In the latest "Iwata asks" with the Sin and Punishment 2 team, Satoru Iwata had some things to say about the old NIntendo 64.
Iwata: It changed. It really did change.
Nakagawa: However, before the Nintendo 64 came out, other company’s systems already had something like an introduction to 3D. So the knowledge to creating games in 3D was also…
Iwata: They had a certain amount of knowledge already.
Nakagawa: …Yes. That’s why we thought we could work on the Nintendo 64 too. But, the Nintendo 64 … sure was something (bitter laughter).
Iwata: (laughs) It was a machine that was hard to create things for and didn’t work at all.
Nakagawa: Y-Yes. It didn’t work at all…
Maegawa: At the time, I was the main programmer, so I also understand Nakagawa’s experiences.
Nakagawa: What we did before the Nintendo 64 was, after all, only an introduction.
Iwata: Yes.
Nakagawa: But, the Nintendo 64 was a 3D machine to the core.
Iwata: Because the Silicon Graphics Co.8 architecture was just dropped into play. The Nintendo 64 had all sorts of limitations, but in the end, it was a 3D machine to the core. It’s just that, even if it was one to the core, there were those limitations, so it was hard to use and turned out to be a machine that didn’t work at all.
Nakagawa: Which is why, after having played around on these introductory systems (Editor’s note: possibly referring to SEGA Saturn?) for all this time and then suddenly having a professional machine dropped into our laps, we couldn’t get it to work at all for the first year…
Iwata: Yes.
Nakagawa: … (Silently stares off into the distance)
Iwata: It couldn’t work, and…?
Nakagawa: Sigh… (and gives a very big sigh)
Iwata: (laughs) That sigh just now contained many different emotions, didn’t it (laughs).
Nakagawa: (very big nod)
Iwata: (laughs)
It didn't work at all but they laugh... priceless. Full interview here:
http://www.siliconera.com/2009/11/01/sin-punishment-2-creators-voice-parts-1-2/
