a basic look at the first ten years of the Nintendo 64's lifespan. The next 10 years probably won't be quite as exciting, but as we are all Nintendo gamers of some sort, so without a doubt we will be enjoying our Nintendo 64 consoles for years to come. I won't try to argue that the Nintendo 64 is the best system of all time, and I won't even attempt to make arguments in the N64 vs. PlayStation debate. What I will say is that the Nintendo 64 was definitely an important console whose legacy cannot be denied. Sure, there were some nasty stretches when virtually no games were released, and some of the games were absolutely awful, and the PlayStation walked all over it by the end, but it was anything but a flop, and definitely one of the best systems of all time! So let us raise our cups (of milk) and give a toast to the anniversary of this wonderful console!
