What if the Nintendo 64 used discs instead of cartridges?

[Soundwave]

RolStoppable said:

Soundwave said:

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. 

So we have to thank Howard Lincoln for FIFA 64. What a douchebag.

Consider these facts:

1) Sega managed to reach virtual parity in sales with Nintendo outside of Japan in the fourth generation. Sony upped the ante when it came to marketing image and putting down competitors. Like Sega proved in the fourth generation, you don't need to have the better games to prevail against Nintendo. There's a significant audience that buys into buzzwords.

2) Nintendo wasn't a big brand in Europe, so PlayStation being new wasn't really much of a disadvantage. The advantage in Japan that put Nintendo over Sega in the fourth generation (due to Nintendo enjoying exclusivity for many big third party titles) wouldn't have mattered as much anymore, because Europe grew to become a much bigger market in the fifth generation.

The assumption that Nintendo would have won the fifth generation if only they had used CDs rests on the belief that Sony would be unable to match or exceed what Sega did in the fourth generation. That's absolutely laughable considering Sony's financial power and better distribution channels all over the world.

1.) First off maybe try giving Sega some credit? The Genesis had a lot of great 1st/2nd party games and they actually deserve credit for pioneering the trend of marketing to older consumers. The competetion with Sega made Nintendo a better company too, by the end of the SNES era they had learned a lot of lessons and were a better company for it going into the N64-era. That and Super Mario 64 was a legit earth shattering game changer, whereas Mario World really wasn't and that allowed Sega to pounce with Sonic. The problem was Mario 64 had nothing to work with, because of cartridges there were no games to surround it with for months. 

2.) Europe was a challenge but it was really Nintendo that took that market for granted and treated Europeans 2nd class consumers. So they deserved what they got in that marketplace. But they were shaping up even there towards the end of the SNES era and GoldenEye was a huge hit in Europe. 

Give the N64 Mario 64, Final Fantasy VII, GoldenEye, Zelda: OoT, Wave Race 64, Dragon Quest VII, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Tactics, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Mario Kart 64, Turok, Smash Brothers, Star Fox 64, Pokemon Stadium, etc. exclusive and have Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Megaman, Street Fighter, Silent Hill, all Resident Evil, Dead Or Alive, Soul Reaver, Need For Speed, etc. stripped of Sony exclusivity, with the N64 getting a regular flow of games at all times like the Super NES did and lets see how well Sony does. 

I'll even leave them Tekken, Tomb Raider, Ridge Racer, Spyro, Crash, PaRappa, Gran Turismo, but even still, I think the chips fall very differently in that generation. I think the N64 would've outsold the SNES and even the NES in North America just because of market expansion for one and totally dominated in Japan.  

Sony isn't such a runaway beast when they have to compete against system's that aren't starved for games ... the DS beat the PSP, the 360 beat the PS3 for the majority of the last generation, etc. It's just that when you give Sony so much room to captialize by opponents that shoot themselves in the foot, they thrive on situations like that, they are very smart at exploiting their opposition's mistakes and making them pay for it.