In the mid-90s, the formula expected from most popular video games was simple. Most well- regarded games were 2D, usually side scrolling adventures. The two dominant developers of the era were Nintendo, who experienced massive success with the NES and SNES, as well as Sega, who developed the Genesis/Mega Drive and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in order to try to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario. Both developers knew that in order to gain supremacy, they needed to try something new. So Nintendo developed the N64, a pioneer in video gaming history. It introduced a 3D Mario game, Super Mario 64, which captivated Nintendo owners and became one of the best selling games of all time. Not long after that followed the first 3D Zelda adventure, Ocarina of Time, regarded by many as the greatest video game ever created. Several of these 3D titles created the foundations of what gaming would become in the future, and influenced games such as Super Mario Galaxy. Sega, meanwhile, released the Dreamcast during this era, and it performed poorly in sales. It introduced Sonic Adventure, bringing Sonic into a third dimension, but other than that they fell way behind Nintendo, and Sony's PlayStation arose as a serious threat to Nintendo's rule.
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| Super Mario 64 introduced groundbreaking new Mario experience |
As with every new generation of console, Nintendo knew that programming software for the N64 would be increasingly complex compared to the Super Nintendo. Each console has unique challenges to overcome, but especially the 64 due to limitations in computing and 3D technology. The Economist describe the N64's programming requirements as "ridiculously complex." Graphics and audio were designed with a technique known as microcode, which creates another "layer' in the whole process altogether. Later in the console's lifetime, more experienced programmers were finally able to take full advantage of N64's capabilities, and overcoming the problems the earlier programmers had experienced. As a result, the full potential of the console was realized, leading to games that will be remembered in gaming history as establishing the basis of the 3D generation.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64_programming_characteristics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64
http://1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/supermario64.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
I think this is a cool topic, Palmer. There are many functions of coding that we have learned so far that are applicable to video games. I am curious as to how detailed the coding behind a video game can get as we further explore 3D and 4D gaming. Based on the development of coding over the recent years, it is likely that 3D gaming will continue to greatly improve over the course of our lifetimes and I am very excited to see what all this will consist of.
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