Having played the N64 for a whole week, we've compiled nine N64 moments which have made the console a pioneer. Read on for our top nine N64 'nin'ovations...

ANALOGUE CONTROL:

When Nintendo unveiled the N64 controller people were flummoxed by that analogue stick. Yet when we’d coaxed Mario around Peach’s castle, everyone knew this was the future. So revolutionary that every controller since has used it.

UPGRADABLE RAM:

When the Expansion Pak came to town everyone thought add-ons were a sign of death. Offering optional extras in games via an extra 4MB for the N64 to play with, Nintendo must have known where technology (as a whole) was going.

3D GAMING:

Whilst the notion of 3D gaming wasn’t exclusively Nintendo’s idea, it was the way they pulled it off which set the template for the entire gaming landscape. One game of Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time was enough to make other ‘3D’ games seem like juttering, non-cohesive messes.

RUMBLE PAK:

Every title seems to shake the house down these days, yet without the legendary Star Fox 64 (*cough* Lylat Wars), everyone would still be sitting still when explosions litter their screens. A seemingly pointless excursion at the time but one which took subtle immersion to a whole other level. And now we can’t live without it!

COLOURED CONSOLES:

As a million grey Playstations littered houses, Nintendo added colour with consoles with names such as “Watermelon” and “Grape”. Again, looking like a pointless excursion but selling more consoles than anyone thought, look how a colour can change everything - there’s more choice in console colours than ever before. And yes, we’re still hunting down the last remaining Pikachu N64’s...

MULTIPLAYER IS KING:

Launching with FOUR controller ports as standard set the tone for what the N64 was all about. Multiplayer gaming was a stalwart of “the fun machine” and it’s definately stuck. The N64 is responsible for the “4” which has become the synonomous number associated with all local multiplayer games.

UNBREAKABLE:

Nintendo, well known for their ingenious console designs really hit the nail on the head with the N64 design. The machine is practically unbreakable, and due to its design is the perfect console to be launched against a wall time and time again (after succumbing to Superman64) only to be played forever. Ingenous design which may (only just) be beaten out by “the” original brick. The GameBoy.

CONTROL OPTIONS:

Don’t like analogue control? There’s the D-Pad grandpa! The N64 offered good old D-Pad control in the face of Nintendo’s fear that analogue control would scare gamers into the hills. It was a fine choice though as it has remained a stalwart feature of all controllers since. Even the Wii had to get both forms of control – packaged in the box.

HAND IT TO THEM:

Seeming like another pointless idea, linking GameBoy games to the N64 was a fine eureka! moment. The linking of Pokemon to the N64 was to set a template, a template Nintendo would try to master throughout the GameCube’s lifetime. Even today we see handheld to console linking as a major part of gaming. Thanks N64!

And so we close the curtains on our N64 week. Thanks for reading everyone and thank you for the massive amounts of feedback we've had! And who knows, in the future we may do another week of retro Nintendo gaming. Watch this space readers!

Do you believe we missed an N64 innovation?! Comment in our forums or comments section below!