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How much more powerful was the N64 compared to the PlayStation anyway?

Cipherr

Member
If it was more powerful it wasn't in an obvious or jaw dropping sort of way.

Nah man, it was unquestionably obvious in a ton of cases. But there was some give and take in others. But overall the best N64 graphical showpieces were >> PSX graphical showpieces.

But it didnt matter because overall my PSX game collection was >> N64 in pretty much every way except the incredible 4 player multiplayer games the N64 had. The RPG advantage that the PSX was embarrassingly huge. So.... many.... good.... rpg's.
 
That's just like your bad opinion man.
My well formed opinion, maybe. I was a day one adopter of both systems btw. I definitely give the PS1 props for the breadth of its software library, I just happen to think the 64's cream of the crop titles hold up amazingly well.
 

apana

Member
Nintendo 64 games looked much nicer to me, something about the PS1 3D was very unappealing. I don't know how to describe it.


I haven't seen one PS1 game that looks as good as Mario 64 and that's a lunch title

mario1.jpg

It definitely looks tasty.
 

WillyFive

Member
What I said on the school bus 15 years ago:

I play games, not movies.

Yeah, FF7 is pretty awkward to navigate, since most of the environments are incomprehensible CGI backdrops. The game knew this too, which is why they had a marker that would show the exits if you pressed the Select button.
 
It wasn't.

If we're talking pure polycount pushing and 3D rendering (N64 actually had perspective correction, for one), it is. However, that was a weird generation, since the PS1 had advantages elsewhere - CD storage, easier development, a proper memory card system, etc.

What a weird generation.
 
Sub 20 frames per second powerful.

Eh, the N64 was more powerful for sure but man some devs (rare) liked to push their hardware... a little too much.
 

WillyFive

Member
If we're talking pure polycount pushing and 3D rendering (N64 actually had perspective correction, for one), it is. However, that was a weird generation, since the PS1 had advantages elsewhere - CD storage, easier development, a proper memory card system, etc.

What a weird generation.

This was back in the day when you could actually tell which system the game was on just by looking at the screenshot.
 

JordanN

Banned
Well I never said one was better than the other, rather there were games on the PSone that held up, and many of those games were helped by FMVs and prerendered backgrounds. You sound a bit insecure, don't worry I am not dogging the N64.
I get annoyed when people falsely represent graphics (even if it's not intentional). I only want to see neutral and factually correct statements.

Also FMV's don't count since PS1 wasn't rendering them.
 
I think PS1 was a stronger 2D machine, for some reasons 2D didn't look good on N64 at all compared to SNES. But 3D on N64 was just delicious for it's time.
 

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
It's funny that when you think about it, Nintendo pretty much gave Sony the 32 bit era. Would have loved to see the Nintendo Playstation.
 
This was back in the day when you could actually tell which system the game was on just by looking at the screenshot.

And when multiplatform games were almost entirely different. I was so pissed when I found out the N64 version of Tony Hawk only had like 5 songs that weren't even complete.
 

cube444

Member
It's funny that when you think about it, Nintendo pretty much gave Sony the 32 bit era. Would have loved to see the Nintendo Playstation.

Sticking to carts didn't help either.

Are the people harping about the N64 low fps assuming/implying the PS1 games ran at a buttery smooth 30 fps?
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
I wouldn't call *<25fps a decent game experience.
I don't even understand what system this is supposed to be a shot at. If you were playing console games during this era that's just something you had to deal with.
 
Let's not ignore sound processing, either. Because of the Redbook audio, PS1 games usually had better sound tracks. I also recall PS1 games sounding better than N64 games.
 

Takao

Banned
Let's not ignore sound processing, either. Because of the Redbook audio, PS1 games usually had better sound tracks. I also recall PS1 games sounding better than N64 games.

The benefits of a CD over carts. CDs provided more stoage so that audio wasn't as compressed.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Yeah I'm gonna have to go with the consensus that while PS1 games had higher quality assets due to the CD format, there was something about real time rendering on the N64 that was just better. I felt this especially with Rare's and Acclaim's games. I don't think I've seen any shooter on the PS1 that looked as good as Turok 2.
 
Sticking to carts didn't help either.

Are the people harping about the N64 low fps assuming/implying the PS1 games ran at a buttery smooth 30 fps?

No, it is just that the games that come to mind naturally for the N64 - like (all of) Rare's games, the zelda games, any n64 fps have unplayable or unpleasant framerates. There were some high framerate games (2D games, F-Zero X) but most of the big hit titles have significant framerate drops constantly.


Yeah I'm gonna have to go with the consensus that while PS1 games had higher quality assets due to the CD format, there was something about real time rendering on the N64 that was just better. I felt this especially with Rare's and Acclaim's games. I don't think I've seen any shooter on the PS1 that looked as good as Turok 2.

Turok 2 for instance ran at horrific framerates, even with the memory expansion.
 

nordique

Member
When I find a game on the N64 that's better looking than FFIX and Chrono Cross, I'll admit that it's a more powerful console.

Until then, I'm gonna be ignorant and say that the N64 was not more powerful!

Need not look further than the N64's launch then ;)
 

cube444

Member
No, it is just that the games that come to mind naturally for the N64 - like (all of) Rare's games, the zelda games, any n64 fps have unplayable or unpleasant framerates. There were some high framerate games (2D games, F-Zero X) but most of the big hit titles have significant framerate drops constantly.

Fair enough.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
This thread reminds me of when I took an N64 to a friends house a few years ago who had no experience with one because he grew up on the Playstation.

showed him Starfox 64 and he was all like "Wow, I've been wrong all these years." as he just assumed the PS was a more powerful system
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Powerful hardware that was gimped in many ways. It took too long for developers to get a hang of the hardware too (probably because there were so few of them for the n64).
 

KageMaru

Member
I know, I'm just reliving my youth. It had pretty colours, for Saturn 3D it was impressive. I remember reading that its transparency effects in the final chaos emerald course hadn't been matched by the other two consoles at the time.

The Quake and Duke comments I stand by, those ports were legendary work. The Dev studio decided to rebuild both games in their Saturn-optimised Powerslave engine, and they were a joy to play.

Not to mention netlink support for Duke. Loved playing online co-op in that game.

Of all the systems, what devs were able to pull off on the Saturn impressed me the most since devs were faced with so many obstacles.
 

JordanN

Banned
Let's not ignore sound processing, either. Because of the Redbook audio, PS1 games usually had better sound tracks. I also recall PS1 games sounding better than N64 games.
Eh, there really wasn't anything about the PS1's sound processor that the N64 couldn't do. Actually it should be better because the CPU and co-processor that handled sound where more powerful (N64).

Perhaps it was heavy compression or complete removal of some audio that could give the impression PS1 was better but it was far from being technical.
 

nordique

Member
Oh wow. You have to be lying to yourself if you think PS1 games were as clean and presentable as this.
veo4d.jpg


Instead, you got the definition of low res.
CtbIL.jpg

Good call

Conker was stunning when it came out

Nothing imo on PS1 even touched the Banjo games, I never saw any FPS come close to Goldeneye never mind Turok 2 and Perfect Dark

PSone, and I loved mine, had some great games graphically at the time (MGS, RE2, FF9, Gran Turosmo 2), but I always scratch my head when people say it had better graphics than N64. The cream of the crop of PS1 games graphically didn't really compare to the cream of the crop N64 games
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
I preferred the PS1 but owned both. N64 was great for first party stuff. Oh, and party games, too. 4-player local gaming was awesome.

With that said, the PS1 had far more great games, obviously. FMV and pre-rendered backgrounds were awesome back then, too. Despite the low resolution and warping textures, I actually liked how a lot of PS1 games looked. Stuff like FFVIII, FFIX, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, etc. looked awesome, and that's not even talking about 2D games.
 
Lots of late N64 games looked like dreamcast games to me back in the day. But from what i have seen, without getting into tech specs or whatever, the N64 was a beast in comparison. Conker's bad fur day, Turok 2, Perfect dark, banjo tooie, and the legend of zelda majora's mask looked stunning. And later on, when i Found out about games like Sin & Punishment I had no doubt in my mind the n64 was more powerful
 

cube444

Member
Lots of late N64 games looked like dreamcast games to me back in the day. But from what i have seen, without getting into tech specs or whatever, the N64 was a beast in comparison. Conker's bad fur day, Turok 2, Perfect dark, banjo tooie, and the legend of zelda majora's mask looked stunning

In what way?
 

jett

D-Member
Eh, not much powerful at all. The only thing the N64 had over the PS1 was superior image quality thanks to perspective correction, texture filtering and edge anti-aliasing. Texture quality on N64 was hideous and the machine was polystarved.
 
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