| RolStoppable said: Sony would have moneyhatted games left, right and center (more than they already did anyway). They also sold their console at a loss, so that's already two things that Nintendo wouldn't have gone along with. Publishers like EA and Codemasters would have still given Nintendo the short end of the stick, because that's what they already did in previous generations. Sony's significantly superior network for distributing products in Europe would still be there too. Or to make it short: Nintendo would have still lost to Sony. Worse third party support from the West by default (just like in the fourth generation against Sega), loss of big Japanese third party titles through moneyhatting. |
They maybe would've been able to money hat some titles like Tomb Raider and Tekken, but Nintendo retains Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and everything else goes multiplat with the N64 having better versions of many games due to stronger hardware.
The N64 actually had pretty darn good Western developer support as is even with the terrible cart format; Turok 1/2/3, Beetle Adventure Racing, 007: The World Is Not Enough, Star Wars Episode I Racer, South Park 64, DOOM 64, WCW/NWO games, NFL Quarterback Club, Body Harvest (from the future GTA3 devs), Space Station: Silicon Valley, Rocket: Robot on Wheels (now the developer of inFAMOUS), Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Starcraft 64, Top Gear Rally, etc.
A lot of Western devs were pushing it harder than the PSX, like higher resolution games than on the Playstation.
EA actually got on board with the N64 because Howard Lincoln went to bat for Nintendo and assuaded them to make games on the N64 even though they didn't like the cartridge medium, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He also insisted that Nintendo also invest in more sports games like NBA Courtside featuring Kobe Bryant ... this back when Nintendo of America had competent leadership that actually had authority to do things.
If Nintendo retains the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises by going CD, then Sony would've been screwed. The other Japanese devs, whether they liked Nintendo or not would have to fall in line. Honestly in the early years of the PSX they didn't spend heavy resources on it because they didn't know if it would be a hit or not, the N64 sold like wild fire at launch, the PSX had a much slower ramp up.
Nintendo wins that easily. Playstation circa 1996 is not the Playstation brand that it became later on and GoldenEye was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge find in the West, it's the forfather of the Call of Duty phenomenon except Nintendo had it exclusive to themselves.
