Alternate history: N64 goes with CDs instead of cartridges

[mjk45]

SanAndreasX said:

DonFerrari said:
FF VII made PS1 relevant and other games that depended on the CD to have the cutscenes may have not gone to PS1. That wouldn't be a reality I would like to live on.
But Nintendo relationship with several companies were already on shake basis so perhaps not all would change.

Square and Enix were the ones that mattered the most by far, and they were pretty Nintendo-loyal.

Namco had always had a bad relationship with Nintendo ever since their dispute over re-negotiating Namco's licensing terms for the NES, so that wouldn't have changed. But Tekken on its own wasn't enough to turn the tide for Sony. 

Capcom and Konami would have been multiplatform. Konami was Nintendo's biggest Japanese supporter on N64. Sony might have tried to get MGS as a PS1 exclusive anyway, but MGS wasn't as huge of a series sales-wise as its fans like to make it out to be. 

Sony's deal with Namco to have their  arcade board's  based on the PS1 chipset allowed for a straight forward porting scenario, so it's support wouldn't have changed, Nintendo's adoption of a disc drive and what amount of success that would ultimately bring, depends on a number of hypertheticals, like the timing of the decision and how much the manufacturing timeline was impacted by the decision, all of this is important because, unlike a like a lot of replies that seem to assume a disc base N64 = FF7 a sealed deal with Sony rolling over. Instead depending on that timing Sony would have spent it redoubling its efforts on other fronts, game size wasn't the only factor in swaying developers,or if it was later ensuring it kept those exclusive deals. thats the great thing about hypothetical situations change a few variables and it's a whole new game.