Happy Birthday to the Nintendo 64!

Happy Birthday to the Nintendo 64!

Nintendo’s first full-3D console turns 30.

Every Nintendo system has its own strengths and weaknesses, but none have experienced extreme highs and lows like Nintendo 64 did. Back in 1996, it brought us a blocky, low-res, fuzzy-textured glimpse into gaming’s future, setting the stage for many of the genre conventions that define gaming today. But in some ways, N64 was also woefully behind the times, tied to antiquated cartridge technology that lacked the storage capacity for long, pre-rendered cutscenes and the other cinematic flairs that were so in vogue at the time.

This balance between new and old proved a real challenge for the N64 to overcome. Though modern game influencers and enthusiasts may lead you to think otherwise, the N64 actually sold worse than its two predecessors, the NES and SNES. It also sold about 65 million fewer units than Sony’s PlayStation over their respective lifetimes. That must have stung, given that PlayStation was initially conceived as a partnership between Nintendo and Sony before Nintendo broke with their would-be-partner-turned-competitor. 

The N64 also struggled with an identity crisis prior to its launch. When Nintendo first announced it at the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show, they system was called “Nintendo Ultra 64”, or just “Ultra 64” for short. That branding carried over into the 1994 arcade release of Killer Instinct, Nintendo and Rare’s stab at creating their own Street Fighter-style fighting game. For a while there, Killer Instinct and Robotech: Crystal Dreams (a video game interpretation of the American adaptation of the Macross anime from a decade earlier) were two of the most talked-about titles for the upcoming system. Ultimately, Robotech was canceled, while Killer Instinct—too valuable a commodity to hold back for the N64’s belated release—took a visual downgrade in order to ship as a Super NES cart.

A proper 64-bit version of the game did eventually come to the N64 under the name Killer Instinct Gold. But rather than pinning all their hopes on an aging, ultra-violent fighting game, Nintendo made Super Mario 64 the N64’s headliner at launch. At risk of stating the obvious, it was the right move! Due to many, many smart design choices, Super Mario 64 managed to stay true to the wildly popular 2D Mario games that came before it while introducing audiences to 3D platforming fun beyond their wildest dreams. It was an instant system-seller, making everyone who didn’t own an N64 wonder what they were missing out on.

Sure, PlayStation and Saturn had plenty of 3D games too, but those early efforts took place in relatively confined spaces compared to Mario’s. That wasn’t necessarily because the tech on those systems couldn’t support big 3D worlds; it also had to do with developers’ lack of confidence that players would have fun if given free reign over a 3D sandbox. With Mario 64, follow-up platformers like Banjo-Kazooie, and of course, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo showed us that they believe in our ability to figure things out on our own. They took players from the narrow corridors, tight spaces, and linear designs that had confined us for decades and set us free. 

In a world where Nintendo never created the N64 and its defining library of 3D titles, the entire third-person action sandbox genre wouldn’t exist as we know it. That means no Minecraft, no Breath of the Wild, no Fortnite, no Donkey Kong Bananza, and no GTA VI. Large 3D exploration games of some kind were inevitable, but the way the N64 set early standards for style and quality in the genre had an immeasurable influence on the games in the genre we play today.

So, thank you N64, for 30 years of games that make us feel like kids roaming around in fantastic worlds. You may never get your own mini-console, but there’s still time to put out that Robotech game if you want. If Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time can jump back onto modern consoles in 2026, then why can’t Rick Hunter and Lynn Minnmay?