Nintendo 64

About Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 (ニンテンドウ64, Nintendō Roku Jū Yon?, NINTENDO64), often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit processor, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10, 1997 in Brazil. It is notable for being Nintendo's last home console to use cartridges to store games (with Nintendo switching to a proprietary optical format for the GameCube, then to standard DVD-sized media for Wii), and for being the first modern home console to come with a controller featuring an analog stick.

The N64 was released with two launch games, Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, plus an extra one in Japan, Saikyō Habu Shōgi. The N64's suggested retail price was US$199 at its launch and it was later marketed with the slogan: "Get N, or get Out!" The N64 sold 32.93 million units worldwide.

The Nintendo 64 was the culmination of work by Nintendo, Silicon Graphics (SGI), and MIPS Technologies. The SGI-based system design that ended up in the Nintendo 64 was originally offered to Tom Kalinske, then CEO of Sega of America by James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics. SGI had recently bought out MIPS Technologies and the two companies had worked together to create a low-cost CPU/3D GPU combo that they thought would be ideal for the console market. A hardware team from Sega of Japan was sent to evaluate the chip's capabilities and they found faults which MIPS subsequently solved. However, Sega of Japan ultimately decided against SGI's design. In the early stages of development, the Nintendo 64 was referred to by the code name "Project Reality". This moniker came from the speculation within Nintendo that the console could produce CGI on par with then-current supercomputers. In 1994, the console was given the name Nintendo Ultra 64 in the West. The console's design was shown for the first time in late Spring 1994. The first picture of the console ever shown featured the Nintendo Ultra 64 logo and showed a game cartridge, but no controller. The final console was identical to this, but with a different logo. When the system together with the controller was fully unveiled in a playable form to the public on November 24, 1995, the console was introduced as the "Nintendo 64" in Japan, contrary to speculation of it being called "Ultra Famicom", at the 7th Annual Shoshinkai Software Exhibition in Japan. Photos of the event were disseminated on the web by Game Zero magazine two days later. Official coverage by Nintendo followed later via the Nintendo Power website and print magazine. In February of 1996 Nintendo of America announced a delay of Nintendo Ultra 64 until September 1996 in North America. Simultaneously it was announced that Nintendo had adopted a new global branding strategy, calling the console Nintendo 64 everywhere. Subsequently the PAL introduction was further delayed, finally being released in Europe on March 1, 1997.