By Aaron N
For the current generation of gamers there was one system that made gaming into what it is today, and that system is the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64 can be considered one of the, if not the, most revolutionary gaming systems ever made. If you think about the difference between modern gaming and classic gaming it has to be the switch from two-dimensional platforming to 360 degree gaming. The first system to successfully do this and make it mainstream was the Nintendo 64. For this column I want to take you back to the release of the Nintendo 64 and put you in the mindset of someone who saw this revoultion for the first time and witnessed the future of gaming. I will also talk about the things that made the Nintendo 64 so unique and revolutionary.
Nintendo Power was key in the hype of the Nintendo 64. The first time word got around that Nintendo was planning on making a new system there was immediate hype surrounding it. This coming off the heels of the Super Nintendo which was a great system in its own right and still had some momentum, Donkey Kong Country 3 for example would be released after the Nintendo 64 came out. I got that and Waverace 64 for Christmas that year. The codename for the Nintendo 64 was the Ultra 64. They would obviously eventually change the name to the much catchier Nintendo 64. Then the first images came out of the games on the N64 and our collective jaws hit the floor. For the first time you saw a three dimensional image of Mario. The worlds looked crisp and beautiful. You were able to explore much more than just right and left. Now you could go in all different directions, it was a thing of beauty.
The huge thing for us though was the promotional video that Nintendo Power sent out to commercial the upcoming Nintendo 64. In this video they followed three young gamers as they were introduced to the world of the N64. A man named Ken Lobb would show them around. This man would eventually be one of the best game developers in the industry. The kids were shown Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Mario and Pilotwings would be the two launch games while Shadows of the Empire would be released shortly after. This was really the first time we were able to see the gameplay of the Nintendo 64. This is when the full effect of the new 360 degree gameplay was seen to the fullest. We were in awe of what we were seeing. It was a weird video at times but it really made you want the Nintendo 64...right now. My mom used to say that the video had subliminal messages in it because we would go crazy about the system and be obsessed with having it. Even after all these years I go back and watch it and I want to buy a Nintendo 64 even though I have one, so I think my mother was right.
The Nintendo 64 was released on September 29th, 1996, and it was very hard to find. It seemed like everyone was trying to find it and everyone would fail. It was as if they said they released the system but in reality they kept them in the factories. We were very lucky though. My dad and I went to Sears for an unrelated reason and we went passed their electronics department and saw that somehow they still had a couple of Nintendo 64's! So naturally we had to buy one for my brother and surprise him when we came home from school. That was a day that changed our lives forever. I remember I had to read the book "Indian in the cupboard" for school, but I clearly couldn't concentrate while my brother was playing Mario 64 in my basement. So I went downstairs so I could "read" while watching Mario 64, not much reading was done that night. I was amazed by what was on the television. It was truly revoltionary and it is hard to explain how it felt to see it. My next door neighbor came over once to play Mario 64 when it came out and I can still picture his face as he played it for the first time. His mouth was literally open and he didn't say anything. He just sat there, mouth agape, going around the new three-dimensional world.
There were many things about the Nintendo 64 that made it revolutionary. The obvious one has already been touched on and that is the 360 degree motion and the three dimensional worlds. Because of this Nintendo had to ditch the primary usage of the directional pad and go with a control stick. This was so that you could move diagonally. The N64 would be the first major system to use the control stick which is now essential for gaming on the current generation of systems. Nintendo 64 was also the first major system to have four controller ports instead of two. Other systems had extra ports you could buy and attach to the ports of the system in order to have more than two, but the N64 was the first one to have four installed into the system. Four players seems to now be the norm when it comes to multiplayer games. The Nintendo 64 also brought about the rumble pack. The rumble pack was released with Star Fox 64. This allowed players to feel a rumble when something hit them or something major happened in the game. This increased gameplay and made players feel more into the game and helped them get engrossed in the gaming experience. These are just main creations by the Nintendo 64 that made it revolutionary but the full impact of the Nintendo 64 may truly never be discovered.
The Nintendo 64 created modern gaming and it was essential in the evolution of the industry into the juggernaut that it is today. Since the Nintendo 64 many systems have duplicated what the N64 did and many have improved upon it. But there will never be a system that has impacted gaming like the Nintendo 64 did and it will forever be remembered.
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