Did the cartridge format really ruin Nintendo's dominance in the 90's?

We all know how things went about in the 90's for Nintendo: Nintendo stabs Sony in the back and turns to Phillips for the SNES CD-ROM add-on, Sony makes the Playstation with the CD format, Nintendo makes the N64 sticking with the cartridge format.

The question is though, if Nintendo had never stuck with the cartridge format with the N64 do you think things would have turned out all that differently?  Would third parties have supported Nintendo more?  Would perhaps some of the things we have today (DS, Wii) not even exist if it hadn't been for Nintendo's fall in the 90's??

Majority of information comes from a Special on MSNBC called GAME ON: The Unofficial History of Video Games. I urge anyone who gets a chance to watch it. It shows a complete unbiased history of Video Games from when they were first created till now.Darth-Sifh

I watched that. It was very good and detailed and like you said not basied at all. But it was really long. Wasn't it like 2 hours or something(been a while since I saw it). And I don't think Nintendo sticking with Sony would be good thing. I just can't imagine what Sony would do to Nintendo's IPs and futrure consoles.

[QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"] Majority of information comes from a Special on MSNBC called GAME ON: The Unofficial History of Video Games. I urge anyone who gets a chance to watch it. It shows a complete unbiased history of Video Games from when they were first created till now.bededog

I watched that. It was very good and detailed and like you said not basied at all. But it was really long. Wasn't it like 2 hours or something(been a while since I saw it). And I don't think Nintendo sticking with Sony would be good thing. I just can't imagine what Sony would do to Nintendo's IPs and futrure consoles.

I don't think it did. The N64 has some great games: Perfect dark, Goldeneye, Ogre battle 64, Pokemon Snap, Super smash brothers, etc... The only way sticking to the cartridge format actually hurt nintendo was that it strained their relationship with squaresoft and the N64 really didn't have a lot of good RPGs as a result. ktulu007

Yes, also carts had a huge advantage over discs of the time; no loading time. If you don't remember the massive time it took to load on a CD, you weren't a gamer in the 90's. Even early PS2 games suffer from long load times. I have always loved carts because they never had to load, they where hard to damage (I still have Atari 2600 games in perfect working condition) and they were easy to store.

Even now carts continue to kick disc butt, GBA/DS vs UMD anyone? 

 

I watched that. It was very good and detailed and like you said not basied at all. But it was really long. Wasn't it like 2 hours or something(been a while since I saw it). And I don't think Nintendo sticking with Sony would be good thing. I just can't imagine what Sony would do to Nintendo's IPs and futrure consoles.

bededog

[QUOTE="ktulu007"]

Even now carts continue to kick disc butt, GBA/DS vs UMD anyone? 

Boba_Fett_3710

Cartridges had another advantage: If a game required more horsepower to play, they could just incorporate the required chip into the cartridge. They did this with the first Starfox game (and several others), and it created very interesting games. They could surprise you by simply giving the console a temporary upgrade.

So the only thing Nintendo ruined was their relation with Sony and Square. Pity, but if this didn't happen, we would never had   F-Zero GX as we know it now. Sony went on his own, and made a lot of quality games, and provoked Microsoft. Nintendo still had the awesome fan-base and quality games, so they could survive this kick in the face. SEGA had the fanboys, but failed to provide enough good stuff. They bailed from the console war and went 3rd party, and eventually ended up with siding Nintendo in F-Zero GX. If they still had their own console, they also wouldn't have created the Total War series, since real-time strategy just doesn't work on consoles.

SEGA going 3rd party was just one of the bigger events on the topic, but you get the point. We would have missed many good things if it wasn't for cartridges, Sony, Microsoft, or whatever happened in history. If somebody ever offers me a time machine, I smack him in the face. Back to the Future taught us that nothing good comes out of time paradoxes.

Cartridges had another advantage: If a game required more horsepower to play, they could just incorporate the required chip into the cartridge. They did this with the first Starfox game (and several others), and it created very interesting games. They could surprise you by simply giving the console a temporary upgrade.

Majura

I think that the 64 wasnt as unsuccessful as everyone thinks, I enjoyed it. The real downfall actually came when they switched to CDs for the gamecube.

Luigi kicks Marios ass

Well both formats had their advanages Cartridges Pros 1. No Load Times 2. Graphics not liminted to consles ablities 3. Hard to damage Cons 1. Expensive 2. Slow to Produce 3. Consles sometimes required muliple starts to play game. CD's Pros 1. Cheap 2. Easy to produce 3. Graphics were superior to cartrages Cons 1.Easy to Scratch or break 2.Can have long load timesDarth-Sifh

I like discs better pretty much only because they have easier storage. :P Instead of having some big ol' cartridges lying around, I can put my game discs away and onto my DVD rack. :)

[QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"]Well both formats had their advanages Cartridges Pros 1. No Load Times 2. Graphics not liminted to consles ablities 3. Hard to damage Cons 1. Expensive 2. Slow to Produce 3. Consles sometimes required muliple starts to play game. CD's Pros 1. Cheap 2. Easy to produce 3. Graphics were superior to cartrages Cons 1.Easy to Scratch or break 2.Can have long load timesREVOLUTIONfreak

[QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"]Well both formats had their advanages Cartridges Pros 1. No Load Times 2. Graphics not liminted to consles ablities 3. Hard to damage Cons 1. Expensive 2. Slow to Produce 3. Consles sometimes required muliple starts to play game. CD's Pros 1. Cheap 2. Easy to produce 3. Graphics were superior to cartrages Cons 1.Easy to Scratch or break 2.Can have long load timesREVOLUTIONfreak

I agree that CDs break easily and scratch, but cartridges if you recall sometimes did not start right away. Sometimes taking several tries. That always annoyed me. I still like CDs more they are easier to keep stored. Cartridges just get all over the place. 

[QUOTE="REVOLUTIONfreak"][QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"]Well both formats had their advanages Cartridges Pros 1. No Load Times 2. Graphics not liminted to consles ablities 3. Hard to damage Cons 1. Expensive 2. Slow to Produce 3. Consles sometimes required muliple starts to play game. CD's Pros 1. Cheap 2. Easy to produce 3. Graphics were superior to cartrages Cons 1.Easy to Scratch or break 2.Can have long load timesDarth-Sifh

I think it did hurt them in some ways but I had no problem

[QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"][QUOTE="REVOLUTIONfreak"][QUOTE="Darth-Sifh"]Well both formats had their advanages Cartridges Pros 1. No Load Times 2. Graphics not liminted to consles ablities 3. Hard to damage Cons 1. Expensive 2. Slow to Produce 3. Consles sometimes required muliple starts to play game. CD's Pros 1. Cheap 2. Easy to produce 3. Graphics were superior to cartrages Cons 1.Easy to Scratch or break 2.Can have long load timesREVOLUTIONfreak

Don't forget that the PS had better framerate too ...