The course of history forever changed on September 26th, 1996 when Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in North America. Long before the days of online gaming, the N64 was our first real taste of party gaming. Whole social events were built around Mario and his friends, friendships were made and lost while driving a virtual go-kart, and hours were spent at Blockbuster looking for the next game to rent. Here are 20 things we will forever remember about our beloved Nintendo 64:
1. The moment we saw Mario in 3D for the first time.
2. The many friendships that were ruined on Rainbow Road
3. ...And in Mario Party.
4. Remember playing "the floor is lava" as a kid?
5. When you realized you'd probably be trapped in the Water Temple for the rest of your life.
6. And you'd also be forever terrified of the moon.
7. Pokemon Snap = Pokemon GO before there was Pokemon GO.
8. Remember totally freaking out seeing your transferred Pokemon on the big screen?
9. You thought of ways to tell your parents about how you planned to be a professional Podracer.
10. The first time seeing the Super Smash Bros. commercial and wondering what the heck was going on.
11. Then spending a billion hours trying to beat that one kid who always used Pikachu.
12. Before Call of Duty and Battlefield, there was Goldeneye 007.
13. You knew the Donkey Kong 64 intro song by heart.
14. You were blown away by how real The Rock and other WWF fighters looked.
15. You secretly wished you had a bird you could carry around in your backpack like Banjo Kazooie.
16. You still remember your first barrel roll. (Google: do a barrel roll)
17. You remember the Diddy before P. Diddy.
18. Riding the dolphin on Wave Race 64 was the highlight of summer vacation.
19. You will never forget the adorable and kinda creepy storybook world of Yoshi Story. (Am I the only one that still has nightmares about the Yoshi death scene?)
20. You couldn't imagine the world without Channel 03 and blowing cartridges.
Here's to you, Nintendo 64! All the many hours of extreme sports on Tony Hawk and 1080 Snowboarding. We'll never forget the thrill of Perfect Dark or that weird game about that hungover squirrel (Conker's Bad Fur Day). We love you, Kirby, Captain Falcon, and Bomberman. Happy Birthday, Nintendo 64. Forever in our hearts.
