Topic: The N64 Thread

The N64 has a place in the hearts of many and this thread will be dedicated all things N64.

I'll start with my story of getting an N64 and why I still play it to this day. The summer of 1996 was an exciting one for me. I often convinced my mom to get me magazines that gave me any new information on the N64. The screenshots looked amazing and I wanted to play Mario so bad. When the console was released I asked my mom if I could get one. It was a long shot, my birthday had already passed and Christmas seemed so far away. The answer was no. I was devastated but still hopeful for Christmas. I didn't have any friend who had one either so I was stuck dreaming.

Not long after, I finally got my chance to play Mario 64 at a Target kiosk. I was hooked. Jumping, flying, swimming, It really gave me the Super Mario 3 vibes. By the time I left the store my neck hurt from looking up at the small screen. At this point I didn't want to read anymore about it in magazines, I wanted to real thing. Unfortunately Christmas came and went with no N64. No N64 for my birthday either. I was losing hope. Luck will find my way but not without hard work and time.

Later in the summer of '97 straight line winds came through my sister's home town. They were OK but the hail turned their siding into a cheese grater. Insurance paid but they decided to save some money by doing the work themselves. They asked if I wanted to help and would pay me $200 for a few days of work. The price of the N64? $200, I was in! As a kid this was probably the hardest I ever worked, maybe even ever. My sister already knew what I was going to spend the money on, I couldn't stop talking about it. The day after we finished my sister got home and she had a box for me. It was an N64 and a game. She worked at a retailer and got a discount. It was still over $200 but she got me a game anyway. I never mentioned Mario 64 so she got me Turok. I wasn't mad, I got a game too!

I spent the rest of the summer playing N64. Anything I couldn't buy I rented. Before the holidays I got Mario 64. My mom bought me GoldenEye for Christmas. My fondest memory of all of it was playing four player split screen with friends on a 13" TV for 7 hours straight. Pizza, Doritos and MT Dew where all there. Later I would go on to play my favorite game, Conkers Bad Fur Day. Just before the PS2 came out I sold all N64 stuff except two games, Conker and Perfect Dark. I have since bought back what I sold and then some. Exploring the N64 library back then was much more fun vs now. Although I still play the hits frequently and even do an N64 tournament for my nieces and nephews for Christmas.

If you have an N64 story feel free to share.

N64 is good. It has an Irritating Stick game so of course

Stealth Conkers BFD appreciation thread! 😜
Love the system! I bought BFD new in box from an EB for 9.99 in like 2002 or so.. Well after I had a PS2. It remains one of my favorite gaming experiences to this day. The perfect teenage game.

I still think about the Context Aware panels to this day. That was some extraordinary mechanical parody for the time!

F zero x and Star Fox 64 forever!

Getting that gold cartridge Ocarina of Time will be a special memory.

Anyone else order the Analogue N64 console and patiently awaiting arrival of it?

It's a little worrying that we have yet to see any N64 games running on real hardware.

I wasn't that interested in the N64 initially, I mean, this is what they told us to expect:

So that was a disappointment.

Then GoldenEye rolled around and I was blown away, and man did I loved that game! My most fondly remembered N64 title.

I met Martin Hollis at a party once and told him as much (something I'm sure no-one has ever said to him before). Nice, unassuming guy.

@Bigmanupstairs As much as I want to try the Analogue I don't really need it. If you already have an HDMI N64 I think it may be over kill. Although we'll see what they do with the software.

Still my favorite system for arcade racers. California Speed remains one of my most enjoyed racing games. Had the opportunity to buy an arcade machine few years ago but wife wouldn't allow it.

The N64 is my favorite console of all time and I still enjoy gaming on it on a somewhat regular basis.

Early on in 1997 my aunt handed me a special edition Nintendo Club magazine covering the N64 and with that came a promotional VHS titled „The new dimension of fun“.

You can see it here, it is in German though:

After seeing this full blown propaganda video I was HOOKED. I couldn’t think and talk about anything else for weeks. Every friend and classmate that came by had to see this video.
There was a lot of debating and begging with my mom, if I could get this machine for my birthday after the european launch. Well, to my huge surprise I did indeed get one!

The N64 was a masterpiece for me. Incredible ground breaking singleplayer games coupled with endless sessions in multiplayer games. Mario Kart 64 alone probably clocked in about 2000 hours until today. International Superstar Soccer, FIFA, Diddy Kong Racing, Snowboard Kids, Mario Party 1-3, Mario Tennis, Smash Bros., Perfect Dark, Bomberman 64 also clocked in hundreds if not thousands of hours as well. It is a console my friends and I “regularly” go back to it for some good ol’ multiplayer action.
On the single player side it hasn’t been that long since I played through SM64, Banjo & Kazooie and Paper Mario, I think they hold up incredibly well. It is amazing to me how a game like Wave Race 64 did so much with so little back then and it still is a blast to play. I play through it about once a year.

I got my N64 modded with the UltraHDMI Mod back then when it was one of the first HDMI mods ever made. Nowadays I also run it through a RT4k, and I use the N64 NSO controllers with BlueRetro receivers.

Shortly before the GameCube launched I sold about half of my small collection. I am currently in the process of picking them up one by one. I’d also like to expand to US cartridges, right now I have to use a flash card to play in 60Hz.

If I were to one day sell all of my console stuff, this is the machine I would keep. Good times.

@MrBurns I have a similar N64 setup. N64Digital and RT4k. It's the best you can get if you're not running a CRT. The scanlines and masks are nice and are a close match a CRT. Much better than any internal HDMI mod or other scalers. I'd still like to get a nice CRT some day. I think for most people a RetroTink 2x-mini with s-video would work great.

@Bigmanupstairs Just got the email saying they're preparing to ship it. They start shipping 18th November and they say they'll have shipped everything by 1st December.

@gamerjerome Yup, the crt masks from the RT4k look incredibly good.
I have seen the RAD2X in action on an unmodded n64, which is basically a rt2x with the composite signal instead of s-video. I agree that this is a really good and affordable plug and play solution for people who neither don’t want to go down the expensive external scaler solution or don’t want to or can’t make space for a real crt.

I missed the N64 completely when it was new. I had NES, Game Boy and later Mega Drive, but then moved on to PC. I only got the N64 maybe 10 years ago, so I have absolutely no nostalgia for it. It's an important console from a historical perspective, but a bit tough to get into these days.

That being said, I have a small game collection for it. Only game I've ever played through is Paper Mario, which was excellent, I enjoyed it a lot (my first Paper Mario game). I used Retrotink 5X-Pro with it, these days I have the Retrotink 4K, but I haven't tested the N64 with it.

Anyone got the Analogue 3D? I didn't order one myself, as I feel I can play my games just fine on the original, if I want to.

My console:

My tiny game collection:

@SandyB Same. I received the same email. It's a bit weird that we have yet to see the actual console in use...

Cool to see that the Analogue 3D is finally about to ship, though I do agree that it's bizarre how no live showcase of the console in action has ever been produced.

I will state, though, that I am one of those weirdos who bought the Polymega (I was an early pre-order, so I managed to get it back when it was actually for a much more reasonable price) & I do own its N64 module, so I've been enjoying the occasional N64 game via that console in the meantime. Here's hoping those who have been waiting for the Analogue 3D are pleased with the end result.

If anyone on the DF team wants my launch day Analogue 3D console you’re welcome to have it. I have lost all excitement for the console so it would be better going to a good home. Here’s hoping it lives up to the expectations of consumers after such a long wait!

I cancelled my Analogue 3D console preorder a while ago. Curious to see how it actually performs. They've been so secretive about it.

The N64 is a special system for me for two reasons.

1) I played so much of it with my two best friends. The system's focus on having 4-player games was great. We had awesome times with Mario Kart 64, Mario Golf, and all the wrestling games. Lots of good memories.

2) WWF No Mercy is an important game in my history because when I was around 15 years old, I decided to give up video gaming.

I remember feeling very off-put with it and wanted to focus entirely on other things. So, I sold all of my stuff.

It took about six months, but one day the urge to play WWF No Mercy came back. It just popped into my head. That was the only game I wanted to play. So, I bought a Jungle Green Nintendo 64 and No Mercy, and that’s all I played again for a while.

@Renki I love that blue one too.

Eventually, I started picking up other games again, and though my level of interest varies over time like it does for everyone, I haven’t ever given up the gaming hobby since.

@Knightfall I'm really surprised that haven't showed the Analogue 3D working yet. The software side of things takes a long time but if they are already shipping these they should have shown then off by now. One good thing in the hardware, and this is just a rumor, I heard the guy who did the Ultra HDMI is on that team making this thing. If true that means there is going to be a good understanding of how the OG console outputs it's games. Some games like RE require quick resolution changes depending on scene and menus. That's also good test if you buy one of the cheap amazon scalers for the OG console.

I’m honestly baffled that we haven’t seen it yet. For those who are in the first batch, should we expect to receive it this week? If there are no slight performance boosts to games that struggled to hold a consistent frame rate on the original hardware…I’m not sure I care enough to own one just to have it work as an upscaler on modern TVs.

Oddly enough my most vivid N64 memory was playing a relatively obscure game called "Shadow Man". I loved that one.