Nintendo 64 turns 25 years old

Anyone who grew up in the 1990's will tell you that they are either a Sony Playstation person or an Nintendo 64 person. At the time the impact both of these consoles had were gigantic, they both represented a seismic shift in the way we experienced games and ushered in the 3D era. Now video games could be more cinematic and immersive. Whilst I did indeed go on to purchase a Sony PlayStation only really to play Metal Gear Solid, I was and still am to a degree a bonafide Nintendo fanboy, the N64 is arguably the finest product in the companies history.

I was born in 1984, the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in the UK in 1986 so to me I very much feel I have grown up in the video game era. With an older brother I have always had the latest Nintendo products, it sort became a ritual to carry on the tradition. I have owned a NES, Game-Boy, SNES even a Virtual Boy. 

25th Septembner 1996 I remember going to Live 96 which was a technology consumer and trade exhibition at Earls Court, London UK. The star of the show was the Nintendo stand that was allowing people to play the console for the very first time. They had Wave Race 64, Mario 64 and Pilotwings playing on multiple screens and it seemed like pure magic to me back when I was 12 and I was fortunate enough to pick one a few months later. 

After purchasing the console I remember having Shadows of The Empire and Super Mario 64 as the first games, I then picked up WaveRace 64 and Pilotwings shortly after. All these games seem like a masterclass in creativity and game design when I think back to what is available today. The great thing about the 1990's especially with N64 games is that there was definatley more quality over quantity when it came to games available vs other consoles. 

Yes the Sony Playstation was amazing but it you took the top 10 games from N64 and compare them to the top 10 on N64, personally I think Nintendo had better games. Lets think about Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, FIFA 98 Road To World Cup etc. You could also play with your friends much more easily with 4 controller inputs and zero loading times due to the cartridge system. 

The reason I love Nintendo above many other games companies is that they are far more creative and tend to make bold design and risks with their products introdcuing radical new featurs to surprise and delight players. The N64 controller is a classic case in point, it looks like a strange batwing that bruce wayne designed... It was ingenious, games like Mario 64 were far easier to play with the joystick and Goldeneye was even more fun feeling like you were holding a gun in your hand. I don't think any product has pushed the envelope like the Nintendo 64 has until the Wii and now the Nintendo Switch. To this day Ninendo focus on player experience and use brains and creativity over brawn and having the fastest and most powerful console.

Make no misteak the N64 was a powehouse when it came out but after Playstation 2 and Dreamcast came out many of us kept coming back to the N64 to play with friends and play games like Starfox 64, Mortal Kombat IV and Perfect Dark many years into the consoles lifespan 

1. Goldeneye 

2. Mario Kart 64

3. Super Mario 64 

4. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 

5. F Zero X 

6. Shadows of the Empire 

7. Starfox 64

8. Waverace 64

9. Pilotwings 

10. Perfect Dark 

What do you think? Let us know if the comments section on 1st11's Twitter page @1st11funUK