The best sellling system of all time...

[Guntz]

I didn't know it was possible for the N64 to even be overrated. I have heard nothing but backlash and hatred towards it in my years on the internet. From the graphics, the controller, the cartridges, the sound, lack of third party games, lack of certain genres to basically a lack of games in general, you'd think the N64 was a failed system just from the description (like the 32X or Jaguar CD).

So to me, for someone to call the N64 overrated is like saying Sonic Spinball is overrated. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

[kokujin]

I didn't know it was possible for the N64 to even be overrated. I have heard nothing but backlash and hatred towards it in my years on the internet. From the graphics, the controller, the cartridges, the sound, lack of third party games, lack of certain genres to basically a lack of games in general, you'd think the N64 was a failed system just from the description (like the 32X or Jaguar CD).

So to me, for someone to call the N64 overrated is like saying Sonic Spinball is overrated. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

I totally agree, if anything the PSX was highly overrated.I didn't get one until 1998, and I didn't get what all the hype was.

[Why-Disciple]

I didn't read the entire thread, so I'll just post this now.

I hate handheld consoles and here's why.
1.) They require you to either bend your neck downwards towards the screen or hold your hands up in front of your face for you to see, which causes strain either way.

2.) You have no choice of controllers and are forced to use whatever dpad they give you, eliminating the possibility to, say, use an arcade stick for a fighting game that's exclusive to the system (cough Soul Calibur Broken Destiny cough).

3.) The sound is depressingly soft. I would much rather hear awesome music/sound effects on my tv/surround sound than on a dinky little speaker on the back of the handheld that my hand is probably covering.

4.) The games are generally much weaker than console games, partly because of technological restraints, but also because of all the shovelware piled onto it. My God, the fuckin WII has less shovelware than the DS.

5.) It is impossible to play a handheld in public without looking like you're a child, autistic, or just plain dorky. So if the only place you can play them with dignity is in your own home, WHY NOT JUST USE A CONSOLE?

That being said, there are DS games that I really want to play, like Contra 4 and Phoenix Wright, but I refuse to buy a DS. Is there any way to play them otherwise?

[kokujin]

I didn't read the entire thread, so I'll just post this now.

I hate handheld consoles and here's why.
1.) They require you to either bend your neck downwards towards the screen or hold your hands up in front of your face for you to see, which causes strain either way.

2.) You have no choice of controllers and are forced to use whatever dpad they give you, eliminating the possibility to, say, use an arcade stick for a fighting game that's exclusive to the system (cough Soul Calibur Broken Destiny cough).

3.) The sound is depressingly soft. I would much rather hear awesome music/sound effects on my tv/surround sound than on a dinky little speaker on the back of the handheld that my hand is probably covering.

4.) The games are generally much weaker than console games, partly because of technological restraints, but also because of all the shovelware piled onto it. My God, the fuckin WII has less shovelware than the DS.

5.) It is impossible to play a handheld in public without looking like you're a child, autistic, or just plain dorky. So if the only place you can play them with dignity is in your own home, WHY NOT JUST USE A CONSOLE?

That being said, there are DS games that I really want to play, like Contra 4 and Phoenix Wright, but I refuse to buy a DS. Is there any way to play them otherwise?

1.I never had this problem ,but i can see how someone would.
2.I see where you are coming from.
3.Headphones
4.Just because a system is "weak" doesn't mean it can't have enjoyable games.There are plenty of good games on the DS/PSP, and there are plenty of bad ones.Don't play bad games.
5.Grow up, seriously I haven't heard someone say this in ages.In a time where people walk and text, you're worrying about being seen playing a handheld system in public.

[Cornholio857]

I didn't read the entire thread, so I'll just post this now.

I hate handheld consoles and here's why.
1.) They require you to either bend your neck downwards towards the screen or hold your hands up in front of your face for you to see, which causes strain either way.

2.) You have no choice of controllers and are forced to use whatever dpad they give you, eliminating the possibility to, say, use an arcade stick for a fighting game that's exclusive to the system (cough Soul Calibur Broken Destiny cough).

3.) The sound is depressingly soft. I would much rather hear awesome music/sound effects on my tv/surround sound than on a dinky little speaker on the back of the handheld that my hand is probably covering.

4.) The games are generally much weaker than console games, partly because of technological restraints, but also because of all the shovelware piled onto it. My God, the fuckin WII has less shovelware than the DS.

5.) It is impossible to play a handheld in public without looking like you're a child, autistic, or just plain dorky. So if the only place you can play them with dignity is in your own home, WHY NOT JUST USE A CONSOLE?

That being said, there are DS games that I really want to play, like Contra 4 and Phoenix Wright, but I refuse to buy a DS. Is there any way to play them otherwise?

1) I've only experienced strain after a few hours of play. But I guess people are different.

2) I agree with this.

3) Like kokujin said, Headphones. I've used them since my Game Gear days.

4) Gameplay/Fun Factor over Graphics. Flashy Graphics impresses me to a point, but Fun Factor is where it's at.

5) I don't get that one. But also, I could care less what someone thinks of me. If they think I'm a dork/geek/nerd because I'm playing a handheld, they can go fuck themselves. Kinda harsh I know, but true. (BTW, not referring to you Why-Disciple)

[kool kitty89]

I don't really like the PS1 much either and yes, it has a lot to do with it being the early days of 3D.

N64 is only overrated to me because what supposedly made its games so great never really clicked with me. I didn't like Zelda's jump to 3D like everyone else for some reason. I thought Goldeneye was just so-so compared to the FPS games I was already used to playing on PC. Mario 64 impressed me technically when I first played it but I never got into 3D platformers at all which were one of the main draws of the N64.

So it's overrated to me personally. Just my own opinion forged by my personal tastes.

I was mostly a PC gamer during that generation.

Almost every system can be overrated in some context... especially if it was popular, and especially if you're discussing it in the region it was most popular. (like the NES in North America or Japan vs the SMS -or some home computers- in the UK or to a lesser extent some other parts of Europe)


If there was a time and place the N64 was overrated in general, it was at its height of popularity in the late 90s in North America, and even then it was dragged down by Sony's hype proportionally.


If you don't care for the early 3D stuff in general (or 3D gameplay in general) and if you weren't among those getting tired of the same 2D gameplay in the early 90s, then yes that would be a different context for the jump to 3D (especially since 2D was almost absent on the N64, not for lack of technical capability).

I for one am a fan of several genres which either spawned in 3D or were begging to be made into 3D (especially if pseudo 3D previously), and as such I'm also a fan of some of the really early 3D stuff (ie late 80s/early 90s computer/arcade stuff, some occassional console stuff, and some even earlier than that, and more that was done in pseudo 3D) let alone the actual mainstream hit in the mid/late 90s.
Among those would be flight/space sims.


My family tends to be late adopters of new consoles and usually gets them (and most games) used... all we had was an NES until 1996 when we got a used SNES with about a dozen (mostly good) games and then played the N64 a few times with friends and rented it a couple times before finally getting one Christmas of 1999. (still playing NES and SNES games all through there -NES was getting increasingly flaky though)
However, we also had PC games, though not a huge amount (my dad played more than I did... X-Wing got the most play time from me on the PC by far in the mid/late 90s).

In any case I loved the N64 games, the late adoption (and the very fact that we only got 1 or 2 games a year anyway) meant that it was never frustrating for lack of a strong library and due to friends and rentals there was already a roster of some dozen games that had already sold me on the system (among those Star Fox 64, SM64, Diddy Kong Racing, MK64, Shadows of the Empire -didn't realize there was a PC version until much later, and Goldeneye... and some others which we got on PC before we got an N64 -namely Rogue Squadron... though we may have gotten that soon after buying the N64, in any case we usually got PC versions of multiplatform games as they were usually much cheaper and looked/sounded better -in a couple cases we got both, like Episode 1 Racer -only N64 advantage is the split screen vs mode)

[kool kitty89]

I didn't know it was possible for the N64 to even be overrated. I have heard nothing but backlash and hatred towards it in my years on the internet. From the graphics, the controller, the cartridges, the sound, lack of third party games, lack of certain genres to basically a lack of games in general, you'd think the N64 was a failed system just from the description (like the 32X or Jaguar CD).

So to me, for someone to call the N64 overrated is like saying Sonic Spinball is overrated. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

It really depends where you look, but yeah, there's a lot of flak towards it too.

Some think the Dreamcast gets overrated too... and that's come up several times on the forum too.

The only thing I can really fault the N64 for (or Nintendo rather) is the choice of cartridges... really dumb, and even if they'd changed their minds last minute they could have announced a soon to be released CD addon to avoid further release delays -and delays would have been necessary if they wanted a secure format... and knowing Nintendo there would be no alternative to that. (would have been cheaper and a hell of a lot better than that DD crap that was too late anyway )


The controller is the best they've ever made all around IMO... GC is better for 3D, but N64's is definitively the best 2D controller Nintendo has ever made, superior in pretty much every way to the SNES (C face buttons are somewhat arguable), but since it's rarely used for 2D that doesn't shine nearly as much as it should. The d-pad is very similar to the SNES but feels more raised and fluid to use, and it's cupped and well textured along with the nice dished area around it. (best thing short of a full circle d-pad like Sega used) Trigger buttons are totally better and so are ergonomics in general.

For 3D it's OK, but most people seem to have problems with the thumbstick springs/mechanism wearing out (of our 10 years of use and the fact that all our controllers were bought used -save 1 aftermarket one- all still work fine, though the original used one that came with the system is boarderline in the horizontal -probably from heavy SSB and racing/cart game use)

It's a bit too small, but not even close to as bad as the PS1 controller in that respect.
Actually it managed concurrent 2D and 3D support better than the Saturn 3D controller too given the somewhat less than ideal d-pad placement on the latter (though the Saturn D-pad is better in general... both are miles better than the PSX d-pad).

For dedicated 3D only the GC controller and Xbox controller (I really like the Duke personally, but I can see how it would be bad for smaller hands) are totally better than the N64 or Saturn 3D pads, and for games needing dual analog absolutely (or the simultaneous utility of a d-pad and/or more buttons -same for Xbox/GC there though) the dual shock has a definitive edge.

I don't know what Sega was thinking with the DC controller, they took the 3D pad and downgraded it and made it look less cool.

I totally agree, if anything the PSX was highly overrated.I didn't get one until 1998, and I didn't get what all the hype was.

Sure, as much as the NES was in the US in 1989, or the Genesis in 1992/93, or the SNES in 1994, or the PS2 in 2003, etc.

[kokujin]

Sure, as much as the NES was in the US in 1989, or the Genesis in 1992/93, or the SNES in 1994, or the PS2 in 2003, etc.

I had a NES, but I played it after it was popular(1992).The SNES was definitely overrated, and it still is even until this day.I didn't think someone could call the Genesis overrated at anytime, but the PS2 was very overrated, when it comes to exclusives, it wasn't as amazing as people made it out to be, but this is just how I feel.

[j_factor]

I didn't know it was possible for the N64 to even be overrated. I have heard nothing but backlash and hatred towards it in my years on the internet. From the graphics, the controller, the cartridges, the sound, lack of third party games, lack of certain genres to basically a lack of games in general, you'd think the N64 was a failed system just from the description (like the 32X or Jaguar CD).

So to me, for someone to call the N64 overrated is like saying Sonic Spinball is overrated. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

I have no idea what you're talking about. N64 got tons of high praise. The backlash comes from that praise to begin with -- its critics would be a lot more muted if it were a general agreement that it was a poor system.

Perhaps due to the slower pace of releases, it seemed like every major N64 game was hyped as the second coming of Jesus. When Mario 64 came out there were people saying it was the best game ever made, that it was flawless, and that they couldn't imagine how it could ever be topped. While I don't wholly discount that game's accomplishments, it really baffles me how anyone could ever see it as flawless. I didn't think it was that great at the time, and concluded that all the lavish praise was some sort of overcompensation for the fact that the N64 only had two games available.

Mario 64 was basically a template for future N64 releases: hyperbolic hype and hyperbolic praise. Throughout the N64's life I felt constantly bombarded by pronouncements that everything on the system was the Best Ever. One of the worst offenders in my view is Donkey Kong 64. I truly believe that it is a downright bad game and genuinely can't fathom how people think it's good at all -- and it got ridiculously glowing praise. And don't get me started on Turok 2.

People would always find stupid reasons. Games would be given near-perfect scores on the strength of multiplayer alone, regardless of the quality of the main game. Every game that used the expansion pack got special credit for it, with a note in the review about how cool the expansion pack is. And people wouldn't shut up about how "amazing" the water effect was in Wave Race 64; sure, it's nice, but it's not a revelation. (And I actually like the game, it just didn't deserve the accolades it got.)

[kokujin]

I have no idea what you're talking about. N64 got tons of high praise. The backlash comes from that praise to begin with -- its critics would be a lot more muted if it were a general agreement that it was a poor system.

Perhaps due to the slower pace of releases, it seemed like every major N64 game was hyped as the second coming of Jesus. When Mario 64 came out there were people saying it was the best game ever made, that it was flawless, and that they couldn't imagine how it could ever be topped. While I don't wholly discount that game's accomplishments, it really baffles me how anyone could ever see it as flawless. I didn't think it was that great at the time, and concluded that all the lavish praise was some sort of overcompensation for the fact that the N64 only had two games available.

Mario 64 was basically a template for future N64 releases: hyperbolic hype and hyperbolic praise. Throughout the N64's life I felt constantly bombarded by pronouncements that everything on the system was the Best Ever. One of the worst offenders in my view is Donkey Kong 64. I truly believe that it is a downright bad game and genuinely can't fathom how people think it's good at all -- and it got ridiculously glowing praise. And don't get me started on Turok 2.

People would always find stupid reasons. Games would be given near-perfect scores on the strength of multiplayer alone, regardless of the quality of the main game. Every game that used the expansion pack got special credit for it, with a note in the review about how cool the expansion pack is. And people wouldn't shut up about how "amazing" the water effect was in Wave Race 64; sure, it's nice, but it's not a revelation. (And I actually like the game, it just didn't deserve the accolades it got.)

You are forgetting the time period the 64 came out in.In 1996 there wasn't anything like Mario 64,and it set the template for almost every 3D platformer after it.Once again with Wave Race, how many jet ski games did you play at the time that had good water physics, not effect, physics.The only problem I had with Turok 2 was the controls, but the PC version was pretty good.Donkey Kong 64 sucked though, that game was crap.

[j_factor]

You are forgetting the time period the 64 came out in.In 1996 there wasn't anything like Mario 64,and it set the template for almost every 3D platformer after it.

That's true, but that doesn't diminish what I said. Just because it did something new, doesn't make it flawless. In 1980 there wasn't anything like Ultima I, and it set the template for almost every RPG after it... but I don't recommend playing it because it's not that good. Same goes for Mario 64.

Once again with Wave Race, how many jet ski games did you play at the time that had good water physics, not effect, physics.

Good water physics, while nice, do not a great game make. The whole game shouldn't be rated based on that one aspect. It's a game, not a demonstration.

[kokujin]

That's true, but that doesn't diminish what I said. Just because it did something new, doesn't make it flawless. In 1980 there wasn't anything like Ultima I, and it set the template for almost every RPG after it... but I don't recommend playing it because it's not that good. Same goes for Mario 64.

You would recommend Ultima in 1980 right?Same goes for Mario 64 in 1996.I personally can't play that game anymore, it hasn't aged well.

Good water physics, while nice, do not a great game make. The whole game shouldn't be rated based on that one aspect. It's a game, not a demonstration.

Wave Race was good racing game, and game benefited from having realistic water physics, seeing you have to take waves into account when racing, etc.I understand if you don't like the game , but it's still a good game.I wouldn't play it now because there are much better racing titles available.

[j_factor]

You would recommend Ultima in 1980 right?Same goes for Mario 64 in 1996.I personally can't play that game anymore, it hasn't aged well.

I don't agree with that reasoning. Either it's fun or it isn't. I wasn't around in 1980, but I don't think I would've recommended Ultima at the time. I might've been intrigued by its ideas, but I don't imagine I'd ever think it was a fun game. Saying a game "hasn't aged well" has always sounded like apologism to me.

Wave Race was good racing game, and game benefited from having realistic water physics, seeing you have to take waves into account when racing, etc.I understand if you don't like the game , but it's still a good game.I wouldn't play it now because there are much better racing titles available.

I like Wave Race well enough. But it's merely good, not the revelation in racing games that it was made out to be.

[kokujin]

I don't agree with that reasoning. Either it's fun or it isn't. I wasn't around in 1980, but I don't think I would've recommended Ultima at the time. I might've been intrigued by its ideas, but I don't imagine I'd ever think it was a fun game. Saying a game "hasn't aged well" has always sounded like apologism to me.



I like Wave Race well enough. But it's merely good, not the revelation in racing games that it was made out to be.

I'll agree with you about Wave Race, but I think you're forgetting how things work in history.Things never start out at the top, what you're saying is that Mario 64 wasn't a good platformer in 1996, which it was.You're judging it by today's standards.To make matters worse Mario 64 is one of the most emulated games every made, so all of it features have been employed numerous times in other games, thus making them appear trite.In 1980 having not played any real RPG game before you would have recommended it, seeing how it was the first.The phrase "hasn't aged well" isn't "apoligism", it's understanding.Mega Man 2 aged a lot better than 1, they improved on the game.Streets of Rage 2 aged better than 1, it's progression.

[doomguy]

Doesn't anyone remember South Park? The PSP was made by god to find a worthy leader to save heaven from Satan and his armed forces RTS style. Since the DS is only made by Nintendo it proves it is nowhere near the PSP level of awesome.