PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64

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VS.

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The console wars continue with the PlayStation versus the Nintendo 64. Which do you prefer? Which did you grow up with? Vote now!

This one is progressively more difficult for me than the last one because I like both consoles equally. I grew up with both of them, too. The N64 was the first console I actually owned. Before I mainly just played whatever my brother had, but when the N64 came along I had my own console I could play anytime I wanted. And the PlayStation wasn't far behind. Sales wise the PlayStation crushed everything else that was out at the time, but I think their libraries made them pretty good competition. PlayStation may be the strongest console with the ability to play CDs, I remember that being a big deal back then, but there was the load time. N64 didn't have any of that. Just playing WWF War Zone on the PSX, and then playing it on the N64 I could see how much of a wait there was in comparison. Plus, I think N64 just did 3D better. Super Mario 64 became the standard that pretty much every 3D platformer would follow, and games like Super Mario 64, and Ocarina of Time, just aged far better visually than a lot of PSX games did.

That said, both game had a lot of classics on it. Nintendo had your usual powerhouse with games like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, Pokemon, and other gems like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and the Bomberman games on the N64 were heads over heels better than the ones that were made for PlayStation. BattleTanx Global Assault is of course another personal favorite of mine. N64 also introduced Banjo Kazooie to an entire generation of kids. Also, N64 has hands down the best wrestling games ever created, WCW vs. nWo World Tour, WCWnWo Revenge, WWF WrestleMania 2000, and WWF No Mercy. The StarCraft N64 port wasn't half bad either from what I hear.

But the PlayStation had of course one of, if not the best generation of Final Fantasy games on the market, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania SoTN, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil (N64 players only got RE2), the WWF SmackDown! games, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, a bunch of RPGs that's probably going to give it the edge in this poll, Monster Rancher, and a lot of good fighting games. How awesome was the start up screen for the PlayStation? I still get goosebumps whenever I hear it.

Nintendo got screwed around this time period when it came to Final Fantasy and Castlevania games. I feel sorry for anyone who got a N64 expecting the next FF and Castlevania titles to come out on it. Castlevania 64 was fun, but pales in comparison to SoTN, there's not even a contest there. I did enjoy playing the witch though. I liked throwing energy balls at people. And what was up with the skeletons on motorcycles?! That graveyard level was crazy!

Discuss.

I like both a lot but considering I have more PlayStation games, I'll have to give it to the PlayStation

Playstation is the easy winner. I only had a couple of games for the N64 (Mario 64, Pilot Wings, Wayne Gretzky), but I had a ton of games for the PS1. I still think of many of them as the best games I've ever played: Einhander, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, Jet Moto 2, Crash Bandicoot, the FF series, Small Soldiers, the list goes on.

Sorry Nintendo.

I'm going to say that the Nintendo 64 was better than the PlayStation. While it doesn't have as many games as the PlayStation, it did have a lot of good games for it, and it featured four controller ports for four-player madness. The games on PlayStation did have loading times, which I thought were quite annoying. Sadly I didn't own many games for the PlayStation, so the N64 has my vote.

I have to concede that the PlayStation had the far larger library although personally I mostly grew up with the N64 and hardly ever played any PlayStation games :shobon: FF and MGS were really the only reasons I bought Sony consoles for a while, and now that those are no longer exclusives (and I'm not a ~huge major fan~ anymore) I can happily play my PC or Xboxes instead :)

PSX:
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Suikoden II
Breath of Fire III
Breath of Fire IV
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Grandia
Vagrant Story
Crash Team Racing (freaking LOVED this game)
Chrono Cross
Legend of the Dragoon

N64:
TLoZ: OoT
TLoZ: MM
Mario Kart

These are just a few of the games I have played on both consoles, I think the Playstation is the clear leader in titles here.

Like everyone else I have way more PlayStation games than N64 games.

This is tough. I'm pretty much a Nintendo fanboy, but Sony has always been my #2.

I originally had a N64, then later got the PSX. Each system had many great games. In particular, the PSX had the Final Fantasy series, Street Fighter Alpha III. The N64 had a ton of great games, as well, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Doom 64, StarFox 64, the LoZ games.

my fav game ( FF ix) is on PS1 so yeah that

PSX had the biggest variety of good games out of the two. There were some games on N64 like Paper Mario, hell anything with Mario, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2, Rakugakids, Fighter's Destiny, Bomberman 64 and Hero, etc. but PSX had games like Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil (though yes, N64 did get a port of RE2 later), the Final Fantasies, Breath of Fire III and IV, Trap Gunner, Einhander, Thunder Force V, Rival Schools, Xenogears, 2Xtreme and 3Xtreme, Sled Storm, Crash Team Racing, Suikoden 1 and 2, Grandia......the list goes on

I think I maybe missed some good games on the N64, but barely anything in the N64 library had much story or character depth, so it really didn't have anything to hold my interest. It had a bunch of fun and easy time wasting games that would include Mario and Starfox, but I don't think the system got off the ground the way it should have

The Playstation may have had a larger library, but that's mostly irrelevant except for the fact that it increased the odds of finding gold. And there was gold on there for me. With the end of the good Final Fantasy games FFVII was a nice experience, and the beginning of cinematic blockbusters with MGS. Also one of the best collections of obscure and beloved RPGs that actually made it to the west (unlike the SNES which had a comparable RPG library, but most of the best of the obscure was left in Japan). Grandia, Lunar, Wild ARMs, Brave Fencer Musashi, Alundra, and my beloved Xenogears. Its probably the system I've had the most fond memories with. Even though I went into that generation hating Sony for sticking their nose where it didn't belong and ruining the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, I would have to choose Sony as my favorite of that generation now that rose colored nostalgia glasses are off

Edit: For the record, the Saturn was no slouch that generation. It may not have been able to compete with the Playstation's library, but I feel that it easily trumped the N64's library. Shining Force 3, Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Astal, the best Street Fighter games with the best control for those games, Magic Knight Ray Earth, Dragon Force, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA and Championship, Virtua Cop, Burning Rangers, Mystaria/Blazing Heroes, Blazing Dragons, ah the memories..

I . . . have no particular love for the N64. I've owned one, numerous times actually, and I'm never sorry when I do, but it's just Nintendo's most forgettable console for me. Conversely, the Sony Playstation is tied with the SNES for my favorite console, sooo . . . there's no real comparison.

So I leave this instead.

Again, while I think the PlayStation is the better console, that doesn't mean that I didn't own and love both. For this generation I appreciated how fast N64 carts could run, but I felt developers made better use of the CD-ROM format with the PlayStation. It depended on the game, though.

A rare (for me) example (of a N64 cart being utilized FAR better than a CD-ROM) is that I felt the Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the N64 was far better than the PlayStation version because it ran far smoother and had a better controller for it. It was missing one of the Sub Zeroes, but other than that it was a very complete game.

My love for RPGs also grew and grew as this generation marched on. While most others were praising these "new" types of games, I was all like, "Welcome to the party, friends!" So that was a key factor for me. They might as well renamed the console "RPG Player" at one point.

If we're talking about areas where the N64 actually came out ahead, I do feel that the N64 had the better platform games.

Yes, I played Spyro, Crash, et al.

But the Banjo series and Mario 64 were (IMO) better.

(I'm also a weirdo who liked the N64 controller :shobon: )

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Originally Posted by Pike

If we're talking about areas where the N64 actually came out ahead, I do feel that the N64 had the better platform games.

Yes, I played Spyro, Crash, et al.

But the Banjo series and Mario 64 were (IMO) better.

(I'm also a weirdo who liked the N64 controller :shobon: )

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I'm with you on all of those points as well. Honestly, choosing between the two is far more agonizing than the SNES vs Genesis topic.

The people I'm too lazy to quote, you lot need to play more N64 games.

I'm giving the N64 a pity vote.

"I don't want your pity!"

You're getting it anyway.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

You all need to play more N64 games.

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dude I've played probably 90% of all N64 games that were released don't lump me in on this

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Originally Posted by Pike

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

You all need to play more N64 games.

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dude I've played probably 90% of all N64 games that were released don't lump me in on this

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I wasn't.

If emulation wasn't so spotty and if the controller wasn't so wonky I'd probably have played tons more N64 games. On my PSP :3

Speaking of controllers, you can get N64 controllers that hook into your computer via USB. I want one. Really bad.

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Originally Posted by Pike

Speaking of controllers, you can get N64 controllers that hook into your computer via USB. I want one. Really bad.

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I want one too. The N64 controller is the biggest example of "don't judge a book by its cover" because it's super comfortable. I love it so much.

Oh god no, I played GoldenEye not too long ago (my N64 still sits in my living room :)) and it smurfing mashed my wrists.

The n64 controller feels great until you have to use the trigger.

Anyway, Playstation had more titles that I enjoyed, and that's what really counts.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Oh god no, I played GoldenEye not too long ago (my N64 still sits in my living room :)) and it smurfing mashed my wrists.

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You're doing it wrong.

I feel like my taste in controllers is different from a lot of people's because my hands are really small so I prefer smaller controllers.

On the other side of the coin the original Xbox controller (before they redid it) was practically IMPOSSIBLE for me to use xD

The N64 succeeded as a 3-D game system, but the hardware sacrifices necessary to maintain the cartridge format left so little room for anything else but the graphics in the cartridge that the third-party developers mostly balked.

They went over to Sony, and one of the biggest coups in the history of the game business happened practically overnight. Sony had achieved something very impressive, it had dethroned Nintendo with it's first outing into the game console market, all through clever marketing, diplomatic content policies and solid hardware design. Nintendo must've felt like Eric Clapton standing on stage with Jimi Hendrix for the first time. :)

The N64 is a killer system; with time and effort, truly mind-blowing games could be done for it, but it was just too wonky for devs to work with in a cost-effective, timely manner. I seem to recall some truly ham-fisted practices by Nintendo at the time regarding splitting the profits from cartridge sales with the devs, too. Not smart, Nintendo.

Also noticed that my favourite game ever is a PS1 game and my second favourite game ever is a N64 game. It is really tough between the two but I do like the PlayStation just a little bit more

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

And what was up with the skeletons on motorcycles?!

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What are you, a racist? What's wrong with my people riding motorcycles? We don't even have skin to leave on the asphalt if we fall off (not that we ever do because Skeleton MC is pro).

The N64 had a core of astonishingly superb games, but it was a pretty small core. The PS1 had an absolutely vast library that catered to just about every genre under the sun, even stuff that struggled to work on a console like RTS games (Command and Conquer, Warcraft II, and KKND were all on PS1) and Sim/Managers (SimCity, Theme Park/Hospital, Transport Tycoon), plus the occasional gem of absolutely battrout Japanese lunacy that made its way to foreign shores (Incredible Crisis, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!, Carnage Heart).

So I want to make sure the N64 gets the respect it deserves, especially as it kind of awkwardly came in late and didn't do the CD thing, and I won't pretend for one second I didn't spend an absolutely stupid amount of time playing the thing, but I do think it has to go to the PlayStation in the end.

N64 might be the greatest couch multiplayer system of all time, which Nintendo embodied by building it with 4 controller ports right out of the box.

But the PlayStation definitely takes it for me. Too many game changers across genres, some of which didn't exist up to that point. The only thing stopping the PlayStation from being the best console of all time is the PlayStation 2.

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

The N64 had a core of astonishingly superb games, but it was a pretty small core. The PS1 had an absolutely vast library that catered to just about every genre under the sun, even stuff that struggled to work on a console like RTS games (Command and Conquer, Warcraft II, and KKND were all on PS1)

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StarCraft 64 would like a word with you.

Okay yes, I grant you that. But still. :p

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

And what was up with the skeletons on motorcycles?!

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What are you, a racist? What's wrong with my people riding motorcycles? We don't even have skin to leave on the asphalt if we fall off (not that we ever do because Skeleton MC is pro).

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Hey! I'm not a racist. I have a ton of skeleton friends!

Again, pretty one-sided here with the PlayStation being the obviously better choice. The difference for me is that unlike the Genesis vs. SNES debate, I don't have much love for the N64 and I mark it as the beginning of the end for Nintendo's reign as a console powerhouse. It has some good games on it but the PlayStation has fantastic games and between the two I feel more of the PlayStation's library has aged better with time.