nintendo+64



"Get N, or get Out!" The Nintendo 64, also referred to as the "N64", is a gaming system that allows up to four people to play with or against each other. Released in Japan in 1996, this gaming system was named after its 64-bit central processing unit. The Nintendo 64 built upon the previous success of the original Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and was the first system to truly implement 3D graphics. There are many different games offered by this system. Some of the more popular games include Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Golden Eye 007 and Mario Party. The launching price of this gaming system in the US was $199.99. New advances of the Nintendo brand include the Nintendo GameCube, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo Wii.

Terminology:
 * **Joystick:** a device containing a stick that pivots on base to direct the direction of the device it is controlling
 * **Reality Co-Processor:** duties performed by the 64-bit co-processor
 * **Microcode:** a layer of hardware instructions or data structures that implement higher level machine codes
 * **RDRAM:** a type of synchronized dynamic RAM

System Specifics:
 * **64-bit Processor: **Most powerful CPU of its generation enabling 3D graphics
 * **Trilinear Filtering:** Allowed texturing to look smooth compared to Saturn and Playstation competitors, which both used pixelated nearest-neighbor interpolation
 * **ROM Cartridges:** Allowed for faster load times and more durable than discs used by competitors. However, ROM cartridges had less memory capacity than discs and were far more difficult and expensive to program and duplicate. As a result, the Nintendo 64's biggest hits were often developed by either Nintendo themselves, or second parties of Nintendo such as Rare, while many third party developers like Square moved on to develop for the Playstation.

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