An interesting article from NextGen on the 20 Reasons N64 Can Fail (after 10 reasons why it could be a success). Some of the reasons are real: some are just Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.
1. The fact that was Nintendo was late to the 5th Generation Party, releasing the Nintendo 64 in 1996 instead of 1995, was likely a given: it gave Saturn and PlayStation a head start, but Nintendo 64 needed the extra time (not to mention 1995 was the time when a slew of great RPGs were released on SNES, including Chrono Trigger and EarthBound).
2. The N64 was expensive, but PlayStation didn't win on cost basis. It won with better games. Oftentimes, cost is irrelevant, unless it's REALLY high (PS3, 3DO). I don't think this was the reason N64 did poorly.
3. Not really true. The N64 did have noticeably better graphics, and kids obviously cared enough.
4. Very true. Once the "kiddie" reputation took hold, it was a matter of time before N64's demise. This stayed with Nintendo until the release of the Wii.
5. Not quite true. There were plenty of PlayStation games and Nintendo 64 games alike.
6. That WAS true. Cartridges are more expensive to produce than CDs, and it was a flood of cartridges that caused the market to crash in 1983. Sierra's bad experience with Atari was the primary reason it never became a Nintendo licensee.
7. Probably related to the above, but not a major factor.
8. Yes. The gaming industry at the time wanted long, cinematic CG scenes: which made things like Final Fantasy VII a great success. But barring cutscenes and voiced tracks, there wasn't more "game" that needed the storage capacity of a CD.
9. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That is all.
10. Very good point. I don't remember what the "Dream Team" was, but third parties in general produced very poor games. Of course, having Spectrum HoloByte went nowhere: what we ended up getting was Glover.
11. DEAD WRONG! Nintendo's brand loyalty kept them afloat even today.
12. Again, being Nintendo won't win the console wars, but it will help a lot.
13. Also true. Though it's related to "why cartridges are bad"
14. Never stopped the Wii from becoming a runaway success.
15. Ah yes, my favorite part: the DD64! First off, it's not Sega 32X: that was a hastily-made add-on so that Genesis owners could (in theory) get 32-bit action without upgrading to the Saturn. But the DD64 was designed from the beginning, hooking in at the bottom of the console. The DD64 is a story in itself and DID fail. Alternatively, it would've been better methinks to have the DD64 to begin with: sturdier "disks", built-in clock, higher storage capacity, what's not to love? Heck, put in 8MB of RAM to solve for the "transfer to other cartridges" basis, and problem solved!
16. Yes!
17. No! (and no, the $500 network PC market DIDN'T exist: ask the Pippin)
18. This plagued/plagues Nintendo of America a lot, even years down the road.
19. No, this had nothing to do with it.
20. Yes, this one did affect Nintendo (but got Sega worse)
In conclusion, Next Generation was wrong. It was a success, but not a big one: and hey, it pretty much knocked Sega out of the race.
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