Revisionist history. I think if Nintendo went CD with the Nintendo 64, then they would have eaten into Sony to an extent where Sony and Nintendo sold both on parity. Looking at the numbers:
PS1 - 102 million consoles sold
N64 - 35 million consoles sold
Saturn - 9 million consoles sold
3DO - 2 million consoles sold
Jaguar - 250,000 consoles sold
Amiga - 100,000 consoles sold
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(fifth_generation)
I think the numbers for PS1 and the N64 would be more on par with the PS1 winning the generation by a 60/40 split of the total. Sony selling 60 percent of the total and Nintendo selling 40 percent of the total. The others and Sega would have been shellacked out of their rubber rafts from Sony and Nintendo's battleship cannons rendering their split of the total sold negligible at best.
What would have been the consequences for Nintendo using CD technology from the N64 on?
1. The GameCube would have sold more due to being a multi-media device.
2. The GameCube would have had DVD playback capability, which was a factor in the PS2 selling so much.
3. Sony, more than likely, would have left the market midway to late through the 6th generation.
From the N64 on, I believe Nintendo screwed the pooch by creating systems with funky cartridges and mini discs. Nintendo in it's arrogance, did not see consoles selling so much due to their multi-media nature.
Hell, for it's time the PS2 was the cheapest entry level DVD player and that is a big reason why it sold so much from the get go.
