And we can’t forget the CD player capabilities that made Sony’s console a 2-in-1 entertainment machine, setting the stage for future consoles.Īnd who can forget that cursed controller? While Nintendo was innovative in its popularization of the thumbstick, the controller is still an anomaly. This left more room for better audio and textures, full-motion videos, and bigger games, and made the console easier to develop for. Meanwhile, the PlayStation CDs could hold games up to 700MB in size compared to the N64 cartridges’ 64MB, along with its single CPU and unified memory architecture. Those helped with visuals and load times, but ended up bottlenecking the console’s true capabilities. While the N64 was a much more powerful system, it was held back by Nintendo’s choice to continue with its cartridge format. The PlayStation dominated the Nintendo 64 when it came to power, despite having weaker hardware. The PlayStation had 3,000 games to choose from, becoming what many would categorize as “ the console” for multiple genres at the time. The Dreamcast sported arcade-perfect ports and pushed what a home console could do with its Hitachi SH-4 CPU. That helped both systems build stronger game libraries with more consistency. The PS1 and Dreamcast used a CD format for games, giving them both higher sound quality and better graphics. Nintendo’s system may hold a fonder place in players’ hearts than the others, but the hardware tells a different story. That late 2000s 3D era featured four consoles to finish off the “retro generation.” Those consoles were the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and the hybrid-generation Sega Dreamcast. Taylor Frint/Digital Trends Let’s talk hardware So what earns it that “worst” prefix? It comes down to both hardware and its library of games beyond the hits. It showed us how platformers should work in 3D, gave us immersive worlds that stood out at the time, and featured some of the most influential titles, many of which are still cited as inspirations to this day. The Nintendo 64 did a lot for the world of modern gaming. It’s funny that it’s such a beloved system 15 years later, because it may be the worst best console out there. One of the biggest contenders in that ongoing conversation is Nintendo’s big entrance into the world of 3D: The Nintendo 64. The Super NES and PlayStation 2 are a couple you can expect to come up every time the conversation rears its head. Fitbit Versa 3Īny debate about the “ best video game consoles of all time” always features a few prominent systems.