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

[Snakeyes]

All I knew back then was that it had twice the bits and assumed it had twice better graphics, but how do the two systems compare in terms of performance?

Spoiler

This is totally not an attempt to draw a parallel between Wii U and the next Microsoft and Sony consoles.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

At least 32 bits.

 

[SolarPowered]

64 times more powerful

 

[Culex]

Terrible at particle effects, better at just about everything else.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

My blurry textures are superior to your warpy textures!

 

[cj_iwakura]

Inferior to the Saturn.

Spoiler

at 2d

 

[Franchuzas87]

At least 32 bits.

A well deserved first post.

 

[Iceblade]

My blurry textures are superior to your warpy textures!

This is what I've always wondered about. Why on earth do PS1 models do that freaky jig when they move/the camera moves compared to the N64?

 

[WillyFive]

Terrible at particle effects, better at just about everything else.

The big thing the N64 struggled with (compared with the PS1) is the number of polygons, I believe. I don't think I ever read about the N64 having trouble with particles, especially from game experience.

This is what I've always wondered about. Why on earth do PS1 models do that freaky jig when they move/the camera moves compared to the N64?

The PS1 was incapable of providing perspective correction for the 3D graphics it showed on screen. So whenever the camera moved, you could see all the polygons warp and change form.

 

[Y2Kev]

Couldn't it crank out way more polygons per frame? It was just that it had such a weird...memory architecture? that it had to texture those polygons using hideous blurred crap and then somethingsomething fog

 

[Grayman]

CD storage space was more useful than terrible 3d vs still terrible 3d.

 

[JordanN]

PS1 could do 2,000 polygons per frame, N64 could do 3,000 or more.

 

[Man]

It's not that black and white but the N64 had Anti-aliasing and a Z-buffer(!) unlike the PS1 (the PlayStation had 'fake' 3D, due to lack of perspective correction you get warped textures when close to screen).

CD storage was the real tech winner really. The PS1 was also straight forward to develop for.

 

[captmcblack]

If only the N64 had a less stupid memory architecture, or a less silly method of anti-aliasing, or a storage medium that wasn't constrained by cost...

 

[Medalion]

CD storage space was more useful than terrible 3d vs still terrible 3d.

More space for shitty 3d is better than slightly less shittier 3d with less space

 

[cube444]

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

 

[entremet]

Couldn't it crank out way more polygons per frame? It was just that it had such a weird...memory architecture? that it had to texture those polygons using hideous blurred crap and then somethingsomething fog

Something about lack of VRAM.

 

[Yoshichan]

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!

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

PSone had Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, and Final Fantasy, and all of them hold well compared to the N64. Oh and FMVs and prerendered backgrounds on the PSone helped a lot to even the field.

 

[Meelow]

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

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

 

[JordanN]

The big thing the N64 struggled with (compared with the PS1) is the number of polygons, I believe. I don't think I ever read about the N64 having trouble with particles, especially from game experience.

This was a coding issue, not hardware. When devs used the micro code, polycounts where a good jump from PS1.

See World Driver Championship which had high polycount and ran at a higher resolution (640 x 480 vs 320 x 240 PS1).

 

[EmCeeGramr]

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!

All of those games had...


you know what fuck it

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

CD storage space was more useful than terrible 3d vs still terrible 3d.

Were horrendous loading times also more useful?

 

[WillyFive]

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

It definitely was back in the day, especially when everything back then looked like a beefed-up SuperFX game; compared to that, the N64's texture filtering, Z-buffering, and anti-aliasing made what you see on the screen look like a blurry boxy version of reality, as opposed to barely nothing resembling it.

 

[Mama Robotnik]

I still love you, Saturn.

Remember, you still had the best console ports of Duke Nukem Forever and Quake, with real-time coloured moving light sources and an unshakable framerate that Nintendo and Sony owners could only ever dream of. You also had multicoloured transparencies in Sonic R that Mario Kart 64 was never able to match.

Spoiler

No bullshit, the Saturn was a weak 3D machine compared to the Playstation and N64, but Traveller's Tales and Lobotomy Software pulled off some goddamn miracles with Sonic R, Duke Nukem and Quake

.

 

[Grayman]

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!

The early death may have been a factor but the PS1 had better looking games released. At the time I always found N64 games to look very flatly textured and lacking in detail.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

In the end I felt like PSX games could look a little more complex while N64 games had a nice, solid look and feel to them.

N64 had some cool tricks to make games look a certain way, but I don't think a game like Metal Gear Solid would have looked as appealing on the system.

 

[Y2Kev]

Sonic R has the track draw in like 4 feet in front of you

 

[Grayman]

Were horrendous loading times also more useful?

Time spent waiting for games to load or time spent waiting for games to release on a dead system. Late 90s system wars ahoy!

 

[Yoshichan]

All of those games had...


you know what fuck it

XD ♥

 

[ZoddGutts]

While the graphics were better on the N64, the framerate for most of the game were bad and really noticeable.

 

[Gleethor]

Banjo Tooie and Conker are a cut above most PS games imo

 

[Mama Robotnik]

Sonic R has the track draw in like 4 feet in front of you

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.

 

[WillyFive]

Sega Saturn was great.

The early death may have been a factor but the PS1 had better looking games released. At the time I always found N64 games to look very flatly textured and lacking in detail.

The N64 did not have an early death by any stretch of the imagination.

Thanks to the large disc space of PS1 games allowing to store larger textures and full motion video, you could have more "detailed" graphics on the PS1; but something about the N64 doing everything in real time seemed more impressive to me.

 

[megarockexe]

I think N64 had a seriously low-res texture limit. Something around 64x64 and 128 at very rare cases. That really bogged down the graphics and at a time when pre-rendered backgrounds were still big, this made them look really bad at times.

 

[IOnEI Falcon]

Banjo Tooie and Conker are a cut above most PS games imo

Don't forget Perfect Dark.

 

[JordanN]

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!

PSone had Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, and Final Fantasy, and all of them hold well compared to the N64. Oh and FMVs and prerendered backgrounds on the PSone helped a lot to even the field.

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

Instead, you got the definition of low res.

 

[The Technomancer]

I still love you, Saturn.

Remember, you still had the best console ports of Duke Nukem Forever and Quake, with real-time coloured moving light sources and an unshakable framerate that Nintendo and Sony owners could only ever dream of. You also had multicoloured transparencies in Sonic R that Mario Kart 64 was never able to match.

Spoiler

No bullshit, the Saturn was a weak 3D machine compared to the Playstation and N64, but Traveller's Tales and Lobotomy Software pulled off some goddamn miracles with Sonic R, Duke Nukem and Quake

.

So I learned just recently that the Saturn used rectangles for polygons?

 

[KillerTravis]

I remember being very impressed with Turok 3's graphics.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Time spent waiting for games to load or time spent waiting for games to release on a dead system. Late 90s system wars ahoy!

And yet I revisit the top few games in my N64 library more often than my entire PS1 collection combined. No denying the N64 had some awful droughts, but at the end of the day I'd still give its library the nod based on the insane longevity of its flagship titles.

 

[dimb]

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!

Is this like a real post that I am actually reading?

 

[AuthenticM]

It wasn't.

 

[POWERSPHERE]

The N64 represented the future to me back in the day. Was so exciting!

 

[Yoshichan]

Is this like a real post that I am actually reading?

I was trying to be as 90s as possible

 

[Y2Kev]

I know, I'm just reliving my youth. It had pretty colours, for Saturn 3D it was impressive.

The Quake and Duke comments were serious though, 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.

Yep, I owned the Saturn version. The n64 version was censored. My little self was looking at teetays in the Saturn version. Shakeitbaby

 

[WillyFive]

Oh wow. You have to be lying to yourself if you think PS1 games were as clean and presentable as this.
Instead, you got the definition of low res.

Well, to be fair, a lot of it has to do with nostalgia. What you grew up with you ended up preferring.

Looking back, the graphics of Gran Turismo are not that appealing, and the (at the time) disappointing visuals for Mario Kart 64 hold up very well, ironically because of the sprites (the very reason many thought it had cheap graphics at the time).

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

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

Instead, you got the definition of low res.

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.

 

[Takao]

And yet I revisit the top few games in my N64 library more often than my entire PS1 collection combined. No denying the N64 had some awful droughts, but at the end of the day I'd still give its library the nod based on the insane longevity of its flagship titles.

That's just like your bad opinion man.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Well, to be fair, a lot of it has to do with nostalgia. What you grew up with you ended up preferring.

Looking back, the graphics of Gran Turismo are not that appealing, and the (at the time) disappointing visuals for Mario Kart 64 hold up very well, ironically because of the sprites (the very reason many thought it had cheap graphics at the time).

Gran Turismo was also attempting to look realistic, and those games tend to age very poorly. But Crash Team Racing on the PSone holds up very well.

 

[Medalion]

Growing up in the N64 vs PS1 era, I remember it well

The main characteristic of N64 graphics were that it specialized in polygons, and had anti-aliasing, but very low res and stretched out textures and lots and lots of fog

PS1 had at times, more stuff happening on screen, but it was jaggy city but people forgave that to a certain degree