Nintendo 64 vs. PlayStation 1: Which Console is More Powerful (In Terms of Tech Specs)

The N64 and the PS1 were major rivals in the world of gaming. So which one actually had the better technical specs?

[oakshin]

N64 but over the years it was obvious ps1 demo disk had more legs then the whole N64 library

[AspiringProGenji]

Can confirm. I had a 64 with some great games and I borrowed a PS1 with a demo disk and somehow it was more fun playing those games then Imagining the rest of the game in my sleep lol

[naruga]

N64 was nt more powerful ...a lot of silicon capabilities were not available by N64 (in contrary to PS1 that was a powerhouse even PCs couldnt port its games properly) , it just created the illusion of better graphics by almost not having pixels ...N64 games nowdays seem like crap in front of the very well aged PS1 games ....and lets not talk about library... day to night differences in term of quality and quantity of course ....the only advantage N64 had over PS1 was the hype of the nintnedo fans that were untrustful toward newborn PS that time , and so showed some support to the nintedo console ....as for the PS1 demos literally were more fun and had more content than the whole N64 library

[oakshin]

Back in the 90s if you worked at blockbuster you would get 5 free rentals a week and free consoles from people bring them back saying they was broke for refund knowing damn well they just wonted there money back so I got alot of free games and consoles in that time period

[_SilverHawk_]

The ps1 vs the n64 reminds me of the ps2 vs the gamecube because the Nintendo systems were released later than the playstation systems with seemingly better specs but the playstation systems displayed a lot of games surpassing what was seen on the Nintendo systems.

[indysurfn]

I've owned every major console. Not a fanboy of Sony but I would still have to say Sony PS1 even though it was no where near as powerful as N64 would be the console I would buy if I could only have one. Anyone remember a little game that the VERY ANNOUNCEMENT of coming to PS1, PS1 #1 in sales? It was called Final Fantasy VII. Enough said.

[Imalwaysright]

_SilverHawk_

What a load of crap. Gamecube wasn't just more powerful than the PS2. It was almost as powerful as the original Xbox and was far more powerful than the PS2 https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[indysurfn]

I like the love of the Demo disk but it was not better than the N64 library. That is being ridiculous. I remember buying something just so I could get a Final fantasy demo disc. And a couple other final fantasy games. Unless you are a fanboy that missed out on N64 games, you know your going over the top.

[rainslacker]

Depends on when you played the demo disc. The N64 had some dry years, and some of those PS1 demo discs you could play for hours. Especially the PSM demo discs.

[Segata]

More even than marketing would have you know. Raw specs show N64 is but, in reality, one did some things better than the other and vice versa. Saturn is a misunderstood system as being less powerful. It actually could do quite a lot but it was just a pain in the ass so most didn't do the extra work. I don't think any of them had one standing clearly over the others in power. N64's biggest downfall is no CD-Rom.

[Vee77039]

At the time I believe not having a CD rom is why i liked the n64 at the time being able to jump in a game quicker for a cartridge was the selling point for me plus its nintendo so. If your cd rims got scratched up it took forever for a game to load some time 10 to 15 minutes

[AspiringProGenji]

There were cons with CD room but allowing bigger games and worlds sure made up for all of that

[indysurfn]

Vee77039 You right isnt it great that we are turning full circle? Nintendo SWITCH I can already start a game back up in 3 seconds. And soon with PS5 and XseriesX we will be doing the same thing. No loading screens and starting my SWITCH when I start Playing Dragon Quest XI at lunch is a game changer! And then instant turn it off without losing a second! Soon this will be on ALL the major players! (I said MAJOR Stadia, be quiet)!

[indysurfn]

Speaking of kicking Stadia......:
PS5 is not out YET.....But it already has it's place at the top of the N4G page. (because its here to stay)---
Xbox SeriesX is not out YET...But it already has it's place at the N4g Page. (because its here to stay)---
Stadia is OUT!!!!......But it does NOT have a place at the top of N4G. (because....it may not be here to stay) ---

[rainslacker]

Saturn wasn't particularly hard to code for, it just had a lot of things it could do because of all the processors, so you had to know what they were to utilize them. If you knew this, then the Saturn was kind of a godly system for it's time. PS1 surpassed it with game content, but Saturn had better 2D/3D combinations than PS1 did. PS1 did some other things really well, like overlays of different types of media, and it had better streaming of assets features than Saturn, which kind of required everything to be in memory to use.

[Segata]

Saturn was difficult because of 2 things. The coprocessors and it didn't use polygons. It used quads instead of triangles. In theory that is better but in practice it's less practical and takes a lot more work. Saturn also while capable, was very difficult to get transparencies working. Most gave up even SEGA at times and used a mesh instead. Some games like Mega Man 8 use them. Now as for 2D. That is the one area Saturn truly shined over both. Any 2D fighting game on Saturn VS PS1. PS1 always had fewer frames and worse coloring. Saturn was also Nvidia's introduction to a GPU market on PCs as well. It didn't do well because of it using Quads.

[rainslacker]

You're talking about specific things that if you wanted to do them, the system had to jump through hoops to make happen. That's like saying the PS4 is difficult to code for because it can't do ray-tracing. That's not really what it means when you talk about difficulty to code for. If used in the way it was intended, it was pretty straight forward. Yes, it had a lot of processors, but they all did what they were supposed to do, and when thought out, could deliver results. 3D, yeah it wasn't the best, but when trying to integrate 2D with 3D, which wasn't uncommon for it's life span, it did better than the PS1. PS1, as I said, did other things well, and was also easy to code for.

[howiewowwee]

it's a mario vs. snake thing.

[anonymousfan]

Yup I think their success was far more due to their gaming libraries than respective power.

[indysurfn]

Actually it was a ANNOUNCEMENT that FFVII was swithcing over to Sony. Snake was not the big name yet, Not until it got good ratings and every thing became about Konami. It was Square that spiked the sales. But after Snake came out is when it was a system seller. The biggest Gun at the time was SQuare then the EA, Konami, Capcoms. grand theft auto's.

[jeenyus]

If you're new to these it's fine. But if you know the consoles, everyone knows N64 was far more powerful and only its cartridge was beneath PSX's specs.

[rataranian]

The PS demo disk should be put in a museum of awesomeness.

[Minute Man 721]

It also had hidden games

[chrisx]

Soul blade trailer, Porsche challenge...who could forget code name: Tenka? I played that disc countless times

[Terry_B]

Oh..another thegamer.com article 'nuff said.

[Minute Man 721]

The 64 had the bigger engine but the smaller tank (cartridges) if Nintendon't wasn't stubborn and went with CDs the Gaming World might have been different today

[rainslacker]

I can understand why at the time they stopped the deal with Sony. Sony wasn't exactly the good guy there, although neither was Nintendo. They were both vying for who owned the licensing rights to the PS CD attachment. Then after the break up, things fell apart with Panasonic, and Nintendo, being the stubborn and proud company they are, thought they'd stick with carts, and tried to make it out as if this was because of performance that they preferred. The only reason Nintendo didn't go with the CD though is because they didn't have one ready in time for when they needed to release the system, and Sony was taking the gaming world by storm, and even Sega, as failed as the Saturn was, was doing better for that generation of consoles.

The rest is history, and I think that the N64 gen is the gen where Nintendo really started to move into this ideal that they will just do their own thing, and that whatever else was going on in the industry, or related to consumer expectations was for them to decide, instead of changes with the market.

Over time, that worked out for them, but it wasn't consistent. If the Switch hadn't been a mobile device as well, chances are, it'd be struggling as much as the WiiU did.

[strayanalog]

Of course it's the Nintendo 64, but better question... after all these years which one gets played the most? I found people were more nostalgic for the N64. I'm inclined to agree, as my Nintendo 64 gets played a lot more than my PlayStation.

[rainslacker]

For me, there are only a small number of games that I really feel like going back and playing on N64. I have more nostalgic feelings for the Saturn or PS1, and even the TurboDuo was a thing for me because I was still importing Japanese games for it as it was still a relevant system in Japan. N64 was a cool system, but at the time it was out, I had become so used to games on CD, that going back to carts felt antiquated. The faster loading times were cool, but the optical media's offered much deeper game experiences, particularly for JRPG's, which was really my go to genre back then.

[strayanalog]

Understandable. I can relate! JRPG's were hard to turn away from then. Now I can't say anything about a TurboDuo because I never owned one, but it's great to hear there's some shared love for Saturn. As far as I'm concerned, every Saturday should be Saturnday.

[rainslacker]

Rayearth and Guardian Heroes are my go to staples for retro gaming on Saturn. Probably two of my favorite games of that gen.

[Einhander1971]

Both amazing systems, both having there strengths and weaknesses.

[bahabeast]

Just the fact that ps1 used CDs instead of cartridge. The ps1 was hands down more more powerful games was more realistic and I mite not be able to remember all that well but I am almost positive the ps1 had wayyyyyyyyyy more and better games than the n64 well for my taste atleast. Oh yes I remembered those demo disk. They were passed around like a raw joint. Or a bad b8&ch

[bahabeast]

Resident evil, Tekken,bloody raw, Gran Turismo,Spyro, Metal gear, 👀

[Knightofelemia]

They are two great consoles I enjoyed them both only one complaint I have about the N64 was that stupid thumbstick it could have been designed better.

[DCarnage]

The N64 was more powerful but the library sucked compared to the PS1. What would have made the N64 better would be a larger texture cache and a cd drive. What would have made the PS1 better? ...I dunno, I thought it was pretty awesome.

[Jrios355]

I'd say they were both powerful for different reasons. The N64 had better quality and performance, and cartridges meant there were no loading times. The PS1 could do better sound, could run CGI cutscenes, and disks meant a lot more memory for much bigger games.

[Minute Man 721]

The 64 could also do CGI cutscenes, see RE for N64. But the game sounded horrible

[Jrios355]

Yes, but the CGI cutscenes of the N64 version of RE were heavily compressed, making the quality much worse than the PS1 version.

[Minute Man 721]

Can't remember seeing any compression artifact but it sounded awful