1. Microsoft took the FPS market which was one of N64’s greatest strengths. The Rare buyout never paid off that well, but it did deprive Nintendo of Perfect Dark.
2. Nintendo doubled down on the “kiddie” image that was plaguing it ever since Mortal Kombat with the purple lunchbox design, Wind Walker art style, and that awful Mario Sunshine ad. I used to think these weren’t such a big deal, but I think otherwise now.
3. No 2D Mario? This is Sean Malstrom’s complaint, but if you look at the sales of New SMB and New SMB Wii, maybe legit.
4. Bad third party support: I think there are lots of reasons for this, N64’s poor performance took all the energy out of GameCube from a business perspective, there are rumours MS moneyhatted some games into PS2/Xbox exclusivity, and you’ve got the button layout and disc size complaints mentioned before. I will add that it was way better than the third party support on N64, just not very good.
