Nintendo 64 at 30: My Ultimate Gaming Love

The Nintendo 64 wasn't a massive commercial success, it relied on outdated technology, and it arguably paved the way for Sony’s long-standing dominance in the gaming market. And yet, this flawed piece of tech is my absolute favorite console—and nothing will ever change that. That’s why, for the system’s 30th anniversary (based on its Japanese release), you won't find an objective hardware deep dive here covering bizarre add-ons like the 64DD and its mouse controller. Instead, this is a nostalgic love letter. Though, of course, we’re still going to look at how the Nintendo 64 changed the industry forever—even if it was a flop on paper.

Nintendo Sixty-Foooooooouuuuurrrr!

My entry into the world of gaming consoles was an Atari 2600 in its rather unlovely Junior variant. However, my gaming passion was truly ignited by the Sega Mega Drive (you may know it as Sega Genesis), which my dad had bought secondhand from someone in our village. Surprisingly, I don't remember much of Sonic, but I vividly recall multiplayer duels in Road Rash (the chain!) and the licensed masterpiece that was Aladdin. I didn't own an SNES myself; I only ever borrowed it from my cousin. Meaning: I wasn't exactly Team Nintendo back then.

So, why the N64 and not the PlayStation? Blame the local department store. I happened to be hanging out there with my best friend after school. We walked up the stairs and discovered—a N64 demo station! I can't say for sure which game I saw first, but most of the time, Pilotwings 64 or ClayFighter 63 1/3 was sitting in the cartridge slot. Not exactly prime showcases for the system, but we still stood there with our jaws on the floor.

But sometimes, with a bit of luck, Super Mario 64 was running. And if you had the outrageous good fortune to actually grab the controller yourself instead of being condemned to just watch, it was the absolute highlight of my week! I don't think I've ever been that hyped since. Thankfully, after weeks of anything-but-subtle hints, my parents took pity on me, and the console was waiting under the Christmas tree. You know that "Nintendo Sixty-Four" meme kid, right? That was me! Well, not literally, but basically the German, slightly chubbier version of him.

The Forgotten Gaming Revolution

If I were to ask you what the coolest, most important, or most successful Nintendo console of all time is, you probably wouldn't shout "Nintendo 64" in any of those scenarios. And yet, my favorite console introduced several innovations that became absolute industry standards.

The Analog Stick: The N64 gave us the desperately needed analog stick, which finally allowed for precise navigation through 3D environments! Without this little piece of plastic, Nintendo could never have transitioned its mascot, Mario, so perfectly into the third dimension. And while we're at it: Link established the concept of locking onto enemies (Z-targeting), which remains a genre standard to this day.

Force Feedback: The optional Rumble Pak, which was often bundled with Starfox, made gaming physically tangible. But full disclosure: while Nintendo made this feature mass-market ready, Sony actually beat them to the punch by exactly two days, releasing a controller with vibration feedback first. Albeit only in Japan.

Four Players Out of the Box: Other consoles had done it before, but you had to buy expensive multi-tap adapters first. The N64, however, supported four players right out of the box, making it the ultimate couch co-op machine!

Games for the Ages

Let’s talk about the games! The two most important ones have already been mentioned: Super Mario 64 showed how a 3D platformer is supposed to work, while The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time told an epic story across two timelines, backed by an incredible soundtrack. Both became absolute blueprints for their respective genres, yet for me, they are just the tip of the iceberg!

Banjo-Kazooie took Mario's foundation and expanded it with creative transformations, way more collectibles, and a brilliant dynamic audio system that allowed for seamless musical transitions. GoldenEye 007, on the other hand, proved that first-person shooters could actually work on consoles! But wait, to keep this from turning into a massive wall of text, here is a quick speedrun through my personal highlights:

• Wave Race 64: A racing game with real depth and surprisingly realistic wave physics for its time.
• Paper Mario: A 2D Mario with a paper-thin look that beautifully blended RPG and platforming mechanics.
• F-Zero X: 60 frames per second and the absolute best sense of speed ever.
• Rogue Squadron: Doubled down completely on the best part of Shadows of the Empire: the flight missions!
• Mario Party: The ultimate boss fight for intact analog sticks and the palms of your hands.
• Blast Corps: An out-of-control nuclear missile carrier has never caused this much joy.
• Mischief Makers: A wonderfully bizarre and difficult 2.5D platformer.
• Super Smash Bros.: An absolute blast, even if I never stood a chance against my buddy.
• Mario Kart 64: The absolute best incarnation of Rainbow Road.

Wondering where Donkey Kong 64 and Majora’s Mask are? Sadly, neither of them was my cup of tea. Donkey Kong did have the fantastic DK Rap, but the game went completely overboard with its collecting frenzy. And as much as I admire the art style and atmosphere of Majora’s Mask, the constant time limit always stressed me out. Is it a coincidence that both of these titles required the Expansion Pak, which doubled the console's RAM? A bizarre hardware decision—but not the weirdest one...

Love-Hate Relationship: Cartridges

From both a consumer and developer standpoint, it’s almost impossible to understand why Nintendo chose cartridges over CDs. Cartridges are expensive to manufacture, making them pricier at retail; they have minuscule storage capacity, and they suffer from compressed, muddy audio. So why no CDs? Because cartridges are inherently harder to pirate, and it allowed Nintendo to maintain total control over production. For comparison: a publisher had to fork over around $25 to $30 for every single cartridge produced, whereas a PS1 CD cost a mere $1 to manufacture. It's a miracle third-party developers didn't jump ship immediately—though that's exactly what happened in the next console generation.

The biggest drawback wasn’t even the price, but the storage space. Most N64 games had to get by on a measly 8 to 32 MB, with 64 MB cartridges being the absolute exception. Compare that to the dirt-cheap CD, which gave developers a massive 650 MB to play with. This was the exact reason Square stopped releasing its most famous JRPG series on Nintendo platforms and moved to Sony—the cinematic cutscenes of Final Fantasy VII simply wouldn’t fit on a cartridge.

And yet, I love those cartridges. For one thing, there were zero loading times. But above all, it's just a fantastic feeling to pick up a heavy cartridge and slap it into the console with a satisfying CHONK! Unlike CDs, these things are incredibly durable. Pro-tip: If a cartridge won't start, DO NOT blow into it! That just gets moisture on the contacts, leading to long-term damage.

Winner of My Heart

To quote Arthur Spooner from The King of Queens: "In my opinion, it's the loser who are the true winners." Sony’s PlayStation was more successful, sure. But I loved my N64. I love it to this day. I've rarely replayed any games as often as Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64. But it’s the countless multiplayer memories that are truly burned into my brain. GoldenEye 007 in four-player split-screen, playing my beloved Golden Gun mode? Perfection! Even more intense were the battles in Pokémon Stadium—using our own little monsters caught on the Game Boy and transferred via the Transfer Pak, of course. And to this day, I’m still not sure which racing game we put the most hours into: Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing, Wave Race, or F-Zero X?

The Nintendo 64 was a technical paradox, a commercial runner-up, and a wild design experiment. But to me, it will always be the greatest console in the world!

So much for my highly debatable opinion. That being said, if you have a minute to spare, maybe we can find out together if I'm completely alone in my N64 obsession. I’ve put together a quick two-question poll—go ahead and cast your vote!

Start Poll