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Is the N64 the most polarizing Nintendo console?

I don't know about other people, but every single person I've met during my childhood or adolescence grew up with an N64 and came to love it. To this day, I view it as the single greatest system of all time, and if tomorrow, all records and data of past, current and future games were lost with no hope of ever retrieving them, and I could save one piece of hardware with a complete software library out of everything that was ever released and will ever be released, I'd go with my N64.
 
The only Nintendo consoles that were unanimously loved were the NES and SNES. All the other ones were a love it or hate it kind of thing. N64, Gamecube, Wii and Wii U all suffer from this.
 
Jack cw said:
First post nails it again.
Wii was a commercial succes but I couldnt get into it. Waggle, inferior tech, non existent core gamer support, no third party support, exclusives that werent interesting etc.
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Oh look, another self-proclaimed core gamer that completely ignores Sin & Punishment 2, among other things.
 
Eh, I think that honor goes to the Wii. The N64 was just... there, despite enjoying a good amount of its games I don't really lean towards loving or hating it. The GameCube is what made me take notice of Nintendo, love that damn lunchbox man.
 
I never saw the N64 as polarizing at all (everyone I knew loved it), so yeah... there's plenty of consoles more polarizing than that was.
 
RobFox64tm said:
I know exactly what you're talking about, and I know because like I said, I felt the same way back in the day. Low count polygons always looked worse to me when compared to really nice sprites, so naturally, I thought the Killer Instinct arcade had better capabilities than the actual Nintendo 64 console. I learned later though, that Killer Instinct made use of FMVs as backgrounds to give the game a fully rendered look that actually moved when the characters did. As a dumb middle schooler, naturally I thought it was all rendered in real time, but seeing the game in action now, it's clearly not, and the video used is highly compressed to boot.

Comparatively, Super Mario 64, for example, rendered the characters and environments in full real time 3D, which up to that point had only been done on a very rudimentary level. I think you might be letting the crudeness of early polygonal graphics define your opinion here. You might prefer the look of Killer Instinct, and it's honestly aged fairly well when compared to Mario 64, but on a hardware level, the N64 was doing so much more.
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I understand what you mean now. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Both the SNES and Nintendo 64 were actually similar in marketing

the SNES added the word "Super" behind some franchises:

Super Metroid, Super Castlevania, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Superstar Soccer Deluxe etc

But Nintendo 64 overdid it. Almost every franchise had the word 64:

Super Mario 64, Castlevania 64, Pilotwings 64. Mario Kart 64 etc.

While one could say that SNES was just offering upgraded 16-bit versions of NES games and could appeal to NES gamers, the Nintendo 64 was offering entirely different games.

Not all accepted the jump to 3D graphics. Not only that. While one could herald the NES as a milestone in 2D platform games, regarding 3D games, the Playstation 1, Arcades and Computers had already made the big step. Even old NES/SNES players.jumped in that bandwagon

It was more difficult for Nintendo 64 to gather a fan base that way.

the Gamecube afterwards would struggle with the same issue, but then things were even more difficult with the PS2 as competition.
 
clemenx said:
The thing with the N64 is that it had novelty and was truly impressive at first sight at the time, which is something that you can't compete with.

Mario 64 and OOT have imo been surpassed rather easily by sequels, but people will never have the sense of "amazement" that they had with those games at the time.
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I have to agree with you, i was playing Hunter on Amiga and Star Fox on SNES, but SM64 was like a revelation. 3d freedom in perfection, after that Tomb Raider was also fantastic but the initial 'wow' was already taken by SM64.
Then i have been flying in numerous games like the Falcon series and Virus/Zarch, but when i played Pilot Wings 64, it really felt like flying through air. It did everything so much better to make you feel like flying that it took the impressiveness out of every other game that followed in trying to make you feel the same way, even to this day. No matter how good the graphics, physics and sound... it can't compare to the impact that Pilotwings 64 made back in the day.
Wave Race 64 did something similar, you see beautiful water in a lot of games today, some of them even with fairly impressive physics applied. but there is no game that left a bigger mark as Wave Race 64 when you think about the best water in any game. It doesn't even look very good anymore for todays standards but it was groundbreaking then. It felt like water and it felt real to interact with it.

There was a lot of stuff in those games that don't seem much today but where killer back then, the realistic walking animation in Goldeneye, destruction in Blast Corps, dismemberment in Turok etc.

This is mostly why i think the N64 era was on the of the best in gaming, even though there wasn't many games released for it.
 
It depends on your situation. If you sat 4 people down for some Goldeneye or Mario Kart 64, you won't hear any "this system sucks" complaints. If you sat one person down and had them play San Francisco Rush single player after finishing a round of Ridge Racer PS1 or something, they'd probably say WTF is this?
 
I can see why the N64 is a love-it-or-hate-it console. I grew up with one and I loved it. At the time it was groundbreaking, and playing in fully 3D worlds blew me away. But those early 3D games have not aged well. They kind of play like crap, with wonky cameras, low framerate, and dat fog. So to people who didn't experience it in its day and are now looking back at it, the N64 might seem like a crappy console.
 
Wii U seems to be the dividing console to me. Everyone loved the 64 that I know. Everyone thought the Wii was cool and forgot about it after 6 months.
 
Well, coming from the NES and SNES, the lack of proper 3rd party support was a HUGE slap in the face at the time, there's no doubt about that. In many ways, the PS1 always felt like the proper successor to the SNES and, of course, it was undoubtedly the better console.

With that said, though, the N64 is one of my favorite consoles ever. I always place it above the GameCube due to its phenomenal 1st party library, Rare's output and great multiplayer offerings.

Nintendo and Rare offered many ambitious and ground-breaking experiences on the N64. Experiencing games such as Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Golden Eye etc. was absolutely mind-blowing at the time. It was as if Nintendo had the Midas touch back then, even a freaking jet-ski game was a masterpiece.

So, despite the (very disappointing) lack of 3rd party support, the N64 was the last Nintendo console that I actually liked as (imo), it's part of Nintendo's golden era in terms of 1st party output.
 
The N64 is fucking terrible. I remember being so excited when I got one in 1997. A month later, I had nothing to fucking play and was begging for a PS1. Then I got a PS1 and only used my N64 for a couple of games until the PS2 era began.
 
Wow. I didn't know people hated the N64. I have fond memories of both Zeldas, Mario 64, Rogue Squadron, Goldeneye, Mario Kart, and even Turok. I never really got into the GameCube however. Definitely my least played Nintendo console, and that includes the Wii U.
 
The N64 is what created the Nintendo you see today and for that reason, I will always look down on it.

The decision to stick with cartridges despite ever growing memory prices and strict licensing fee drove 3rd party developers away to Sony, causing Nintendo to lose its first generation. They tried to win developers and fans back on the Gamecube but due to keeping its licensing restrictions and making use of a smaller disc format, 3rd parties once again stuck with Sony.

Nintendo effectively gave up at that point, stopped competing and went niche. They will successful with the Wii but abandoned their original base in favor of the casual market which have now left them.

The N64 was the end of greatness for Nintendo.
 
Not only was the Wii more polarizing than the N64, I think the GameCube was possibly more polarizing than the N64. Criticisms of "kiddy this" and "childish that" were pretty rampant during the GC era, especially early on.

One thing about the N64 - nearly 100% of its game library has not aged well at all.
 
GravityMan said:
Not only was the Wii more polarizing than the N64, I think the GameCube was possibly more polarizing than the N64. Criticisms of "kiddy this" and "childish that" were pretty rampant during the GC era, especially early on.
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I'd definitely agree with this. N64 was pretty universally liked in my gaming community (school, friends, nearby family, etc) at the time. Mostly due to the multiplayer.
 
lifeexpectancy said:
When people talk about fun times they had with the Wii, they typically talk about Wii bowling. That is just sad. The first word out of someone's mouth when talking about a Nintendo console should be Mario, or maybe Zelda.
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It's weird, because I had a ton of great Wii experiences. Bowling was among them but it was far from the only one.

It was no SNES (wru moar JRPGs), but it's my largest Nintendo library by far -- and my largest of the last gen, handhelds included -- and there are lots of great titles I am still looking for.
 
chemicals said:
No, the N64 was well received by us old gamers. Nintendo dissent began with the cube.
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It wasn't received well by all of us. I got my system around the time Zelda launched and really, there was just so little worth checking out on the system compared to the competition and previous gens.

Why would dissent begin with the GC? If anything Nintendo did a far better job with that system, and received the third party support that was missing severely on N64.
 
Htown said:
bingo

I'm one of the ones who fucking loved the thing, other folks hated it.
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The Wii had an incredible library that a ton of "gamers" ignored because of "no HD" and motion controls that were hardly ever bad or used at all in the Wii's best games.

I seriously consider the Wii to be the second best Nintendo system after the SNES.
 
Htown said:
bingo

I'm one of the ones who fucking loved the thing, other folks hated it.
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Me too. I mean Xenoblade, Pandoras Tower, The Last Story, Skyward Sword and No More Heroes 1 & 2 were some of my favorite games last gen.

The 64 was a similar situation to me. Tons of meh games but so many awesome classics too.

Edit:
The Mana Legend said:
The Wii had an incredible library that a ton of "gamers" ignored because of "no HD" and motion controls that were hardly ever bad or used at all in the Wii's best games.

I seriously consider the Wii to be the second best Nintendo system after the SNES.
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Agree with the first part. I don't really think it's their second best system though.
 
Wii is far more love it/hate it.

N64 is pretty clear cut: There are some amazing great gems on the system which have universal acclaim and set the gold standards for how 3D console games in future would be judged (Mario64, OoT, GoldenEye), but it had a low overall output of games in general, and the mix was something like 10/20/70 of "Amazing Masterpieces"/"Good to OK Games"/"WTF is this shit?" It has it's place in gaming history, but people who say it was the greatest system are people for whom it was their first gaming system ever (so nostalgia goggles), and those who say it was terrible must never have played it until a generation or two later where a lot of what made the N64 amazing (and it thus set the standard for) is taken for granted.
 
ShinUltramanJ said:
Why would dissent begin with the GC? If anything Nintendo did a far better job with that system, and received the third party support that was missing severely on N64.
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People skeptical going into the cube based off of what happened with the N64 I suppose, plus as silly as it is to say, its appearance didn't help much.
 
Perhaps it was just my age group, but the public opinion on Nintendo really shifted with the GameCube. People seemed more apathetic to the N64 than they were towards the GameCube.
 
Hyperactivity said:
No, that goes to the Wii, WiiU and maybe Ds and 3ds.

Wasn't around for Gamecube era

N64, although not selling as much, had a ton of hype with Super Mario 64 and later Rare titles + Ocarina

Edit: Just thought I'd mention- I have a friend and know a couple of people who know so little about video game history and the industry in general and who have never played the n64 that thought it was widely regarded as the best console ever. My friend was even surprised when I told him that I thought it was the SNES
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The ds is easily the best Nintendo console since the SNES.
 
No way, the Wii is. Everything about the Wii is polarizing, from the control interface, to the sub-HD graphics, right down to the games. Polarizing doesn't mean bad, it means there's a big split in opinion.

Most people fondly remember the N64 as a great console. In fact, I don't know anybody that doesn't remember it fondly. It had widespread appeal to both more casual gamers and a hardcore audience that Nintendo ultimately lost. For many people who are just getting to their 20s, it was their golden age console -- a console parents were happy to buy for kids, and had excellent games for almost all audiences. Plus, it was the first popular 4-player console, which put down many disputes as to "who plays next" in homes.

One of the only things the N64 lacked was sports game support (edit: also, a large game library, this is important). That era was the era that sports games became formidable console titles and had widespread appeal, and just about every "sim" sports game on the N64 was garbage. This was the reason I never wanted an N64.. I was really into sports games at the time, and then Playstation's other titles just ended up appealing to me more. Always respected the N64 though. Guy a few posts up is right, people who think the N64 was the greatest console ever were people who the N64 was a defining console of their childhood. The NES and Genesis were defining consoles of my childhood.

The GameCube wasn't popular enough to be polarizing. There was steady dissent from Nintendo with the GameCube, though, the first I really ever remember.
 
The Mana Legend said:
The Wii had an incredible library that a ton of "gamers" ignored because of "no HD" and motion controls that were hardly ever bad or used at all in the Wii's best games.

I seriously consider the Wii to be the second best Nintendo system after the SNES.
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No HD and horrible motion controls forced is enough a reason for us to hate it though, it ruined a bunch of games that could have been great.

N64 hardware was awesome and actually enhanced games instead of making them worse.
 
AniHawk said:
super nintendo played every super nintendo game and pretty much every game boy game (with an add-on).

wii played every wii game, almost every gamecube game, some of the best n64 games (including a classic that was never released in the us), a lot of the best nes, snes, and genesis games, and more.

super nintendo was cool though. it can chill in second place.
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Through that logic, yeah, I can see why Wii is the best. With that said, there weren't a lot of games that made you say 'wow' on Wii. The tech aged fast.
 
The N64 is my least favorite Nintendo console. It had groundbreaking games for it's time, but there aren't many games on N64 that I'd play before an entry on a later (or earlier) console. And games I didn't play at the time are harder to go back to than other Nintendo consoles, sans some NES games.
 
In my experience, for a lot of people it goes like this:

N64 was polarizing for Nintendo fans who couldn't make the conceptual jump to 3D. Nintendo focused on remaking almost all their franchises in 3D with 3D gameplay for N64 and killed off their traditional evolutionary path cold. A lot of people may have never realized it because 3D graphics were the sexy future and so many gamers were bubbling with excitement. But there were a lot of people who said "yuck" at the N64.

Wii was the most polarizing for Nintendo fans who were also general game players, not just Mario Lifers. N-fans who also wanted what everyone else was going for, like the most technology possible in one box, increasingly western-oriented game development, western-style genres and game design.. Wii was very polarizing for them.

Ironically enough, I saw some of the N64's "lost generation" come back due to the revival of formerly traditional games like 2D Mario. There seemed to have been a quietly surprising number of lapsed Nintendo gamers who actually came *back* for the Wii, even as so many others turned their noses up at it because for them Nintendo didn't compete directly with PS360 with PS360 style games.
 
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