You can rent, you can
borrow, you can even steal (I'd advise against it), but nothing beats
having something that is truly yours. Something where you decide
when to use it, how to use it, and when to loan it out. Something
you earned with your own hard earned money, or your mother bought it
for you as a gift, whatever works, and something that will always be
yours in one way or another. I am here today to talk about A Child's
First Console.
Ready to feel old? In
just one more week the Nintendo 64 will be celebrating its nineteenth
birthday. Crazy! Seems like just yesterday we were unboxing this bad
boy for the first time and seeing what it could do. May not have
been as powerful as the PlayStation, or come anywhere close to its
gigantic library, but it still had a lot going on for it and I'll be
talking about those things today, but first some backstory. People
do love origin stories, right? Right...?
Second
control port? I always put it in port number one here.
My brother
was the first one to get a Nintendo 64 around 1998. I'm guessing
because one of the games I watched him play was Ocarina of Time. He
decided he didn't care for it much because it didn't have a lot of
adult oriented games, which it didn't since Nintendo always marketed
to children and families. I would've gladly taken it off his hands,
but like all things he sold he decided to give it to our cousin.
Man, they got a lot of shit from him.
I wouldn't
get my own console until a few years later. Since I didn't have my
own room I had to play games in the living room meaning whenever dad
wanted to use the TV I had to shut her down. What I wouldn't have
done for something like the Wii U back in those days. Long before I
even had the system in my possession I had a copy of Ocarina of Time
and would play it over at a friend's house while we saved up money
to get me a Nintendo 64. Ocarina of Time became the first N64 and
Zelda game I've ever played.
Not long
after acquiring the system we got some more games for it on the same
day: Banjo Kazooie, WCW vs. nWo Revenge, WCW vs. nWo World Tour, WWF
WrestleMania 2000, and Yoshi's Story. I admit I initially scoffed at
Yoshi's Story, but once I gave it a chance I came to love them. I
still have all my games for the system even to this day and they all
work, though lately I had to result to cleaning them out with a
Q-tip. They'll get no blow job from me.
Who remembers
this? Best N64 design by far.
Let's talk
games. Chances are when you think N64 you think Ocarina of Time,
GoldenEye, or Perfect Dark. I played GoldenEye, but since I wasn't
big on FPS games at the time I didn't care for it. Couldn't play
Perfect Dark anyway because it required an Expansion Pak (nice
spelling, guys) and we wouldn't pay extra for an add-on just to play
a couple of games. Ended up missing out on Majora's Mask and Donkey
Kong 64 because of it.
While the
Sony PlayStation was still struggling with mastering 3D, the N64
already had games like Super Mario 64 which was the perfect 2D to 3D
transformation for the franchise and influenced a lot of the other
3D platformers to come out afterwords. Frankly, their games don't
feel as dated compared to the PS1's library. I can go back to a game
like Ocarina of Time and be sucked in in no time flat, but with
PlayStation? My eyes need a minute to adjust.
The N64 has
the best wrestling and racing games to come out in the 1990s. Only
games to come close on the wrestling side of things is WCW vs. The
World and some of the SmackDown games. The N64 had World Tour,
Revenge, WrestleMania 2000, and No Mercy. Racing wise? Mario Kart
64, Donkey Kong Racing, and Rush 2 Extreme Racing USA. I realize that
series has also been ported on the PlayStation, but that specific
entry was only on Nintendo 64. Not to mention the much superior
version of BattleTanx Global Assault.
Nintendo 64
gave us plenty of Mario titles like Party, Golf, and Tennis. Yeah,
they actually managed to make Golf and Tennis fun for kids. That's
no easy feat. Remember Pokemon Snap? Remember how awesome it was to
see the Pokemon in 3D for the first time? That was just about taking
pictures and we went crazy over the thing. I still remember seeing
Mew for the first time and going to Blockbuster to have stickers
made out of the photos I took. Then later we got Pokemon Stadium 1
and 2.
Super Smash
Brothers? The game that Nintendo World Championships should have
been. Back then this game was like the Avengers to Nintendo fans: it
had all the main Nintendo characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, Link,
and various others. I was first introduced to Samus, Star Fox,
Captain Falcon, and various others through this game. The single
player where you fight your way to a giant Mario hand? Awesome!
Nowadays, Melee is probably my favorite Super Smash Brothers as it's
more refined and has way more characters to choose from, but for its
time Super Smash Brothers was the place to be.
Mario is such
a diva.
Not every
game was a winner, but you'd be hard pressed to find a single game
system that has nothing but high quality games. Sooner or later
someone's is going to make crap. Superman 64 is infamous for being
one of the worst video games ever created and it's amazes me I was
patient enough to get to an actual stage on that. Games like WCW
Mayhem, the first BattleTanx, and Castlevania isn't nearly as
awesome as I remember them being. Mayhem used to be my favorite WCW
game solely for the fact it had every single WCW arena. BattleTanx 1
is fun, but Global Assaults ages it by a huge margin. Castlevania 64
was my introduction to the Castlevania series and I always played as
the witch. Witches are cool. You can't deny those skeletons are
awesome, though. SKELTONS ON MOTORCYCLES!
Okay, I
have to defend the controllers for a second. “OMG THEY LOOK SO
HORRIBLE!” Looks can be deicing, my friend. Sure, the N64
controller looks like it was designed for a three- armed mutant, but
they're actually very
comfortable in your hands. D-Pad is for 2D and control stick is for
3D. Never had much problem with the shoulders button or the Z on the
butt of the controller. The GameCube controller looked more pleasing
to the eye until closer inspection. Why is the A button so big? Why
is the B button so small? The shoulder buttons so heavy? The D-Pad
is impossible! I'll take the N64 controllers over it any day of the
week.
I love this
logo! It's no PS1 boot-up screen, but it'll do.
Long story
short, this article helped me to realize just how much the N64 means
to me. I'm glad to have it as a part of my childhood and will never
part with it as long as it works, and I am happy to announce that it
still works even to this day. Nintendo was a big part of my life
growing up and I'll always be thankful. I'm also thankful to have a
mother who's very generous.
Hi, Mom!
Now, I open
the floor to all of you. What was your first console growing up and
do you still have it today? What were your favorite and least
favorite games for it?
Nintendo
64 Games
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