N64 or GCN?

n64 obviously because by time the GC was out everyone had a PS2.

I have nothing but fond memories of the time I spent with the N64, but the GameCube has some of my all-time favorites games:

• Metroid Prime 1 and 2
• Wind Waker
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
• Skies of Arcadia
• Viewtiful Joe
• Animal Crossing
• PN03
• Bloody Roar Primal Fury
• Baten Kaitos Origins
• Baten Kaitos
• Wave Race Blue Storm
• Lost Kingdom 1 and 2

..and those are just the exclusives. Multiplatform games would probably add another 10 or so.

My list for the N64 is, at best, half that long.

I have to pick GC since I actually owned one, along with a PS2. I never had a N64, I was strictly playing PS1 games at that point. I had classmates with N64's but the lineup of games never impressed me that much. To be honest I wasn't huge on the GC either, which is why I eventually sold it. I enjoyed Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess though. But back then I was more interested in JRPG's which the PS2 had plenty of.

The which has Wind Waker, Resident Evil 4 and F-Zero GX. And versions of Ocarina of Time and even Majora's Mask (on a special promo disc).

Bonus point for the Gamecube having the Game Boy Player attachment which gives you access to the Gameboy/Colour/Advanced library.

The Nintendo 64 is the more nostalgic one, and certainly the most important one. But if you're asking which one I could still play, it's the gamecube. Me and my brother still play Melee from time to time. It's great.

The N64 was a more financially successful console than the Gamecube, but I swear that must just be based on the fact that people still had fond memories of Nintendo from the SNES, Sega completely dropped the ball that generation with the Saturn, and I guess the N64 had a bit of a sales head start since it probably took the Playstation a year or two to really get people's attention since Sony was starting from scratch in the console market. The actual software lineup of the N64 really doesn't justify that it sold so much more than the Gamecube, but I guess Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007, Ocarina of Time, and Super Smash Bros. really sold a lot of systems.

The Gamecube software lineup had enough interesting stuff in it that I like it a good deal more than what the N64 had. It's a pity that its financial failure backed Nintendo into enough of a corner that they feel they can't just make a regular console anymore, and now their business strategy revolves around releasing consoles with discount hardware in them but with some kind of gimmick to get people's attention. Not that they don't find a way to make good games within that framework, but it's a pity that even if they have a financially successful generation, it doesn't seem like they're going to reinvest that money in a console that "catches up" with the hardware being used by Microsoft and Sony. It's kinda crazy to think that the first HD Zelda wasn't released until 2017, and even then it has a reeeeal dodgy framerate at times.

N64 meant more to me. But GCN has more games that hold up better.

I never owned a N64 until pretty recently, I just played it at my friends place. Don't get me wrong, I love the system and a lot and some of my favorite games are on that console, like Ocarina of Time, Banjo & Kazooie and mother-flippin' Buck Bumble!

The gamecube will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first console I ever bought with my own money, and I spent more time on that little cube than I have spent on any other console since.

The gamecube is one of my favorite consoles of all time, love almost everything about it, the console itself, the controller and it has one of my favorite games, the wind waker. Also, that whole generation was during my younger teenage years, when I was learning to appreciate games in a deeper way. Never had a N64, but played it a friends house sometimes. It seemed pretty cool, but I don't really have any feelings towards it other than that.

N64 by a mile. I hated my Gamecube so much it was my last Nintendo console.

The Gamecube had a far superior controller, a better overall lineup of games, GBA-player capabilities, and is likely my favorite looking console ever. Of course, a lot of these advantages come from lessons learned on the N64, but Gamecube all the way for me.

Probably N64. Even though 6th generation games have generally aged better, RE 4 and F-Zero GX are the only Gamecube games I'm particularly attached to.

The Gamecube has a much stronger line up of games.

The Nintendo 64 was a design abomination that sinked Nintendo in the spam of a generation. The Gamecube served as the basis for the architecture of their next two consoles.

The N64 was one of my first consoles and I have a lot of fond memories of it, but the GCN was a much better value and was way underappreciated in its time.

N64 is legitimately a bad console. The games were WAY too expensive and the cartridge format gimped them. The controller was innovative but kind of crappy for anything other than 3-D platformers and racers and the muddy, sludgy, ugly look has aged like fermenting fish.

Does the N64 have some all-time classic games on it? Absolutely. There's a very strong library of about 10-20 games that were innovative, fun, and influential, and then it falls off a cliff. Any list of top N64 games has to throw on mediocre stuff like Turok and 1080 snowboarding, and then some legitimately bad stuff like Jet Force Gemini and Donkey Kong 64 (those games had good aspects but they just were not good.)

Gamecube's highs were arguably less soaring, but it has an incredible library and a ton of great 3rd party support. Viewtiful Joe, Skies of Arcadia, Prince of Persia, Resident Evil 4 etc... etc... It's just a much better system.

Admittedly the third party games are on other systems too so as a secondary console the competition is more even, but Gamecube has also aged WAY better. Basically any top Gamecube game is still playable today and almost as fun as it is then.

The N64 is certainly home to some revolutionary video games like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye and so on.

While I have a list of old N64 games I'd love to play one day (Banjo-Kazooie, Blast Corps), I'd say the Gamecube has a better and more inventive line up of games. Heck it was also the last time I remember a Nintendo console having a respectable 3rd party lineup (Soul Caliber 2, Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4, etc). Oh and the love I'm seeing for F Zero GX makes me grin.

Everyone keeps touting skies of Arcadia like it was an exclusive, it wasn't, it came out on the dreamcast before.

Besides that ill admit GameCube has advantage on number of good exclusives but if we looking at core franchises I would still say that sm64, oot, and mm are better than sms, ww, and tp.

@katpottz: Only one person said Skies was an exclusive, and anyway the version that came to Gamecube was tweaked so it arguably is (just like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is arguably a Switch exclusive.)

Regardless, a system is more than just its exclusives. Most people don't own multiple systems so having access to third party multiplats is pretty important.

I'm with you on the GCN, but not on the Mario. 64>Sunshine. I started to replay Sunshine about 3 months ago and it doesn't hold up that well.

does the n64 have a handle? i think NOT.

(i love them both they are both my babies)

The Gamecube controller took a GIANT step backwards by only having 2 grips though.

@kingbonesaw Amend this list to include Paper Mario, Kart 64, GoldenEye, Star Fox, Majora's Mask, and the Rare 64 games and you've got a fairer comparison, imo.

If this senario is it'll be my only console, my gut reaction was N64 b/c I played more of it as a kid b/c I had more friends who had a N64 than a CGN, but since GameCube had so many good third party games compared to the N64 just by virtue of how often games were multiplatform then I'd have to go with the GCN just so I can play some of my favorite 3rd party games I played on PS2. I'm a Playstation guy.

well fuck

@ripelivejam: If Nintendo had only had the courage of its convictions it could have continued forward, instead of backsliding. The Gamecube would have had four grips on its controller and outsold the PS2. The Wii would have had five and sold twice as many units as it did. The Wii U would have had SIX controller grips and been the first billion selling console. The Switch would have SEVEN grips on its controller and every human being on earth would have at least one, probably more.

Nintendo knew how powerful their multiple controller grip idea was and instead of embracing it they ran away because it scared them. They didn't want the responsibility. Now the company is a shell of its former self and the Wii remotes and joy cons have ZERO grips.

They looked into the eye of god and they blinked.

Which console has Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door and Wind Waker? The GCN! I loved the N64 but the Cube had a larger quantity of great games.

Gamecube. Most of the N64 library has not aged well at all.

GCN all the way, especially once they released that Zelda Collectors Edition disc with the OoT Master Quest. The N64 classics I've replayed other than Mario 64 and Zelda haven't held up super well, while the 'Cube has tons of games that I would like to sit down and play again (or play for the first time) that have aged well.

Resident Evil 0-4 on one system also helps :)

Didn't have much fun with the N64, i did and still do love my Gamecube though.

@kingbonesaw: Paper Mario, Majora's mask, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo tooie, Conkers Bad fur day, Mario Party 2, Star fox 64, Mystical Ninja, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong racing, Animal Crossing (JP) are some other great games.

People forget that Animal Crossing started on the N64.

@mage_ said:

Only if you were Japanese? The reason that series is famous worldwide is because the first Animal Crossing was quickly ported to the Gamecube for international release.

@bisonhero: It still counts in the console's favor even if you're not japanese.

@mage_: Then having an enhanced and better version of that same game also counts for GameCube

It's very unlikely that anyone involved in this discussion has any firsthand experience with the N64 release of Animal Crossing.

@meteora3255: I don't disagree.

"Quickly" Check the EU release date on that, quick is not the word I would use. The only memories I have of that game is seeing it in magazine with the words soon™ printed next to it. Sorry I'm still apparently a bit resentful and bitter about this.

@linkster7 said:

Yeah, good point. I guess I meant that in Japan they quickly moved onto rereleasing it for the Gamecube the same year, since launching a new series on the N64 in 2001 wasn't the brightest move, and then that Gamecube version was the only one released internationally.

You're totally right, and I do agree with your point about the GCN version being the one that made it known outside of Japan. I'm still a bit traumatized from the early 00's when waiting for a Nintendo game in Europe was like Charlie Brown hoping Lucy wouldn't remove the football this time.

@linkster7 said:

I wonder if Nintendo top brass in Japan continued to disregard the European market for much longer than necessary because Nintendo had such a non-presence in Europe during the NES (and SNES?) eras since people were way may into the various home computers of the day instead of game consoles. Maybe they weren't giving NOE proper support for a while there? I do remember all the nightmare stories of European releases being so far behind Japanese and North American releases.

Maybe EFIGS is to blame. Too many dang languages.

Gotta go with GameCube just based on the controller alone.

If one owned a PSX then an N64 had more value versus someone who owned a PS2 getting a GC. If both the N64 and GC were your only console of that generation then the GC had FAR more value.

Early N64 was the most exciting period for video games in my memory, add on a handful of that generations greatest games and you have a console totally worth owning ALONGSIDE a PSX. On it's own it was a wasteland of infrequent and expensive releases.

I owned an N64 and not a GC, which I've considered recently just buying one, but it would probably just sit there gathering dust.

I missed out on both GC and PS2, which in hindsight is a bit of a bummer. Don't get me wrong, I eventually enjoyed my XBOX quite a bit, but all of those glorious RPGs!

I have a lot of nostalgia for the N64, but I just remember constantly waiting for something to play on my GameCube. When the GameCube was a thing, I was playing my PS2 and XBox more, and just don't have the affinity for it.

GameCube because Wind Waker is still the best thing Nintendo has ever made.

That controller is so dope.

The only Nintendo console I ever owned was a Game Cube so is has to be that.

A handful of Nintendo 64 games laid the groundwork for a lot of amazing games, but it's the GameCube classics that hold up exceptionally well today. GameCube for me.

Almost every first party Nintendo series that included an entry on N64 had a superior entry on Gamecube.

Sunshine > Mario 64

F Zero GX > F Zero 64 (don't recall the real name)

Paper Mario TTYD > Paper Mario (Debatable)

Double Dash > MK 64

Wind Waker = Best Zelda game (imo obviously)

Melee > Super Smash Bros

Not to mention, the GC included my personal favorite Metroid game (Prime 1) and the N64 had no Metroid.

In terms of how well the games hold up, we need only look to Melee. It's arguably the second most popular fighting game in the world. In 2017.

A much more difficult debate IMO would be GBA vs DS.