Playstation vs Nintendo 64

Yes, I know I’m woefully behind the times, but we are considering getting one of these dinosaurs for x-mas. No, we aren’t going to bid on a PS2.

Don’t believe my kids have any strong preference, other than that most of my son’s friends seem to have N64. But I have heard what I consider to be some decent arguments, that the PS games are much cheaper, and that PS games will be adaptable to PS2 should we upgrade in the future.

Wondering if any of you could help me out.

We went through this when we finally broke down and bought one for our kids. We looked at the games that were available (and appropriate-they were 7 and 10, so many of the games were too old for them) and made our decision based on which system had more games that appealed to them.

We decided on the Playstation. My son, who is 8 now, uses it the most. His favorites are Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot and Crash Team Racing.

If you decide to go the Playstation route, you might consider waiting for the PS2 to become available, which I’m sure will happen quite soon after the holidays. (I don’t know how well your kids would accept a raincheck, so maybe that isn’t a good idea.) It will play both the old games and the new ones. If you go with the Playstation, you won’t be able to play the PS2 games.

I bought a N64, and have regretted it ever since. It has a minimal amount of good games, and a fair number of those are originally playstation games. The one factor you might consider for your children is that Nintendo is conservative regarding gory violence.

I’m a Playstation fanatic, so this may be biased, but here we go anyway…

The biggest draw back to Nintendo 64 is the lack of depth in the games. That is, there is only so much stuff you can cram into a cart. Playstation’s discs come loaded with much more goodies. And the really in depth games may come with more than one disc to it.
Also, memory cards for Playstation are very cheap, and not unweilding, unlike N64’s which plugs into the controller instead of the console.
Playstation’s controller’s are more intuitive, while N64’s are strange modern art sculptures that you need to take a weeklong course on just to remember where all the buttons are.
But … N64 is skewed more toward the younger market, both in it’s game play and game library.

My advice would be to avoid the N64 like the plague, unless all of your kids’ friends have it, then you may as well hoist them up on the ol’ band wagon and let them have a fun ride.

N64 games are far superior to the dreck that Playstation’s third party developers push onto the market, in terms of graphics and actual playing value. True, you can probably find five times as many PS games at your local store, but what good is that if 80% of them are crap?

Maybe PS discs themselves may have more stuff on them, but then you have to deal with SSLLLOOOOWWWW loading times everytime you turn it on, or change levels, or something exciting is about to happen. Again, PS sacrifices quality for quantity.

As for controllers, the N64 controller is actually much more ergonomic and comfortable to use, once you get used to it. Yes, they have more buttons on the N64 controller, but most are specialized and only come up in certain situations in certain games. There really is nothing confusing about it.

New N64 games are generally more expensive, I think, than PS games, though. But I happen to think they are worth it.

I’ve played Nintendo for the last 15 years though. Like Jack, I’m pretty biased. I don’t know why, but fans of one system generally tend to dis the other, sort of like Chevy and Ford truck owners.

Either way you go, I’m sure you’ll have fun.

If you are looking for something for this holiday, I would actually go off the board (assuming you don’t mind paying the extra) and getting a Dreamcast.
While PS2 would certainly be the preferred choice (I don’t have one yet, and am in no hurry to, but I WILL get one someday), the Dreamcast gives it a definite run for its money.
If you already have an ISP, I THINK you can play other people in NFL2K1 and Quake 3 (the latter may not be suited for youngsters). In addition, there is quite a variety of good, BEAUTIFUL games out there. While the number of titles isn’t particularly large at the moment, it is made up for in quality.
PS1 has the greatest number of titles, but the graphics definitely need an overhaul. N64 has better graphics, but cartridges are expensive and lack the ability to hold lots of data like the CD/DVD.

I own all three, and while I have more games for the PS1, I prefer playing games on the DC, especially Ecco, which is difficult, but is AMAZING to look at and play.

HOw old are your kids? if fairly young, you may not want them mucking around with CD based games as one good sized scratch and there’s $20-$50 down the tubes. N64 has fewer games and the ones they have are pricier (up to $70 for some titles)- however, Nintendo games are typically more family friendly, although they’re starting to edge away from this.

Owning both systems, I’d actually lean towards a Dreamcast- games are relatively cheap, plenty of family friendly stuff (especially in their $20 “Greatest Hits” line), and graphics that put the N64 and PSone to shame. It does have a built in modem so it can be used as a webTV or for playing NFL2K1 online (I figure Quake’s too gory for the kiddies). Several places have online coupons (try SegaSearch.com) so it can be as cheap as $120.

9-13.
I guess I’ll look over titles, but there were quite a few chase/race titles in the N64 “E” category the kids (and I) would enjoy.

Though I have limited experience with game consoles in general, I can think of one reason to choose the N64 over the Playstation:

San Francisco Rush!

Far and away the funnest driving game I’ve ever played.

Purdy, I got two words for you …

Gran Turismo.

And if that doesn’t work, I’ll throw in one more …

Driver.

Both on the Playstation.
If you like driving games, and these don’t float your boat, then there’s something wrong with you.

I THINK that the PSOne is on the market, I’m not sure though. The PSOne is the PSX, in a smaller size. You can run it off the cigarette lighter in your car, if you take long road trips. This may or may not be a consideration.

Other than that, I’d say to go ahead and look at the titles. I, personally, bought the PSX because SquareSoft makes games for the Playstation, and I can’t live without SquareSoft games. YMMV.

I’m getting a PS2 for Xmas…sort of. I told my husband that I’ll accept a (homemade) coupon, stating that he’ll buy me a PS2 when the price comes down to a more affordable level (we’ve agreed that we’re not going to pay more than the list price). This might not work with young kids, though.

Have you tried renting consoles and games? This might decide you one way or the other.

9-13, eh? I prefer N64, but Nintendo is closing shop on N64 soon, meaning few new games. There will always be its amazing library of classic titles, though. These include Goldeney, Perfect Dark, Super Smash Bros., SF Rush (mentioned above), and countless others. To Mojo: $70 a game? I think not. I can’t find them in the newspaper for more than $55, and old games go for $5 or $10. Dinsdale is lucking out by buying an older system by saving a lot of cash on games. As for Gran Turismo and Squaresoft, these are over-hyped IMNSHO. And yes, I have experience with them (own FF7, FF8, and rented GT2). Driver is a great game, but it and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 are the only games I’ve found that I like so far for PSX. To Havoc: When you say many N64 games are originally PSX games, you’ve GOT to be kidding me. For one, programming on a PSX CD is a quicker process than programming for a cart, so the PSX game and N64 game start around the same time, but the PSX version arrives a month or 6 weeks earlier oftentimes. This is irrelevent in Dinsdale’s case, seeing as the games are already out and few will continue to be released. A second note: Which came first?

  1. Mario Party or Crash Bash?
  2. Mario Kart 64 or Crash Team Racing?
  3. Glover (N64) or Glover (PSX)?
  4. Mortal Kombat 4 (N64) or Mortal Kombat 4 (PSX)?
    (there are many more examples)
    In all cases it’s the N64 game that preceeds its PSX imitation/clone.

The PS and the N64 are both pretty solid, but I have to second the advice of others in saying that you should definitely get a Dreamcast.

Check out the prices and you will see that it is pretty darn cheap (approx $150). You can find packages online and at retail stores where they give you the system and a couple games for less than the total cost of buying them separately.

The other bonus is that your kids will probably tire of the games you get them, but this can be delayed by playing against other people. The Dreamcast has a built in modem and your kids could play against people across the country at any time.

Good luck!

PS Here is a link to a plethora of reviews for Dreamcast racing games…
Happypuppy’s Dreamcast Racing Games

PPS They are usually pretty tough on racing games so take their reviews with a grain of salt.

[Edited by slythe on 12-12-2000 at 11:06 PM]

I’m a Sony fanboy, and proud of it. I have a Playstation and an N64. I’d get your children a Playstation. 9-13 is too old for the N64, in my opinion. Just wait until they get older, and into RPG’s. PSX has a TON of quality RPG’s, whereas the only ones for N64 are the Zelda games. I’m getting FFIX for Christmas, damnit…I have to wait!

You know it’s sad when you get a tan from your gaming television.

:slight_smile:

I miss our N64 :frowning: .
My brothers sold it on Ebay.
We still have a PS though and I definitely liked the N64 better. I loved Mario Kart and 1080 Snowboarding. (Goldeneye is pretty good too but something in the graphics made me dizzy…)
We also have a Dreamcast and although I can’t speak for the games (I never really play it), the graphics are amazing (in my opinion). We have mostly sports games like NFL2K, but that has skipping problems or something. Also my brother says that you can get this thing that lets you play PS games on Dreamcast (so even though Dreamcast has a limited selection of games you can play all the PS games on it).

I had both, and I far preferred the N64. Here’s my reasons.

  1. Ease of play. I took care of my CDs and I still got some that became unplayable because of scratches. The cartridges are durable, you can stick one in, turn it on, and you are playing, instead of having to wait through several 20-second load screens before you are actually playing. The controller is better designed and simpler, and having memory cards that plug into the controller instead of the machine make sense when you are frequently playing 4-player games, each person with their own saved character.

  2. Better graphics. The N64 is far superior to the Playstation when it comes to rendering 3D graphics. The programmers for the Playstation have come a long way squeezing more out of the limited capabilities of the PS, but they still haven’t caught up with the N64. I could go into detail on all the features that make the N64 better (anti-aliasing, z=buffering) but all you need to know is that in-play, the graphics on N64 games are going to be smoother and cleaner looking, and often in higher resolutions. It still doesn’t compare to what you can do on a 2 year old PC with a decent 3D card, but it’s better than the Playstation.

NOTE: You will not see much FMV (full-motion video) in N64 games because of the space limitations of the cartridges, but that is never actually used in the actual games (except for a few really bad ‘interactive movie’ type games). Often in newer games there are animated cutscenes, but they aren’t prerecorded like video, they are done with the game’s 3D engine.

  1. Better games. There are hundreds of games for the PS, but that is mostly because Sony does not do much to restrict software companies for making games for their platform, and since the Playstation has some similarities to the PC as far as programming. A good deal of these games are stripped down versions of PC games that were popular 3 years ago, and many are badly-translated versions of bizarre Japanese games that have limited appeal in the West. It’s kinda like the glut of bad 3rd-party games that killed of the Atari 2600 in '83. You will notice that, despite these hundreds of games, you will always hear about the same few games from PS fans. There are also really bad games for the N64, but the ratio is better, as Nintendo exerts (or used to exert, seems a couple of real stinkers slipped out lately) control over the quality of the games 3rd party companies make for them (often sending them back to work on the game more before they can release it) and they make consistently great games themselves. It would be a good idea to check reviews before buying any game, for any system, for the N64 I go to ign64.ign.com for reviews, for PS to psx.ign.com.

  2. Expandibility. You can upgrade the memory on your N64 for around $20, which will improve the graphics on many of the newer games, and allow you to play a couple of games that require it (the newest Zelda game, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64). You can also do neat things like transfer data between Gameboy games and the N64, or play the Gameboy games through the N64. They recently came out with a microphone that plugs into the controller that uses voice recognition to allow you to talk to in-game characters - so far it’s only used in one game, more of a kind of high-tech electronic pet toy than an actual game. Not anything I’m interested in, but kids would probably love it.

Now, the PS does have some advantages. It has far beter sound, and not just because of it’s CD audio capabilities. The discs can hold a lot more data than N64 cartridges, you will hear a lot more voice and prerecorded music in PS games, and in some cases it allows games to be bigger than could be done on the N64, like the hundreds of drivable cars in the Gran Turismo games or the huge pre-rendered environments in some of the games (though the N64 version of Resident Evil 2 shows they can do games that require more than one disc on the PS and do it better). There is more variety in the types of games, and in the number in each genre - there are about 5 good fighting games on the N64, while there are a lot more on the PS (but how many fighting games do you need?). A lot of the time you can find games cheaper, because of the large number of games that don’t get bought when released. New games on average cost about $10 less on the PS, they both go down a lot after they have been out a while and I predict they will go down a LOT more in months to come. You can also add a chip to your Playstation that will allow you to play copied games, so if you have a CD burner you can rent games and steal copies.

Well, there’s my informed opinion. In your case, I think you would definitely want to go with the N64, unless there were some particular games that your kids really want that are only on the PS, or if you are into bootlegging games, or if your kids like Japanese RPGs.

Okay, so my kids are spoiled! We have the PS, N64 and the Dreamcast. I enjoy playing them as much as they do. My son is 7 and he plays the N64 the most with the DC coming in a close second. I actually play the PS more than he does. I do agree with some of the previous posters about the N64 being more kid friendly. There are loads of games that have to do with Mario, DK, and Pokemon. I’m sure that your kids will enjoy any of these systems, but if most of their friends have the N64, you should consider it. Just my opinion. :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot, everyone.

I think we are going with the N64. For one thing, Mrs D already bought one, and is easily convinced to avoid the return hassle. And my kids definitely would rather open something on x-mas, instead of a raincheck. We are sticking with pretty general rated games. I’ve played and enjoyed my share of Doom, but I think my kids can have just about as much fun on things that aren’t as bloody. I played that Mariocart the other day, and that was a blast! When you are going from no gaming (and relatively little on the home PC), any of the big 3 would pretty much rock. We figure we’ve got about $200 invested in this system (2 controllers and about 4 games). If we want to step up to PS2 or some other system some time in the future, $200 isn’t too much to have spent.

Thanks again.

Just visit ebay.com & bid on a PS1 & N64, they are dirt cheap with lots of games with them. This way you can get both for the price of one new with one game.

I promised myself long ago that I’d never become biased toward any particular system until I’d played a fair share of games for it. I’m probably the only person that thinks this way…

Playstation: If a 32-bit system can still be popular after so many years, it’s got to have good games. And even you N64 fanatics have to admit, there are a lot of good Playstation games.

Nintendo 64: I’m sorry, but I really do not like Nintendo 64. When it came out, the graphics were pretty spectacular because of the texture filtering, but because of that, the polygons render verrrry sloowwly. I think it’s mostly because they even bothered to make the edges of the polygons blurred, which takes a helluva lot of time to draw. The result? A bunch of low-detail, blurry images, which gives you a very weird effect that looks like everything is made of marble. Compare the forest in Quest 64 with the jungles in Crash Bandicoot. The Crash jungles are easily 10x more detailed because they don’t need to bother with texture filtering.

Dreamcast: My favorite system so far. The Dreamcast is great, despite the fact that it’s not really 128-bit (64 bit game processor, 64 bit graphics processor.) The graphics on Dreamcast games are amazing. And they have a lot of kid-oriented games, too. I recommend Sonic Adventure (I could go on a full-page review of the good and bad things about SA), and Toy Commander (which is rather kid-oriented, except that it has quite a few military weapons. No blood though.) It also comes with a preinstalled 56k modem and a web browser CD (you can even use a preexisting ISP.) You can download stuff off the internet and save them to your VMU (including mini VMU games and add-ons for the games) And Sega has a policy saying that no game will ever be sold for more than $49.99, period.

Playstation 2: I still haven’t rented/bought a PS2, so I can’t give a full review exactly, but here’s the impression I get:

The Playstation 2 is basically as powerful as a Dreamcast. And I’ve even seen Dreamcast games that look much better than PS2 games (Toy Commander, for example.) The difference? Sony launched the Playstation 2 with a bunch of games that feature very high-detail objects, but not a lot of objects on the screen. i.e. fighting games, sports games, maybe an RPG or two. But the result is basically the same; the objects look slightly smoother, but it just shows that the PS2 game processor can’t handle as many objects on the screen at once as the Dreamcast. The system, and games, and also more expensive than Dreamcast.

Nintendo “Dolphin”/“Gamecube”/I forgot what they’re calling it nowadays: I saw a preview video for this a while ago. The graphics look very impressive. But the games…eh, personally I don’t care for another Mario game, or Zelda game, or another 50 Pokémon games, thank you very much. The only game that looked interesting was the Metroid game, but that’s not worth buying an entire system for.

My final vote: Dreamcast is the best buy. Okay, maybe that was a bit biased, but my conclusions aren’t totally unjustified.