The biggest change that happened in the transition from the 16-bit to 64-bit was the introduction of truly three dimensional environments. Mario 64 is a great example of a game that made this transition while still keeping much of the core gameplay intact.

Although there were games that existed in a faux 3D environment prior to this using “Mode 7,” a method used to rotate and scale flat images, they were far from being an immersive 3D experience. Star Fox was perhaps the closest 16-bit systems had to creating a full 3D experience. While the game featured extremely rough polygonal graphics it still was remarkable that they could do this on the SNES. While the 3D experience was rough at best it did foreshadow what was to come from future systems.

Controllers also saw a big leap forward during this time, with many attempts at creating a great controller. The most successful was the Playstation’s controller which, with a few modifications such as analog sticks and rumble capability, is still in use today.

While now analog controls are standard on all systems it took the N64 controller to bring them back, with the Playstation following suite. While the N64 controller was in many ways a failure, the analog configuration answered about 95% of the demand and made the R button hard to reach, it was a million times better than the Jaguar’s controller. This was a labyrinth of buttons that more often than not just served to confuse the player. While an utter failure in every sense of the word it certainly taught manufacturers the necessity of a simple controller.

The marketing of games was also changed by the Playstation. While traditionally game companies targeted the 8-16 age demographic the Playstation began skewing older. This was a wise decision it turns out as the system was a hit, selling out in Japan and shortages being reported in the U.S. This could partly be attributed to their “You are not E” (ready) campaign which they spent a reported $40 million on.

Perhaps the biggest boon to the Playstation’s success was the strong 3rd party support that they had right out of the gate. They had over 250 developers working for them before the system was even launched.

The company that had the greatest problem with this transition was undoubtedly Sega. Although they tried very hard to be cutting edge, by releasing first the Sega CD and then the 32X, they did not support these add-ons. This, in turn, lead to both consumers and developers losing faith in the company. This directly impacted both the developers will to work with the Saturn as well as consumers will to shell out the money ($400 dollars at the time) for the system. When the Playstation came out with both a wider selection of titles and a hundred dollar cheaper price tag the Saturn may as well have been dead in the water. Although they continued to create some great games they never recovered their market share.

Bibliography

http://psx.ign.com/articles/060/060188p1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_controller

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64