Wii Warm Up: Defend the N64
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jun 17th 2007 at 10:00AM }
We enjoy the retrogaming here at Wii Fanboy. And, since we're Wii Fanboy, we have low requirements in terms of graphics. But man, N64 3D hurts.We actually enjoy the look of old sprites. Big blocky pixels can be appreciated years after they've become obsolete. But the blurry, foggy Nintendo 64 puts us off every time.
We know there are a lot of N64 fans around here for some reason, so we'll put the question to you: how can you look at that stuff? Does it still look okay to you? Was there ever a time that it looked okay?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jonathan @ Jun 17th 2007 10:09AM
If the game is fun enough, I can look passed it. I mean, my favorite N64 games like Kirby and Snowboard Kids 2 don't even look that bad, and if you're truly enjoying the title, the graphics are tolerable.
It's the same thing as playing a DS game. You could go play a PSP game, but you're not playing the DS game for it's amazing Nintendo 64 blocky graphics(METROID I'M LOOKING AT YOU!), you play it because it's a lot of fun. Even though the DS game's 3d looks like N64 gone wrong, you can still have fun with it.
S.A.M @ Jun 17th 2007 10:20AM
I must say, i prefer Good Sprite that crap Polygons, and i think anyone would agree with me on that.
I don't have a problem with the N64, mind you.
Andres @ Jun 17th 2007 4:57PM
Did the graphics of Super Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time bother anyone?? Those games were awesome!! And I bet anyone can just pick them up and play them still nowadays...
The_Wind_Waker8 @ Jun 17th 2007 10:38AM
I think you're too used to seeing good graphics that the N64 just looks like crap nowadays. I remember a time when I played Melee all the time, then I found my ol' SSB and pluged that in. It was crap, but still a good game, duh.
Chris @ Jun 17th 2007 10:45AM
My favorite game of all time, Ocarina of Time, is a 64 game. Yes, the graphics are pretty bad, but the game is amazing.
NvM @ Jun 17th 2007 10:49AM
I really don't mind it.
Back in the day it didn't even look bad compared to the PS1, because if you play that today some games are just a mess that make you wanna throw up, at least most N64 titles are solid.
Jim @ Jun 17th 2007 10:56AM
R u joking me?!?! That was Nintendo's first fully 3D game system...give it a break. Plus...I agree, if the game is good enough..ANYONE can look past the graphics.
We all thought the graphics were great when it first came out because that was as good as it got graphics wise for its time.
One pet peeve of mine for graphics today is mouth movement (when talking etc). As great as graphics look today...mouth movement STILL sucks.
For example, Halo 1's mouth movement is laughable as great as that game is. But it's no big deal cuz most people look past it...two generations of consoles from now SOME HARD TO PLEASE people (yes im talking to you Mr. ungrateful author person) will probably say the same thing about Wii/360/PS3 graphics.
buskovit @ Jun 17th 2007 11:01AM
For me, it all comes down to an exemplary artistic design. The N64 games that had that continue to amaze me just as films from the past amaze despite their advancing age. The original King Kong hasn't blown anyone away through the technical prowess of its effects for years but it still thrills me to see the amount of character put into Kong and his stop motion enemies. Likewise, Mario 64 will always be a virtual world I'll look forward to revisiting.
Wolfrider @ Jun 17th 2007 10:58AM
It's odd, but it's actually the older PSX graphics that I can't stand. Those warping textures and serious jaggies have actually made me sick to my stomach on occasion.
The N64 had some weird graphics for sure (and the PSX was a better system) but I preferred the soft focus look alot of N64 games had. Never really understood that hate on most people had for the system.
LaLa @ Jun 17th 2007 11:30AM
I don't understand why this is devoted to the graphics of the N64, when the best games of the system always played consistently better than the other consoles. Whoever posted this is sounding like that loser company, SEGA. The N64's graphics, of all things, puts you off? Well, then don't download the games.
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2007 11:42AM
N64 was my first system
thus its graphics are my original standard for gaming gfx...
JC Fletcher @ Jun 17th 2007 12:07PM
Thanks for the comments, guys! So far, we've got:
1. attacks against the Playstation
2. attacks against Sega
3. attacks against me
I appreciate everyone who managed to discuss the topic without resorting to these.
Andrea @ Jun 17th 2007 12:13PM
"I appreciate everyone who managed to discuss the topic without resorting to these."
Are you kidding?
Mario64 is wonderfully colored.
nintendolink007-entertainment @ Jun 17th 2007 12:57PM
I wasnt born on N64, i started on Atari and NES generation. I love my Nintendo 64 - Playstation Generation then even now. There were many fun games, including Ocarnia of Time, Mario 64, Goldeneye 007, and many many more. I can stand them cause thats what makes them great, not compared to the crap they push out these days that shouldnt even be games.
Crazylink @ Jun 17th 2007 12:57PM
If the game is good, graphics aren't going to stop me from playing it.
Eric R. Imse @ Jun 17th 2007 1:16PM
I def. prefer SNES games to N64 games because the SNES games were the pinnacle of 32-bit sprites, the best of the best, and the N64 was just the beginning of 3-D, so they were just starting out using polygons, so they were kind of the worst of the worst, so to speak. But again, as was said above, if it's a great game, anyone should be able to look past the graphics (OoT, anyone?).
michael @ Jun 17th 2007 1:29PM
unfortunately the n64/psx generation will go down as the atari/colecovision of the 3d age. the first awkward steps into a new world. which i guess makes the last generation the nes generation and this generation would be the snes/genesis generation of 3d gaming. my first system was the atari and i still love some occasional joust and whatnot, but that generation is pretty much dead to me. boring, crappy games mostly when compared to today's stuff. the n64 did bring me absurd amounts of joy so i've got nothing but love for it. but i see jc's point. r.i.p.: tupac, biggie, n64. we miss you.
Fortyseven @ Jun 17th 2007 1:25PM
With a few exceptions, the entire look of that generation of graphics was why I completely dropped out of the console scene until around 2003.
The industry sacrificed 2D artwork upon the polygon altar. I was appalled by it's "3D or it's garbage" attitude, especially given how bad and unrefined a lot of it looked (due to technical limitations).
One good example of this was the difficulty of getting 'Worms' on the PlayStation because Sony "didn't want no 2D crap" on it's console.
But, then I grabbed a Dreamcast for $30 at EB Games about 4 or 5 years ago, and then a used Gamecube, a PS2, etc, and it was all downhill from there. ;)
hvnlysoldr @ Jun 17th 2007 1:36PM
I'm having a real blast with Star Fox 64. Just last night I managed to beat it on the easiest courses. I'm amazed at how good it actually looks. Gameplay>graphics
Matt @ Jun 17th 2007 2:02PM
I don't hate them, I don't love them. Honestly, I agree, 2D games have been better in terms of aging than 3D ones have. There are exceptions, but it's really the design of the 3D worlds that causes the problems, for me. Especially in the N64, there was so much focus on the power of the system, that some of the design suffered from it. Sure, Mario 64 was colorful, but if you go back and look at it...most of the levels are very plain. A tree here and there, but ultimately not a whole lot populating the environment.
The problem, to me, is that the N64 is really the "in-between" console. If you look at the development over the years, see how you remember games. Look back as far as Atari (that's as far back as my experience goes, since Atari outdates me but my parents had an old one lying around in the attic). There wasn't much going on in most Atari games. But everyone remembers Pitfall, right? Pitfall had things occurring in the environment around you (albeit nothing too hectic by today's standards) as you progressed. I could probably still pick up and play Pitfall today, maybe not for an extended period, but for a little while at least--and I'd enjoy it. Looking at the Virtual Console games I've downloaded...I don't appreciate most of them the way I did the first time around. The NES games feel plain and uninspired. The Turbografx games, though I'd never played them before, are dull. Star Fox 64 doesn't hold my interest, either.
The only 2 games I can genuinely say I appreciate are Gunstar Heroes and Super Mario World. Both are well designed, both demonstrate a greater detail in environment, and both offer good gameplay. Sonic 1 almost makes the cut, but it feels slower than the way I remember Sonic, personally. (Sonic and Knuckles)
Ultimately, I think it's the case that the graphical power advancements have the potential to destroy a game, especially at the start of a new leap in power. I think there are exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking, the N64 was in that in-between phase, just starting 3D gaming, which ultimately meant that the graphical power of the system was used in many of the wrong places.
...just a thought, could be wrong, haha...
Covarr @ Jun 17th 2007 2:09PM
Well, until Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Blast Corps, and the original Mario Party get re-released for another system with better graphics, I'm kind of stuck playing them on the N64. Honestly, though, the graphics weren't even that bad, it was just a case of lazy developers. Some of the stuff that Rare did could easily compete graphically with some of the games released for the PS2, Gamecube, XBox, and Dreamcast, in much the same way some later NES games (such as Kirby's Adventure) looked better than some early SNES games, or in the same way that Resident Evil 4 looks better than many current generation games.
Almost every game system has a ton of graphical potential that isn't reached until near the end of its lifespan, if at all. The N64 was hardly an exception, especially if you had the expansion pak installed.
As for the various attacks on Sony, they are ALMOST justified, but not quite. Though the Playstation had a definite advantage against the N64 in storage, the N64 was technically superior in most other ways; it was capable of rendering at higher resolutions than the PS1, it had better antialiasing than the PS1, it could display more polygons at a time than the PS1, and it could handle higher resolution textures than the PS1. Resident Evil 2 is a good example of this, as the N64 version looks quite a bit better than the Playstation version.
ryan @ Jun 17th 2007 2:48PM
graphics are not important to me... ill still play a text-based game if the gameplay was good..
people these days are just too gfx-spoiled they cant recognize a good game even if it slapped them in the face
ArashiUzumaki @ Jun 17th 2007 2:48PM
I believe that games these days aren't as fun as they used to be. I also believe that this is because of the progression in graphics.
This is just a point of view but graphics are getting so lifelike in games nowadays that they're not as fun, or imaginative.
When everyone used to play the N64, the graphics were crap.. fullstop, but i think that was the perfect stage for graphics to be, because they didn't look real. We see enough of what's real in our lives and the fact that the N64 graphics were so bad added to the use of our imaginations. For example, I would say that an OoT Queen Ghoma was scarier than half the monsters we see today. Even as far back the as first Doom, how scary was it to turn a corner and find a huge pixelated orange thing roaring and running towards you?! Haha.
I sometimes look at games today and don't find them as good as N64 games, just because there's too much detail in them. Not that they're bad, because it's amazing to see games progress so far, but all i'm saying is that the days where we used our minds with the graphics we're given are over, because since they're so advanced, we no longer need to..
WiiFTW @ Jun 17th 2007 2:54PM
I thought the Wii was about not focussing on graphics, and now you are dissing the N64. Just saying. Even on a 50 inch plasma, which puts the 4:3 game in 16:9, I can still play on it close up. Lol high def graficzz for the N64 FTWzor!!!11
After a point, you just don't pay attention to the graphics, and let your imagination do the rest. What I mean is let your eyes smooth out the jagged polygons. Anyways, the insanely fun Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. redeem the N64.
Think of it this way. Are you going to complain about jagged polygons and focus on that while getting your ass handed to you by Kirby or Fox or are you going to ignore the below average graphics and actually PLAY the game.
WiiFTW @ Jun 17th 2007 2:54PM
I thought the Wii was about not focussing on graphics, and now you are dissing the N64. Just saying. Even on a 50 inch plasma, which puts the 4:3 game in 16:9, I can still play on it close up. Lol high def graficzz for the N64 FTWzor!!!11
After a point, you just don't pay attention to the graphics, and let your imagination do the rest. What I mean is let your eyes smooth out the jagged polygons. Anyways, the insanely fun Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. redeem the N64.
Think of it this way. Are you going to complain about jagged polygons and focus on that while getting your ass handed to you by Kirby or Fox or are you going to ignore the below average graphics and actually PLAY the game.
WiiFTW @ Jun 17th 2007 2:55PM
Woops double post. Not intended.
L @ Jun 18th 2007 5:51AM
I don't think they're bad. Every time I replay Ocarina of Time or Mario 64 the old school graphics become a big part of the nostalgia and fun. Maybe you WiiFanboy writers are just too old. No offense, but I was a kid when 3D first came out, and there's a lot of nostalgia in those early graphics for me.
Clayburn Sally @ Jun 17th 2007 3:51PM
the n64 was at its time very good, and superb games like lylat wars, golden eye, perfect dark, ocorina of time, mario 64.. despite the dated visuals are still miles better in terms of game play than the crap thats coming out today.
Matisfaction @ Jun 17th 2007 4:07PM
Can't say that I agree with the article at all, I think some games on the N64 still look good to this day (ie. Lylat wars), even so I'd rather have top notch gameplay anyday of the week.
Even though the N64 was deemed a flop in certain circles the console was home to some of the best games Mario 64, Goldeneye,Mario Kart, the Zelda games, Donkey Kong, banjo and kazooie, Lylat Wars, Paper Mario, Conker's bad fur day, etc. and even today, WWF NO MERCY is still regarded as one of the greatest wrestling games of all time.
theLoneYoshi @ Jun 17th 2007 5:05PM
Yea, seriously, since N64 was Nintendo's first 3D dedicated system, of course I'm not bothered by it. I mean, if you compare it to today's graphics, the N64 doesn't even come close... But they were good enough graphics back then. My favorites are the usual Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, even Majora's Mask, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros.... All great games, and had pretty good enough graphics. Oh, and you can't forget Pokemon Stadium and Stadium 2... Those games had amazing graphics for the N64.
Jonson?! @ Jun 17th 2007 5:43PM
N64 looked gray and foggy, Superman 64 being the highest expression of N64 graphic foginess.
However, some titles looked awesome back in their day. How about Automobili Lamborghini? Cruisin' USA? Mario Kart 64? even Super Mario 64?
Nonetheless, 3rd party titles seemed to be in love with teh fog.
Godzooki @ Jun 17th 2007 5:45PM
To a certain degree i agree with the article. Games like Ken Griffey Jr baseball was a blur-fest to me back in the day of my 20" tv, but it was still fun to play.
But there were lots of games that look good back then and still look ok today on my upgraded big-screen tv like World Driver Championship, Top Gear Overdrive, NBA Coutside, NFL QB Club (the highly touted hi-res gfx back then), Wetrix, Rogue Squadron, Beetle Adventure Racing, Wipeout 64, F-Zero X(60 fps ftw), 1080 Snowboarding, etc.
stjimmy521 @ Jun 17th 2007 5:58PM
How can a site like nintendo wii fan boy actually make a comment like this? If this site is supposedly run by fan boys or strong nintendo supporters why would a comment like this ever be made. This comment also indirectly effects the nintendo wii. Reason being is because the nintendo wii also isn't graphically as pretty as the 360 or ps3. Just because a game doesn't has great graphics doesn't mean its a bad game, and to even make such an absurb comment such as this one shows your lack of ability to judge games. who ever made this moronic comment shouldnt even run a nintendo fan site for their sheer stupidity to make such a comment. I thought this site would be run by smart gamers, and die hard ones if that. But was i wrong. This site is run by moronic game buyers who don't play games for story lines and value. They play for pretty pictures or other reasons that dont determine a good game.
-stJimmy521
JC Fletcher @ Jun 17th 2007 6:29PM
Okay, you drew me back out.
1. Even a Nintendo "fanboy" (ESPECIALLY a Nintendo fanboy) should be allowed to be discerning as to what games he or she likes. If I loved every Nintendo game just because it was Nintendo, I would not be a very smart gamer, and I wouldn't be trustworthy. In fact, I would be kind of dumb. You guys want to read posts from smart gamers, right, and not blind Nintendo slaves?
2. I am specifically talking about the ugly N64 graphics, which were as ugly in 1998 as they are now. Wii graphics may not look as nice as 360 graphics or whatever, but they definitely look better even in comparison to peers than the N64 does or did to anything.
3. If you'll read the post (I know, it can be hard to do before rushing to the comment button!) I specifically mentioned ONLY graphics and not story or gameplay. This is a post about N64 GRAPHICS. I didn't say ANYTHING about gameplay in THIS POST, but considering the amount of time I spend playing NES games, I am definitely a gameplay > graphics person. I never said N64 games weren't fun because they were ugly, I just said that they were ugly. Whether or not I like playing the games is a different discussion topic. I had about as much fun playing Zelda, Smash Bros., and Tetrisphere as anyone.
4. Why are N64 fanboys so foamingly vehement? I never see any personal threats over the quality of NES games.
nawtyeravgjoe @ Jun 17th 2007 6:42PM
amen.
Foetoid @ Jun 17th 2007 6:50PM
I don't think the graphics are ugly at all. Majora's Mask looks good, ANY game made by Rare looks amazing and the 640x480 games that use the expansion pack like Turok 2 look great too. FFVII...now THAT was a horrid looking game, even if it is one of the best games ever. If the N64 graphics are so bad (and to this day, i still really like them, i have all the N64 VC games) then why does the DS sell over 1 million units per month worldwide. Speaking of which, does Nintendo have an army of underpaid child employees churning those things out cause 1 mil per month is huge.
balance @ Jun 17th 2007 6:50PM
I was a Playstation person myself back in the days of the N64 so I don't have any fond memories of playing Zelda and Mario, in fact the first Zelda game I played was Link to the Past when it was released on the GBA. Now the Playstation graphics weren't as 'good' as N64 graphics because of lower polygon count or whatever but they had sharper textures and I found many PS1 games better looking than N64 games. Playing my friends N64 I think the graphics were crap. Really they might have impressed back in the day but I find it hard to believe any game that strived for 'realism' in the N64 days looked better on N64 than on PS1 however games like Mario with cartoony graphics faired much better and looked far better than cartoony PS1 games. Im with JC on this one. N64 graphics were bad, just because this is Wii fanboy theres no need to get in such a huff... Back in the N64 day Nintendo weren't on the whole gameplay over graphics train, they were singing the '64 bit is better than the competition' song. Funny how the fanboy mentality is so easily swayed. If nintendo told you the best gameplay was to jump off a cliff would you do it?
Liam @ Jun 18th 2007 6:56PM
yeah... there was a time when those polygons looked good, so you cannot attack it and say that 'OMG it's so terrible' and this is Wii fanboy, since when do you guys care about graphics? Plus the DS is a portable N64, no one complains about DS 3D on the rare occasions it's used.
but in reality the N64 did beat out the playstation 1 and so games are still entirely playable and fun. Perfect Dark is still one of my favorite games of all time and it looks better than a PSP game.
havi @ Jun 17th 2007 7:52PM
i really like the look of Nintendo's N64 games because they treated the polygon like a pixel and built worlds thusly. I much preferred the clean look of the n64's polygons to the over-textured and jaggy edges of the playstation which for most of its life had games that could barely called 3D so much as they were rendered in 3D and that's about it.
nintendo took to 3D gaming better than anybody else in the world ever had, because pc had invented first person shooters, which were great i suppose, but it really didn't open things up until n64 brought mario with his analogue movement and camera control buttons. Nintendo INVENTED 3d gaming, you can challenge it if you want, but mario gave us the independent camera control system and zelda gave us lock-on, and even turok brought the first "dual-stick" controls.
Say what you must about n64's 3D graphics, but you rarely fell through the architecture, you could walk in more than 8 directions at different speeds, and most importantly, game design was in real 3D and allowed for exploration up, down, and all-around. N64 brought goldeneye, the first co op fps with perfect dark, the first lock-on system, analogue sticks, rumble, 4-player games, real 3D racing games(rush, not cruis'n) AND a cussing squirrel. it may not be seem like much now, but pretty much all these things are part of the default functionality of every 3D game you play, and playstation had to catch-up and mimic those once revolutionary concepts to make them mainstream features.
JC Fletcher @ Jun 17th 2007 8:07PM
Tomb Raider came before Mario 64. Virtua Racing came way before Cruis'n, and Hard Drivin' came WAAAY before any of that. I loved Hard Drivin'. But again, we're talking about graphics only. No issue (right now) with the innovations in 3D gaming. Mostly I just don't like the blurry textures.
Gordon @ Jun 17th 2007 8:22PM
Only time I was in pain was when I played ocarina of time after beating wind waker.... but after alittle while I got used to it. I dont mind bad graphics most of the time if the game is good, arent you guys expecting us to say we dont mind bad graphics if its good? I mean comeon its nintendo Wii fanboy here...
Josh A @ Jun 17th 2007 8:45PM
Well, I never had an N64 when it first came out. I had the PS and both had equal graphics, if ot the N64 was definately better. But, at the time, all companies were trying to figure out how to revolutionize everything. I thought at the time it was amazing, and actually still to this day they are amazing. You could say the same for the DS and the Wii then for the time period. Although the Wii is a seventh generation console, it has graphics not much better than the Gamecube, which was also amazing. Don't take this wrong, I mean I love the Wii, and it is the best system ever!!! Just for its time, graphics are lacking in the Wii. Same with the DS. Not the best graphics, but still quite amazing. So, I think you are trying to criticize something that was amazing for its time.
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2007 8:42PM
Again; it was N64 gfx that actually turned me on to gaming
I had always looked upon gaming from the Genesis stereotype, the old stereotypes of games filled with senseless blood and violence, basically pointless button mashers and 2D fighting games (neither of which i've ever liked)
It was the N64 which showed well-drawn, colorfully created worlds that allowed me to give up the prejudice i had against video games, specifically those worlds built by Nintendo EAD; Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64 = gateway drug of console gaming, for me anyways
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2007 8:48PM
@ JC
Do you live in Europe?
PAL was the only region where Tomb Raider preceded Super Mario 64. Tomb Raider was released on November 22, 1996 there, while Super Mario 64 came out on March 1, 1997.
In North America; Super Mario 64 was released on September 29, 1996, while Tomb Raider was released on the 15th of the following November
Josh A @ Jun 17th 2007 8:49PM
Well, I never had an N64 when it first came out. I had the PS and both had equal graphics, if not the N64 was definately better. But, at the time, all companies were trying to figure out how to revolutionize everything. I thought at the time it was amazing, and actually still to this day they are amazing. You could say the same
for the DS and the Wii then for the time period. Although the Wii is a seventh generation console, it has graphics not much better than the Gamecube, which was also amazing. Don't take this wrong, I mean I love the Wii, and it is the best system ever!!! Just for its time, graphics are lacking in the Wii. Same with the DS. Not the best graphics, but still quite amazing. So, I think you are trying to criticize something that was amazing for its time.
Banter113 @ Jun 17th 2007 10:07PM
I have a wii i hate it and i miss the n64 era because i owned a ps1 and my friends all had 64s one of my friends had Duke Nukem64( best graphics ) and NWO revenge + Pilot wings( SO FUN ) although most fanbois of nintendo only have 3-4 games they like from the 64 era "AKA zelda / mario / kong & Goldeneye(cannot dispute it) " i have so much respect for nintendo for making the best console ever i could name 50 games on n64 that just shit on ps3 and xbox360 games now days graphics arn't pushing the next gen it's online capability say if the 64 had Online and broadband internet was vast with servers flowing instead of wifi ipx connections then we would have not only a huge neighbourhood for gaming now but an experienced one.
Mark @ Jun 17th 2007 10:33PM
The N64 games on the Wii still look beautiful to me, I still remember the first time I saw Mario triple jumping into the castle on a games show and my jaw literally hit the ground.
The games that I would struggle playing now are Star Wing and Stunt Race FX on the Snes now that struggled with ugly 3D.
Lijik @ Jun 17th 2007 11:04PM
Maybe it's because I grew up with PS1 and N64 games, but I think that both consoles have a certain charm graphicswise.
Now a good portion of NES games I can't stand. Could American developers seriously not pick colors that didn't look like crap back then?
BaBoom @ Jun 17th 2007 11:54PM
Of course, the poster would fret over the state of the N64's graphics. A prime example of why developing has become more about the game director's ego than about how the game in question actually played.
X_Minor_X_Threat_X @ Jun 17th 2007 11:57PM
I have no problem with N64 graphics, really. Sure they look blocky today, but back when I wanted one and only had a Playstation, I would stare in awe at the OoT demo at our local game store. I still really don't care much. Really, it's the NES games that make me cringe. Well, most of them. The colourful ones such as Super Mario Bros and Kirby were fine, and hell, even Mario Bros and Donkey Kong weren't too bad. However, most other games were terrible-looking, lacking any form of art syle. SNES, those were some gorgeous games for the time. I'm still impressed at Donkey Kong Country and a few other games, and pre-rendered 3D really made a difference with the SNES.
I still play early FF titles on the PS1, even though they are jaggier than a cheese grater, and I finally bought OoT a year ago(again, I had a PS and not an N64, but wanted one) and played through the whole thing without trouble. I don't know, I guess I stopped caring how bad they look. It's when Wii games look like PSP games that I get pissed off(I'm looking at you, Alien Syndrome). In fact, I get a little angry when I see games looking worse than Twilight Princess(which is, sadly, nearly every game released >_>). When it's the developer's fault, I get mad. When it is the system's fault, and the developers can make the game look nice without extreme horsepower, then I will be happy.