Vol.
2, Issue 9
January 27, 1999
Death,
it is often remarked, must come to us all. Pity. N64 owner Nick
F waxes nostalgic and holds back the tears.
ou
can't even leave your house these days without someone announcing
the impending death of the Nintendo 64... Following "disappointing"
software sales over Christmas, most retailers have recently chosen
to give it the kiss of death. Developers aren't proving too hesitant
about jumping on the death-to-N64 bandwagon too, with all but
the most ardent Nintendo supporters killing N64 projects and "focusing
resources on PlayStation 2 development". Faced with the increasing
amount of evidence - N64 carts reduced to less than budget PS
software and systems costing little more than Donkey Kong 64
- even an ardent Nintendo devotee like myself has to face the
fact that our beloved system is coming to the end of its supported
lifespan.
It wasn't
always like this. Looking back to 1995, I recall heady talk of
"the Dream Team" (uh-huh) and my own barely-containable
excitement over how awe-inspiring and genre-bending games like
Super Mario 64, Pilotwings and, uh, Shadows of
the Empire (no, really) were going to be. The rec.games.video
newsgroups raged with, well, much the same tripe they rage with
now, aside from posts about how Nintendo 64 (sorry, "Ultra
64") carts were going to cost over $100 and how Squaresoft's
defection to Sony would lead to Nintendo's downfall (which, in
Japan at least, it did). Dedicated Ultra 64 fans will recall Scott
McCall's Unofficial Nintendo 64 HQ, probably the best single-format
website ever to grace the internet: when Scott posted his glowing
first impressions of the Japanese Mario 64 days after its
release, thousands must have read the massively-anticipated report
with tears of joy in their eyes.
But enough
misty-eyed reminiscence! The N64 might be mortally wounded and
limping towards its final resting place, but how will "the
fun machine" be remembered? It certainly wasn't an unmitigated
disaster for Nintendo like the Virtual Boy, but neither did it
steal the hearts and minds of gamers worldwide like the NES, Gameboy
and SNES before it... Despite playing host to the 64-bit incarnations
of some of videogaming's biggest and most well-known characters,
the N64 was blasted aside by the PlayStation's cunning mass market
appeal and sexy "adult-friendly" franchises like Resident
Evil, Tomb Raider and countless sports licenses. The
"kiddy factor" was quoted as a major turn-off by a number
of people I spoke to about the N64, and I suspect the childish
image played a large part in the console's failure to attract
the games industry's core consumer - that macho FPS-lovin', burger
eatin' teenage male. This is a conclusion Nintendo seem to have
taken to heart - Shigeru Miyamoto has hinted that Mario and Luigi
will appear "more grown-up" when re-invented for the
Dolphin, and Rare have been ramping up the "adult" factor
for some time now with the decidedly noir-ish Perfect Dark
and the twisted (trust me) world of Conker's Bad Fur Day both
scheduled for release this year. Never mind the graphics, though:
my personal opinion is that games with the depth and sophistication
of Zelda, Mario 64 and Starfox are infinitely
more "adult" than the countless FIFA sequels,
GT clones and scrappy shooters clogging the PlayStation
charts, regardless of how the onscreen action is represented.
Snooch.
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