The Nintendo 64 (ニンテンドウ64 Hepburn: Nintendō Rokujūyon) (officially abbreviated as N64, hardware model number pre-term: NUS, stylized as NINTENDO64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. Named for its 64-bit central processing unit, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, and March 1997 in Europe and Australia. It was the last major home console to use the cartridge as its primary storage format until the Nintendo Switch in 2017.[7] The Nintendo 64 was discontinued in 2002 following the launch of its successor, the GameCube, in 2001.
Codenamed "Project Reality", the Nintendo 64 design was mostly complete by mid-1995, but its launch was delayed until 1996, when Time named it Machine of the Year.[8] It was launched with three games: Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64 (worldwide) and Saikyō Habu Shōgi (exclusive to Japan). As part of the fifth generation of gaming, the system competed primarily with the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The suggested retail price at its United States launch was US$199.99 (equivalent to $326 in 2019), and 32.93 million units were sold worldwide. In 2015, IGN named it the ninth-greatest video game console of all time.[9]