The N64 was released in mid-1996 as Nintendo's front-runner in the original next-gen console wars. Although it was a much higher powered machine than Sony's Playstation or Sega's Saturn, the N64 always lagged behind in sales. Nintendo chose to sell the machine on the merits of its fast-loading cartridge system and the insignificant fact that it featured* a 64-bit architecture - unfortunately for Nintendo, people were more impressed by high-capacity CD media, in-game movie sequences and pre-recorded soundtracks than fast loading and the size of the machine's pipeline. Developers often preferred the Playstation for their titles due to the N64's inability to provide media rich content which games such as the Final Fantasy series demanded. Although the hardware facilitated classics such as Goldeneye and the late Perfect Dark, it wasn't enough to win over the masses. Fortunately the system is well-emulated, allowing us to play legendary games such as Zelda, Turok & Goldeneye. A fairly modern system is needed to play emulate the machine, and a 3D accelerated graphics card is an absolute must (onboard graphics won't cut the mustard here). Game ROMs are available from ripped cartridges, ranging in size (5MB-70MB). *) Although this turned out to be a false claim, an advertising point based on rephrasing a technicality similar to calling two 32-bit processors a single 64-bit unit. Specs:
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| Project64 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| One of the best Nintendo 64 emulators available. | |||
| UltraHLE | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| The legendary Nintendo 64 emulator. Unfortunately not updated anymore since it's release. | |||
| 1964 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| In the same league as Project64, or in other words, it's GOOD. | |||
| Nemu64 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| One of the older Nintendo 64 emulators. Requires a very fast PC. | |||
| Mupen64 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Nintendo 64 emulator designed to be portable to multiple systems. | |||
| SupraHLE | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Hacked version of UltraHLE which supports more features and games. | |||
| Corn | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Very fast Nintendo 64 emulator, even on very slow systems. Unfortunately it runs very few games. | |||
| Daedalus | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Good open source Nintendo 64 emulator. | |||
| UltraHLE 2064 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| The succesor of a legend! | |||
| Apollo | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Promising Nintendo 64 emulator. | |||
| TR64 | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| Nintendo 64 emulator by the creators of TRWin. | |||
| TRWin | Windows | Freeware | Rating: |
| This emulator lags behind the rest, but you never know what might happen. | |||