Talk:Nintendo 64/Archive 1

message: Everyone says that the Star Wars Edition N64 is completely black whereas the regular N64 is dark gray.  I ahve compared TWO Star Wars Edition N64s with the regular N64 and I, along with everyone else in the room, can say that they are the EXACT SAME COLOUR.  I have changed the article accordingly.  Before anyone changes it back, please provide solid proof that they are actually different colours
Second of all, this page used to have excellent information on all the different Limited Edition N64s that came in different colours.  Why was that section gimped so much?  Just because someone complained that it took up too much space?  If that's the case, then let's make a separate page for all the Limited Edition N64s.  The Xbox has such an EXCELLENT page for its limited edition consoles here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_special_limited_editions
--205.250.222.77 00:14, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Star Wars Black Edition and other Limited Edition Colours 

message: Wasn't the N64's predecessor technically the Virtual Boy because of its lack of portability? SuperWiki5 00:35, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong Predecessor? 

message: I would like to know why it was called the Nintendo 64. ~ Gaiacarra 88.137.2.239 13:56, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Once unveiled to the public the name changed to Nintendo Ultra 64, referring to its 64-bit processor, and Nintendo dropped "Ultra" from the name on February 1, 1996, just months before its Japanese debut due to the word "Ultra" being trademarked by another company, Konami for their Ultra Games division. :) -HumanZoom 20:09, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Etymology 

message: I think that there should be some note on N64 emulators; they were important in the emulation scene, the N64 hardware was (and still is) a great chalenge. The N64 emulators were the first to really use dynrecs, HLE and plugins. DanielKO 28 June 2005 05:58 (UTC)
Sounds good to me. I think Project64 and 1964 should definitely be mentioned ~_~ Dan 07:12, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  N64 emulators? 

message: "It was also the first 3D game console to use real polygons, not sprites skewed in 3D space as the Saturn and Playstation did."
Virtua Fighter (Saturn) and Tekken (PSX) both used "real polygons" well before the N64 launch. I'm removing the sentence.--RicardoC 02:19, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I know the parent is oooooold, but I was under the impression that the Sega Saturn used quads. Not sure about the PS1. --CCFreak2K 01:55, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Polygon Pioneer? Umm... No 

message: Contrary to what was posted by a previous user, Sony did indeed contract with Nintendo for the SNES CD attachment in 1988. It's even stated on their website as such:
http://www.scee.com/about/sonyHistory.jhtml
"In 1988 Sony had entered into a arrangement with Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM drive for the 16bit Super Famicom, a console that was due on the market in 18 months time. "
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Doom127 (talk • contribs) 
Oh shit. Is this the dawn of when Nintendo fans hated Sony and Playstation? This thing started all of it! This has to be on the top 5 Nintendo Bloopers of all time! Renegadeviking
is situation is similar to how the Xbox was created. because the Dreamcast used a program off of Microsoft. 67.164.35.55 08:32, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Original SNESCD Contract Date 

message: The filtering the N64 did on textures wasn't normal Bilinear/Trilinear filtering, it seems to be a bizarre method that looks similar to a lot of tesselated gouraud shaded polygons. This is evident when looking at sharp textures up close, a diagonal 'smearing' effect can be seen.
:Yes I've read that before myself, and noticed it in-game. The machine definitely does not do trilinear filtering as we know it on 3D cards and consoles today. And, a developer I chatted with said the trilinear mechanism was a bit odd. It is a bit cheatful...a speed tweak I'm sure. Probably sampling fewer mip maps than "standard". I can't quickly find any solid info for you about it though. Actually I've read in two separate places that trilinear halves the machine's fillrate so most games do not use it anyway.... Info1 Info2 (note ERP posts, he's a dev) --Swaaye 22:09, 29 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd rather the textures become blurry when viewed up close (Nintendo 64) than turn into unidentifiable, pixellated checkerboards (Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn). 72.43.142.170 19:56, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interpolation 

message: Someone reverted the market data on the original Playstation blurb here, changing "sold" to "shipped". Unlike the PSP, where we don't have a definitive answer from Sony as to shipped vs. sold, Sony actually used the word "sold" when it comes to the Playstation. I've changed the wording back to reflect this. Daniel Davis 23:06, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  PlayStation - shipped versus sold 

message: Searching the history, I've found two N64 pictures to replace the one at the head of page (with unknown copyright status): :Image:N64.jpg and :Image:Nintendo_64.jpg. Which do you prefer? igordebraga ≠ 18:45, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nintendo_64.jpg, because of the white background. ˉˉanetode╞┬╡ 01:40, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture 

message: While the gold bundle system may have only been available via Toys R Us in the US, I believe the gold controller was offered via Nintendo Power's mail order catalog for some time after their Mario Kart contest. Can anyone help me confirm this so we may add it to the article. I believe this is how I received my gold controller, but due to the fact it was nearly decade ago, I have forgotten the details. --HumanZoom 07:16, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Gold Controller

message: I notice that the green and blue in the logo to the right-top is extremely off - just compare the green and blue in the logo with the green and blue in the logo on the N64. Was the logo differently colored in different regions? As is, the logo looks way off, rather washed out. Scepia 20:27, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It looks as though this image was taken from an independent site and was not an official graphic used by Nintendo. As far as why the colors aren't right, then I suppose the creator would have to speak up as to why he/she used those colors (unless this was a color scheme used at one time that I was not aware of). -HumanZoom 11:14, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Logo color 

message: He deserves some sort of mention in the trivia section, eh? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.125.175.66 (talk • contribs) .
:I would have to say no. It really contributes nothing to the article and I believe it is just an obscure part of the internet culture. -HumanZoom 11:12, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nintendo 64 Kid 

message: N64 did not use AD-PCM and whoever thinks that is not too bright. I will make this swift and short. If you go to Zophar's Domain you'll see teh audio is track music (evolution of Commodore Amiga sound). The MP3 audio the article has right because it's in Conker and Perfect Dark. If I change it to track music, somebody better not change it back or the vandalisium police will find you and revert it. Renegadeviking
::N64 didn't use MP3s all the time, especially not with early games. ADPCM's use comes from Nintendo's various spec lists around the web. There are about a bazillion sites that quote this.
::Most of N64's audio is probably a combination of sampled waveform playback for effects (whatever compression library they used, if any), MIDI, and tracker music. Whatever will fit nicely into a cart, and MIDI and trackers fit that mold. ADPCM is just a pre-MP3 "compression", of lower quality of course.
::The underlying truth of it all is that N64 can use whatever audio you want. You just need to make the software decoder for it. MP3, tracker, and MIDI playback is all software run on the RSP or CPU. There is no limitation other than computational resources cuz there is no "restricting" hardware DSP inside the machine. Of course, audio in software is a lot more demanding. On games that use MP3 you can often see a message about licensing from Fraunhofer (the patent holders of MP3) cuz they probably licensed the software decoder right from the company.
::What you've linked to has nothing to do with the hardware itself. Nintendo Ultra 64 Sound Format is a format created for ripping audio out of N64 games, for playback on other machines. If is related to emulation, not real N64 operation. It is not even "tracker" audio at all really. Read Tracker. --Swaaye 20:59, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  N64 Audio Complaint 

message: Nintendo touted many of the system's more unusual features as groundbreaking and innovative, but many of these features had, in fact, been implemented before by the Atari Jaguar.
Which are...!? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.7.231.250 (talk • contribs) .
:I am also curious about this. Does anyone have anything to say about it, because as far as I can tell, it's nonsense. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 161.38.223.22 (talk • contribs) .
::It is apparently speculation, which can be removed if there is no reference backing that sentence. -- ReyBrujo 21:58, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Elaboration 

message: The last entry from the trivia section: "Even though Nintendo 64 had 64-bit capabilities, it is still possible to emulate it on a 32-bit operating system."
Does that really belong there? Gamecube and Playstation 2 can also be emulated, despite having respectively 64 and 128 bit capabilities. User:Devil Master 13:23, 24 September 2006 (MET)
: I second that, this should be removed. It implies that a 64-bit system can only be emulated on a 64-bit system, unless the emulated system does not really use 64-bit. That's nonsense, of course. WindowsKiller 17:01, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Agreed... it's completely redundant. 80.6.150.128 10:14, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is this really necessary? 

message: According to this link, the Star Wars bundle only had one standard-colored controller. http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/N64.html Kat, Queen of Typos 21:24, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Star Wars bundle

message: The SNES-CD has nothing to do with the Nintendo 64 at all, and certainly not enough to warrant as much info as this page has.  In fact, a large portion of this page is dedicated to comparisons between media formats, which belongs on a page about media formats, not on a page about a specific system.  If nothing else, the SNES CD info is already present on more relevant pages (like the Playstation and SNES pages).  If you really have a problem, please discuss it here instead of reverting the page without giving any reasoning. -Unknownwarrior33 23:25, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it would have been more appropriate to not remove a large section of the article (like you did) before you discuss it (hence is why I reverted it). I think the SNES section is important as it was at one time going to be Nintendo's next generation system before the conception of the N64. I would like to see it replaced (or at least part of it), and if no objection is made, I will do so later this week. -HumanZoom 12:37, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uneccessary, unrelated info 

message: "Storing data at first required a cartridge battery whose energy would diminish over time, though the battery generally lasted for years, and in subsequent games EEPROMs were used instead."
"Over time, the Controller Pak lost ground to the convenience of a back-up battery (or flash memory) found in some cartridges."
Have we an official source confiming that any of the N64 cartridges had an internal battery?  Unlike the SNES, there was never a battery replacement program, and all my N64 games that supporting saving without a memory card are still working fine, ten years later.  I suspect this is because they, in fact, all use flash memory. M0thr4 10:36, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think I've seen a game that didn't use EEPROM or flash. 205.206.207.250 21:09, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Back-up battery in cartridges 

message: This section takes up a page in my browser window. It is way too long for some pretty unimportant info. Scepia 23:30, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It does take up a whole screen.  Is there a way it could be condensed, or should it go entirely?  -SaturnYoshi THE VOICES 23:36, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The struggle I have, is that WP is really the only place to find info on all the special colors/versions. I mean, if you want to know where you got your gold N64, it would be so much easier to use on a special page just for that. On the "rulesy" side, it is pretty unnecessary. Scepia 00:55, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hmmmm...  If only Nintendo hadn't released so many...  -SaturnYoshi THE VOICES 00:58, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Colored/special systems 

message: A Sega Genesis fan site called Sega-16 did an interview with former Sega Of America presedent Tom Kalinske a few months ago. In this interview he mentioned an interesting tidbit about SGI approaching them with an early prototype of what ended up being the n64 chipset... 
A few excerpts from the interview: 
Tom Kalinske:"I remember Joe Miller and I were talking about this, and we had been contacted by Jim Clark, the founder of SGI (Silicon Graphics Inc.), who called us up one day and said that he had just bought a company called MIPS Inc. which had been working on some things with some great R&D people, and it just so happened that they came up with a chip that they thought would be great for a video game console."
"we called up Japan and told them to send over the hardware team because these guys really had something cool. So the team arrived, and the senior VP of hardware design arrived, and when they reviewed what SGI had developed, they gave no reaction whatsoever. At the end of the meeting, they basically said that it was kind of interesting, but the chip was too big (in manufacturing terms), the throw-off rate would be too high, and they had lots of little technical things that they didn't like: the audio wasn't good enough; the frame rate wasn't quite good enough, as well as some other issues."
"Now, I'm not an engineer, and you kind of have to believe the people you have at the company, so we went back to our headquarters, and Nakayama said that it just wasn't good enough. We were to continue on our own way. Well, Jim Clark called me up and asked what was he supposed to do now? They had spent all that time and effort on what they thought was the perfect video game chipset, so what were they supposed to do with it? I told them that there were other companies that they should be calling, because we clearly weren't the ones for them. Needless to say, he did, and that chipset became part of the next generation of Nintendo products (N64)."
The link Can be found here: http://www.sega-16.com/Interview-%20Tom%20Kalinske.php , and this part of the interview can be found about half way through page two.  
Would this make a good piece of trivia for the trivia section? 
User: some random guy 18:38, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interesting trivia involving Sega, Silicon Graphics, and the N64 hardware... 

message: The article states the Wii uses DVDs as a standardised method.  It is common knowledge that the Wii does not play or utilise DVDs, and there are even (conjectural and uncomfirmed) that the disc reads the wrong way (like the gamecube discs) and reads from edge to centre.  I think this should be modified. --Skydivemayday 01:35, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think they mean that the disc technology is DVD-9 (or DVD-5 I'm not sure). They use DVD tech instead of wasting large amounts of money developing a new uneccesary standard (like PS3 BluRay). It can't play DVD movies but the physical media is DVD for games. --Nytemunkey 19:06, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

text: Wait what does Wii's disc format have to do with N64? 205.206.207.250 21:12, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, that's what I was wondering.  Useight 16:29, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wii Disc mention 

message: Is this list really necessary? Most of this minutiae could be summed up in a few sentences. ˉˉanetode╦╩ 15:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Colored/special systems

message: The original article mentions this:  "Nintendo never allowed this code to be used in shipping games. (It was even actually banned by them to prevent extremely high prices.)"  I don't understand this; why would faster microcode (at a loss in quality) need to be banned to prevent high prices? --Trixter 20:34, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Licence issues I guess. Nintendo probably would have had to pay much higher licence fees if the Turbo3D microcode would have been used. WindowsKiller 21:26, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Someone added that line about cost. I don't understand that at all and I think it's false info. Turbo 3D was much lower quality, apparently PS1 level. Using it would've negated the entire "more powerful and prettier than PS1" marketing plan. Fast3D was the one used by most games I imagine. And then there were the games that used their own microcode. Fast3D wasn't all that great for performance and did some dumb things with excessive precision and probably bad optimization overall. --Swaaye 21:29, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not too sure about this Mircocode thing (or how programing works, mind you. I'm not a programming geek :P), but I think its because since Turbo3D code could be used for PS1-like graphics, it would be more expensive to produce all that data in a cartiridge, since producing and selling expensive cartridges at a high price was already enough. I hope that maade sense. If you all still want that line removed, I'll take it off. Just give me the word. Dragon DASH 20:06, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

text: No no.. what they mean by PS1-like graphics is pixelated simple textures and bad perspective problems I imagine. Simpler lighting. Basically just fewer effects. Less computationally demanding. If anything it would probably use less storage space on the cart. Because the graphics would be more simple, the hardware would be able to do more of it. But, since it would look a lot worse, would it really be better to have more polys? Probably not. --Swaaye 23:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Microcode ban? 

message: Should there be a link to RCP_(chip) in the hardware section? (This is seen in articles of newer systems, eg. Xbox 360) G4rce 03:27, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  RCP 

message: Gamespot.com reviewed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for N64, but none of the other major video game web sites did and I can't find any information about it on the Internet Games Database (www.theigdb.com).  Was it released in the U.S.? 72.43.143.120 16:43, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for N64