What If N64 Didn't Have Cartridges?

[pokoko]

Soundwave said:

pokoko said:
It's hard to say, really.

Remember, at that time, many third-parties WANTED Sony to succeed. Nintendo's near monopoly had them dictating unfavorable terms and conditions to publishers and developers and many were very unhappy with the situation. It's not as clear-cut as everyone siding with Nintendo automatically.

Nintendo didn't have a near monopoly by the mid-1990s ... Sega was getting ports of most third party games. 

Even if games like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 1/2/3 etc. were multi-plat ... Nintendo would've dominated that gen IMO. They had the more powerful system, the most hype, the best exclusives, they just had no third party support which caused huge droughts for the system and basically forced even N64 owners to have to buy a Playstation as well. 

The Saturn was something of a disaster.  Without the PS1 around, Nintendo would have dominated the generation easily.  That's a near-monopoly of the market.  Unless you're saying the Saturn would have done much, much better without Sony in the picture?