PlayStation Vs. N64: How They Matched Up In 9 Crucial Areas
8. Designs For Life
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and amounts to more than skin-deep aesthetics, but there’s no denying that the PlayStation looked infinitely cooler beneath your TV.
Sony’s high tech approach yielded a futuristic-looking machine which was far easier on the eye than the black hunk of plastic Nintendo rolled out in 1996.
Functionality, however, must also be taken into account - and Nintendo’s decision to include four controller inputs for epic local multiplayer sessions was a more meaningful reason to hail the N64 as boasting a superior design.
Adding controllers to the equation, Sony’s decision to stick with the same basic gamepad template today proves it produced a timeless peripheral at the first attempt.
It got the job done, and it’s been a case of evolution rather than revolution ever since, but the influence of Nintendo’s M-shaped N64 pad cannot be overstated.
Granted, that thumbstick wasn't the most durable or ergonomic, but the Big N can claim to have created the first mainstream peripheral with an analogue stick attached, tooling gamers up for the 3D age.
Sony followed Ninty's lead on this one and launched its own analogue stick-sporting controller in 1997 - the original DualShock pad.