N64 Memories on the 30th bday
I can't believe the 30th anniversary of the N64 just happened a couple days ago! That seems crazy to me. It’s especially surreal since, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m in the middle of moving and reformatting all of my old blog posts over to a different blog, and just this week I’m moved my 5-part N64 week posts, which were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the N64! So now it feels doubly weird, since it’s been 30 years since the N64, and it’s been 20 years since I wrote those darn blog posts! Geez!
But I didn’t have an elaborate five parter planned for this. But I thought I would share one N64 memory that has always stuck with me. So about two months before the N64 launch, Toys R Us stores everywhere started getting kiosks to preview the N64, get our first hands-on time with Super Mario 64. I remember one weekend my friends and I went over to check it out, after I’m pretty sure I called over to see if they’d gotten their kiosk in.
We get there, and there’s a line in front of the kiosk, people were that excited to try out this future of gaming! There was a Toys R Us employee stationed there to keep things in order, and limit people’s playtime to five minutes. I don’t think the kiosk itself had any kind of timer built in from what I remember.
My memory is a bit hazy on what exactly I played that day, but I remember being blown away and loving every second. I think I started outside in the yard in front of the castle, as the previous player had gamed over. So I got the chance to run around, climb some trees, and then head inside the castle, where I think I played a bit of Bob-omb Battlefield. I was more excited than ever when my five minutes was up.
But then more poor friend Zach got a chance to play. I don’t think he was right behind me, so I think another player had played some Dire Dire Docks, died and got kicked back out, then Zach got the controller and simply jumped back in. Now even today, you can feel by playing Super Mario 64 that the controls are not perfect, particularly the camera. They were light years ahead of what we’d seen to that point, but there was still room for improvement, and back then playing the 3rd dimension for the first time on an analog stick took some getting used to. And the swimming controls in Mario 64 took some REAL getting used to. As you can imagine, Zach’s first impression of Super Mario 64 was not a great one. I think he walked away from that demo hating that game! What a lousy first impression!
So there you go, my poor friend got introduced to Mario 64 in the worst way possible, and I walked away on air, counting down the days until I could take that baby home! I would absolutely love my N64 during the next few years. What was your first impression of the N64? Any early memories? Sign the guestbook on my main page and tell us about it! Thanks for reading about my early gaming memories!
Also, if you want to see what N64 stuff I was writing about 20 years ago, here's my five part Week of N64: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.