While the N64 obviously does have more modern features than the PS1, I do believe that many people fail to note that the PS1 came out a year and a half before the N64, which back then was an enormous period of time in terms of technological advancement. The N64 should be expected to be more powerful, and I don't mean you, but many people seem to only compare the power without the context.

This is true; I guess systems from the same generation are inevitably compared side by side even when one may have a year or two's advantage over the other in terms of technological advancement. That's the risk you run by releasing a system ahead of the competition; you get a head start, but leave yourself open to getting one-upped in the tech department. 

Ok. I will grant you Hydro Thunder and SF Rush. But those Cruis'n games? Your list just fell off a cliff, and it was a short trip. They were, objectively, technical garbage. And just not good on N64. At all. Widely panned, and deservedly so. I liked the arcade Cruis'n USA a fair amount. And although they were better on N64, PS1 had Hydro Thunder and SF Rush as well. I'll also raise you 2 Ridge Racer games, 2 stellar Wipeout games, 2 Destruction Derby games, whatever the excellent Namco Rally game was called, Need For Speed.....I could go on. It's lockdown territory for the PS1 in this genre. Besides I was only talking about technical prowess. My mind boggles that Gran Turismo is not a hands down winner in that capacity. It's weird to argue this, because N64 was a slight fav for me, but I always see "N64 was the most powerful, bleep-blorp" in some capacity, and nobody says boo. Should have made it a thread. Oh well. 

Oh come on. I'm just saying that the N64 racer library wasn't that bad. And it wasn't. Excite Bike, Mario Kart 64, Wave Race 64, 1080 Snowboarding along with Diddy Kong Racing show that the N64 wasn't a slouch in the racing department. I'm not saying that it was the definitive place for racing but it certainly wasn't a slouch. Although I am fine with saying that GT 2 was the best racer of that gen. I don't think it got topped until Forza came.

It sure did help the PS4 though

Yeah, that's kinda my point. Was it really though? REALLY? IN PRACTICE? NOT JUST ON PAPER!!!!???? lol. Excuse me. Very gassy. Third party crossover titles were not that numerous. Sometimes clearly better on one than the other. Sometimes a tossup. And yes, both the hardware, and software medium created a complex stew of differing results. Too much to effectively get into outside an actual mouth-to-ear convo. My rub is this: N64 was a tech letdown. That ad Onion posted? That was the foundation of the entire buildup towards the system. There has never been anything like it. Not before. Not since. Maaaybe the PS2. But that was several years later. Hyperbole, and yes, lies, were easier to see through by then. I wish I still had my old EGM's and Next Generation magazines. It was going to be so much better. Until it really, mostly, wasn't. And to beat the same drum: I find this to be a contentious topic, but on VGC, people all say the N64 is the tech god-king of gen 5, and everybody just scratches their privates, rolls over, and goes back to sleep. I thought this was Playstation country! :)

I'm not saying it was a slouch. I stand by my harsh appraisal of the Cruis'n games. Just saying I think the PS1 had, for whatever reason, the more technically impressive ( graphics, and yeah, sound too ) driving games. And fighting. And RPG's. And my post did say driving games. 1080 was fucking awesome, but c'mon man. It was a snowboarding game. Better than all the lame-ass Cool Boarders put together. And really? The perfect example of a game that COULD NOT be done on the PS1. One of the most uniquely beautiful games of the gen. Even the soundtrack was awesome. Bassy. Robust. Rock and techno. So yeah. I'm playing devil's advocate here, because the PS1 almost never, maybe never never, gets it props it the juice department in VGC land. There are valid points on both sides. I think N64 had the better action-adventure games, and better FPS games on a tech level. SM64, The Banjo games, Conker, Turok 2, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Doom 64, Quake 2, The World Is Not Enough. All somehow way prettier than their PS1 contemporaries. It's so strange to me how genre by genre, one system would mollywhop the other. It's 3:40 am here. Time to start thinking about-thinking about going to bed. Fun times tomorrow. :)

I don't think it helped that much. I think the Sony brand is what helped the most. Even if it's the least powerful, Sony is just more accepted globally when it comes to gaming.

PS4 is actually the first time, as far as I know, that the most powerful console dominated. The writing was on the wall long before it launched. I even made a thread and i was an Xbox 360 fan.

Of course, now it seems we live in a time where performance is more important so I don't know what the future holds.

I miss the old days of gaming, before we had the TFLOPS and the 1080p's.

If consoles never went beyond the n64/ps1 era I think we'd have a lot more charming and soulful games. T_T

It sure isn't, but who knows how the N64 would have sold if it hadn't used carts.