Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 was the console of radical choices. While Sony and Sega embraced CD-ROM, Nintendo stayed with cartridges: instant loading but extremely high production costs and limited capacity. While everyone adopted the traditional D-pad, Nintendo invented the analog stick. While competitors aimed for title quantity, Nintendo aimed for quality: fewer games, but each a potential masterpiece.

The project, codenamed "Project Reality," was born from collaboration with Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), the Hollywood computer graphics leader — Jurassic Park's special effects ran on SGI hardware. The NEC VR4300 processor at 93.75 MHz, based on the 64-bit MIPS R4300i architecture, was genuinely revolutionary. But the cartridge choice drove away Square (who brought Final Fantasy VII to PlayStation) and frustrated many Japanese publishers.

The Japanese launch on June 23, 1996 with just three titles — one being Super Mario 64 — proved one right game was enough. Mario 64 didn't simply bring Mario to 3D: it taught the entire world how 3D worked in video games. The analog stick, designed specifically for this game, became the universal standard.

The three-pronged controller was bizarre but functional: the center grip with stick for 3D games, side grips for 2D games. Four built-in controller ports — a novelty — transformed local multiplayer into the N64 experience's heart. GoldenEye, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros., Mario Party: the N64 was the console to buy if you had friends.

With 32.93 million units sold against PlayStation's 102 million, the N64 lost the commercial war. But it won the cultural one: its best games — Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, GoldenEye, Majora's Mask — still top any best-games-ever list.