The Nintendo 64
By Thonos
12/12/2015
The Nintendo 64 (N64) was a system that I did not get until after the Gamecube was already out. My brother and I opted for the Playstation 1 and computer gaming during the consoles run. Due to this fact I do not feel any attachment to the system or any of its games. I still think the N64 controller was one of the oddest designs I have seen for a console controller. With that said I do have some stories about the few times I did play a N64.
The first story I have about the N64 involves Mario Tennis. At the time I worked in the electronics department in the store I worked at. Also at this time they used to put games in the display consoles to let customers try the games out. It was slow day, so I grabbed the controller and played Mario Tennis, which was the game they were demoing in the system. I must have stood there for about 20 minutes playing this game and I had a lot of fun with it. Eventually the manager came by and had me do something else, but when I did get a N64 system this was the first game I got with it.
Another story happened at the same store although this was before I worked there. My mom took my brother and I to the store to go shopping and she let us hang out in the electronics department. They were demoing Star Fox 64 in the system. My brother, being a Star fox fan, picks up the controller and starts playing. For 45 or so minutes he started the game and almost beat the game. This was funny since other people just stopped and started watching him play. Even when our mom was done shopping, she waited to see if he could finish the game. Ultimately he did not beat the game but was pretty close and when we got a N64 system that was the first game that he got.
How we got a N64 is also a funny story. I was hanging out with my friends and we were on our way down to the local mall. My brother calls me and says that he was down at EBX (now Gamestop), in the mall and they were doing a blowout sale on N64 items. At this time the Gamecube was out in full force along with the Playstation 2 and the Xbox. He said the sale looked good and they had a pretty good selection of games to look through. I said I would meet him down there and check it out.
I get there and yeah they were having a blowout sale on N64 items. I found my brother and we decided to start a N64 collection. We ended up getting some systems, controllers, and a pretty varied selection of games. We picked up a lot of filler games but we also got games like Mario Tennis, Star Fox 64, Shadowgate 64, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Doom 64, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Pilotwings 64. I'm pretty sure the employee behind the counter thought we were nuts buying all of this N64 stuff.
Even after we got the system, we really didn't spend a lot of time with it. My brother did beat Star Fox 64 and The Legend of Zelda OoT and I put a lot of time into Mario Tennis. But besides that we did not find much to enjoy on the system. I feel that our time on the PC really changed our tastes in video games. I know for myself in particular I gravitated towards turn based and real time strategy games and got away from platforming and side scrolling games.
This is one system that I do not actively collect for. I have added some games to my collection like Ogre Battle 64, Starcraft 64 and Carmageddon 64. If I am out and I see a game that interests me for the right price I will pick it up, but the price has go to be good. The other drawback with the N64 was that there were a lot of sports games on the system and this was at a time that I was not really playing sports games.
If things were different the N64 might have been a great system for me. As it stands now it is more of a footnote in my gaming collection. I do not view this as a bad thing though, people are going to gravitate towards certain systems and platforms and for me the N64 was a platform I stayed mostly away from. Maybe on day I will sit down and try to put some time into the games in my collection.
By Thonos
12/12/2015
The Nintendo 64 (N64) was a system that I did not get until after the Gamecube was already out. My brother and I opted for the Playstation 1 and computer gaming during the consoles run. Due to this fact I do not feel any attachment to the system or any of its games. I still think the N64 controller was one of the oddest designs I have seen for a console controller. With that said I do have some stories about the few times I did play a N64.
The first story I have about the N64 involves Mario Tennis. At the time I worked in the electronics department in the store I worked at. Also at this time they used to put games in the display consoles to let customers try the games out. It was slow day, so I grabbed the controller and played Mario Tennis, which was the game they were demoing in the system. I must have stood there for about 20 minutes playing this game and I had a lot of fun with it. Eventually the manager came by and had me do something else, but when I did get a N64 system this was the first game I got with it.
Another story happened at the same store although this was before I worked there. My mom took my brother and I to the store to go shopping and she let us hang out in the electronics department. They were demoing Star Fox 64 in the system. My brother, being a Star fox fan, picks up the controller and starts playing. For 45 or so minutes he started the game and almost beat the game. This was funny since other people just stopped and started watching him play. Even when our mom was done shopping, she waited to see if he could finish the game. Ultimately he did not beat the game but was pretty close and when we got a N64 system that was the first game that he got.
How we got a N64 is also a funny story. I was hanging out with my friends and we were on our way down to the local mall. My brother calls me and says that he was down at EBX (now Gamestop), in the mall and they were doing a blowout sale on N64 items. At this time the Gamecube was out in full force along with the Playstation 2 and the Xbox. He said the sale looked good and they had a pretty good selection of games to look through. I said I would meet him down there and check it out.
I get there and yeah they were having a blowout sale on N64 items. I found my brother and we decided to start a N64 collection. We ended up getting some systems, controllers, and a pretty varied selection of games. We picked up a lot of filler games but we also got games like Mario Tennis, Star Fox 64, Shadowgate 64, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Doom 64, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Pilotwings 64. I'm pretty sure the employee behind the counter thought we were nuts buying all of this N64 stuff.
Even after we got the system, we really didn't spend a lot of time with it. My brother did beat Star Fox 64 and The Legend of Zelda OoT and I put a lot of time into Mario Tennis. But besides that we did not find much to enjoy on the system. I feel that our time on the PC really changed our tastes in video games. I know for myself in particular I gravitated towards turn based and real time strategy games and got away from platforming and side scrolling games.
This is one system that I do not actively collect for. I have added some games to my collection like Ogre Battle 64, Starcraft 64 and Carmageddon 64. If I am out and I see a game that interests me for the right price I will pick it up, but the price has go to be good. The other drawback with the N64 was that there were a lot of sports games on the system and this was at a time that I was not really playing sports games.
If things were different the N64 might have been a great system for me. As it stands now it is more of a footnote in my gaming collection. I do not view this as a bad thing though, people are going to gravitate towards certain systems and platforms and for me the N64 was a platform I stayed mostly away from. Maybe on day I will sit down and try to put some time into the games in my collection.