Jaguar vs. N64

[Nebulon]

Question should be Is the N64 more powerful than the Magnavox Odyssey? I'd say no, the Odyssey doesn't have foggy graphics.

You have a point there.

 

The graphics on the Odyssey are very crisp.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Limited cart space on the N64? Compared to CD, obviously, but to the Jag? Largest N64 game: 512Mbit. Largest Jag cart game: 32Mbit (correct me if I'm wrong).

The largest N64 game ever produced was 64Mbytes (512 Mbit). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the N64 could theoretically address up to 128Mbytes (1gigabit) of ROM. Obviously you could do more with bank switching but that's a shit-ton of data for ROMs by 1990s standards. Obviously there are exceptions like multi-disc Square-Enix RPGs and such, although most games that filled up the disc used FMV cutscenes or audio scores. Many PS1 games were fairly small and filled the remainder of the disc with Redbook audio. You could play them in a CD player starting with track two but would potentially thrash your tweeters if the CD player attempted to actually decode track one rather than insert silence.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Limited cart space on the N64? Compared to CD, obviously, but to the Jag? Largest N64 game: 512Mbit. Largest Jag cart game: 32Mbit (correct me if I'm wrong).

The largest N64 game ever produced was 64Mbytes (512 Mbit). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the N64 could theoretically address up to 128Mbytes (1gigabit) of ROM. Obviously you could do more with bank switching but that's a shit-ton of data for ROMs by 1990s standards. Obviously there are exceptions like multi-disc Square-Enix RPGs and such, although most games that filled up the disc used FMV cutscenes or audio scores. Many PS1 games were fairly small and filled the remainder of the disc with Redbook audio. You could play them in a CD player starting with track two but would potentially thrash your tweeters if the CD player attempted to actually decode track one rather than insert silence.

[AtariORdead]

The largest N64 game ever produced was 64Mbytes (512 Mbit). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the N64 could theoretically address up to 128Mbytes (1gigabit) of ROM. Obviously you could do more with bank switching but that's a shit-ton of data for ROMs by 1990s standards. Obviously there are exceptions like multi-disc Square-Enix RPGs and such, although most games that filled up the disc used FMV cutscenes or audio scores. Many PS1 games were fairly small and filled the remainder of the disc with Redbook audio. You could play them in a CD player starting with track two but would potentially thrash your tweeters if the CD player attempted to actually decode track one rather than insert silence.

 

All you have to do is look at the likes of Resident Evil 2 on N64 to see just what you could squeeze in to a cartridge.

[NeoGeoNinja]

All you have to do is look at the likes of Resident Evil 2 on N64 to see just what you could squeeze in to a cartridge.

 

Agreed.

 

RE2 is pretty much the benchmark imo, somehow managing to get all the FMV onto the cart too (compressed, but on there!).

 

Impressive stuff, imo.

[AtariORdead]

 

Agreed.

 

RE2 is pretty much the benchmark imo, somehow managing to get all the FMV onto the cart too (compressed, but on there!).

 

Impressive stuff, imo.

Plus the fact it was a 2 disc game on playstation. just goes to prove what was reported at the time, and thats the fact that developers were not using the full disc, just dumping it on to the disc without optimising, and putting needless stuff on.

 

I read an article a while back that said if developers were more efficient in the way they used the discs and put the information on that loading times could have been much quicker.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Plus the fact it was a 2 disc game on playstation. just goes to prove what was reported at the time, and thats the fact that developers were not using the full disc, just dumping it on to the disc without optimising, and putting needless stuff on.

 

I read an article a while back that said if developers were more efficient in the way they used the discs and put the information on that loading times could have been much quicker.

 

Certain developers WERE much quicker though. NAMCO, in particular, always amazed me at how good they were with load times in nearly all their games on PS1.

 

I was playing R-Type DELTA on my PS1 an hour or so ago and there is nearly NO loading times in that either. Capcom, by my own reckoning, have always been pretty lazy in this dept. though.

[Austin]

Plus the fact it was a 2 disc game on playstation. just goes to prove what was reported at the time, and thats the fact that developers were not using the full disc, just dumping it on to the disc without optimising, and putting needless stuff on.

 

I read an article a while back that said if developers were more efficient in the way they used the discs and put the information on that loading times could have been much quicker.

Um..The FMV sequences took up a huge amount of space. That's why there were multiple discs.

[AtariORdead]

Um..The FMV sequences took up a huge amount of space. That's why there were multiple discs.

But it was compressed an optimised to run on a cartridge several times smaller than a single disc.

 

Capcom like to do this, they released several 2 disc games that were not needed, mostly it was a design choice.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Ahhhh yes found it!!! Here is me at the ripe age of 16 in August 1997 the day I bought my N64. All zoned out and mesmerized playing Goldeneye. And don't laugh at the bowl cut.

[Austin]

But it was compressed an optimised to run on a cartridge several times smaller than a single disc.

 

Yeah.. HEAVILY compressed. The FMV looks like shit on the N64 version of the game.

[AtariORdead]

 

Yeah.. HEAVILY compressed. The FMV looks like shit on the N64 version of the game.

no-ones arguing that point. The original statement I made was simply to bring up the fact that you can do a lot more than a lot of people realise with cartridges in terms of game size.

 

pointing out a 2 disc playstation game was squeezed on to one cart was just to illustrate the point.

 

whatever the quality of the FMV, its still damn impressive.

[Austin]

pointing out a 2 disc playstation game was squeezed on to one cart was just to illustrate the point.

 

Plus the fact it was a 2 disc game on playstation. just goes to prove what was reported at the time, and thats the fact that developers were not using the full disc, just dumping it on to the disc without optimising, and putting needless stuff on.

 

 

whatever the quality of the FMV, its still damn impressive.

 

The stock Sega Genesis itself was able to display compressed FMV without extra hardware. The SNES has been shown to be able to do it as well, thanks to the leaked Road Avenger. If these systems could do FMV well before the N64, then there's nothing damn-impressive about the N64 doing FMV.

[AtariORdead]

 

 

 

 

 

The stock Sega Genesis itself was able to display compressed FMV without extra hardware. The SNES has been shown to be able to do it as well, thanks to the leaked Road Avenger. If these systems could do FMV well before the N64, then there's nothing damn-impressive about the N64 doing FMV.

I think you missed my point about what was impressive, it was not simply the FMV, it was the fact that they managed to fit a game the size of RE2 on to a cartridge.

[Austin]

I think you missed my point about what was impressive, it was not simply the FMV, it was the fact that they managed to fit a game the size of RE2 on to a cartridge.

 

Um.. That's what "compression" does. That's all it is. It's not rocket science, and it's something that's been around far longer than the N64. By the way, if you want to get your point across better in the future, use better wordage.

[Andromeda Stardust]

All you have to do is look at the likes of Resident Evil 2 on N64 to see just what you could squeeze in to a cartridge.

Conker's Bad Fur Day. 64 Megabytes. Glad I bought mine when they were still $35.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Um.. That's what "compression" does. That's all it is. It's not rocket science, and it's something that's been around far longer than the N64. By the way, if you want to get your point across better in the future, use better wordage.

Honestly, I loved how all the N64 cutscenes were fully rendered and matched the quality seen in games. I would take "blurry" polygon cutscenes over the lossy 320x240 Cinepak videos seen in PS1 games. Edited May 31, 2015 by stardust4ever

[AtariORdead]

 

Um.. That's what "compression" does. That's all it is. It's not rocket science, and it's something that's been around far longer than the N64. By the way, if you want to get your point across better in the future, use better wordage.

I know thats what compression does, but its still impressive to get a game from tah size on to a cartridge.

 

You seem to have taken a real issue with this for some reason.

[Jagosaurus]

Well put Gunstar. Similar to the date comparison I often make for release dates:

 

SNES: November 1990

Jagaur: November 1993

N64: June 1996

 

Jag is right in the middle.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Conker's Bad Fur Day. 64 Megabytes. Glad I bought mine when they were still $35.

I bought Conkers in 2002 for about $40. Glad I still have it. I have Live and Reloaded as well for the Xbox. But the N64 version is way better in my honest opinion.

[NearCry]

 

Sure, but that was also a statement that I really never completed my thought and features type-o's:

The actual statement that I intended to say was "Most of the classic gamers that I've met who started with Mario Bros, Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros mostly viewed Mario 64 / Galaxy with contemplation. Several of them were not really sure if the play mechanics of the later 3D versions were true to the core gameplay and pacing of the original 2D versions. Personally I always found Mario 64 to be paced much slower than its 8 and 16 bit counterparts. Galaxy was better, but I still much preferred playing later offerings like Super Mario Bros. Wii instead."

Ok, i'll accept that....but you accusing me of "jumping to totally wrong conclusions and distorting what I say" Is not fair based on what you're saying now.

[sirlynxalot]

I guess this old video came out a little after this thread died down, but its a fun excuse to see these cool lumps of plastic next to each other and hear some non-technical comparisons.

 

 

[Pete5125]

The packaging was similar, the hit games were similar 1st person shooters, were bond/perfect dark/turok/ mission Impossible vs doom/wolf 3d/a vs p.

Racing games etc.

 

Nintendo had better quality control, more money, and it was a better experience, atari never had their Mario 64, and died before we found out if their c grade sports titles revamped to 64 bit resulted in system saving games.

[+Stephen]

Both were made of grey plastic, required electricity and a television to use, and had games on cart.

[captainblack]

Gunstar made a good point that it makes more sense to compare Jaguar to Sega CD, 32X, and 3DO. When you think about it Sega CD is basically the Jaguar if all of its problems were taken away in exchange for only working if tethered to a Genesis lol