Current Events > What TRULY hampered N64 sales?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The N64 didn't even sell 1/3 as well it's chief competitor.
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It had no gaems
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A_Good_Boy posted...

It had no gaems

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I think a huge part of it was Square leaving for the CD's baby!
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I... Didn't even know this. I thought n64 was a success. It's probably the one system that most people I know held onto
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Butterfiles posted...

A_Good_Boy posted...

It had no gaems

guys we're talking about the N64

not the PS3
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If the N64 had used discs, we would have gotten Ocarina of Load Times.

PS1 had the better library.
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The existence of the superior PS1

The availability of games and the cartridge. PS1 had around 2000 games or something ridiculous. N64 had around 260.
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That was still during the eras of most gamers having one system per console generation homes.

I have a hard time believing the PS1 outsold the N64 3 to 1.

The fact that it got released at least a year before the N64
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Skye Reynolds posted...

I have a hard time believing the PS1 outsold the N64 3 to 1.

Playstation had just over 100 million total systems sold. N64 33 million.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles

Each entry has a reference page to denote where they got the information of systems sold.
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Cartridges mainly, that and 3rd parties got tired of Nintendo's antics. Also, the PlayStation had gotten a good foothold against the Saturn by that time and had great games. Nothing compared to mario64 but the sheer amount of games won it for the psx.
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It didn't have much fighting games which were a huge genre at the time

Also lack of rpgs
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glitteringfairy posted...

I... Didn't even know this. I thought n64 was a success. It's probably the one system that most people I know held onto

Well since PS2 was backwards compatible, it makes sense that more people would keep the system that was not
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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

I think a huge part of it was Square leaving for the CD's baby!

back then Square was not as big as you think. take it from someone who remembers. Square did not really get super popular until the ps2 era. even when FF7 came out, not everyone was playing it. I remember people telling the game looked dorky. but anyway, this was before even FF7 as you know. this is simply just going off the popularity they had from the SNES and that a cult following. your average person at school had never heard of squaresoft or final fantasy 6. so there was not a huge army flocking o the ps1 just cause of squaresoft. and in the early days of ps1, I remember people talking about Gran Turismo, not Cloud

fenderbender321 posted...

ZMythos posted...

glitteringfairy posted...

I... Didn't even know this. I thought n64 was a success. It's probably the one system that most people I know held onto

Well since PS2 was backwards compatible, it makes sense that more people would keep the system that was not

Really baffles me why they don't still do backwards compatibility. You want to sell a lot of systems? Then give people an incentive to sell their old system so they have money to buy the new one.

I think it mostly has to do with the weird architecture the PS3 had internally. It's the reason why it was a stronger system but ran shit like Oblivion and Skyrim far worse than the 360. It's too hard to emulate properly and you can't just toss in the internals of a PS3 into the PS4 and make it cost effective.
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fenderbender321 posted...

But also the system was apparently difficult to develop games for.

Not an excuse since EVERYTHING was difficult as hell to develop for in that generation. PS1 had its share of programming nightmares (if reading various dev blogs and skimming over a LOT of documentation is anything to go by) and I'm pretty sure they were equally difficult, just with different sets of problems.

PS2 was also considered difficult as hell to program for compared to the Xbox and Gamecube, but it managed to sell the best by a considerable margin in its run.
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all of those and more

YonicBoom posted...

PS2 was also considered difficult as hell to program for compared to the Xbox and Gamecube, but it managed to sell the best by a considerable margin in its run.

because it was the cheapest DVD player on the market

it's why the PS3 was able to gain a considerable foothold, cheapest Blu-Ray player
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Smash 64 is not the greatest fighting game ever made, WTF?!
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A combination of cartridges and how the PS1 as a kid just seemed 'cooler', which is a huge deal when you gotta tell your parents which console you want. Is funny how Saturn was active at the same time technically but as a kid I literally never heard about it.
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That's because the awesome Sega Saturn was $400 and that was nuts.

masticatingman posted...

A combination of cartridges and how the PS1 as a kid just seemed 'cooler', which is a huge deal when you gotta tell your parents which console you want. Is funny how Saturn was active at the same time technically but as a kid I literally never heard about it.

I was a SEGA kid and I played one ONCE at a friends house. Even SEGA fans know that was a largely forgettable system with like, 8 amazing games.
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masticatingman posted...

A combination of cartridges and how the PS1 as a kid just seemed 'cooler', which is a huge deal when you gotta tell your parents which console you want. Is funny how Saturn was active at the same time technically but as a kid I literally never heard about it.

Don't worry

Retailers didn't know about it either til it was set to go out in stores
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lol according to that Wikipedia page, the Saturn outsold the Dreamcast

lolwut
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The Sega Saturn was awesome. It had the best sound out of all three systems. The issue is that it was much better for Japanese people since a lot of great games didn't get brought over and I'm not learning that shit.

N64 had better multiplayer games doe
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wackyteen posted...

lol according to that Wikipedia page, the Saturn outsold the Dreamcast

lolwut

the Saturn did pretty well in Japan and was on the market longer

YonicBoom posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

But also the system was apparently difficult to develop games for.

Not an excuse since EVERYTHING was difficult as hell to develop for in that generation. PS1 had its share of programming nightmares (if reading various dev blogs and skimming over a LOT of documentation is anything to go by) and I'm pretty sure they were equally difficult, just with different sets of problems.

PS2 was also considered difficult as hell to program for compared to the Xbox and Gamecube, but it managed to sell the best by a considerable margin in its run.

the ps2 stuff was because of 1's momentum and also being a DVD player.
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I always thought you have to really be holding onto something in the past hard to think the first Smash is the best.
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fenderbender321 posted...

I don't even remember seeing a Saturn in stores...

I remember seeing PS1 and Saturn stands in some now-defunct game store with playable demos (or full games). The PS1 had 3D Lemming playing, and the Saturn had Bug. That's the only time I ever saw a Saturn game, or a Saturn for that matter. This, I'm guessing, was in late 95. I didn't even know what a PS1 and a Saturn was, to be honest. I was a kid who was quite happy with a NES, but was curious and envious of my cousins who had a Mega Drive. I was in for a mindblowing shocker in 97 when they got a Playstation and I saw (and heard) Lost World being played. That was such a leap from the typical 2D fare.

Anyhow, from what I understand, one reason for why the N64 lost to the Playstation was due to it launching almost a full year after the PS1. In fact, it didn't saw a EU release until mid 1997! That's almost two full years for the PS1 to establish itself with popular titels such as Twisted Metal, Wipeout, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot, and various sports and racing games. Another factor is that a CD could hold 700mb of data, whereas a cartridge could hold 10% of that at best. Moreover, the larger the cartridge, the more expensive its production, and that cost was passed down to the consumer. Barring a few exceptions, a N64 version of a PS1 game has less or no voice samples, reduced audio quality, and no FMVs. But it'll have no loading times, doesn't require a memory card, and the graphics might be sharper and brighter... with some fogging and blurrier textures, I suppose.
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wackyteen posted...

Butterfiles posted...

A_Good_Boy posted...

It had no gaems

guys we're talking about the N64

not the PS3

The PS3 has 1438 games.
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Lost_All_Senses posted...

I always thought you have to really be holding onto something in the past hard to think the first Smash is the best.

This for sure. It's not even the best Smash game.

And if you wanna go for how "important" it was to fighting games as a genre, Street Fighter 2 takes that mantle every fucking day of the week.
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ViewtifulGrave posted...

The PS3 has 1438 games.

you're really out of touch with old memes aren't you?
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wackyteen posted...

ViewtifulGrave posted...

The PS3 has 1438 games.

you're really out of touch with old memes aren't you?

No not really. I know that youre referring to when the PS3 first came out.

Its a pretty lame meme seeing most consoles dont have much upon release. The 64 only had Mario and Pilot Wings at launch.
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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

Lost_All_Senses posted...

I always thought you have to really be holding onto something in the past hard to think the first Smash is the best.

This for sure. It's not even the best Smash game.

And if you wanna go for how "important" it was to fighting games as a genre, Street Fighter 2 takes that mantle every fucking day of the week.

And what's the ratio of people who give a shit about fighting games now compared to the 90's?

FYI the games were usually$60 whereas most psone games were$40.
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fenderbender321 posted...

Thompson posted...

But it'll have no loading times, doesn't require a memory card, and the graphics might be sharper and brighter... with some fogging and blurrier textures, I suppose.

A lot of N64 games actually did require a memory card. They were called controller paks, and a shit ton of games required them.

http://n64.icequake.net/mirror/www.elitendo.com/n64/usa_boot_save_list.html

Huh. I didn't know that. Always thought the N64 didn't require a memory card.
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idgaf the N64 was great
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