Nintendo 64 / N64 Roms

The N64 is one of the most controversial consoles ever made. Ok so it’s not as controversial as the Virtual Boy, but there was one simple thing that set it apart: cartridges. “Carts” have many disadvantages. Firstly, they are very expensive to produce (some say almost 25 dollars!) compared to the discs used in the PSX and the ill fated Saturn, which drove away many 3rd party developers. Secondly, they are much smaller than discs, and games cannot span multiple carts which was severely limiting, particularly to RPG makers (though some great RPGs such as Paper Mario were made for it and resident evil 2 was successfully ported over on one of the later more advanced carts). Finally, Audio was tricky to do well (though it was possible to do fantastic audio (i.e. Perfect Dark) and video quality couldn’t compare to the PSX. So why did they use carts? Well, the most obvious advantage is the lack of loading times. This is excellent from an artistic standpoint, particularly for large sprawling games like Legend of Zelda or Super Mario 64 which would be infernally dull if a new loading time was introduced every 5 seconds. Also, extra RAM could be stored in cartridges allowing for more complex games (though the amount of RAM was obviously limited by cost). Lastly, while CDs are very easily damaged and scratched, cartridges can last pretty much forever.

Despite these unbalanced facts, along with a terrible controller (though it was the first successful system to use an analog stick and rumble, which makes emulation unsuitable for many games unless a joystick or joypad is used) the N64 is considered by many to be the best Nintendo system ever made due to it’s massive catalogue of innovative and fun games (in fact it was recently voted the best system period on G4Techtv’s Filter).

Recommended picks: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Paper Mario, Mario Kart 64 and Rayman 2: the Great Escape