The Nintendo of today is characterized by its innovative and risk-taking approach to gaming standards. Golden Joystick Awards 2021 We're celebrating 50 years of gaming together with the Golden Joystick Awards 2021, the world's largest publicly voted gaming awards ceremony. This year's show will celebrate a milestone in video game history, the launch of Computer Space, the world's first commercial arcade machine, in November 1971. And we'll be looking for your votes on the best console of all time (starting at 3 pm GMT on November 8). - Will the N64 work? From the motion-sensing Wii to the versatile Nintendo Switch, Nintendo now considers itself the most creative of gaming hardware makers, even when (as with the Wii U) that dare backfires. You can trace this risk-taking attitude back to the 64 Nintendo 1995, also known as the N64. After getting burned by Sony's unexpected and meteoric rise in gaming with the PlayStation, the N64 had to be knocked out of the park. While it never achieved the breakout success of the original PlayStation, its destructive gameplay and laser-focus on multiplayer gaming have made it one of the most beloved game consoles of the last twenty years. As such, it still resonates today, rightfully earning its place among the greatest gaming machines of all time.
Innovation post
The revolutionary ideas backed by the N64 were visible from the moment you picked up your crazy "trident" controller. To this day, it's unlike anything else in the gaming world, with its tri-fold shape allowing you to grip the pad in multiple ways.
But it was this analog stick at its heart that was to be the real key to the revolution that Nintendo was unlocking. Because, while consoles like the PlayStation and Sega Saturn had tried their hand at full 3D polygon gameplay, each still relied on digital directional pads to control movement. After paving the way for this particular technology with the '80s NES, Nintendo went ahead with a bold new idea: emulated 360-degree movement, with a stick that supported intuitive, intuitive, and responsive settings. extreme precision. It was great technology, but you needed great software to prove it. And Nintendo had the perfect console vendor up its sleeve: Super Mario 64.
It's me Mario!
It's hard to explain how awesome Super Mario 64 was when it first launched, in the era of 4K open-world adventure. But the world hadn't seen anything like Super Mario 64 when the N64 launched in June 1996. Here's Mario's Mushroom Kingdom, rendered in full 3D, ready to be explored with an unmatched level of precision thanks to the analog stick. Mario could spin on a dime, run with an extended tilt of the analog stick, and even do backflips and triple jumps with well-executed button-flipped stunts. While some modern games still struggle with 3D camera movement, Mario 64 pretty much nailed it from the start, keeping Mario in sight even as he pulls off his most daring moves. To top it off, by collecting the right hats in the game, Mario was able to fly. Not only did it show the details of the proposed controller, but it offered a bird's-eye view of the huge 3D playgrounds Nintendo had created. It was freedom digitized on a glorious scale. It's a testament to Nintendo's skill that it worked at all - moving Mario from his safe 2D space to a bold 3D direction didn't necessarily work - just look at the mess Sega made of their 3D games. Sonic. Get an N64 and a Super Mario 64 today, and it's just as fun as the first time it was a cartridge.Multiplayer madness
You've got this great controller, so why limit yourself to one or two at a time? The SNES, PlayStation, and Mega Drive may all have some sort of multi-touch add-on, but the N64 was the first to make partying an integral part of the experience. The Nintendo 64 had not one, not two, but four front-mounted controller ports for its wired pads. Long before the orgy without using wireless controllers, the N64 ushered in a golden era of couch multiplayer action. Knowing that all consoles had built-in support for party play, the developers were not shy about putting four-player action at the center of their concerns. Hours were spent in four-player split-screen Mario Kart 64 championships and GoldenEye shootouts with a group of friends. Super Smash Bros would never have spawned the Nintendo franchise it is today had it not been for beat-em-up first cutting its teeth in N64 4-player brawls while the console was home to the, quite literally, Mario Party, a collection of 4-player minigames that has made the console the system of choice for multiplayer.The memory machine
The N64 was not without its problems. Compared to the competition, it lacked third-party support (a problem modern Nintendo still faces), leading to the release of a relatively paltry 296 games in total in North America. Attempts to extend the life of the consoles with additional accessories like the expansion pack and the 64DD, which inflate the innards of the console, have also failed. In a way, this was the machine where Nintendo's living room dominance was first called into question. It's hard to think of a machine with a bigger impact on modern gaming, if only because of this analog control scheme. Whether you're swinging Bowser by the tail in Super Mario 64, discovering the secrets of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Lost Woods, or simply knocking out Kirby in a Smash Bros. brawl at all four, the Nintendo 64 has created a timeless keepsake set for anyone who has ever held it in their hands.The definitive Nintendo 64 games
mario 64
Mario's first 3D adventure is fun to play even to this day. As you battle Bowser through the magical paintings of Peach Castle, you will find worlds full of secrets to explore and the perfect realization of Mario's 2D adventures in a whole new dimension. If you can't find an N64 and a copy of the game, you might have a better chance of seeing the great Nintendo DS remake, which features playable characters Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi and a host of minigames, though it suffers from a lack of of an analog device on your handheld. Alternatively, the game has seen many versions on the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles if you want to experience it on the big screen.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Until the recent release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the N64's Ocarina of Time was without a doubt the highlight of the series, and in some ways it will continue to be. For where Breath of the Wild takes the series in a bold new open-world direction, Ocarina is the perfection of Zelda's lock-and-key systems, interlocking objects and puzzles. It's a fantastical fairy tale quest, with time travel, memorable characters, elaborate dungeons, and enough secrets to keep you hooked for weeks. A recent re-release of the Nintendo 3DS updates the visuals and lets you play on the go, and it's worth revisiting, even for N64 purists.
Golden eye
<p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;">
If you play as Oddjob on GoldenEye on N64, you are prohibited from playing on TheComparison desktop. The first big console FPS, it had a fantastic James Bond story mode with plenty of challenges and optional unlocks, and frenetic 4-way split-screen action. And that's where Oddjob came in - the classic Bond villain had a shorter head than all other multiplayer characters, making him considerably harder to hit. This was an institutionalized cheat on the part of the Rare developers (and a great trick to secure a win against rookie players!).
- Vote for your best game of all time and the best gaming hardware of all time by visiting goldenjoysticks.com; voting ends on November 12.