History Platform / Nintendo64

* The [[UsefulNotes/CentralProcessingUnit CPU]], a MIPS R4300i (the [[UsefulNotes/BinaryBitsAndBytes 64-bit]] version of the R3000 in the [=PlayStation=], hence the name) runs at 93.75 [=MHz=] and has an internal 64-bit word size, but it also has a 32-bit mode. This was mainly used by the games because A) the bus is only 32 bits, B) the 64-bit mode uses twice as much memory and bandwidth, and C) 64-bit computing was largely superfluous for gaming until introduction of HD graphics; games made in that era simply didn't come anywhere near breaking the limits of 32-bit architecture, and if they did the N64 wouldn't have had the hardware to handle them anyway.[[note]]Incidentally, Nintendo 64 games have had ports and remakes on the Platform/NintendoDS and 3DS, which are both 32-bit, with the latter being much more powerful than the Nintendo 64. Nintendo also released Nintendo 64 games on the Wii (which is a 32-bit system) Virtual Console.[[/note]] So, in other words, the "64" in the name was mostly for marketing, even if the processor actually was technically capable of running 64-bit code (at least, it delivered more than the Platform/AtariJaguar, which was also touted as a 64-bit console three years before the [=N64=]'s launch, but at most generous was only a 32-bit system with two [=CPUs=]).
* Besides, like most systems so far, the graphics are mainly handled by the MediaNotes/{{GPU}}, called the "Reality Co-Processor." It runs at 62.5 [=MHz=]. This actually contains another MIPS CPU core, albeit heavily customized. It has a [[UsefulNotes/FlynnsTaxonomy Vector Unit]] built into it, to handle special programming called "microcode."

* A common misconception is that the N64 was incapable of running full motion video like the [=PlayStation=] or Sega Saturn. This is actually false, as ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Pokémon Puzzle League]]'' and the N64 port of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' both have fully voiced FMV cutscenes. While the latter is admittedly heavily compressed, ''Pokémon Puzzle League''[='=]s cutscenes look like they came straight from ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'', with no compression in the audio or visuals.

* InsistentTerminology: If a game absolutely had to have a loading screen, Nintendo forces devs to make it say something other than "Loading"; ''VideoGame/QuakeI'' for example says "Building", while ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}} 64'' says "Accessing Mission Data".

* The Expansion Pak, which added an extra 4 megabytes of RDRAM in addition to the internally included 4MB. Unfortunately, since this was still the Rambus [=DRAM=] it still had the tiny texture buffer. So it could have increased texture detail, but not by much. Its main use was increasing the screen resolution and draw distance. Notably, two N64 games absolutely required it to be played: ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (presumably due to its origins as a [=64DD=] title and requiring the extra memory) and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' (Rare was instructed to use the Pak ''[[TechDemoGame somehow]]'', and in the end it was used to improve the game's lighting[[note]]A persistent urban legend has spread that the game only uses it to avoid a random game crash that showed up late in development, thanks to a story in a dev commentary from a programmer who worked at Rare at the time but not on ''[=DK64=]''; the lead artist for the game later commented on this, saying he'd probably conflated the mandate to include the Expansion Pak with the story of a bug that was discovered near but ultimately fixed before release[[/note]]). Another two games that didn't strictly require the Pak but were massively cut down without it were ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' (the Pak is needed to access the campaign, co-op modes, or any multiplayer features other than a stripped-down deathmatch) and ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}} 64'' (to play the ''Brood Wars'' missions or a new co-op mode). There are 62 N64 games total that, while not requiring the Pak, could still use it to optimize their graphics. Unfortunately, in at least one isolated case, it caused issues [[note]]''VideoGame/SpaceStationSiliconValley'' would randomly crash if the Expansion Pak was being used; otherwise, the Pak would in theory be invisible to the system and treated as a jumper pak if the game had no enhancements[[/note]], so the old RAM pack had to be swapped back in.

* Besides, like most systems so far, the graphics are mainly handled by the UsefulNotes/{{GPU}}, called the "Reality Co-Processor." It runs at 62.5 [=MHz=]. This actually contains another MIPS CPU core, albeit heavily customized. It has a [[UsefulNotes/FlynnsTaxonomy Vector Unit]] built into it, to handle special programming called "microcode."

* Cartridges sizes ranged from 4MB (''VideoGame/DrMario 64'', ''Charlie Blast's Territory'') to 64MB (''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium 2'' and ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''). 64DD disks were fixed at a constant 64MB. At first glace, this doesn't seem so bad, as games on the [=PlayStation=] like ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' would load all of its contents into RAM and run solely on it, but the reality was that larger capacity carts cost more to produce (and indeed so, as carts are composed of complex circuitry which would be expensive to produce anyway), so most developers had to make do with smaller sizes. When developers did opt for these larger carts, they passed the increased cost onto consumers, resulting in games that were often $20-30 more expensive than those on competing systems. Also, as UsefulNotes/FlashMemory wasn't nearly as advanced as it would become when USB flash drives hit the scene around 2000, 64 MB was at the time a very expensive quantity of solid-state memory, unlike the modestly-priced multi-gigabyte flash drives that became popular a decade later.

* The Expansion Pak, which added an extra 4 megabytes of RDRAM in addition to the internally included 4MB. Unfortunately, since this was still the Rambus [=DRAM=] it still had the tiny texture buffer. So it could have increased texture detail, but not by much. Its main use was increasing the screen resolution and draw distance. Notably, two N64 games absolutely required it to be played: ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (presumably due to its origins as a [=64DD=] title and requiring the extra memory) and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' (Rare was instructed to use the Pak ''[[TechDemoGame somehow]]'', and in the end it was used to improve the game's lighting[[note]]A persistent urban legend has spread that the game only uses it to avoid a random game crash that showed up late in development, thanks to a story from a programmer who worked at Rare at the time but not on ''[=DK64=]'' and, according to another former employee who actually worked on the game, accidentally conflated the mandate to include the Expansion Pak with a bug discovered near release that was fixed before release[[/note]]). Another two games that didn't strictly require the Pak but were massively cut down without it were ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' (the Pak is needed to access the campaign, co-op modes, or any multiplayer features other than a stripped-down deathmatch) and ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}} 64'' (to play the ''Brood Wars'' missions or a new co-op mode). There are 62 N64 games total that, while not requiring the Pak, could still use it to optimize their graphics. Unfortunately, in at least one isolated case, it caused issues [[note]]''VideoGame/SpaceStationSiliconValley'' would randomly crash if the Expansion Pak was being used; otherwise, the Pak would in theory be invisible to the system and treated as a jumper pak if the game had no enhancements[[/note]], so the old RAM pack had to be swapped back in.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'' (originally known simply as ''Command & Conquer'')

* Cartridges sizes ranged from 4MB (''VideoGame/DrMario 64'', ''Charlie Blast's Territory'') to 64MB (''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium 2'' and ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''). 64DD disks were fixed at a constant 64MB.
* Once through all that, the system supported a maximum cartridge capacity of 64 MB. At first glace, this doesn't seem so bad, as games on the [=PlayStation=] like ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' would load all of its contents into RAM and run solely on it, but the reality was that larger capacity carts cost more to produce (and indeed so, as carts are composed of complex circuitry which would be expensive to produce anyway), so most developers had to make do with smaller sizes. When developers did opt for these larger carts, they passed the increased cost onto consumers, resulting in games that were often $20-30 more expensive than those on competing systems. Also, as UsefulNotes/FlashMemory wasn't nearly as advanced as it would become when USB flash drives hit the scene, 64 MB was once a very expensive quantity of solid-state memory unlike the modestly-priced multi-gigabyte flash drives that became popular a decade later.

* The Expansion Pak, which added an extra 4 megabytes of RDRAM in addition to the internally included 4MB. Unfortunately, since this was still the Rambus [=DRAM=] it still had the tiny texture buffer. So it could have increased texture detail, but not by much. Its main use was increasing the screen resolution and draw distance. Notably, two N64 games absolutely required it to be played: ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (presumably due to its origins as a [=64DD=] title and requiring the extra memory) and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' (Rare was instructed to use the Pak ''[[TechDemoGame somehow]]'', and in the end it was used to improve the game's lighting[[note]]A persistant urban legend has spread that the game only uses it to avoid a random game crash that showed up late in development, but actual Rareware devs have disputed this; the crash had nothing to do with the Pak, and was fixed before release[[/note]]). Another two games that didn't strictly require the Pak but were massively cut down without it were ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' (the Pak is needed to access the campaign, co-op modes, or any multiplayer features other than a stripped-down deathmatch) and ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}} 64'' (to play the ''Brood Wars'' missions or a new co-op mode). There are 62 N64 games total that, while not requiring the Pak, could still use it to optimize their graphics. Unfortunately, in at least one isolated case, it caused issues [[note]]''VideoGame/SpaceStationSiliconValley'' would randomly crash if the Expansion Pak was being used; otherwise, the Pak would in theory be invisible to the system and treated as a jumper pak if the game had no enhancements[[/note]], so the old RAM pack had to be swapped back in.

* Grape Purple (seen on the 2019 official repro run of ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'')

** ''Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense''

** Games that were [=PlayStation=][=/=]Saturn ports featured pre-composed soundtracks, and/or games with licensed music used compressed audio, usually [=MP3=] or [[UsefulNotes/GamingAudio PCM]]. This allowed for licensed and/or real music on the N64 in expense for obvious lower sound quality, although one notable aversion was ''Resident Evil 2'', where the music was upsampled and ''actually sounded even better than the [=PlayStation=] version''!
** The other way was composing via UsefulNotes/{{MIDI}} or UsefulNotes/{{MOD}}, with the developers creating the soundbank to use or directly using the N64's built-in synthesizer. This gave music that took up way less memory and had higher quality samples, but the music tended to sound a bit artificial and a soundbank with extremely compressed sound samples made some game soundtracks on the N64 sound even worse than the Platform/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}}'', with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr6Y25El9p0&index=11&list=PL8-EyAHueCk2dpgLcL9IhU-dRIsVjuLTB Mortal Kombat Trilogy]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muidb_UdEkc&list=PLK_1tAVTWpKRm0--vozzxNLxKWPlWjv3g Crusin' USA]]'' being some of the worst offenders.

Moving onto the more... shaky part of the Nintendo 64, for as much praise as the console gets, it cannot be denied that it was the beginning of Nintendo losing their undisputed dominance in the video game market. Thanks to the company's reluctance to use [=CDs=], the high licensing fees they had for their cartridges, and years of restrictive policies that third parties were tiring of, many major developers and publishers (including Creator/{{Atlus}}, Creator/{{Capcom}}, Creator/{{Jaleco}}, [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]], Creator/{{Konami}}, Creator/{{Square|Enix}}soft, Creator/{{Sunsoft}}, and Creator/{{Tecmo}}) jumped ship to the [=PlayStation=]'s more welcoming ecosystem of [=CDs=], cheap licensing fees, a near-complete lack of content restrictions, and even marketing assistance; they would release few, if any, games for the [=N64=]. Naturally, the audiences that would have bought an [=N64=] got [=PlayStations=] instead when it became clear that the games they wanted would now be over there; particularly {{Eastern RPG}}s, as Squaresoft was one of the companies that ditched Nintendo completely during this era, taking the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series and the rest of their output with them. Not every major third-party developer left, mind you -- there were still exclusives (such as ''Namco Museum 64'') or ports with exclusive features (such as ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'') -- but for the most part, the Nintendo 64 was treated second to the [=PlayStation=] thanks to the restrictions that cartridges had versus [=CDs=], and the [=N64=] ended the generation with only about 400 games published for it, a fourth of what the Super Nintendo got and a ''tenth'' of the [=PlayStation=]'s library.

** ''VideoGame/Doom64'' was able to work with the system's memory limitations thanks to the game being based on the TwoAndAHalfD [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} id Tech 1]] UsefulNotes/GameEngine. The enemies are actually prerendered 3D models converted into sprites with viewing angles limited to the eight directions of the compass, helping free up resources to render the levels with hardware-filtered textures at reasonable quality. The enhanced 2.5D engine has tricks that give the illusion of 3D such as 3D bridge effects that are actually generated by invisible sectors lowering and raising depending on if the player is going under or over the bridge respectively.

** Nintendo of America helped to pad out the N64's lineup during its last couple years by strategically holding back localized games. Nintendo had more or less wrapped up N64 development by the end of 2000 in order to shift gears towards the [=GameCube=], so in 2001, ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing2001 Animal Forest]]'' was the sole first-party N64 game in Japan. NOA and NOE filled in the void with ''Paper Mario'', ''Mario Party 3'', and ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' (all 2000 releases in Japan), plus ''Dr. Mario 64'' and ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' (which Japan didn't get). Unfortunately, it led to games like ''Sin and Punishment'' and yes, ''Animal Forest'' getting lost in the shuffle.

Early on, Nintendo announced plans for a hardware add-on that, instead of [=CDs=], would use a proprietary rewritable magnetic disk format as its high-capacity storage medium. Unfortunately, the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive (or 64DD) saw [[DevelopmentHell constant delays]] and was a commercial failure when it was finally released in Japan in December 1999, which led to Nintendo [[NoExportForYou scrapping plans for a Western release]]. Although over sixty games were destined for the 64DD, only eight[[note]]not counting a dial-up utility disk and an ''VideoGame/FZeroX'' Expansion that required the base game to play[[/note]] would ultimately see the light of day. All of them developed by Nintendo, as every third-party developer that pledged support ended up backing out as the hardware kept getting delayed. All the other games intended for the 64DD were either reworked into regular Nintendo 64 games, ported to the [=PlayStation=] or [=GameCube=], or [[{{Vaporware}} cancelled entirely]]. Not that it would have matter too much if it was successful, as it didn't fully solve all the issues that cartridges had anyway.

* ''VideoGame/AidynChronicles'' (Last game released in Brazil)

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|1998}}: Rise of the Black Dogs'''

** ''Bomberman 64'' (Different than the above Bomberman 64; last game released in Japan)

* ''VideoGame/ABugsLife''

* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution Creator/{{Disney}} Dancing Museum''

* ''VideoGame/DonaldDuckGoinQuackers''

* ''VideoGame/MickeysSpeedwayUSA''

* ''Morita Shogi 64'' (The cartridges have a built-in RJ-42 Modem Connection port with which you were able to connect to now dead servers to play against other gamers all around Japan)

* [[/index]]''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' (The first--and, to date, one of the only--''Evangelion''-licensed games discounting the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series of crossovers to actually allow players to control the titular mechas, known for pushing the limits of the Nintendo 64's hardware. Only released in Japan.)[[index]]

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo''

** ''[[VideoGame/PuyoPuyon Puyo Puyo~n Party]]'' (Notably released after Creator/{{Sega}} had gained ownership of the series but before they dropped out of the hardware business)

* ''VideoGame/ShadowMan'' (Multi-platform but closely associated with the N64, where its mature themes stood out more. Was one of two games officially translated to Brazilian Portuguese)

** ''VideoGame/SouthPark'' (Multi-platform, was one of two games officially translated to Brazilian Portuguese)

*** ''VideoGame/MarioParty3'' (Last game released in Europe)

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' (Renowned, along with the subsequent ''Ocarina of Time'', for being the title to revolutionize 3D gameplay with features such as a fully-rotatable camera and analog-controlled movement)

* ''VideoGame/TiggersHoneyHunt''

** ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' (Last game released in North America)
* ''VideoGame/ToyStory2''

* [[/index]]Wrestling/{{WWE}}:

* ''F-Zero X Expansion Kit'' (The final 64DD release, and if not the most sought after, definitely the most famous)

* {{Bowdlerize}}: As the [[UsefulNotes/EntertainmentSoftwareRatingBoard ESRB rating system]] was firmly in place, this only happened in certain exceptional cases, such as the aformentioned ''Duke Nukem 3D''. Nintendo also insisted that Creator/{{Rare}} town down some of the blood and violence in ''[=GoldenEye=]''. And for reasons unknown, a number of games that were rated "T" by the ESRB for other platforms (such as ''[[VideoGame/{{Gex}} Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko]]'' and the first three ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater'' games) were rated "E" on the Nintendo 64, and had various changes made to secure those ratings. ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' would later be ported to the Platform/NintendoGameCube uncensored.

By 1996, UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames had already been underway for quite some time; the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn had both been released in 1994 in Japan and 1995 elsewhere, yet despite their successes at home were failing to adequately crack markets abroad. Meanwhile, despite being one of the first next generation consoles to be announced, Nintendo's "Project Reality" was nowhere to be seen. This isn't to say that Creator/{{Nintendo}} had been dragging their feet on the whole endeavor; the fact of the matter was that Nintendo felt like they could take their sweet time. Sure, while some regions were quite partial to other consoles, PC gaming, or still valued the arcade above all else, on a global scale? Nintendo had been ''the'' dominating force in the gaming industry since 1985. The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] had no equal, the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] had beaten the other [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames fourth generation]] home consoles by a good margin despite being late to market itself, and the smash success that was the UsefulNotes/GameBoy had just gotten a much ''un''needed second wind thanks to a little JRPG called ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''.[[note]]Please ignore [[UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy the eyeballs on legs]] gathering dust in the corner.[[/note]] Needless to say, Nintendo was comfortable with taking a few more years to fine-tune their 64-bit console, and the '''Nintendo 64''' saw release on June 23, 1996 in Japan and September 26, 1996 in North America, with rollouts in Europe starting in March 1997.

The [=N64=] has a bit of an odd legacy, but let's begin with some of the good. The system is best known for being host to some of the most groundbreaking and influential games in the industry's history, with titles such as ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' making the act of a VideoGame3DLeap look like child's play and laying the foundation for countless other 3D games to follow decades after their release. The [=N64=] also natively had four controller ports versus the competitions' two, which led to it being the go-to system for multiplayer fun; many who grew up with the system fondly remember spending hours with their friends playing games like ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'', ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64'', and the early ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' titles. ''[=GoldenEye=]'' is also credited as legitimizing the FirstPersonShooter genre on home consoles after years of questionable ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' ports[[note]]Plain fact is that outside of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation none of the Doom ports were on anything powerful enough to run it. The original UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar port, the only one directly made by id Software, came close but at the cost of not being able to include ''Doom'''s trademark music.[[/note]], setting the stage for ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' to firmly cement them as a multiplatform mainstay. It was also the first mainstream console to use an analog stick for its main controller, and have force feedback via a Rumble Pak, standardizing such features.

Of final note is the changing demographics of video game players. During the latter half of the '90s, the average gamer age started to increase in a meaningful way. While the portable gaming space would continue to be dominated by children and causal audiences, the home console space was starting become more and more the domain of teenage and young adult males. Combine this with Nintendo continuing to force developers to {{Bowdlerise}} in-game content to be more "family friendly", with even M-rated titles like ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' getting told to change the names of their items to be less adult (e.g., steroids became "Vitamin X"), and you have the start of Nintendo's reputation as a "kiddy company" among gamers, with their games and consoles starting to be regarded as [[AnimationAgeGhetto being strictly for children and overly-protective parents]]. The full effects of this wouldn't be felt until the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, but it begs mention here due to the [=PlayStation=] being successful in good part because its marketing captured this older gaming audience.

* The [[UsefulNotes/CentralProcessingUnit CPU]], a MIPS R4300i (the [[UsefulNotes/BinaryBitsAndBytes 64-bit]] version of the R3000 in the [=PlayStation=], hence the name) runs at 93.75 [=MHz=] and has an internal 64-bit word size, but it also has a 32-bit mode. This was mainly used by the games because A) the bus is only 32 bits, B) the 64-bit mode uses twice as much memory and bandwidth, and C) 64-bit computing was largely superfluous for gaming until introduction of HD graphics; games made in that era simply didn't come anywhere near breaking the limits of 32-bit architecture, and if they did the N64 wouldn't have had the hardware to handle them anyway.[[note]]Incidentally, Nintendo 64 games have had ports and remakes on the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS and 3DS, which are both 32-bit, with the latter being much more powerful than the Nintendo 64. Nintendo also released Nintendo 64 games on the Wii (which is a 32-bit system) Virtual Console.[[/note]] So, in other words, the "64" in the name was mostly for marketing, even if the processor actually was technically capable of running 64-bit code (at least, it delivered more than the UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar, which was also touted as a 64-bit console three years before the [=N64=]'s launch, but at most generous was only a 32-bit system with two [=CPUs=]).

* There are 4 MB (expandable to 8 MB via the Expansion Pak) of RAM, which is "unified." The system can use any amount it wants for main, video, and audio. Unfortunately, Nintendo chose Rambus [=DRAM=] for the system. It has a high clock speed and well over twice the bandwidth of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation memory, but the latency is so high those advantages are negated.

** The other way was composing via UsefulNotes/{{MIDI}} or UsefulNotes/{{MOD}}, with the developers creating the soundbank to use or directly using the N64's built-in synthesizer. This gave music that took up way less memory and had higher quality samples, but the music tended to sound a bit artificial and a soundbank with extremely compressed sound samples made some game soundtracks on the N64 sound even worse than the UsefulNotes/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}}'', with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr6Y25El9p0&index=11&list=PL8-EyAHueCk2dpgLcL9IhU-dRIsVjuLTB Mortal Kombat Trilogy]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muidb_UdEkc&list=PLK_1tAVTWpKRm0--vozzxNLxKWPlWjv3g Crusin' USA]]'' being some of the worst offenders.

** The Transfer Pak lets players plug in their UsefulNotes/GameBoy cartridges for gameplay benefits, such as being able to use Franchise/{{Pokemon}} caught in the Game Boy titles in ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium''.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: As the [[UsefulNotes/EntertainmentSoftwareRatingBoard ESRB rating system]] was firmly in place, this only happened in certain exceptional cases, such as the aformentioned ''Duke Nukem 3D''. Nintendo also insisted that Creator/{{Rare}} town down some of the blood and violence in ''[=GoldenEye=]''. And for reasons unknown, a number of games that were rated "T" by the ESRB for other platforms (such as ''[[VideoGame/{{Gex}} Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko]]'' and the first three ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater'' games) were rated "E" on the Nintendo 64, and had various changes made to secure those ratings. ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' would later be ported to the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube uncensored.

* DarkerAndEdgier: When compared to the Super NES years. Nintendo's censorship policies lightened up considerably for the Nintendo 64, with edits mostly reserved for minor aspects of the games, such as the aforementioned steroid power ups in ''Duke Nukem 3D''. A lot of teen and adult oriented games got released for the 64 that would have ''never'' gotten the greenlight in their older days--''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', which features a [[ArtStyleDissonance superficially cutesy looking platformer game]] loaded with [[BlackComedy shamelessly comedic gore]], heavy swearing and [[VulgarHumor scatological humor]], is probably the most notorious example of this. Downplayed in the sense that the console as a whole was still considered by both teenage and young adult gamers, as well as third-party developers, as a console primarly focused on children, especially when compared to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation.

* {{Vaporware}}: The [=N64=] is unusual among Nintendo systems for just how many high-profile cancelled and rebooted first-party games it has. A big part of this has to do with the troubled development of the [=64DD=], which screwed over a LOT of developers' plans. [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell Some games resurfaced on later systems]] like the [=GameCube=] (''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'', ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Master Quest'') and even the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance (''VideoGame/Mother3'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''). Miyamoto also spoke freely and candidly about a sequel to ''Super Mario 64'' in numerous interviews, which he later admitted would [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine probably not be actually released on N64]].

Early on, Nintendo announced plans for a hardware add-on that, instead of [=CDs=], would use a proprietary rewritable magnetic disk format as its high-capacity storage medium. Unfortunately, the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive (or 64DD) saw [[DevelopmentHell constant delays]] and was a commercial failure when it was finally released in Japan in December 1999, which led to Nintendo [[NoExportForYou scrapping plans for a Western release]]. Although over sixty games were destined for the 64DD, only eight[[note]]not counting a dial-up utility disk and an ''VideoGame/FZero X'' Expansion that required the base game to play[[/note]] would ultimately see the light of day. All of them developed by Nintendo, as every third-party developer that pledged support ended up backing out as the hardware kept getting delayed. All the other games intended for the 64DD were either reworked into regular Nintendo 64 games, ported to the [=PlayStation=] or [=GameCube=], or [[{{Vaporware}} cancelled entirely]]. Not that it would have matter too much if it was successful, as it didn't fully solve all the issues that cartridges had anyway.