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Nintendo 64 Vs. PlayStation: Which console was more innovative?

YCoCg

Member
I knew that I've missed some things when I was making the list and was wondering what cuold be in the place of what was removed,
In all honesty here, truth told, the PS1 was an audio powerhouse and I don't think the N64 had any audio advantage. Sony made sure the PS1 was compliant to the CD-I formats as well as building on top of the amazing SNES Audio Chip they designed with a much more wider handling MODI system for modular music. Developers on the PS1 had a LOT of options to explore which was the difference compared to say Sega CD, etc, before it, the PS1 could handle multiple types being handled at the same time if a developer wanted from pre-loading sound banks whilst streaming from a compressed source to fast track switching and full CD-DA uncompressed if required.

Audio is overlooked these days and no one really cares about it but back then Sony created a massive shift in providing devs with various audio options to take advantage of and even the early PlayStation models had a top line DAC which even caused music snobs to pick up a PS1 just to attach to Hi-Fi units and use it for CD playback.

Out of curiosity, what's the case when PS1 make use of MP3?
It would've been the later end titles, I think VibRibbon perhaps? It would've used something in line with the Wave-MP3 format (which is basically MP3 with wave formatted header) but it was limited in what bitrates it could handle and even then the process/trade-off made most switch back to XA instead (which to be fair holds up better than early MP3's of that era).
 

Trimesh

Banned
It would've been the later end titles, I think VibRibbon perhaps? It would've used something in line with the Wave-MP3 format (which is basically MP3 with wave formatted header) but it was limited in what bitrates it could handle and even then the process/trade-off made most switch back to XA instead (which to be fair holds up better than early MP3's of that era).

VibRibbon used redbook (I.E. conventional CD) audio - that's why you can put any CD into the console and it will create a course from it. Try using D&B CDs for extra challenge.
 

marquimvfs

Member
Y YCoCg sure it was an audio powerhouse, I think not a single soul here have the nerve to dispute that. What I was doing is the opposite, attribute some features to N64 that some think doesn't even exist. About the MP3 processing on PS1, I haven't found anything about it. There is some homebrew software that can decode MP3 into ADPCM, store on RAM an then play in loop, but that's it. No real usable decompression and play capabilities. http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=92&p=517 The thing about MP3 that Playstation lacks is processing power, not audio capabilities.
 
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Drew1440

Member
No way the PS1 can play MP3 at all, unless they tap into the GTE somehow. An Intel 486 can barely do it at the same clock speed (33.8Mhz), no chance the R300A can do that.

XA was the format used in later PS1 titles which used some form of compression, and was typically used in conjunction with the MJPEG FMV's. XA seems to be the standard in which the PS1 accesses the disc, I'm not sure what codec developers actually used, and will vary depending on which middleware tools the developer wanted to use.
Funny thing is Sony had a good alternative to MP3, ATRAC that the Minidisc used. But only the PS3 & PSP (and perhaps the PS4) were the only Sony consoles to support it.

Early titles like Wiepout and Ridge Racer encoded the music as redbook CD Audio, in essence the PS1 is acting as a regular CD player for these games. Here you can swap the disc for a regular audio CD since its the same data format.
 
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Ev1L AuRoN

Member
PS1 of course.
Dualshock is the template for the modern controller. 4 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, dual clickable analogs and dual rumble motors.
PS1 also was the home where a lot of franchises born and live to this day, the CD evolution find its footing on PS1, a new type of games for a more mature audience.

N64 is amazing and had some great games, but the console to me represent a departure for Nintendo, PS1 was truly the SNES successor, N64 fork another path for Nintendo, they lose the third-part support and started to make consoles more and more closed into their own bubble. The major contribution N64 gave to the industry is the standardization of the analog stick, but I think it is unfair to give them all the credit since it wasn't their design that became the norm.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
PS1 of course.
Dualshock is the template for the modern controller. 4 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, dual clickable analogs and dual rumble motors.
PS1 also was the home where a lot of franchises born and live to this day, the CD evolution find its footing on PS1, a new type of games for a more mature audience.

N64 is amazing and had some great games, but the console to me represent a departure for Nintendo, PS1 was truly the SNES successor, N64 fork another path for Nintendo, they lose the third-part support and started to make consoles more and more closed into their own bubble. The major contribution N64 gave to the industry is the standardization of the analog stick, but I think it is unfair to give them all the credit since it wasn't their design that became the norm.
PS1 can be viewed as the successor to SNES if you only count Square games. I can see that.
 

Ev1L AuRoN

Member
PS1 can be viewed as the successor to SNES if you only count Square games. I can see that.
Square yes, and Capcom, Konami, Enix, And the list goes on...
I got a N64 when it launches, but I had to get a PS1.
I couldn't figure out why the N64 didn't have a 2D Megaman game, no Street Fighter, No Marvel vs Capcom, it had a horrible Castlevania, but PS1 had Symphony of the Night.
With NES and SNES Nintendo had the third party support locked. With the N64 they lost almost everyone.
PS1 became the RPG king, and even manage to bring the genre to prominence in the west successfully.

I stand by what I said, PS1 was the SNES successor. N64 has no resemblance to the SNES in any way.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Square yes, and Capcom, Konami, Enix, And the list goes on...
I got a N64 when it launches, but I had to get a PS1.
I couldn't figure out why the N64 didn't have a 2D Megaman game, no Street Fighter, No Marvel vs Capcom, it had a horrible Castlevania, but PS1 had Symphony of the Night.
With NES and SNES Nintendo had the third party support locked. With the N64 they lost almost everyone.
PS1 became the RPG king, and even manage to bring the genre to prominence in the west successfully.

I stand by what I said, PS1 was the SNES successor. N64 has no resemblance to the SNES in any way.
Mario and Rareware.

I view N64 as also a Rareware console. Perhaps that's why I was disappointed with the GameCube.
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
N64 had better top end software vs PS1. (Top 15 on 64 was a far margin better than the top 15 on PS1) N64 also did 3D at a level unseen on Earth and had expandable RAM.


The PS1 was a better console overall but N64 was doing things that changed gaming for ever, like z-targeting
 

Celine

Member
It will never cease to humour me how in that wave of consoles there were several game systems ready to display 3D graphics (polygon based) but no one, except Nintendo, understood that to adequately fullfil the 3D concept it was also needed to innovate at the input interface level.
What are videogames if not interactive entertainment?

Looks with what game pads PlayStation, Saturn, 3DO and Jaguar launched with...

pad1.jpg

sega-saturn-primo-controller.jpg

3DO-Controller-By-Panasonic-large-image.jpg

Atari_jaguar_controller.jpg
 

Hunnybun

Member
It will never cease to humour me how in that wave of consoles there were several game systems ready to display 3D graphics (polygon based) but no one, except Nintendo, understood that to adequately fullfil the 3D concept it was also needed to innovate at the input interface level.
What are videogames if not interactive entertainment?

Looks with what game pads PlayStation, Saturn, 3DO and Jaguar launched with...

pad1.jpg

sega-saturn-primo-controller.jpg

3DO-Controller-By-Panasonic-large-image.jpg

Atari_jaguar_controller.jpg

I know, it's crazy looking back on it.

How anyone can think the PS1 was more innovative than the N64 is fucking mindblowing to me. The N64 is one of the most innovative consoles EVER.

The analogue stick made free roaming fully 3d worlds possible at the drop of a hat.

The yellow camera buttons anticipated the need to constantly orient yourself in a 3d space, and basically led directly to the second stick on the dual shock.

The rumble pak innovated physical feedback.

The z trigger even kind of anticipated how important shoulder trigger buttons would become.

There's no contest.
 
If the N64 had a CD drive we wouldn't even be talking about PlayStation nowadays.

Sony was developer friendly, cheaper for publishers, less royalties, and pushed mainstream with a CD based system that did 3D and had high capacity storage. It just did everything right.

N64 was far more innovative from a hardware standpoint, ram expansion, analog sticks, z trigger and rumble but these innovations were in stark contrast to it's insistence to use archaic cartridges.
 
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German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
It will never cease to humour me how in that wave of consoles there were several game systems ready to display 3D graphics (polygon based) but no one, except Nintendo, understood that to adequately fullfil the 3D concept it was also needed to innovate at the input interface level.
What are videogames if not interactive entertainment?

Looks with what game pads PlayStation, Saturn, 3DO and Jaguar launched with...

pad1.jpg

sega-saturn-primo-controller.jpg

3DO-Controller-By-Panasonic-large-image.jpg

Atari_jaguar_controller.jpg
Looking at these pics is better than actual porn.
 

TLZ

Banned
Personally I find the N64 controller a travesty. It reeks concept but bad function. It was another reason the console didn't do well.
 

consoul

Member
While you could make a good case to suggest the N64 was more innovative at launch, over the course of the generation, PlayStation did more.
The depth and breadth of innovation on PS1 across its lifetime was immense. Sony and third parties were taking way more risks than they do now.
 

Ev1L AuRoN

Member
Personally I find the N64 controller a travesty. It reeks concept but bad function. It was another reason the console didn't do well.
It is IMHO the best controller to play Mario 64, unfortunately, to every other game the controller feel off.
 

nkarafo

Member
It is IMHO the best controller to play Mario 64, unfortunately, to every other game the controller feel off.
Not to FPS games. It was the best single analog controller fot this type. Using the dpad and analog was like simulating a keyboard and mouse.

After playing all FPS games like that on my N64, dual analog was already a second nature to me.
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
I know, it's crazy looking back on it.

How anyone can think the PS1 was more innovative than the N64 is fucking mindblowing to me. The N64 is one of the most innovative consoles EVER.

The analogue stick made free roaming fully 3d worlds possible at the drop of a hat.

The yellow camera buttons anticipated the need to constantly orient yourself in a 3d space, and basically led directly to the second stick on the dual shock.

The rumble pak innovated physical feedback.

The z trigger even kind of anticipated how important shoulder trigger buttons would become.

There's no contest.

The N64 was not the first console to include an analog stick, but the PSX was the first console to have dual analog.

The PSX released their controller with better rumble integration (two different rumble motors with differing speeds, and built into the controller instead of an add-on) a few days before the Rumble Pak was released.

A not-insignificant number of people found the N64 controller to be unwieldy, but the PSX controller design is still around today.
 

Celine

Member
I know, it's crazy looking back on it.
Well, I suppose in part it's a question of hindsight.
Back then everything related to 3D was a brave new world so what might be obvious now wasn't codified yet, even how those consoles rendered 3D graphics had their own quirks so much so that anyone with a bit of knowledge is capable to correctly guess on what console a certain 3D game run by looking at a TV screen (quads vs triangles, vertex and texture distortions, the quality of the texture work, the presence or absence of rudimentary anti-aliasing filter etc...).
About the lack/addition of a digital stick to interact with the 3D space I'd say that it speaks aloud about what consoles were designed solely by hardware engineers and what console was designed by hardware engineers under the supervision from game software designers.
 
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ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
N64 definitely brought us the new paradigm of the 3D platformer. The execution of new ideas in Zelda and Mario64 alone is almost like the mother of all demos in the way that it shaped and anticipated entire genres to come. Nothing in that genre on the PSX was complete in the same way. Despite their popularity, I'd call the style of Crash or even Spyro a general failure historically. And the N64 hardware and software on this point are part of the same equation, developed closely as part of a unified strategic idea.

On the other hand, the PSX brought us new paradigms of games-plus-media (FFVII was a monument to what could suddenly be accomplished when a game system is also a media powerhouse with optical discs etc) and many other genres that didn't work on the N64.

So there's plenty that happend on both sides during that generation. Plenty of ideas that shaped the decades to follow.
 
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