N64 Hatred

Geez. The N64 was a great system. The graphics were far superior for its time (and just as good as Jurassic Park’s computer animation), plus it had the best controller, introduced the Rumble and Expansion Packs (the graphics on the Expansion Pak were WAY BETTER), and it hosted the best games. I hate this guys opinion, but I guess everyone is entitled to it, no matter how flawed and wrong this person is.

It’s funny to me how quickly some people write me off as a Nintendo fanboy. See, a few years ago, Nintendo fans hated me. And there was a good reason for that antipathy: the N64. I despised the N64 and everything it stood for, and its supplicants hated me in return.

Much to my surprise, the 10th anniversary of the system’s Japanese launch was just a few days ago. Does this mean I feel very old? Why, yes. Yes it does.

But it also means Nintendo has come a long, long way in the past decade. N64 was a terrible excuse for a console, designed to create profit for the Big N at the expense of gamers, developers and publishers alike; frankly, I despaired of Nintendo ever getting back onto the right track and eagerly awaited news that they had bowed out of the console race. Fortunately, they didn’t, and I couldn’t be happier. That’s because the upcoming Wii is in every way the absolute antithesis of the N64. The company has learned some hard lessons in the past decade, and if N64 is the embodiment of Nintendo’s former hubris, Wii is the very definition of their ability to adapt.

The N64 is long dead and happily forgotten, but I’m always willing to kick dirt in a loser’s face. So to mark the 10-year birthday of Nintendo’s third-worst failure (right after Virtual Boy and New Super Mario Bros. *), let’s make N64 eat the dust of its five greatest shortcomings.

(Stop freaking out, Nintendrones. I’m sure I can find something nice to say about N64 when it comes time to mark the system’s U.S. launch.)

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