I think NES, MMC chips aside, doesn't get the credit it deserves for devs squeezing an awful lot of power out of hardware that technically released in 1983. I think the SNES was a bit of a powerhouse in its day, even without things like the FX chip.
But I think, for its gen, the N64 was actually quite powerful hardware. For its time, it was capable of things Saturn and PS1 just couldn't do, which is why you say games on it like OoT, Banjo-Kazooie, Turok 2, etc. doing things the competition couldn't really match. It was merely the cart format that held the system back. And mind you, I liked that they stuck with carts at the time: low loading times, more durable format, nostalgia of growing up with carts. I liked, in a way, that it was the last home cartridge based system. That was pretty neat. But, at the same time, I also realize that, to a very large degree, not going with CDs cost Nintendo too. If N64 had been a CD based console, in my mind there's a strong chance it could have been the #1 system of its gen again. As it is, N64 still had some of the top, most popular games of any system that gen, especially when it came to multiplayer. And it isn't as if, especially early on, as if the PS1 took off because of first party Sony games. PS1 rose to power on the strength of games like Symphony of the Night, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Tekken, Ridge Racer, Need For Speed, Final Fantasy VII, ports of Capcom arcade fighters, etc. Many of which certainly would have been ported N64, some even possibly exclusive, if not for the cart format. Alas. Still a great system for its day.
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