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The takeaway: It’s been 30 years to the day since Nintendo launched its first 64-bit game console in North America, the aptly named Nintendo 64. It was Nintendo’s third major home console release, and came at a pivotal time considering the competition had already moved on to disc-based games.
Nintendo’s new cartridge-based machine had landed in Japan three months earlier, and now it was time for North America to experience 64-bit console gaming. The hype machine had been in full swing all summer and by the time fall arrived, anticipation had reached a fever pitch.
The Nintendo 64 launched in stores on September 29, 1996, at an introductory price of $199. The system didn’t come with a pack-in game, and you had just two choices on launch day: Super Mario 64 or Pilotwings 64. The obvious choice for most was SMB 64, but finding either proved to be a struggle on launch day. Many – myself included – went with whatever you were lucky enough to find in stock (in my case, it was Pilotwings).
Simply put, Super Mario 64 was a masterpiece. No game up to that point had mastered 3D graphics the way Nintendo did with this game, and it’s no surprise that it went on to become the platform’s best-selling title.
The hits didn’t stop there, however, as the N64 would deliver several bangers over its lifetime including GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Wave Race 64, just to name a few. Four-player local multiplayer in GoldenEye was a pure treat to live through.
Speaking of, Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time is due out on November 5.
Nintendo sold nearly 33 million N64 consoles worldwide before discontinuing the machine in 2002. That’s good for 18th place all time and pales in comparison to more popular consoles like the PlayStation 2 or the original Switch, but the system proved instrumental in carrying Nintendo through a pivotal time in its history.
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