The Launch of the N64

[DJ Sack]

Tell us your storys of when the machine launched, not when you bought it. Was you excitied? Scared? Was you the one who spent 90 pounds on a copy of Turok? Please tell.

For me i was a Sega Fan boy, read all the jokes the Sega magazines made at the Nintendo controller, and Segas marketing ploy which was a fake limb to aid you in holding the N64 controller. The guy who made resident evil commented on how the n64 stick was too tall and how Nights was Segas Mario beater.

Went into Game one day and there was a pod, i hadnt read to much into the N64 except a few pages of previews about Mario 64, it looked good but i didnt know much about it, or much about Mario never having a Snes.

I picked up the pad and it was werid, the stick was too tall, i tried to run around the world with Mario, it was fun but i didnt know what i was doing and after ten minutes i left. Only to look around finding another pod as i wanted another go.

My friend got an N64 around launch, Playing Mario then was great. the machine looked fantastic, so styalish, it still does, the carts felt big and loverly. I liked it, it had this feeling about it. Another friend had one as well, but later on had Mario kart 64 and Goldeneye, Mario kart 64 was great, 3D graphics, bright colours, fantastic music, and multiplayer. I was impressed at the 4 controller ports. I was even impressed at how the power went into the N64. Seeing goldeneye looked good, i played it and it was fun, it felt a bit empty but i played it. I hadnt had much experience with it so didnt get the feeling for it, but it seemed cool. My mate even had one of the crappy 3rd party pads which was like an n64 controller...only without the pronds and was nearly impossible to hold, and also meant your finger got stuck between the z button on the expansion port.

We used to lift the lid on top of the n64 and wonder what it was for, we didnt really know, didnt look like it was for anything, but as we all know, it was all thought out well for future use.

I remember walking into GAME again later when lylat wars was on the screen, seeing a HUGE boss scream 'haha your smarter than i thought, TAKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!' I had to have the N64, Lylat wars, along with mario and goldeneye, i needed to have it, it was brilliant, everything about it was brilliant, it just had this feeling, the graphics at the time looked ultra realistic, especially goldeneye, it seemed like things really had moved on, 4 controller ports, 3D stick and the rumble pack, wow that really is a great invention.

I only wish i could go back and experience this all again.

[tsunami1]

I remember queuing in Toys r us at 9 in the morning on launch day, and the initial excitement of approaching bowsers castle for the first time. Was pissed off a week later though when they cut the price by £100

[Jim Miles]

I remember being skeptical that it would be any good and thinking the asking price was too big a gamble. It would have been nice to have afforded one at the time though since it's now my favourite console of all time.

[Swainy]

I remember being too busy with my PlayStation, so I waited for the GoldenEye pack.

[The Lone Ranger]

I remember thinking "£299, WTF?" and then waited until it came down to a "proper" price.

[Landshead]

I got mine on Xmas 97

with Goldeneye, Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Wave Race, Lylat wars and diddy kong racing.

Best christmas ever.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

Mario 64 conned everybody it made the N64 look like the bomb!

I paid 200 quid for a Hong Kong machine.

The Bastards

[Fondue]

First saw one in Fantasy World (later Another World) in Hanley running Mario. It looked fantastic and like nothing else.

Ended up buying one with Mario and Mario Kart. Bought Turok for £70 later-on, and actually thought it was good value - unlike the turd that was turok 2.

[Landshead]

I rented turok, what a pile of shit, i did however play goldeneye first. I did buy turok 2 after reading positive reviews (Fucking Edge and NOM) and i think its the worst game i have ever bought to this day.

Im glad i waited to get an n64 because of the fact that they were down to £99 by the Xmas 97, and i had a bit of catching up to do in terms of game releases. So the waiting for the next decent game wasn't as bad as it would have been if i got the console at launch.

[Apollo]

I got my very first credit card to pay for the N64 at launch, after falling in love with Mario 64 on a friend's import Japanese N64. £30,000 worth of debt later, I'm not so sure if it was worth it or not.

Hell, who am I kidding: of course it was.

[McNeillR]

I was a Segalite, didn't bother with the PS, wasn't really interested in the N64...

Saw it in Woolies, Mario 64, something I'll never forget. My Dad told me he'd be five minutes or something like that...then I spotted the empty stand. I think it was one of the ice levels I first played, with the glass, and turning the camera around...wow. I then got out of that level and went swimming! I don't think I had played Tomb Raider before this, so was my first 3D swimming experience.

My Uncle got one for Xmas that year, and I never forget my first Goldeneye go- whizzing down the vent in Facility to be greeted by what to me seemed laughably amazing 'pop-up books' characters.

Didn't actually bother with my own N64 until Zelda...now I'm a confirmed Ninty fanboy

[Pungee]

I was also one of the suckers who paid £250 on launch day.

Still, best console ever.

[stellar12]

I paid £70 for Turok.

£299 for the machine.

£50 for Mario.

And then the price dropped by £100 a month (or was it a fortnight?) later. Nintendo utterly failed to advertise the possibility of getting a free game (Mario Kart 64) if you got stung by this launch price so I missed that as well.

I cursed NOE for YEARS for this travesty. Still pains me to think of it.

SEVENTY FUGGIN QUID FOR TUROK AND ALL IT DID WAS GIVE ME A HEADACHE.

[squirtle]

2nd hand in 98 with Goldeneye and a 2nd controller for £100.

Amazingly, its all still sat around my TV and all still works perfectly. Never had one problem with it. Great piece of kit. My second fave console.

[Venice Cull]

SEVENTY FUGGIN QUID FOR TUROK AND ALL IT DID WAS GIVE ME A HEADACHE.

Don't forget you needed a memory card to play Turok as well.....

[snk]

I got mine from Currys with M64 and Pilot Wings cost about £265 I think. I got my sister to get it on interest free for me, and spent the next god knows how long working in a nursing home giving old gits breakfast to pay for it!

Once I saw Mario 64 on a big screen in HMV I decided I had to have it!

[Jack]

As soon as I saw Lylat Wars in the shop, I wanted it. Badly.

[stellar12]

SEVENTY FUGGIN QUID FOR TUROK AND ALL IT DID WAS GIVE ME A HEADACHE.

Don't forget you needed a memory card to play Turok as well.....

Oh yeah. And another pad.

**Twists knife in deeper**

[fasteasyfree]

Words cannot express the joy that I felt on Christmas morning when I unpacked the n64 and then stuck in Goldeneye. I can remember phoning up my friend, who was also getting the console. We were so excited, talking about the games that we had, then realised that we should get back to playing them.

I have never had such a great Christmas. Ever. And when OoT came out, well....I can't think of anything to say. It was that magical.

The N64 was TEH BEST EVAHHHH!!!

[Salsa Party Animal]

I bought it on ebay recently

It is lovely but shame about 3D Graphics aged badly compared to 2D

I will have a good play tomorrow

[Kryptonian]

I followed all the hype about it before it came out and really wanted one from the off but couldn't afford it. Then I played GoldenEye on my mates and vowed to own one.

I convinced my mum it would be 'an early christmas present' and got the console, a extra green official pad and GoldenEye just as study leave was starting for my mock A Levels. I nearly failed them all

[The happiest girl in the world]

I thought that Turok 2 was really good. Honestly.

[gwh]

I love my N64. I've said it before and I've said it again- it's the best gaming investment I've ever made.

It also has the most fun ever to be committed to four-player games- Snowboard Kids, GoldenEye, Mario Kart and ISS 2000 are still brought out regularly during gaming sessions. Genius.

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: I looked at it and waited. I kept waiting... It's the only PAL Nintendo console I don't own. And something deep inside me is still commending me for that.

I've played thoroughly on it at friends though. But I never got the urge to actually own one.

[Sprite Machine]

I sat at home playing on my Playstation and not wasting my money. Ah, memories.

[cubeadvance]

Best console ever in my opinion. Goldeneye, Mario 64, Perfect Dark, Zelda, F-Zero. More innocent times.

I just wish I could go back to the first time I played Goldeneye.

*Sigh*

[Cyhwuhx]

I sat at home playing on my Playstation and not wasting my money. Ah, memories.

.::: More importantly I was waiting for FFVII. God, I was drooling at the prospect of chocobo's in 3D...

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Hmm, I wasn't a real 'hardcore' gamer back then. When I saw it in demopods, I was pretty amazed by the Mario 64 graphics (although I thought Tomb Raider on PC looked better and more detailed), but I couldn't imagine ever paying lots of money for a console. Back then I was playing a bit with Amiga's and PC's, and I thought consoles being TEH KIDDIE!!! I think I saw the light when, at a colleague's house, I got the chance to play PilotWings 64 and Mario 64, and being hugely impressed by it. Then I got a free copy of Edge at some seminar, in which Ocarina of Time got awarded a 10/10 and I got even more interested. The next Christmas, my employer gave me the option to choose between a N64 or a GBC. I choose the N64. My first proper console. The rest, as they say, is history...

[Ebisumaru]

It was summer '96, and, on a lazy afternoon, a sceptical me was given the first chance to play on my half-brother's imported US machine. A revelation, that opened a whole world of gaming for me. I daresay that Nintendo still owns part of our souls after we pawned them in order to experience Mario 64. Sigh, those crazy summer days.....

[Phelan]

I was reviewing at the time and Nintendo sent me it just before launch.

I remember putting it on in my flat and sitting stunned at Mario and Goldeneye.

Free and amazing. One of the best days of my life!