Nintendo 64

After the unprecedented success of the Game Boy series and the Super Nintendo, much was expected of the N64. Subjected to heavy delays and many name changes, the N64 was eventually released with the Super Mario 64, Wave Race[?], and unfortunately not much else. Starved for much of its life of the steady stream of games that the Sony PlayStation saw, the N64 was equally condemned by as being a "kiddie console". Despite this, the N64 has actually done very well and strongly sits in second place to the PlayStation's lead.

Whilst not being home to as many AAA games as the SNES and lacking the essential third party support, it still has seen some particularly notable games. From multiplayer skirmishes in GoldenEye, to the warped world of Super Mario 64 and the beautifully realised worlds and inhabitants of the two installments of the Legend of Zelda series, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Apart from Nintendo's own in-house development, the second-party developer, Rare (now Rareware[?]) has also produced a steady stream of popular titles. From their first N64 title, Blast Corps.[?], through GoldenEye, Banjo-Tooie[?], Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini[?], Donkey Kong 64 to the more recent Conker's Bad Fur Day[?].

Specifications

• 93.75 MHz MIPS 64-bit RISC CPU (customized R4000 series)
• 62.5 MHz SP (sound and graphics processor) and DP (pixel drawing processor) incorporated; Z buffer, anti-aliasing, and realistic texture mapping (tri-linear filtered MIP-map interpolation, perspective correction, and environment mapping)
• Media: Cartridge 64 megabit minimum
• Controller: 1 analog joystick; 2 analog shoulder triggers with digital endpoints; one digital cross pad; six digital triggers.