What The Tech?! The Nintendo 64

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2 Feb 2026

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As we’ve explored the different pieces of technology that have influenced our world, you might have noticed a bit of a pattern. There are plenty of “work” focused bits of technology that made the cut, while leisure equipment plays a lesser role.

This isn’t entirely reflective of our modern world. With gaming becoming a fully fledged industry in its own right and gaming hardware becoming ever more powerful, it was about time to take a walk back through some of the leisure products that helped lay the foundations for our modern gaming industry.

While there are plenty of places you can start with this, it’s hard to argue a more deserving candidate than the Nintendo 64. Taking the world by storm with its 3D graphics, the 64 would help the gaming world take a giant leap forward while giving the youth of the day a vast set of core memories.

Development

By the time the 64 would be released, the foundations of the modern gaming industry had already been laid. With the NES, Super NES and SEGA consoles all proving to be classics in their own right, the 64 promised to rejuvenate things by taking graphics into 3 dimensions.

At the time, the 64 would go head-to-head with Sony’s PlayStation console however, despite this, they were two very different machines. While Sony would use cheaper, CD-based systems for their games that required loading time, Nintendo would opt for the cartridge system. This would allow them to load software nearly instantly, making for a much smoother gaming experience.

Nintendo would also design multiplayer capabilities directly into the console from the start. While Sony limited you to a single additional player, the 64 was set up for 4-player gaming out of the box, giving it a true “bring your friends” advantage.

Its iconic thumbstick controller would also help lay the foundations for the more ergonomic and modern-looking controllers that we see today.

Despite these perks, there was one significant downside. The expensive cartridge system would have an impact on sales, but while Sony would dominate the market, Nintendo would dominate innovation, providing a seamless gaming experience that was reminiscent of the early arcade era.

An Instant Hit

Part of the reason for the console's instant cult status would be Nintendo’s focus on the overall gaming experience. There’s no denying that the 64 was a capable machine, but what made the whole thing great for kids (and adults alike) were the peripherals that were available to enhance the experience.

There was now a memory card that enabled more detailed saves and expanded character customisation, while the Rumble Pak would give the controller the ability to vibrate when necessary. While it’s a simple feature nowadays, at the time, it would be a huge novelty that increased the overall enjoyment of the experience.

The real ace in the hole, though, would be the gaming ecosystem. Here, Nintendo would expand on earlier classics like Super Mario and Mario Kart, redeveloping them in their full, 3-dimensional glory while adding in new titles that would help to develop and expand the library.

Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Road Rash and Zelda would all feature extensive marketing and development that would send some of them straight into the cult classic history books.

4 player Golden Deathmatch anybody?

An Enduring Legacy

It’s fair to say that to define a legacy, sales is merely one part of the overall picture. To be a true icon, you have to be responsible for helping to shape culture as well, and for the most part, Nintendo reached that goal. Company ethics aside, Nintendo would help shape gaming culture by breaking down the barriers between single-player games and trying to shift that towards a unique, multiplayer experience in the same way that the now obsolete LAN parties would try to do.

Raspberry Pi and the world of emulation were by no means done with the console either. Rather than fading out into the shadows of time, the N64 community has breathed new life into old games thanks to modern emulation. Here, the original ROMs paired with modern hardware would help provide a new gaming experience. There’s more than one N64 out there floating around with a Retro Pie conversion that is just one more argument in favour of technology being cool.

Even Nintendo would get in on the act. The inclusion of N64 titles in the Switch Online Library would help an entirely new generation of gamers get in on some of the classics with more modern hardware.

Build Your Own

Got the gaming bug? While building yourself a console from scratch is probably not achievable for most readers, one thing that is an easy build is the Retro Pi project. Here, you can load a custom OS into a Raspberry Pi and then pre-pack it with (licensed, of course) gaming ROMs to unlock the games of your youth.

The best bit? Retro Pi is compatible with more consoles than just the Nintendo 64. If you’re interested, check out the project and then head on over to eBay to find yourself a Memory Card that has ROMs pre-installed.

What was your retro console of choice?

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