The Nintendo 64's 5 BIG Problems - ADDENDUM
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The video I've made on the N64 had a few comments that pointed out a few things I missed. Let's go through them now.
The two points of contention were me not mentioning how powerful the hardware was, excluding the memory and understating the speed of the N64's cartridges. I'll explain why I said what I said and also explain how just with one of these 2 issues fixed (not using RDRAM memory or not using cartridges) the N64 would've dominated.
4kb texture cache lol
Who says that the N64's CPU is equivalent to a 150MHz Pentium? I find that rather dubious.
I wouldn't know, but it definitely was quite a powerful CPU for a 200 dollar console first released in 1996.
maybe if you include the rsp lol
Yeah, the n64 was powerful on paper for sure but it was held back by dumb architecture decisions.
I believe the Pentium 75mhz was rated at around 125mips which is right around what the n64s cpu was rated at as well. Pretty dang fast for when it came out.
If they used CDs, the base unit would’ve been a lot more expensive at launch. Comparably more expensive than the $399 launch of the Sega Saturn with the need to buy expensive memory cards which held only a single megabyte $20 at best.
For Nintendo to have truly dominated the 5th generation: Firstly they would have to ensure that their system launches on time, as Sony’s PS1 and Sega’s Saturn had enjoyed one year of market presence which gave them a larger library by the time the N64 had launched in both Japan and North America.
Secondly, Nintendo would have to make drastic changes to the hardware in order to reduce costs to the base unit. For starters, they’d have to engineer the N64 in a way that’s similar to the PS1 specs wise and knowing Nintendo, it’s highly likely that they would have thought of a proprietary format for the CD based N64 since we all know Nintendo is not not that type of company that’s willing to: pay royalty fees/selling hardware at a loss.
Thirdly: The N64 was held back by complex architecture. Had Nintendo not shot themselves in the foot and willingly supplied more documentation into the inner workings of the N64’s architecture, like its fully programmable GPU, the system could’ve enjoyed better third party platform ports. The system was meant for the average consumer, so costs had to be cut in order to reach that goal, but that also left with some additional bottlenecks that the system ended up inheriting.
Overall, the system would’ve had a worse fate than what it actually ended up enduring since cost would be a big issue to get the system selling in huge quantities to the average consumer. It’s why some systems like the 3DO, Apple Pippin, Neo Geo (Home Console) weren’t able to sell in huge quantities because of cost being too steep for the average person to afford. And if Nintendo were to ship a CD drive system that would go through a single year delay, it would have been a tough sell to convince third party developers to support a newer platform that was still difficult to program games for, and a tough sell for consumers that didn’t have high income jobs back then, let alone the target audience for N64 that happen to be children.
yeah but consider how PS1 games were often 50, 40, even 30 or 20$. Also N64 memory cards are a thing and did exist. If you bought more than a couple games for this hypothetical disc based N64, you'd actually start saving money over the cartridge one because the games themselves would be cheaper.
@@Kurriochi Usually third party games used memory cards, but a lot of the Nintendo and Rare games did not require no such accessory. Carts were definitely expensive, but the base machine would’ve been too prohibitively expensive without significantly altering the specs of the system. It was either the system or games themselves that had to bite the bullet in terms of cost, and in the end, it wouldn’t go well with Nintendo if they chose to go with CDs on a system that was far more advanced than the PS1’s hardware.
Why would a CD-ROM assembly in 1996 increase the cost by more than $150? A full on portable CD player could be bought for just $99 in 1996 and that includes a lot more than what would have needed for CD-ROM support in the N64. Especially if they stripped out CD audio support.
Nintendo definitely could have afforded to have sold the N64 at 400 even if they had put a CD drive or the 64DD drive into it (though they would have needed to commit to doing this sufficiently far ahead of time in order to be able to secure sufficient production capacity). They were too afraid to do this, as they were afraid that they wouldn't have been able to have sold enough units early on if it had been this expensive, and it might have meant selling them at a small loss, which would have added additional financial risk, but with the benefit of hindsight, it's clear that the demand for more powerful (and more well rounded) console hardware, and videogames in general, was higher than Nintendo realized (or pretty much anybody else realized for that matter).
@@Kurriochi It's not about the games being cheaper, it's about the hardware being too expensive in the long run. Gamers would probably be thinking "why would want to save up for an expensive system when I can get the PS1 that's already very cheap; in addition to the games being cheap too". Your "but consider how PS1 games were often 50, 40, even 30 or 20$" statement made no sense to begin with. Because you need to take into account that the Sega/Mega CD, Turbo Graphix CD, Philips CDI, 3DO, Apple Pippon, Amiga CD32, Atari Jaguar CD etc. all of which used CDs. But that never translated into success for any of those hardware that used compact discs long term! So yeah, just because the games may be cheaper, doesn't mean that logic that worked for Sony would work for everyone else. Besides, Sony had their own divisions and factories that manufacture their Playstation consoles and software with ease; while Nintendo, Sega, and others did not. That's why the PS1 and its software library was cheaper compared to even the Saturn at the time!
Hated the N64. Never went back to Nintendo since its launch. Crusin' USA's arcade attract mode advertised the "Ultra 64", which is what is those of us who grew up with Nintendo were promised. Classic bait and switch. Big plastic hunk of crap with Turok the Fog Hunter is what we got instead. But the system was beloved by Millennial morons who were still wetting their pajamas every night and thus Nintendo conditioned this new batch of underlings to think sub-30 framerates, blurry textures, and analog stick aiming in a FPS was a good thing. Nintendon't still rings true today.
Go back to playing Nintendo's platforms again and get over it.
Your criticism towards the Nintendo 64 low RDRAM of stock "4MB" is flawed as is your criticism towards the ROM Cartridge format especially when YOU claim that putting SDRAM and a CD-ROM drive would somehow "improve" the Nintendo 64 market share... it wouldn't as those criticisms are based from 1996 and 1997 Sony Computer Entertainment America anti-ROM Cartridge format marketing advertising propaganda (why would Sony promote ROM Cartridge format if they opted not to use the format?)
While it is true that ROM Cartridge format was fairly expensive from the manufacturing process and the retail end, you lack an understanding of why 3DO and Sony PlayStation didn't use ROM Cartridge format... because despite these companies being far wealthier than Nintendo, they were NEW so their losses would have been massive especially when you factor the shovelware game software everyone conveniently forgets to remember from the first two years of 3DO and Sony PlayStation or how it was a FEW game devs who actually made top quality software back then both 2d and 3d graphics in those first two to three years of each of them.
With Sega it's a different story because the Sega Saturn could have become a ROM and CD-ROM machine from the beginning however the main criticism and whining against the Sega Saturn at all was coming from Tom Kalinske during 1993... Project Saturn was officially announced in January 1993 Japanese business industry newspapers aka "we're planning a major next gen platform" and the first critic was insurrectionist Tom Kalinske who managed to successfully get his 32X project approved... the 32X was officially announced in June 1994 and back in that year the primary defenders of 32X was Tom Kalinske and his Sega of America staff who did everything possible to get software support for it... only to immediately fail while Tom Kalinske and his Sega of America's management lied to the public and retailers by securing Sega of America warehouse sales to retailers and using those figures for "sales claims" meanwhile the truth of the 32X was that it was sitting in retail shops unpurchased, with angry retailers who couldn't return the stock units and who were forced to liquidate all units by the end of 1995 or early in 1996 which in turn plays a major factor in Sega of America's intentional and deliberate failure to put pressure on the Japanese headquarters to make next gen hardware that became Dreamcast which in turn is the true reason why the Nintendo 64 had to have a short life cycle... why because since 1997 tech spec leaks in Sega land it only gave Sony and Nintendo the greenlight to start next gen hardware development.
The other problem is your misunderstanding of why ROM Cartridge sales could be expensive for game companies... first why don't you study the North American Super Nintendo ROM Cartridge sales numbers and find out how many games actually sold one million copies and multi million copies outside of pack ins.
Next when the Nintendo 64 launched, it was featured as SAFE for children to use by daytime TV shows focusing on holiday season upcoming toys... the real reason why N64 was "safe for children" had to do with the fact that ROM Cartridges could take a beating while it was common knowledge that CD-ROM discs were becoming either scratched damaged or broken or even melted because if you leave a CD disc on a flat table, it's only a matter of time before it gets damaged... meanwhile the ROM Cartridge could fall or be dropped from said table and still work due to the nature of the plastic shell protecting the PCB
The next problems with N64 ROM Cartridges is that due to the fact that N64 systems sold out during 1996 and 1997, it resulted in a secure North American install base thus when certain games that were considered "well made", decent or even above mediocre then those games could easily sell from 500k to one million to a couple million without being pack ins
Btw between Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo the ROM Cartridge sales records belong to Super Nintendo as Sega Genesis ROM Cartridges struggled to sell due to the lackluster marketing efforts made by Sega of America's 90s management staff, a problem that Sega Enterprises LTD Japan had not been monitoring well during 1993 to 1995 and by the time they started doing audits and investigations they discovered that a lot of North American Sega Genesis software was just sitting in retail shops, not selling at new retail prices which in turn means that retailers weren't selling as much and didn't place additional orders on Cartridges.
Finally, you miss the lesson of the Super Nintendo... while the Super FamiCom and Super Nintendo had successfully launched and sold, most games were limited to 4 Megabit and 8 Megabit ROM Cartridge size... then in 1992 Capcom's Street Fighter II TWW ROM Cartridge shipped on a then monster 16 Megabit ROM size which sold 3.5 million in Japan and over 6 million in North America in 1992 alone.
16 Megabit was an expensive ROM Cartridge size but thanks to SF2 it became cheaper and allowed for 20 Megs and 32 Megs and higher to be made and those games became super legendary as a result because they were not limited by the problems of CD-ROM tech...
As such by late 1998 and the year 1999 the Nintendo IP of Pokémon was rising in prominence in Japan and North America as well as LARGER ROM Cartridge sizes like 512 Megabit aka 64 Megabyte note that Super Mario 64 was a 4MB rom cartridge...
Also Nintendo was getting the 64DD ready.... yes without Square or Enix but obviously Nintendo was developing a Mother sequel (JRPG) and obviously Pokémon was rising so it was only a matter of time or average time of software development of two years or more before large 512 Megabit Pokémon games and possibly a Pokémon 3d JRPG could have appeared...
Also you never saw a 64MB Super Mario 64 sequel or even a true Zelda sequel etc and let's face it... Konami's 3d efforts overall during the 1990s was very mediocre...in fact if somehow Nintendo had a couple more years of N64 then you would have had Pilotwings, Waverace and other premium games getting sequels on N64 using either 64MB rom size or larger and or the 64DD and thus your idea of CD-ROM would fall flat while you waited for load times