atari2600land's Blog

When Nintendo designed the N64 they went with cartridges as they could then control (and profit from) the manufacturing, whereas Sony went with a modified CD which allowed outside manufacturing. Going with cartridges also restricted the size of games and made storing pre-rendered video unattractive.

 

However, from a raw technical standpoint, the N64 was more capable than the PS1 (faster processor, more RAM, better GPU). But given the PS1 outsold the N64 3:1, was released ~18 months earlier, games were cheaper to manufacture & Sony probably had fewer restrictions on third party studios meant more games were released for the PS1. And as you noted - while this means more bad games, it also means more good games.

 

Personally I bought an N64 when it first came out - simply to play Super Mario 64. Then I suffered the long drought where few games were released (and even after games started to be released, there were very few worth buying). But the system still has many of my all-time favorite games.

I guess it depends on the gamer. I've owned both with decent collections, and I always had a preference for the N64.

 

In fact, although both systems are gone, lately I've been thinking about getting another N64 with maybe a dozen of my favorite carts. For example, I really love Beetle Adventure Racing and I've never played another racer quite like it on any other platform.

I was an N64 kid who has also gained a healthy appreciation for the PS1. My N64 collection is a focus for me (pretty much complete at this point) but my PS1 collection has been growing and there really are a lot of GREAT games on there. To me, it really is like comparing apples and oranges because they were just so different, primarily I think, because of the limitations of the cartridge storage mediums. There is nothing like the best N64 games on PS1 and vice versa, because big publishers picked sides and each console had it's own standouts. But yes, the PS1 does rock and if I knew then what I knew now, I probably would have gone with Sega and Sony over the years (because of the adult games) over being a nintendo fanboy up through today. Though luckily now I have a healthy appreciation for many other systems (mostly Atari, Sega, 3DO, and Sony.)

I was pretty lucky in that my best friend growing up always had the "opposite" system of what I had. I had a Genesis, he had SNES. I got a PlayStation, he got a Nintendo 64. I had Game Boy, he had Game Gear (so did I, but he had more games). So between the two of us, we had the best of both worlds.

The concept of fanboyism is illogical to me*. Why close yourself off to the awesome things other systems offer?

(*Full disclosure: in 3rd grade I was a Sega fanboy poser. By that I mean I acted like the Genesis was the end-all be-all...but I still wouldn't miss a chance to play SNES. )

N64>PS1? Not even close. The PS1 is LIGHTYEARS ahead of the n64.For every game on the N64 you can find a game that's just as good if not better.