N64 VS PS1 VS Saturn

[Koh]

Here we go, preferential question time for the 3D era consoles~

As a disclaimer, this isn't about the games themselves, as in not a question of "This system had X game, so therefore it wins."  Rather, instead, this is a question of which system you think was better with its pros and cons versus the other two systems.  For example, the big drawback the N64 faces right away is that it's a Cartridge Based System, instead of a CD Based System like the other two, so it's severely hampered in the memory and audio departments.  But it has a subjective pro over the other two, which is Texture Filtering, which made the edges of models and such look more smooth instead of like blocky pixels on the other two systems, at the cost of a more blurry looking final image.

With all that said, which do you think was the better 3D era console, and why?

[Kosheh]

they're all terrible

n64
- cart based systems were going the way of the dinosaur
- nintendo had really restrictive guidelines for developers, and devkits were pretty expensive (it's still expensive to this day - like $3000)
- you still had to license your fucking IP to nintendo
- since nintendo was kind of a grumpy grandpa of a publisher, as a result you had all these throwaway IPs god forbid you saw any of them due to mediocre sales globally
- N64DD LMFAO

ps1
- it was at the front of the pack, so hardware was greatly limited in comparison to the magic nintendo and sega put out
- wow, affordable
- just kidding it's CD based. oh sweet CD quality soundtracks
- had really lax developer policies, so it was far easier to develop for
- devkits were less expensive. i mean shit, even net yaroze was a thing lmao. we didn't see that much hobby development until like way past the dreamcast's life
- however that means you had very little quality control so you were pushing out games left and right and everywhere

saturn
- what even is that i am from america and i've never heard of this thing
- oh it's by sega? that's cool i guess where's the sonic game
- oh there is none what the hell is this console. what is nights. do i play this in bed
- similar quality control issues to nintendo here since iirc everything had to be licensed to sega to function as quality control, but as a result it really worked out for it didn't it
- too bad it didn't do too well here in america. did the thing even sell in europe?
- oh it's because of the price tag? well ok i guess so
+ burning rangers



whining aside i'd say that PS1 probably had it the best of the 5th gen gaming consoles, since because of the lax policies and CD-based games it kept them fairly affordable and accessible everyone and their brother owned one. there was also a humongous fricken library so there was literally something for everyone
sure you could tell me that N64 was the best and the expansion pack was wonderful and good and nothing in the era looked more beautiful but stop right there. do you even KNOW how much money nintendo lost packaging DK64 with expansion packs? lmao
oh whats that? N64 DISK DRIVE??? talk about a SMASH HIT

as much as i love the nintendo game, i can't help but to think about just how...weird the n64 generation was for them. it was actually the first time they got ousted from a household name. it was painful. dark days. heck, even the gamecube was kinda the odd game out and to an extent, the wii (which enjoyed popularity mainly cos they marketed it to LITERALLY EVERYBODY, which was a great idea)



mario party. 3 of them

[DioShiba]

The only things that nintendo really had going for the N64 were the Mario Games, the two Zeldas, Konkey Dong 64, Rareware games, and Smash Bros. That's just about it unless you count any of Treasure's games, one of which never made it to America for god knows what reason. God forbid that the saturn would even do well (although it did have Nights, so that was a plus in a way)

If I had to be realistic Sony pretty much knocked both consoles out of the water since you had way more flexibility with what you could do on the playstation. The only reason why nintendo even did succeed even around this time was because they made so much money off the super nintendo and no one challenged them seriously enough before they fucked over Sony.

I love the Big N but their business practices are literally similar to that of Disney, which I suppose is alright if you are trying to be family friendly and are afraid of a complete crash in the market but it was a stab to the back to many developers who actually learned what could happen if you pulled what Atari and whoever made the Commorade 64 would do.

[Zero Kirby]

Sony won in the market.

Nintendo won in my heart.

I always had and played more Nintendo 64 games than I did PlayStation games.

Never had a Saturn. Never had a SEGA system in general, actually, until long after they stopped making them.

[miyabi95_]

Playstation games are interesting, and I especially liked seeing the use of the system's 32-bit capabilities, cuz I'm a nerd for pixel art.

The only experience I really had with Saturn was a few games on a bootleg disk that *claims* to have full games, but their all just demos. LMAO
But Saturn could have been great, but they never really took the opportunity to make a quintessential Sonic game (that would have skyrocketed their profits, if you ask me). They were capable of doing it, what with all the 3D platformers and action games that were already on the console.
One thing I like about Saturn is that their arcade-to-console ports are pretty good. At least for the first-party games like Virtual On and the Virtua series. I wouldn't know about other companies.

Nintendo 64 focuses on one thing: FUN. NEARLY EVERY GAME I played was just pure fun. Even the fuggin blue-ass cartridge Pro Skater was fun. Smash Bros, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, Mickey's Speedway USA, were all great games. One thing that could have been better was the sound quality, which was already explained by Koh.

[Koh]

One thing that could have been better was the sound quality, which was already explained by Koh.

The audio was MIDI based because it didn't have CD audio quality capabilities...which lead to some ugly sounding ports on the N64.   Comparison tiiiiime!

PS1 version


N64 version


These ports were also gimped in other categories because of this too, like anything that was voice acted on PS1 was not on N64 like this game, resulted in a less quality experience.

[Zero Kirby]

I think it depends on the game.

I've no doubts that music generally sounded superior on the PlayStation, but I'm also thinking of The World is Not Enough, which was way better on the 64 than the PS1, even without full-motion video clips taken straight from the movie. It also had more voice-acting (though more out of necessity because of the lack of FMV), even though it sounds pretty compressed and they use soundalikes. I also think I liked the soundtrack a bit more but I'd have to take a listen.

(Also is it weird that I kind of like the N64 version of the above tune a bit more?)

[psychospacecow]

I'll vote playstation for one reason in particular. Its what I had and I still sometimes play PS1.

[Koh]

Well if we're going to talk about games too, I'd say it depends on the kind of gamer you are.  N64's library was mostly platformers and adventure.  PS1's library has platformers like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, adventure like Tomb Raider and such too, but it also has the most RPGs of that generation, in 2D, 2.5D or even 3D.  Besides FF7-FF9, there's also Final Fantasy Tactics, Legend of Legaia, Breath of Fire 3, Chrono Cross, Grandia, Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night and more that are all critically acclaimed.  The N64 barely had any RPGs at all.  The Saturn had a few, but I don't think it had any that exploded like the PS1 RPGs.

[BullockDS]

In terms of actual hardware, N64 wins for usually having the prettiest 3D (hi texture filtering), since unlike the Saturn and PS1, the N64 seemed to have 3D much more directly in mind. Nintendo also had the advantage of making some of beloved names and faces synonymous with N64; Sony was dependent on new gambles or 3rd-party properties once found on Nintendo, and SEGA goddamn near neglected their star child during the Saturn era (when the closest thing to the system's "mascot game" was a Genesis port, especially a game that was considered a low point in the series... hoo boy). This makes the N64 my winner, even though cartridges made games much more limited and expensive.

In terms of how developers handled hardware and software, PS1 wins easily (yes, fewer restrictions did lead to a larger output of stinkers, but it also made it a far more inviting platform for developers, which usually ended up bearing great fruit, also giving the PS1 a ridiculously long lifespan compared to the N64 and Saturn); the intersection of power and ease of access really helped many developers to establish quite a number of gaming norms. But it's been mentioned already that being the first to market meant the hardware aged the worst.

In terms of... fuck i dunno, arcade ports, Saturn usually did the best (although the tradeoff was that a lot of the 2D fighting game ports required a 1 or 4 MB RAM cart, and IIRC some of the SNK fighters had fucking proprietary RAM carts that contained graphics for games or something like that). However, the Saturn was much more built for 2D than 3D, which meant that developers couldn't as easily explore new territories like developers could on PS1 or N64, and in a way its arcade prowess (not to mention insane launch price) was a downfall as video arcades were beginning to make their way out. In addition, I believe the Saturn was just as much a bitch to program for as (or moreso than) the N64, albeit unlike the N64 it was mostly just the hardware side of things. And this isn't even to go into SEGA's sheer bungling of how they brought the Saturn over to America. (Unpopular opinion: the Saturn Analog controller is my favorite 1st party controller from this era.)

[miyabi95_]

The Saturn had a few, but I don't think it had any that exploded like the PS1 RPGs.

it had Princess Crown, which was never released in the west, but it's led Vanillaware to be where they are today. I think Saturn games should have had better marketing plans, cuz as far as I know, like half of the library of games were only released in Japan. PS1 and N64 definitely had more international/non-JP releases.

[Koopaul]

To me, the only thing that matters is the games. Always has, always will. And I don't give a shit about frames-per-second or processing power or whatever the kids think is cool these days. Nah. What matters is fun. And N64 brought me more joy and fun than I can remember.

The system had fucking Banjo-Kazooie on it! BANJO-KAZOOIE!

[Koh]

The system had fucking Banjo-Kazooie on it! BANJO-KAZOOIE!

But, did it have Castlevania: Symphony of the Night like the other two ?

The games themselves open up an entirely different can of worms, which is why I didn't want to have them here, because nostalgia will mostly dominate in that one too, lol.  The things that will be voted for would be purely nostalgia based instead of weighed reasoning, which is why I made this just about the hardware and their pros and cons versus one another, lol.  Another thread could be made that's like "Which systems did you own, and what games did you play?"

[puggsoy]

all of these sucked



pc master race

[Kriven]

The N64 had cleaner graphics, in terms of 3D. I get seasick playing PSOne games for too long (which is a shame, because there are some awesome games for the system). Then there's that whole four-player thing, and a million easily-found color variations...

The only thing holding the N64 back is its controller and its small library. I know the small library is because cartridges, but guess what delivery system isn't a frisbee if you drop it.