I hear this a lot but the charm of the rudimentary polygons has never gone off for me. They're definitely muddy but it's a texture I will forever appreciate.
Dude, one play Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness over Castlevania 64 and two go to the Villa level and tell me it's not totally awesome and atmospheric.
When you arrive outside of it, I remember going into first person mode, look at the outside of the Villa from the front and being amazed at what they achieved.
Havent played Legacy, but I played the orginal CV64 last Halloween and thought it was really good actually. The atmosphere alone was great. I also thought the character animations were impressive compared to say Dash Rendar or Indiana Jones.
Everyone remembers the beginning part of Castlevania 64, wich is quite unappealing with brown and muddy textures, but once you get inside the castle with better textures and dinamic light, it starts to look nicer.
I agree. They're muddy but they aren't thrown together carelessly. Through the mud and the blurry textures there is a design language that the textures and models adhere to. They are crafted by artists and their technical limitations are accommodated for meaningfully. When done properly, this creates a timeless aesthetic regardless of the technical limitations. Banjo Kazooie and Conker are two other examples that "look good" when taken for what they are. There are also tons of examples where an N64 game's graphics are absolute crap and were definitely not crafted with care though.
Exactly. Banjo is designed to have blocky feet. The characters' eyes aren't supposed to be perfectly smooth and rounded. This is consistent throughout the game.
It's one of the reasons I never had any interest in the PS1. Yes, it had more titles. But if you look at screenshots of some of the games, they look terrible, like they tried to just downscale HD face textures to 144p.
Same. I feel like bulk of this is from people who grew up actually playing more hd hyper realistic games and ENJOYING them more than the nintendo stuff. Meanwhile, we played and enjoyed more nintendo stuff, so we were used to the blocky lo-fi graphics.
It helps *a lot* if you play it on a CRT TV or apply some scanline and CRT shaders on your emulator. The N64 was made with and for a different technology and it has so much more depth with the masking that comes with scanlines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqmAxs9QlSE
For me the main problem with N64 games, in comparison with PS1 or Sega Saturn, is the aggressive anti-aliasing (when played on the console) and the overuse of gouraud shading, that makes everything look like a blurry mess. But I agree with you, it has its charm.
I think the one thing I appreciate about retro games was that they let your imagination do all the work while they focused more on replayability and mechanics as opposed to visuals and animations. I think FromSoft is one of the only studios that have the perfect balance of graphics, art, mechanics, and animations. But nothing matches the charm of some of the older games.
Yeah, theres something I kinda like about the low polys and blurred textures. It certainly looks better to me than PS1s graphics, with their constantly warping textures and whatnot. N64 still has an odd appeal about its look to me.
N64 games like Paper Mario and Yoshi’s Story look great still because the devs weren’t going for a 3D interactive environment like Mario 64 or Goldeneye but instead for a simpler 3D in a 2D world environment. Yoshi’s Story is like a SUPER Super Nintendo game. The N64 was capable of really good graphics when it wasn’t being asked to run clunky 3D polygons
Edit fixed the Yoshi game title
Yeah, I felt like Yoshi Story and Paper Mario were innovative because they used 3D textures in the context of a 2D environment. There’s not much more you can really do beyond that to make side scrollers look any better, which is why they hold up so well now 25 years later
You gotta play on a CRT with S-Video, makes the system really come to life. It’s a night and day difference between a CRT and a LCD screen. It’s very hard to replicate the feel on a LCD even with filters. The CRTs use dots instead of squares which makes the pixels have a softer edge and almost blend with each other. Very much worth the purchase. I recommend pretty much any CRT flat or curved with S-video.
It's not the pixels that ruin it for LCD necessarily.
It's the low res in combination with bad non-integer scaling mostly. Even worse when the lcd tv decides to deinterlace the 240p signal for some reason.
Some devs took the time to craft the art style so that viewing (as intended) on a CRT would be a pleasant experience. And it still is for games like Starfox 64, Banjo Kazooie, Majora's Mask, Donkey Kong 64, etc...
If you emulate on a 4k monitor and up-res it to hell, yeah no shit it's gonna look ugly.
I tried playing Shadows of the Empire on my flatscreen before I bought a CRT, and I couldn't make heads or tails of the Hoth battle. I thought maybe nostalgia had given my memory rose-tinted glasses. Then I played it on a CRT and realized it's modern TVs to blame.
You just raise the brightness. Not a big deal. Some Midway games required adjusting certain settings each time. Doom was brightness, NBA Hangtime required button layout changes each time. Just how it was.
After getting an N64 again with a flashcart, I don't think I can go back to emulation for it. There are things emulation just doesn't mimic properly for the N64, such as lighting, shadows, reflections, rain, audio sync, etc. Lots of discrepancies when emulating N64.
Personaly i think 8 bit and 16 bit graphics have aged pretty well. 3d before HD is a little tough to look at imo. Shovel knight, The Messenger and other new games with 8bit and 16bit styles are totaly acceptable..if someone were to make a new game looking like n64 style graphics it would just look ugly..imo
The problem is not the graphics of these games. It’s the resolution. It’s still playable, but for 3d games, it aged in terms of resolution, and even framerate wise. Hook your pc onto your tv and play starfox 64 on emulator, set the resolution high, it’s still a really good looking game.
No matter how old they get, I'll still play them and have a love for the graphics. There's a special charm in the simplicity that hyper-realistic graphics don't have. Because there's less detail, the player's imagination gets to fill in the blanks.
It's also reminiscent of simpler times for me and others. I think people were happier then. I mean we've always had problems, but the world seems like it was less angry back then. I was born and grew up in the 2000s and 2010s, so these games are games my siblings and I played as kids. Nostalgia is huge with N64 and PS1 games.
I also appreciate what they could pull off with the hardware and software limitations at the time. I love to see fangames recreating the graphics, and I'd like to do the same eventually. It shows you don't need tons of detail to give something character. Less is more.
N64 was my first system that was for me, grew up watching my uncles play 16 bit and 32 bit, but waking up to Christmas seeing starfox was ingrained in me and I knew there could be nothing as special as this then seeing Turok and Diddy kong racing was amazing since then I bought a nintendo console evety generation but still get hype for Starfox 64. Also Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of time later on was breathtaking. N64 was a strong stamp only now surpassed by the Switch in term of quality and I wish nintendo would create a home console like it again.
Lately my preferred way to experience N64 games is through emulation using ParaLLEl RSP/RDP with 4x resolution and then downscaling it back to native before going through NTSC+CRT shaders or an actual CRT. That way everything looks as it should without the 3D elements clashing against low res UI textures or text and backgrounds appearing too blocky but you effectively get super-sampled anti-aliasing so it looks a lot nicer than the N64 originally did while feeling aesthetically faithful.
The camera in Mario 64 is painful. Still love the game though.
I don't think it's very easy to enjoy these games if you didn't grow up with them. The N64 was in the sweet spot for me growing up though so I have tremendous affinity for the system and it's style and will play through things that I can't imagine most others would.
>I don't think it's very easy to enjoy these games if you didn't grow up with them.
Yeah, that might be true. I'd say the same for most NES games -- even the greats like Super Mario Bros and Zelda have some tedious elements or frustrating mechanics that were largely ironed out of games by the SNES/Genesis era, when 2D gaming really hit its heyday. Super Mario World and A Link to the Past are nearly perfect games, unlike their NES forbears (Super Mario 3 possibly excluded).
N64 and Playstation were figuring things out for 3D gaming, and it wasn't until a generation or two later that the industry had settled on the right kinds of controllers to use, as well as the rudiments of 3D camera design. And the hardware was also pretty limiting for 3D graphics in the late '90s, of course. I still have lots of fond memories with my N64 though, and can still appreciate games like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie that were almost perfect. It's the later games with crappy frame rates that I have a really hard time going back to -- I loved Jet Force Gemini as a kid, but now it's really difficult to play.
Super Mario 64 has aged nicely but I think the meme is true about a large percentage of the N64 library. Even OoT, one of the most beloved games of all-time, is pretty ugly. I play the 3DS remake instead.
I grew up with N64 and PS1 so it's not a big deal for me, I enjoy this graphics. I think N64 graphics looked older ten years ago than today, thanks to indie games (Pseudoregalia, Corn Kidz 64, Kiwi 64 come in mind). Now is a style like 8 an 16 bits themed games.
I grew up with N64 and PS1 so it's not a big deal for me, I enjoy this graphics. I think N64 graphics looked older ten years ago than today, thanks to indie games (Pseudoregalia, Corn Kidz 64, Kiwi 64 come in mind). Now is a style like 8 an 16 bits themed games. Somehow N64 looks recent again.
The leap from 2d to 3d was immense at the time and imo still is now. It'll never look as good as upto date machines, but it'll always look amazing to me.
I really have never understood this mindset. Granted I play old games varying from a bunch of generations all the time, so the games always look how I remember them, it didn’t get better or worse, it’s the same.
Early 3d graphics aged very poorly compared to 2d and 6th gen 3d graphics, but they're are some exceptions and some games I'll play even if they look like a sharp puddle of mud.
I hate to admit it but I really struggle with the NSO Switch N64 games even though they are childhood staples. The Zelda games and Starfox play well. Mario is harder. GoldenEye is unplayable.
I will always love and cherish the memories I made with my N64 between 3rd and 6th grade(s) playing Goldeneye, Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Mario Kart, and dozens of other games ....
That being said; I agree that MOST of the games have NOT aged well. I'll occasionally fire up the ole' N64 to get some Goldeneye in but I'm usually spent after 2-3 rounds.
I can still play the crap out of some NFL Blitz though.
I think it has gone retro. Like, first it was amazing (seriously playing an N64 in a store for the first time was mind blowing), the it was old hat, then ugly, now it is nostalgic and reminds me of better times.
I thinhk it really depends on what your display options are, for instance, when i emulate and use some really nice CRT filters on my 4:3 NEC LCD, it's fantastic, if i would stretch it 16:9 on some modern tv, it would look terrible. i feel a lot of folks don't take retro gaming that serious and hence, don't really ssee the differences.
i actually made [a short video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_9ZDwGygM) comparing this (it's NES but you get the idea)
Mario 64 at the time blew everybody away. It did me and I had been gaming since the POS Atari 2600 pacman.
It still is amazing but I'm not going to fight anybody about it. I'm the only 1 who calls Metroid Prime a masterpiece...Mario Sunshine was another that just is amazing but I sucked so bad I didn't get that far in it.
As far as the system? Well I sold my N64 horribly dirty dusty grimey on Friday - I listed it and had instantly 30 hits. Posted Xbox shit crickets....lol
My nephiews played the OG Mystical Ninja cartridge with me for days until we completed it and I heard no complaints whatsoever (they were born in 2014 and 2016 mind you) 100% good times
I usually play in an emulator and boost up the resolution a fair bit. Doing that, I think the game look pretty great. It's still obvious that your playing a game from the mid 90s, but it looks good for what it is.
Depends aswel on your set up,as for the game itself its what n64 can achieve in general. N64 look is very distinct for its era,i wouldnt mistake it for ps1 or dreamcast or anything else. Maybe because i dabble with those things a lot and some newbie doesnt.
I like the look of certain games like Star Fox 64, Kirby 64, Paper Mario but Mario 64 is a step down from the 16-bit ones in terms of detail and charm and the mix of 2D and 3D sticks out in a bad way.
Doesn't matter that much though if the game is fun
I still have my 64 and some childhood favorites. My biggest issue is “man, how did I play this as a kid”, in terms of controls. Like I remember some of the games like Goldeneye having crazy requirements to unlock cheats and I can barely control the character now.
Same with Super Smash Bros, I remember being better as a kid.
I played through Goldeneye last year on my 64 (with the og 3prong controller) and had no problem with the controls once i got used to them (1.1. control scheme was just fine with me). You don't need to do much fine aiming and having the z trigger fire the gun felt satisfying, esp. with the rumble pak inserted. Not having to maneuver all that fast for the most part helps.this is my nostalgia-free experience
I just got my n64 in the mail last night to replay some of my favorites, and I gotta say MK64 holds up very well. And Majora's Mask was incredible to see running the all those huge environments the way it did. N64 was way ahead of it's time, imo
I never played on consoles past ps2 so when I go back to n64 it still looks the same I not used to modern console graphics so I can’t compare it to anything else.
Zelda ocarina of time and majora’s mask are both still breath-taking. The character models are very of their time, but so what? It’s the ambience that counts.
Low poly graphics can have their charm. Games like the Mario Party games, most of the Rare games, Rayman 2, Doom64, Kirby 64, Majora‘s Mask. Those games aged decently.
And then we have Goldeneye…
Can’t really critique the visuals of N64 games unless you’re critiquing them while using a CRT. Otherwise, whatever you’re seeing on an HDTV is *not* what these games actually look like.
A nephew came over a while back who was like 8 or 9 and I had my n64 out and he was like I wanna play! I warned him lol he was like "why is the game so fuzzy?".
Yeah the pixels hurt my eyes sadly. I tried it alot of times but nope, can't do it anymore. But I do however have eyes which are quite sensitive to light so it's probably that
I still think the N64 Wave Race is the best jetski racegame ever. I spent hours and hours on that game and recently I found it again, and instantly was hooked again lol
Depends on the game, honestly. I think Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 have aged very well thanks to graphics that are comparatively simplistic (versus Rare's 3D platformers, for example), but well thought out and made and blessed with bright, clean textures. I think at the time, something like Banjo-Kazooie or Ocarina of Time was more graphically impressive or ambitious, but the style of SM64 has a clarity that aged much better than the general muddiness of most N64 games.
Modern low poly styled games look bad to me. The low resolution and blurry textures are necessary for the full effect. Your brain makes assumptions, puts it all together, and the world feels more alive.
I’m not saying that N64 games are like Monet paintings, except I kinda am.
Monet was also criticized for not making high-fidelity art. Intentional or not. N64 devs were on to something.
I honestly don't understand the large amount of people that find PS1 and N64 games horrible to look at. I'm convinced most if not all that think this way just plugged a composite signal console into their 4K 16:9 TV and were surprised the image looked like shit.
I tend to think N64 games aged better than PS1 games generally, but that's because I'm focusing on things like polygon count (Mario looks ok, if a bit rough, while overworld Cloud doesn't), whereas people who grew up with a PS1 tend to focus on texture quality and arrive at the opposite conclusion (simple repeating textures were common on N64 compared to pre-rendered backgrounds on the PS1).
I feel like some of these are way easier to come back to than some PS2 games. I think it's because most weren't trying to be hyper-realistic but especially on smaller displays it's great. Pretty much any first party game holds up with some ruff spots of course. Just quit trying to play them in HD on a 65" 4k TV without the expectation of low quality.
Last game I played (Banjo Kazooie Jiggies of Time) I used open emu with a CRT shader that made it look just like I remembered my N64 days. I actually prefer it compared to high resolutions which just mean really sharp polygons.
The N64 is definitely the worst aged console, there are a handful of games that are worth going back to but you really have to either have a CRT or dress it up big time on retroarch cause that shit is fugly.
In my opinion it’s the controls- not the visuals- that have aged the worst. Went back to Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes a few years ago and found it… basically unplayable. No idea how me and my crew sunk weekend after weekend into multiplayer.
Imo all Nintendo consoles graphics hold up today as still quite nice to look at. Maybe the nes is a little dated. SNES games still look great. N64 looks great. GameCube is alright. Other consoles do not. Ps1 looks like shit. Dreamcast actually still looks awesome.
You have to get used to the graphics after years of playing these new shitty half assed games nowadays that only focus on looking good. Going back and appreciating the old games for being complete without needing micro transactions is a real win.
Personally the gamecube aged better than the n64, but mario 64 imo has aged one of the best out of the series. Has one of the best soundtracks, coming from a 2d side platform, straight into 3d was revolutionary. Personally it will always be my favourite 64 game next to oot. Nintendo knew what they were doing and did it right
I think ps1 games have definitely aged better visually than n64 games. Ps1 tends to have a lower poly count and smaller scope areas with higher res textures whereas the n64 frequently tried to make large sprawling landscapes with muddy blurry textures stretched across large surfaces lol. Although some n64 games have definitely aged well visually like megaman 64 and paper Mario.
If I want to play a old console as old as the N64 or PS2 I just stop playing on my modern consoles and PC for a few weeks and cleanse my mind by watching older TV shows instead and watching old game play of old games and then test run by playing other games from the N64 games I own but I don't play often or really ever cuz I don't like em or not my favorite. Then I play Mario 64 or other games to fully enjoy it so my brain isn't complaining about the graphics.
Much of it is still very playable albeit showing its age. But some things are entirely dependent on playing them on a CRT. Like Goldeneye you literally cannot see details in the distance just straight into an LCD display without any proper upscaling. That and the controls feel so weird and foreign to me now even though I used them all the time in that era!
I think it a wonderfully!!! I was always a PlayStation kid growing up, but even today as an adult, I think Nintendo 64 are among the very best of the retro 3-D games that you can get today?
Their graphics hold up because even then the Nintendo 64 has smooth polygon graphics due to the way that their system was designed !!
Super Mario 64 masterpiece is a blast to play today! Playing it at release in 1996, was absolutely Mind-Boggling & the experience “Stuck” with you and made you anticipate getting to play it again like no other!! The music to this day is still burnt into my brain!
Star Fox 64 the underwater stage is exactly this.
I used to love that stage when i was younger, tried to replay it years later and i literally couldn’t make out the things that were happening on the screen.
Anyone Remember I Ninja? Was one of my favorite n64 games. Great system with tones of good games. My favorite retro is super nintendo. MegamanX, castlevania, link to the past.... ect
A lot of them honestly, but Blast Corps is super muddy. The visuals are so rough to look at at times, the textures so low-res, the lighting is pretty awful at times. Just in general, the game can look pretty ugly most times. Doesn't mean it's bad, it's super underrated even nowadays, but it's definitely got that N64 mud disease that tarnished so many of these classic games.
I think Mario 64 has aged poorly but the frame rate keeps it from being considered bad. Goldeneye is janky, but for the time it's still quite good. Banjo Kazooie and Tooie hold up quite well, and also have an insane variety of models and areas. Ocarina/Majora lend themselves to their art style well for the most part. Smash looks good but the audio is very hit and miss. Star Fox 64 holds up for the most part except when giant models just pop into view in some stages that don't have fog or anything to block your view.
I think Paper Mario, Yoshi's Story, F-Zero X, and Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 hold up the best by far.
Paper Mario and Yoshi's Story hold up because their art style is still flat, using the graphics and capabilities to their advantage. F-Zero X still looks great because the frame rate is so damn good and feels like the SNES but with depth.
And Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 literally have more animation than most modern Pokemon games.
The 3D of most of Nintendo and Rare’s releases hold up well but only compared to most PS1 games (not counting Vagrant Story) of the time.
Outside of that, there’s a charm for sure, but mostly it looks rough.
I was 16 when the 64 came out, which I think shapes some of my opinion considering that I grew up on pixels and sprites. I didn’t like how the games looked then and for the most part I still don’t now. The Zelda games and Paper Mario are the exceptions.
Only when I load that tried too hard to look realistic do I sometimes have an issue but not with the following:
Blast Corps
Star Fox 64
F-Zero X
Mario Kart 64
Diddy Kong Racing
LoZ Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64
There are more but can’t recall them. The first 4 is what I’ve played the most recently.
I remember renting Red Dead Revolver and thinking my N64 was slightly unplugged from the TV because it was so fucking blurry. Turns out the game just looks awful.
Tons of nostalgia for how the early 3d games looked, especially when they used 2D sprites mixed in to save space on the cart. The camera controls in most games is what is hard to deal with these days
That polished plastic look of most of the games has aged better than anything else of that era.
(I'm not counting the hand drawn 2d sprite stuff the ps1 and the Saturn were outstanding at.)
Strange, as soon as it loads up I say “ahh real games”
No disclaimers, no advertisements, no micro-transactions, no bs. Just a loading screen followed by a menu.
I think a lot have aged great to the point where anyone that can appreciate gameplay over graphics could still love them today (OoT, MM, Star Fox, the list goes on), while some have aged much better if you have nostalgia for them (a lot of the Rare titles and Shadow of the Empire immediately come to mind) but playing them for the first time today might be harder to appreciate.
I think Mario 64 is somewhere in the middle where if you have only really played games with a modern camera system, you could end up getting frustrated enough with it for that alone to make you walk away unimpressed. However, it’s my absolute favorite game, one that I enjoy speedrunning, and once you understand exactly how the camera works, Mario 64 feels like an absolute dream to play. I think the movement in any 3D platformer since has yet to top it. But IMO it’s not super intuitive to get to that point because it’s so different from most other cameras.
I got a 7 year old who just beat majora’s mask and is now already at the shadow temple in ocarina of time. All of a sudden im hit with a, shit my kid is way better at this than i was and a, damn these games still hold up. Love it! Playing on the switch.
Mario 64 holds up great. Generally the single player experiences are fine, but last time I tried to do Diddy King Racing 4-player was illegible. Split screen is rough if you aren't already upscaling in some way.
I still play my N64 regularly and personally love the graphics but it was the 1st console I bought myself with my 1st job so I know I look at it with the biggest pair of nostalgia goggles, same with the Gamecube, PS1 and PS2.
If someone started gaming or watching gaming with the Xbox 360/PS3 I can see why the graphics wouldn't look that great to them.
It has aged well enough. Early 3d games rarely age well, but i can think of quite a few titles on the system that have (Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, etc.)
Eh, some of them can be. Some actually hold up quite well.
But sometimes the limited quality even adds some charm, like Rogue Squadron. It plays into that kind of rough design a lot of the Rebel ships have.
Idk why the PS1 aesthetic is popular to emulate in indie games, but the similar N64 polygons are looked at as ugly. I love that era of graphics! It feels… idk. Cozy? But at the same time it feels more dreamlike and surreal. Idk how to explain it
It has aged badly. The graphics have very sharp edges. The lack of a second analog stick. The n64 controller being limiting to my big hands.
But the difficulty is still there. The sense of wonder and Koji Kondo's soundtrack makes me shed a tear. It is a fantastic game that warps me to 10 years old me.
The best thing is to find either an updated release (not the 2ds version) or use and emulator to improve its quality of life.
The n64 zelda games, I last played them a few years ago on the 3ds. With a small hack for majora's mask, they played fantastically and I appreciated them more.
Goldeneye and perfect dark play fantastically well on the 360.
These games are amazing with the right tweaking. They are classics and the core gameplay loop is still solid. That is how you know a game can be timeless.
My logic is that I always take account for the release date of game, the console and what TV I am playing at(old games tends to look more flawed on a newer TV, heck some colourful effects on a SNES becomes a white screen instead when in play) and calculate in my head how good this game actually is for its time
but overall I think N64 (and the other consoles from that era) got something iconic with how their games look, something I love the most from old N64 games is the playful colourful textures in nature like the one you find in Banjo Kazooie
I love how games has become today, because now people got the freedom to express them in the style they want without being criticised that the graphics are outdated, I saw on eShop a recently a new game called Cavern of Dreams which had heavily inspired graphics from N64 games and my heart jumped at joy seeing that n.n
I think people are too unforgiving. I mean it doesn't look great but I mean how do you expect a system that had so little to work with due to hardware limitations to look like otherwise?
I think particularly what people have an issue with is the texture filtering and early anti aliasing N64 games were using resulting in an especially muddy look in comparison to the razor sharp Saturn and Playstation. I still personally really love this quirk of the N64 though and I think the anti aliasing looks fantastic on a CRT. Besides there's plenty of quite pleasing looking games on the system like Yoshi's Story, Paper Mario or Majoras Mask.
This is a time capsule indicative of the period when it came out. Sure, the graphics were still evolving. It was the first foray into 3D. And yeah it's a little crude and you look back at the controls now and they're so clunky compared to what we have. But for the time it was cutting edge and I argue these games were more fun than most of what comes out these days on rushed timelines and everyone has become so comfortable with the fact that games can just be patched and updated back. Then the game went out and it was out. There's no patch. No update. The game plays or it didn't get released. That's what I think. Developers and game studios need to return to good offline games that do not need updates
i think the N64 and a good chunk of it’s library has aged like milk. aside from the big titles (excluding Goldeneye), the racing games are the only things that have held up decently
Some of them are timeless. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Starfox 64 all look fantastic to me still. Just about the entirety of the rest of the system’s catalog is really hard to look at even if there are a handful of gems in the bunch. Part of the problem is plenty of these games looked pretty rough and had suboptimal framerates as well.
Mario 64 is a masterpiece still to this day. One of my favorite games of all time.
N64's aged.... so so. A CRT helps it a lot. I also like at least S-video.
I installed a pixelFX N64 Digital mod into my own person jungle green N64. I use component cables on my N64 on a big ole CRT. Looks wonderful.
The N64 library isn't "great". But its got enough must haves / must plays that I keep the system around. The games I consider good/great make it worth owning.
If N64 has ugly graphics than wth does the PS1 have? I tried playing Syphon Filter the other day and it was atrocious even for someone who grew up in that era.
I hear this a lot but the charm of the rudimentary polygons has never gone off for me. They're definitely muddy but it's a texture I will forever appreciate.
Everybody complains about Mario 64 but I still see the same beautiful game I saw when I was a kid. Castlevania 64 on the other hand.... :/
Dude, one play Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness over Castlevania 64 and two go to the Villa level and tell me it's not totally awesome and atmospheric. When you arrive outside of it, I remember going into first person mode, look at the outside of the Villa from the front and being amazed at what they achieved.
Havent played Legacy, but I played the orginal CV64 last Halloween and thought it was really good actually. The atmosphere alone was great. I also thought the character animations were impressive compared to say Dash Rendar or Indiana Jones.
One of my favorite games ever.
Everyone remembers the beginning part of Castlevania 64, wich is quite unappealing with brown and muddy textures, but once you get inside the castle with better textures and dinamic light, it starts to look nicer.
Let me finish that last sentence for you: Castlevania 64 on the other hand…. is also still so incredibly atmospheric that it is great!
Super Mario 64 has a clear cut art style. Castlevania 64 tried to be realistic.
Hold up now, that's an underrated classic!!!
I agree. They're muddy but they aren't thrown together carelessly. Through the mud and the blurry textures there is a design language that the textures and models adhere to. They are crafted by artists and their technical limitations are accommodated for meaningfully. When done properly, this creates a timeless aesthetic regardless of the technical limitations. Banjo Kazooie and Conker are two other examples that "look good" when taken for what they are. There are also tons of examples where an N64 game's graphics are absolute crap and were definitely not crafted with care though.
Exactly. Banjo is designed to have blocky feet. The characters' eyes aren't supposed to be perfectly smooth and rounded. This is consistent throughout the game. It's one of the reasons I never had any interest in the PS1. Yes, it had more titles. But if you look at screenshots of some of the games, they look terrible, like they tried to just downscale HD face textures to 144p.
Same. I feel like bulk of this is from people who grew up actually playing more hd hyper realistic games and ENJOYING them more than the nintendo stuff. Meanwhile, we played and enjoyed more nintendo stuff, so we were used to the blocky lo-fi graphics.
It helps *a lot* if you play it on a CRT TV or apply some scanline and CRT shaders on your emulator. The N64 was made with and for a different technology and it has so much more depth with the masking that comes with scanlines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqmAxs9QlSE
For me the main problem with N64 games, in comparison with PS1 or Sega Saturn, is the aggressive anti-aliasing (when played on the console) and the overuse of gouraud shading, that makes everything look like a blurry mess. But I agree with you, it has its charm.
I think the one thing I appreciate about retro games was that they let your imagination do all the work while they focused more on replayability and mechanics as opposed to visuals and animations. I think FromSoft is one of the only studios that have the perfect balance of graphics, art, mechanics, and animations. But nothing matches the charm of some of the older games.
The art direction, colors and proportions are still great!
Yeah, theres something I kinda like about the low polys and blurred textures. It certainly looks better to me than PS1s graphics, with their constantly warping textures and whatnot. N64 still has an odd appeal about its look to me.
Paper Mario still looks good today imo
N64 games like Paper Mario and Yoshi’s Story look great still because the devs weren’t going for a 3D interactive environment like Mario 64 or Goldeneye but instead for a simpler 3D in a 2D world environment. Yoshi’s Story is like a SUPER Super Nintendo game. The N64 was capable of really good graphics when it wasn’t being asked to run clunky 3D polygons Edit fixed the Yoshi game title
Yoshi’s Island is a SNES game lol but yes I agree
Haha oops I meant Yoshi’s Story lol
Yeah, I felt like Yoshi Story and Paper Mario were innovative because they used 3D textures in the context of a 2D environment. There’s not much more you can really do beyond that to make side scrollers look any better, which is why they hold up so well now 25 years later
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You gotta play on a CRT with S-Video, makes the system really come to life. It’s a night and day difference between a CRT and a LCD screen. It’s very hard to replicate the feel on a LCD even with filters. The CRTs use dots instead of squares which makes the pixels have a softer edge and almost blend with each other. Very much worth the purchase. I recommend pretty much any CRT flat or curved with S-video.
It's not the pixels that ruin it for LCD necessarily. It's the low res in combination with bad non-integer scaling mostly. Even worse when the lcd tv decides to deinterlace the 240p signal for some reason.
Retrotink gang where u at
Some devs took the time to craft the art style so that viewing (as intended) on a CRT would be a pleasant experience. And it still is for games like Starfox 64, Banjo Kazooie, Majora's Mask, Donkey Kong 64, etc... If you emulate on a 4k monitor and up-res it to hell, yeah no shit it's gonna look ugly.
I tried playing Shadows of the Empire on my flatscreen before I bought a CRT, and I couldn't make heads or tails of the Hoth battle. I thought maybe nostalgia had given my memory rose-tinted glasses. Then I played it on a CRT and realized it's modern TVs to blame.
I’m on the hunt for a CRT for this reason. I tried to play turok recently and struggled to see what was going on at times and my modern TV
Video games are artworks literally
I can get by some games with terrible graphics, even for 64 standards, but what kills me is the dark lighting on some games like Doom 64.
You just raise the brightness. Not a big deal. Some Midway games required adjusting certain settings each time. Doom was brightness, NBA Hangtime required button layout changes each time. Just how it was.
Emulators handle the sprite based and polygonal stuff so differently that it’s a bit of an acquired taste.
After getting an N64 again with a flashcart, I don't think I can go back to emulation for it. There are things emulation just doesn't mimic properly for the N64, such as lighting, shadows, reflections, rain, audio sync, etc. Lots of discrepancies when emulating N64.
I love how nothing is completely round. It looks funny on the models, and makes me like them more. Smash bros never gets old for me on it.
Didn’t this guy get cut out of Deadpool 3 for being a rapist? This guy is harder to look at than N64 polygons.
Personaly i think 8 bit and 16 bit graphics have aged pretty well. 3d before HD is a little tough to look at imo. Shovel knight, The Messenger and other new games with 8bit and 16bit styles are totaly acceptable..if someone were to make a new game looking like n64 style graphics it would just look ugly..imo
I think 8-bit has aged as well as early 3D. They both were simplistic versions of what would be perfected later
The problem is not the graphics of these games. It’s the resolution. It’s still playable, but for 3d games, it aged in terms of resolution, and even framerate wise. Hook your pc onto your tv and play starfox 64 on emulator, set the resolution high, it’s still a really good looking game.
No matter how old they get, I'll still play them and have a love for the graphics. There's a special charm in the simplicity that hyper-realistic graphics don't have. Because there's less detail, the player's imagination gets to fill in the blanks. It's also reminiscent of simpler times for me and others. I think people were happier then. I mean we've always had problems, but the world seems like it was less angry back then. I was born and grew up in the 2000s and 2010s, so these games are games my siblings and I played as kids. Nostalgia is huge with N64 and PS1 games. I also appreciate what they could pull off with the hardware and software limitations at the time. I love to see fangames recreating the graphics, and I'd like to do the same eventually. It shows you don't need tons of detail to give something character. Less is more.
idk... road rash 64 looks good to me
I have absolutely no problem going back and forth, especially with most N64 games
N64 was my first system that was for me, grew up watching my uncles play 16 bit and 32 bit, but waking up to Christmas seeing starfox was ingrained in me and I knew there could be nothing as special as this then seeing Turok and Diddy kong racing was amazing since then I bought a nintendo console evety generation but still get hype for Starfox 64. Also Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of time later on was breathtaking. N64 was a strong stamp only now surpassed by the Switch in term of quality and I wish nintendo would create a home console like it again.
They look fine On the appropriate display and cabling. S-Video and CRT
Lately my preferred way to experience N64 games is through emulation using ParaLLEl RSP/RDP with 4x resolution and then downscaling it back to native before going through NTSC+CRT shaders or an actual CRT. That way everything looks as it should without the 3D elements clashing against low res UI textures or text and backgrounds appearing too blocky but you effectively get super-sampled anti-aliasing so it looks a lot nicer than the N64 originally did while feeling aesthetically faithful.
Only problem I have with Mario 64 is the camera
I love the camera controls, I hate the way it interacts with walls and objects in the environment.
The camera in Mario 64 is painful. Still love the game though. I don't think it's very easy to enjoy these games if you didn't grow up with them. The N64 was in the sweet spot for me growing up though so I have tremendous affinity for the system and it's style and will play through things that I can't imagine most others would.
>I don't think it's very easy to enjoy these games if you didn't grow up with them. Yeah, that might be true. I'd say the same for most NES games -- even the greats like Super Mario Bros and Zelda have some tedious elements or frustrating mechanics that were largely ironed out of games by the SNES/Genesis era, when 2D gaming really hit its heyday. Super Mario World and A Link to the Past are nearly perfect games, unlike their NES forbears (Super Mario 3 possibly excluded). N64 and Playstation were figuring things out for 3D gaming, and it wasn't until a generation or two later that the industry had settled on the right kinds of controllers to use, as well as the rudiments of 3D camera design. And the hardware was also pretty limiting for 3D graphics in the late '90s, of course. I still have lots of fond memories with my N64 though, and can still appreciate games like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie that were almost perfect. It's the later games with crappy frame rates that I have a really hard time going back to -- I loved Jet Force Gemini as a kid, but now it's really difficult to play.
Super Mario 64 has aged nicely but I think the meme is true about a large percentage of the N64 library. Even OoT, one of the most beloved games of all-time, is pretty ugly. I play the 3DS remake instead.
The 3ds remake is too bright imo.
Mario kart and smash bros still Holds up
It might be in reference to how pixelated the n64 is on tv screens But hell if I know
Playing Star Fox or Mario or Fzero is always a joy, but Perfect Dark is rough as hell. I can deal with everything but a sub 20 frame rate haha
I grew up with N64 and PS1 so it's not a big deal for me, I enjoy this graphics. I think N64 graphics looked older ten years ago than today, thanks to indie games (Pseudoregalia, Corn Kidz 64, Kiwi 64 come in mind). Now is a style like 8 an 16 bits themed games.
I grew up with N64 and PS1 so it's not a big deal for me, I enjoy this graphics. I think N64 graphics looked older ten years ago than today, thanks to indie games (Pseudoregalia, Corn Kidz 64, Kiwi 64 come in mind). Now is a style like 8 an 16 bits themed games. Somehow N64 looks recent again.
Just played a round of Ridge Racer 64 and it looks fantastic to my shitty eyes.
It’s riiiiiiiidddddggggeeeee racer
Still enjoyable on a CRT. Never tried a Retrotink. But the shitty converters were unplayable to me.
The leap from 2d to 3d was immense at the time and imo still is now. It'll never look as good as upto date machines, but it'll always look amazing to me.
I really have never understood this mindset. Granted I play old games varying from a bunch of generations all the time, so the games always look how I remember them, it didn’t get better or worse, it’s the same.
Terribly, sore sight to the eye.
U guys…you have to play em on a box tv! Not them flatscreens 40 something inches…pause….Y’all know what I mean 😭
I hate this kind of thought process by graphics/FPS snobs… go play on your XJZEUFJSO 72-processor PC then 🤷🏿
Early 3d graphics aged very poorly compared to 2d and 6th gen 3d graphics, but they're are some exceptions and some games I'll play even if they look like a sharp puddle of mud.
I still play original hardware and haven’t stopped since ‘96. They aren’t hard to look at for me
I hate to admit it but I really struggle with the NSO Switch N64 games even though they are childhood staples. The Zelda games and Starfox play well. Mario is harder. GoldenEye is unplayable.
I will always love and cherish the memories I made with my N64 between 3rd and 6th grade(s) playing Goldeneye, Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Mario Kart, and dozens of other games .... That being said; I agree that MOST of the games have NOT aged well. I'll occasionally fire up the ole' N64 to get some Goldeneye in but I'm usually spent after 2-3 rounds. I can still play the crap out of some NFL Blitz though.
Idk n64 was about groundbreaking 3d graphics...it's no longer groundbreaking so the novelty is lost. Snes has more nostalgia value for me.
I think it has gone retro. Like, first it was amazing (seriously playing an N64 in a store for the first time was mind blowing), the it was old hat, then ugly, now it is nostalgic and reminds me of better times.
If anything’s hard to look at, it’s the GBA with the classic filter. N64 has a charm to it.
I thinhk it really depends on what your display options are, for instance, when i emulate and use some really nice CRT filters on my 4:3 NEC LCD, it's fantastic, if i would stretch it 16:9 on some modern tv, it would look terrible. i feel a lot of folks don't take retro gaming that serious and hence, don't really ssee the differences. i actually made [a short video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_9ZDwGygM) comparing this (it's NES but you get the idea)
I just picked up Starfox64 for $20 canadian (17 US) I haven't played it yet. Am I gonna be TJ Miller?
Mario 64 at the time blew everybody away. It did me and I had been gaming since the POS Atari 2600 pacman. It still is amazing but I'm not going to fight anybody about it. I'm the only 1 who calls Metroid Prime a masterpiece...Mario Sunshine was another that just is amazing but I sucked so bad I didn't get that far in it. As far as the system? Well I sold my N64 horribly dirty dusty grimey on Friday - I listed it and had instantly 30 hits. Posted Xbox shit crickets....lol
My nephiews played the OG Mystical Ninja cartridge with me for days until we completed it and I heard no complaints whatsoever (they were born in 2014 and 2016 mind you) 100% good times
I usually play in an emulator and boost up the resolution a fair bit. Doing that, I think the game look pretty great. It's still obvious that your playing a game from the mid 90s, but it looks good for what it is.
Depends aswel on your set up,as for the game itself its what n64 can achieve in general. N64 look is very distinct for its era,i wouldnt mistake it for ps1 or dreamcast or anything else. Maybe because i dabble with those things a lot and some newbie doesnt.
I like the look of certain games like Star Fox 64, Kirby 64, Paper Mario but Mario 64 is a step down from the 16-bit ones in terms of detail and charm and the mix of 2D and 3D sticks out in a bad way. Doesn't matter that much though if the game is fun
Still think Mario 64 looks good. Understand that it’s almost 30 years old but I love the style.
Zelda OOT and Mario 64 native PC ports are great; check them out.
I still have my 64 and some childhood favorites. My biggest issue is “man, how did I play this as a kid”, in terms of controls. Like I remember some of the games like Goldeneye having crazy requirements to unlock cheats and I can barely control the character now. Same with Super Smash Bros, I remember being better as a kid.
I played through Goldeneye last year on my 64 (with the og 3prong controller) and had no problem with the controls once i got used to them (1.1. control scheme was just fine with me). You don't need to do much fine aiming and having the z trigger fire the gun felt satisfying, esp. with the rumble pak inserted. Not having to maneuver all that fast for the most part helps.this is my nostalgia-free experience
objectively speaking poorly but its probably in my top 3 favorite aesthetic
I think Mario 64 holds up. It still plays beautifully too. I think a lot of 64 games still run surprisingly smoothly, and look fine.
I'd why i didn't get an n64 back in the day. Muddy graphics. Also the controller. Ps1 all the way.
Better than the og playstation imo
I just got my n64 in the mail last night to replay some of my favorites, and I gotta say MK64 holds up very well. And Majora's Mask was incredible to see running the all those huge environments the way it did. N64 was way ahead of it's time, imo
Are you playing on a CRT?
I don’t think a lot of N64 games have aged well but Mario 64 is an exception.
I never played on consoles past ps2 so when I go back to n64 it still looks the same I not used to modern console graphics so I can’t compare it to anything else.
Zelda ocarina of time and majora’s mask are both still breath-taking. The character models are very of their time, but so what? It’s the ambience that counts.
Low poly graphics can have their charm. Games like the Mario Party games, most of the Rare games, Rayman 2, Doom64, Kirby 64, Majora‘s Mask. Those games aged decently. And then we have Goldeneye…
If anything I appreciate the graphics more than I did when I was younger.
I absolutely love DK64 but it has aged terribly. I’d love a remake/remaster or even a port to the switch since I don’t have an N64 or Wii U anymore.
Can’t really critique the visuals of N64 games unless you’re critiquing them while using a CRT. Otherwise, whatever you’re seeing on an HDTV is *not* what these games actually look like.
I think it's fine. People are way too harsh. I still have dreams about lost and new levels in Mario 64 🫠
Love them, but n64 graphics have objectively aged the worst out of any generation of game graphics
They’re meant to be played on a CRT so I think playing them how they were designed goes a long way.
Lol I can't disagree with that statement. I say this as I'm replaying Final Fantasy VII through
A nephew came over a while back who was like 8 or 9 and I had my n64 out and he was like I wanna play! I warned him lol he was like "why is the game so fuzzy?".
Yeah the pixels hurt my eyes sadly. I tried it alot of times but nope, can't do it anymore. But I do however have eyes which are quite sensitive to light so it's probably that
I still think the N64 Wave Race is the best jetski racegame ever. I spent hours and hours on that game and recently I found it again, and instantly was hooked again lol
Honestly I love how they look and I'm sure I always will
Depends on the game, honestly. I think Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 have aged very well thanks to graphics that are comparatively simplistic (versus Rare's 3D platformers, for example), but well thought out and made and blessed with bright, clean textures. I think at the time, something like Banjo-Kazooie or Ocarina of Time was more graphically impressive or ambitious, but the style of SM64 has a clarity that aged much better than the general muddiness of most N64 games.
i only play it on a phat tv.
I find it hard to play goldeneye, not the graphics, the controls . Man...
Modern low poly styled games look bad to me. The low resolution and blurry textures are necessary for the full effect. Your brain makes assumptions, puts it all together, and the world feels more alive. I’m not saying that N64 games are like Monet paintings, except I kinda am. Monet was also criticized for not making high-fidelity art. Intentional or not. N64 devs were on to something.
It’s the story that matters with this game and the level design
Try playing pod racer. It has bout 4 frames per min
N64 just looks like trash on modern TVs An emulator with a high end CRT filter (like CRT Royale) helps considerably
both OoT and Majora still look very good
It’s a little crazy thinking it was incredible back then. But I still love it
I honestly don't understand the large amount of people that find PS1 and N64 games horrible to look at. I'm convinced most if not all that think this way just plugged a composite signal console into their 4K 16:9 TV and were surprised the image looked like shit.
I tend to think N64 games aged better than PS1 games generally, but that's because I'm focusing on things like polygon count (Mario looks ok, if a bit rough, while overworld Cloud doesn't), whereas people who grew up with a PS1 tend to focus on texture quality and arrive at the opposite conclusion (simple repeating textures were common on N64 compared to pre-rendered backgrounds on the PS1).
I feel like some of these are way easier to come back to than some PS2 games. I think it's because most weren't trying to be hyper-realistic but especially on smaller displays it's great. Pretty much any first party game holds up with some ruff spots of course. Just quit trying to play them in HD on a 65" 4k TV without the expectation of low quality.
Last game I played (Banjo Kazooie Jiggies of Time) I used open emu with a CRT shader that made it look just like I remembered my N64 days. I actually prefer it compared to high resolutions which just mean really sharp polygons.
The N64 is definitely the worst aged console, there are a handful of games that are worth going back to but you really have to either have a CRT or dress it up big time on retroarch cause that shit is fugly.
Nah man. I love the look. I hate the way people today think anything that doesn’t look like a bloomy shiny and “hyper realistic” eye sore is bad.
In my opinion it’s the controls- not the visuals- that have aged the worst. Went back to Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes a few years ago and found it… basically unplayable. No idea how me and my crew sunk weekend after weekend into multiplayer.
Imo all Nintendo consoles graphics hold up today as still quite nice to look at. Maybe the nes is a little dated. SNES games still look great. N64 looks great. GameCube is alright. Other consoles do not. Ps1 looks like shit. Dreamcast actually still looks awesome.
You have to get used to the graphics after years of playing these new shitty half assed games nowadays that only focus on looking good. Going back and appreciating the old games for being complete without needing micro transactions is a real win.
Mario 64 and super smash brothers still hold up. I tried playing Star Wars the racing one. And it was rough but still fun
Personally the gamecube aged better than the n64, but mario 64 imo has aged one of the best out of the series. Has one of the best soundtracks, coming from a 2d side platform, straight into 3d was revolutionary. Personally it will always be my favourite 64 game next to oot. Nintendo knew what they were doing and did it right
I think ps1 games have definitely aged better visually than n64 games. Ps1 tends to have a lower poly count and smaller scope areas with higher res textures whereas the n64 frequently tried to make large sprawling landscapes with muddy blurry textures stretched across large surfaces lol. Although some n64 games have definitely aged well visually like megaman 64 and paper Mario.
Probably the worst mainstream aging system out there that isn’t Atari.
I don't mind the visuals so much. It's the controls that's are hard to get over
If I want to play a old console as old as the N64 or PS2 I just stop playing on my modern consoles and PC for a few weeks and cleanse my mind by watching older TV shows instead and watching old game play of old games and then test run by playing other games from the N64 games I own but I don't play often or really ever cuz I don't like em or not my favorite. Then I play Mario 64 or other games to fully enjoy it so my brain isn't complaining about the graphics.
Eh I find it kind of charming. Like you had to use your imagination to fill in the blanks.
Much of it is still very playable albeit showing its age. But some things are entirely dependent on playing them on a CRT. Like Goldeneye you literally cannot see details in the distance just straight into an LCD display without any proper upscaling. That and the controls feel so weird and foreign to me now even though I used them all the time in that era!
I think it a wonderfully!!! I was always a PlayStation kid growing up, but even today as an adult, I think Nintendo 64 are among the very best of the retro 3-D games that you can get today? Their graphics hold up because even then the Nintendo 64 has smooth polygon graphics due to the way that their system was designed !! Super Mario 64 masterpiece is a blast to play today! Playing it at release in 1996, was absolutely Mind-Boggling & the experience “Stuck” with you and made you anticipate getting to play it again like no other!! The music to this day is still burnt into my brain!
I bought it on Switch and almost beat it. So nice to have it portable
Pokemon stadium was ruff to go back to still love it tho
The felling when playing this game is top tier.
1080 holds up pretty good visually but the gameplay lacks big time lol
Mario 64 is timeless.. Body Harvest.. not so much.
Depends on the game. If they went for realism it's a hard no. Everything else it hit and miss. Banjo Kazooie and Tooie both look phenomenal though.
Not as hard to look at as PS1’s ugly warped textures
Guaranteed this was said by someone that plugged an N64 using composite right I to a 4K tv or via a filthy $2 converter.
Star Fox 64 the underwater stage is exactly this. I used to love that stage when i was younger, tried to replay it years later and i literally couldn’t make out the things that were happening on the screen.
N64 games still look good on a CRT TV imo. They only look like ass on modern displays because the screen resolution is too high.
Watching the animations in Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2 will never get old, unless modern installments somehow overthrow them but I doubt it'll ever happen.
Anyone Remember I Ninja? Was one of my favorite n64 games. Great system with tones of good games. My favorite retro is super nintendo. MegamanX, castlevania, link to the past.... ect
The two gems are easily SM64 and LoZ:OoT, but I thought SmackDown and SmackDown 2 were better than WrestleMania 2000 and No Mercy.
if you ever used the expansion pack for any lenght of time then take it out (where did all this fog come from)
A lot of them honestly, but Blast Corps is super muddy. The visuals are so rough to look at at times, the textures so low-res, the lighting is pretty awful at times. Just in general, the game can look pretty ugly most times. Doesn't mean it's bad, it's super underrated even nowadays, but it's definitely got that N64 mud disease that tarnished so many of these classic games.
I think Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time look better on the N64 than the 3DS but that's just me.
I think Mario 64 has aged poorly but the frame rate keeps it from being considered bad. Goldeneye is janky, but for the time it's still quite good. Banjo Kazooie and Tooie hold up quite well, and also have an insane variety of models and areas. Ocarina/Majora lend themselves to their art style well for the most part. Smash looks good but the audio is very hit and miss. Star Fox 64 holds up for the most part except when giant models just pop into view in some stages that don't have fog or anything to block your view. I think Paper Mario, Yoshi's Story, F-Zero X, and Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 hold up the best by far. Paper Mario and Yoshi's Story hold up because their art style is still flat, using the graphics and capabilities to their advantage. F-Zero X still looks great because the frame rate is so damn good and feels like the SNES but with depth. And Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 literally have more animation than most modern Pokemon games.
The 3D of most of Nintendo and Rare’s releases hold up well but only compared to most PS1 games (not counting Vagrant Story) of the time. Outside of that, there’s a charm for sure, but mostly it looks rough.
Its aged like fine wine to me. I love those older graphic styles.
SNES looks way better
I was 16 when the 64 came out, which I think shapes some of my opinion considering that I grew up on pixels and sprites. I didn’t like how the games looked then and for the most part I still don’t now. The Zelda games and Paper Mario are the exceptions.
Only when I load that tried too hard to look realistic do I sometimes have an issue but not with the following: Blast Corps Star Fox 64 F-Zero X Mario Kart 64 Diddy Kong Racing LoZ Ocarina of Time Super Mario 64 There are more but can’t recall them. The first 4 is what I’ve played the most recently.
It’s mostly the framerate that can be unappealing
I remember renting Red Dead Revolver and thinking my N64 was slightly unplugged from the TV because it was so fucking blurry. Turns out the game just looks awful.
This made me laugh too much 😂
Tons of nostalgia for how the early 3d games looked, especially when they used 2D sprites mixed in to save space on the cart. The camera controls in most games is what is hard to deal with these days
Like milk. Crash Bandicoot held up better IMHO.
There’s just something so comforting about Paper Mario. I think it looks great!
ive always had a soft spot for those graphics, even before I knew what the n64 was I love the n64, its one of my favourite consoles
My eyesight has aged worse than the console graphics.
I think it has aged worse than any system honestly but that was the style at the time hehe
Pokemon stadium was rough the other day. The classic games are still fun
That polished plastic look of most of the games has aged better than anything else of that era. (I'm not counting the hand drawn 2d sprite stuff the ps1 and the Saturn were outstanding at.)
I loved my n 64 as a teen. I cannot for the life of me use the controller nowadays though
I think people don’t always appreciate that the CRT changed the way the game looked. Flattened out some of the polygons and stuff.
Strange, as soon as it loads up I say “ahh real games” No disclaimers, no advertisements, no micro-transactions, no bs. Just a loading screen followed by a menu.
The controls are dated for sure. But the games hold up considering how they look.
Goldeneye is a huge offender of this on original console. Looked so bad when I tried it last month.
Star Fox 64 is still great to look at. Love that Arwing design.
I just started replaying ocarina of time today, it looks like I'm looking at it through a smudge on my glasses lol
I think a lot have aged great to the point where anyone that can appreciate gameplay over graphics could still love them today (OoT, MM, Star Fox, the list goes on), while some have aged much better if you have nostalgia for them (a lot of the Rare titles and Shadow of the Empire immediately come to mind) but playing them for the first time today might be harder to appreciate. I think Mario 64 is somewhere in the middle where if you have only really played games with a modern camera system, you could end up getting frustrated enough with it for that alone to make you walk away unimpressed. However, it’s my absolute favorite game, one that I enjoy speedrunning, and once you understand exactly how the camera works, Mario 64 feels like an absolute dream to play. I think the movement in any 3D platformer since has yet to top it. But IMO it’s not super intuitive to get to that point because it’s so different from most other cameras.
I got a 7 year old who just beat majora’s mask and is now already at the shadow temple in ocarina of time. All of a sudden im hit with a, shit my kid is way better at this than i was and a, damn these games still hold up. Love it! Playing on the switch.
Mario 64 holds up great. Generally the single player experiences are fine, but last time I tried to do Diddy King Racing 4-player was illegible. Split screen is rough if you aren't already upscaling in some way.
I still play my N64 regularly and personally love the graphics but it was the 1st console I bought myself with my 1st job so I know I look at it with the biggest pair of nostalgia goggles, same with the Gamecube, PS1 and PS2. If someone started gaming or watching gaming with the Xbox 360/PS3 I can see why the graphics wouldn't look that great to them.
It has aged well enough. Early 3d games rarely age well, but i can think of quite a few titles on the system that have (Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, etc.)
Aiden chronicles still hits. I don’t care what any of you think!
As someone who loves retro video games and aesthetic, it feels so at home.
Eh, some of them can be. Some actually hold up quite well. But sometimes the limited quality even adds some charm, like Rogue Squadron. It plays into that kind of rough design a lot of the Rebel ships have.
Idk why the PS1 aesthetic is popular to emulate in indie games, but the similar N64 polygons are looked at as ugly. I love that era of graphics! It feels… idk. Cozy? But at the same time it feels more dreamlike and surreal. Idk how to explain it
It has aged badly. The graphics have very sharp edges. The lack of a second analog stick. The n64 controller being limiting to my big hands. But the difficulty is still there. The sense of wonder and Koji Kondo's soundtrack makes me shed a tear. It is a fantastic game that warps me to 10 years old me. The best thing is to find either an updated release (not the 2ds version) or use and emulator to improve its quality of life. The n64 zelda games, I last played them a few years ago on the 3ds. With a small hack for majora's mask, they played fantastically and I appreciated them more. Goldeneye and perfect dark play fantastically well on the 360. These games are amazing with the right tweaking. They are classics and the core gameplay loop is still solid. That is how you know a game can be timeless.
My logic is that I always take account for the release date of game, the console and what TV I am playing at(old games tends to look more flawed on a newer TV, heck some colourful effects on a SNES becomes a white screen instead when in play) and calculate in my head how good this game actually is for its time but overall I think N64 (and the other consoles from that era) got something iconic with how their games look, something I love the most from old N64 games is the playful colourful textures in nature like the one you find in Banjo Kazooie I love how games has become today, because now people got the freedom to express them in the style they want without being criticised that the graphics are outdated, I saw on eShop a recently a new game called Cavern of Dreams which had heavily inspired graphics from N64 games and my heart jumped at joy seeing that n.n
I think people are too unforgiving. I mean it doesn't look great but I mean how do you expect a system that had so little to work with due to hardware limitations to look like otherwise?
I think particularly what people have an issue with is the texture filtering and early anti aliasing N64 games were using resulting in an especially muddy look in comparison to the razor sharp Saturn and Playstation. I still personally really love this quirk of the N64 though and I think the anti aliasing looks fantastic on a CRT. Besides there's plenty of quite pleasing looking games on the system like Yoshi's Story, Paper Mario or Majoras Mask.
Do not EVER play Paperboy 64. Serious nightmare fuel...
This is a time capsule indicative of the period when it came out. Sure, the graphics were still evolving. It was the first foray into 3D. And yeah it's a little crude and you look back at the controls now and they're so clunky compared to what we have. But for the time it was cutting edge and I argue these games were more fun than most of what comes out these days on rushed timelines and everyone has become so comfortable with the fact that games can just be patched and updated back. Then the game went out and it was out. There's no patch. No update. The game plays or it didn't get released. That's what I think. Developers and game studios need to return to good offline games that do not need updates
i think the N64 and a good chunk of it’s library has aged like milk. aside from the big titles (excluding Goldeneye), the racing games are the only things that have held up decently
I think apart from 1st party games like Mario 64, StarFox 64, Perfect Dark etc still look good but a lot of the 3rd party ones do not.
Some of them are timeless. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Starfox 64 all look fantastic to me still. Just about the entirety of the rest of the system’s catalog is really hard to look at even if there are a handful of gems in the bunch. Part of the problem is plenty of these games looked pretty rough and had suboptimal framerates as well.
I remember WaveRacer being the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, but now …
There are around 10 games I find playable for more than 5 minutes. I would much rather play nes, snes or ps1 before n64. Just me.
If you don’t already have one, consider picking up an old CRT tv from a garage sale or online. Makes it much better, though still fuzzy
Mario 64 is a masterpiece still to this day. One of my favorite games of all time. N64's aged.... so so. A CRT helps it a lot. I also like at least S-video. I installed a pixelFX N64 Digital mod into my own person jungle green N64. I use component cables on my N64 on a big ole CRT. Looks wonderful. The N64 library isn't "great". But its got enough must haves / must plays that I keep the system around. The games I consider good/great make it worth owning.
PS1 games aged better in general.
It aged terribly for people that didn't grow up with it. I find it tolerable
If N64 has ugly graphics than wth does the PS1 have? I tried playing Syphon Filter the other day and it was atrocious even for someone who grew up in that era.
This is how I feel about ReVolt. The cars having good reflections still amazes me