Blizzard's hit real-time strategy game helped put them on the map, helping to establish, pioneer and perfect the genre that is now a mainstay of PC gaming. However, Nintendo were bold enough to seek out a port of the popular game on the N64, which at the time wasn't well received. Critics and fans alike didn't want to play a complex strategy game without a mouse, as the core integral mechanics; resource gathering, map scouting and combat all require constant monitoring and commands, all of which made the N64 controller's analog stick and directional pad feel disadvantageous. These problems tied with a quiet release in 2000, over two years after the PC version launched, caused the N64 port to drift into obscurity with a very small amount of units sold and produced. There's been a spike in the price of StarCraft 64 cartridges in the last few years, since the release of StarCraft 2 which has seemingly encouraged people to dig out this version. The rarer, Australian pal copies can cost over £100, while the more readily available US edition costs around £60, unboxed. Blizzard's sci-fi RTS would go on to define the genre, but the N64 remains ever obscure.
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