Why the Nintendo 64's Graphics Were So Blurry

Note #1: I mistakenly identified Soulcalibur as a PlayStation game in this video, when it was actually a Dreamcast title. I should said have Soul Edge instead, released for the PlayStation in 1997. (Soulcalibur, however, was released as an arcade game in 1998, and ran on the Namco System 12 hardware, which was based on the PlayStation)
While the Nintendo 64 was a groundbreaking system in many regards, it certainly didn't lack for critics. Both players and professional reviewers alike complained about the lack of games, the poor quality of those games, and the under-representation of certain genres, such as RPGs and fighting games.
But one criticism has always stuck out in my mind: why were the N64's graphics so damned blurry?

[@Harrazel]

that wojak argument bit did not need to go on so long man

[@Gooman130]

A full minute and 23 seconds. 11% of the length of the video was the pointless skit.

[@xXSKY64Xx]

I always thought the texture on PlayStation were weird. If the game wasn’t stable enough, you’d be able to peak through the cracks of the texture, exposing the unprogramed void below your feet. The N64 didn’t have that issue, and it’s why I always preferred it. They felt solid and didn’t wobble around as you moved.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

Cracks only appear when you have T joints in your geometry. This is basic modelling skill.

[@frostreaper1607]

​@@ArneChristianRosenfeldt Its a game engine, everything is a triangle in a game engine. Regardless, this person is talking about the pixel filtering.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

@@frostreaper1607 parent talks about T junctions which have nothing to do with the video. Maybe it is hard to believe, but artist or developers often join three vertices where there is one long edge on one side, but two edges on the other side. Their vertex has nothing to snap to on the long edge. PSX developers also failed to join triangles on elbows or arms to shoulders . They saw that a z buffer allows constructive solid geometry in Maya. But the PlayStation has not z buffer. So flickering ensures.

[@DarkBowser64]

I think I can provide an extra explanation for the additional horizontal blur filter. The N64's horizontal blur is a natural part of the Video Interface that doesn't seem to be able to be turned off normally; this is an always-active feature that uses bilinear filtering to resize to 640 pixels wide for the sake of games that internally render in resolutions that are not exactly 640 or 320, but it appears to catch 320 wide games as a byproduct. It's responsible for making sure games look correct if they use an internal resolution that is not a clean division of 640 wide. This can be seen in Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 when using the Game Boy Tower, which displays in 256x240 + some overscan area (black borders), but is expanded to 640, and in certain other games such as Mario Tennis which change the horizontal resolution depending on the part of the game you're in. "VI Deblur" mods for the N64 can detect when the horizontal bilinear scaling is actually needed (e.g. when not outputting 320 or 640 pixels wide) and leave it be when a game needs it, while when it is not necessary (for 320 pixels wide content) it will use some sort of algorithm to detect when every second horizontal pixel is just a blurred version of the previous one, and instead simply doubles the horizontal size of every truly unique pixel to effectively turn it into being nearest-neighbor scaled.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

The Jaguar documentation says that you need to do this for the color clock. On RGB SCART any resolution would work. Why is 640 compatible with the color clock? Is this for NTSC and PAL ? I don’t even know how you can create 2d artwork for PAL and NTSC. Maybe 640 is 3 times to color clock? So 320 is no integer multiple? What about 256? Can’t a game ask for this configuration and render the correct resolution ( and more lines for PAL )?

[@backup_account_1]

I love the original aesthetic of the N64. Not "in spite of" but "thanks to" its limitations. The blur is one of the many distinctive features that make the console's graphic and artistic style unique. There is a certain charm in those low-poly models with softened low-res textures that transmit warmth and make you feel at home.

[@hri7566]

to me, it makes the console feel authentic and distinct, whereas emulators and direct game ports tend to weigh in favor of higher resolutions and different rendering pipelines, where we pretty much lose the entire aesthetic to compromise for visibility

[@waut3rbot]

Very informative video. If I could offer some critique, the console wars skit could have been trimmed down. Otherwise, it was quite enjoyable. Subscribed!

[@catlunatic2122]

I found 3 major mistakes in this video. 1. Not enough views, 2. Not enough likes, and 3 the creator doesn't have enough subs.

[@dyldog]

4.) I wasn’t already subbed

[@yassinashraf1235]

True

[@GunSpyEnthusiast]

You're right in that I swear I've heard this guy like 4 years ago in a different Nintendo video that was professionally done with like music and shit.

[@MelancholyRequiem]

OMG this was such a cheeky wholesome compliment comment, I love it! 🙏❤️

[@Gggmanlives]

So good to see one of these videos and the person is not just emulating the games at 4k.

[@SammEater]

As someone that had a PS1 back when the N64 was at its peak I never thought that was a problem.

[@cookeris]

only 91 views? :( you need more!

[@GhabulousGhoti]

The first three PlayStation consoles are really good. PS4 underwhelmed me but the PS2 and PS3 especially have amazing libraries, definitely something you should check out. That said, as someone not into RPGs at all, I prefer N64 to PS1, especially visually. Those Nearest Neighbor textures that wobbled around as you moved always looked gross to me, even as a kid.

[@glitchhunter09]

PS3 actually didn't do that well compared to the 360 but that comes down to the fact that in some ways the PS3 was like the Saturn in that it was a bitch to program for. The console was solid and after the xbox one was announced, people started paying more attention to the PS3.

[@GhabulousGhoti]

@@glitchhunter09 The PS3 had outsold the 360 by around 2011ish. Well before the next gen was announced.

[@ndnixlon9548]

@@glitchhunter09 Meh, it all started when the Xbox 360 (or Microsoft) made a 180-degree turn to fully commit on their new technology: the Kinect, also known as the dark ages of the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, the PS3 at those times was trying to win back their customers with more AAA exclusives, significant price drops (like the 3DS), while dealing with damage control (e.g., the 2011 PSN hack). The Xbox One's announcement gave Sony the leverage to win the home console market with their unannounced PS4. For some unknown reasons, the PS3 and Vita were out of the picture for its marketing after the Xbox One was announced.

[@holypluto9627]

Great video. Love to see content that's both informative and comedic, because I don't see enough of that type of content. Definitely looking forward to future videos from you.

[@Clodd1]

Why do PS1 games look so 'alive'? The images just pop. Most N64 games seem to have dimmer images.

[@XDevonBueno]

I do think ps1 games have a feel to them that makes them feel alive. I think a lot of n64 games just dont look good through composite. you would be surprised how much viewing them through s video or RGB/component makes a difference. it gives them a lot more color and brightness. I think n64 graphics were just too complicated to look good through composite, while the ps1s graphics actually benefited from looking more blurry. a lot more ps1 games leveraged dithering to improve how they would look on crts through composite( by far how most people would play them) while n64 games look better using higher quality signals and monitors.

[@LinkLich]

imo dimmer/blur is better than water wobble crap. also not opinion just facts.......... final fantasy was just images, zelda was better.

[@juanignacioquiroga4379]

@@LinkLich FF and Zelda are completely different games, why even compare them.

[@LinkLich]

@@juanignacioquiroga4379 it was a compare to "alive" or images just pop ehh

[@Clodd1]

@@juanignacioquiroga4379 It has nothing to do with what I said.

[@rajramnarine123]

I only just discovered ur channel, my friend. Happy to be a new subscriber! 🎉

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

For edge antialiasing you would have to smear over the edge, only for RGB, not for Z . So when you draw the game objects, a lot of overdraw will happen. Also the second polygon sense the close z values of the first polygon and not smear. Edge antialiasing hence does not work for flat shaded game objects. You gotta UV map and our Gouraud shade. Also I don’t like this heuristic with the delta z. So when I move close to a wall, edge antialiasing stops? When I look at a steep angle on a game object surface, smearing starts?

[@dgg4isaclone]

Paper mario 64 is an rpg game

[@DingleBerry-jb4gj]

Yeah but nobody likes it, not even you.

[@JadielGamerPlayz]

@@DingleBerry-jb4gj I LOVEEE IT!

[@Garnulad47]

@@DingleBerry-jb4gjdisrespect to a classic

[@meledisu]

Oh, how amusing, I was under the assumption I was watching a video of a channel with at least a million subscribers. You're awesome!

[@travisbplank]

Hidden gem alert!

[@nillazilla22]

So I have found out that super Mario 64 is actually a 32 bit game on a 64 bit console.

[@nillazilla22]

I found this on google. “Trivia. Although on a 64-bit console, Super Mario 64 is actually a 32-bit game. Super Mario 64 is actually the third 3D Mario game, beaten by the Virtual Boy's Mario's Tennis and Mario Clash.”

[@Officer94]

Many N64 games didn't really used to run at the 64 bit address bus of the CPU.

[@XZ-III]

That has wobbled my mind before because i would emulate n64 off to a 32bit PC

[@juzgoznasznapamiec]

@@Officer94 More like all of them as to use all 64 bit addresses u would have to have memory of size 2^64 which is 2 305 843 009 GB This is about using 64bit registers in CPU and 64bit variables in code. Not really necessary those days.

[@TheSuperLumberjack]

Your videos are very great and interesting! 😉 Thanks to you for providing to us such a quality content!

[@XZ-III]

was it the hardware FXAA?

[@jameshall8422]

Loved the video. Please keep up the great work.

[@therollingcreeper1]

Is it just me or is the mario 64 footage zoomed in a bit? I thought there was more space between the hud and the edge of the screen.

[@nonessentialfungus]

It likely depends on how much of the overscan area would have been cutoff by CRT televisions: twitter.com/MarioBrothBlog/status/1350540942508494856

[@therollingcreeper1]

@@nonessentialfungus So you cut off the footage slightly to match what would have been shown on a CRT. Interesting.

[@marcfuchs6938]

Very nice video for such a small channel, very properly produced and it was a good watch. I liked the imagination of teenagers arguing about their consoles, as a teenager, I also was an absolutely hopeless Nintendo fanboy. So much so, that I said and wrote things of highest cringe levels. Today, 25 years later, we truely have other priorities. As feedback for the video: The music didn't fit. I know and love every single one of those tracks, but the fewest of them make good background music for a narration. Reducing the volume a little further could help too.

[@nonessentialfungus]

I actually once got into a playground slapfight (not throwing punches or kicks or anything, just shoving) over PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64. Embarrassing to think about now, but hey, we were kids. The console-war argument section probably ran on for a bit too long, but it's exactly the sort of arguments we had back then.

[@marcfuchs6938]

@@nonessentialfungus I guess because kids have no real other worries. =) But hey, today there are many adults with the same mentality, having stopped development some time in their teenage years. Defending something, that is often pointless and where some kind of war just doesn't matter. Like those cavemen, thinking you are less of a human being, if you are not using Apple smartphones. Yeah, they exist.

[@grafzeppelin4069]

video actually starts at 3:00

[@revvvedrez546]

Soul Calibur wasn’t on PS1, Soul Edge was. Otherwise great video!

[@nonessentialfungus]

I think I must have confused it for the arcade version, which ran of PlayStation-based hardware.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

8:30 okay, TMEM is like the smallest part on that chip. Edge antialiasing is probably bigger. Is this really needed for speed? Pipeline and more banks! What is even 2 cycle mode for mipmap? Is it a limit of the blender? Would 2 cycle RAM be fast enough.. so more Rows?

[@GuyFizzAnything-xm5kb]

This almost reminds me of that old satire youtuber who uploaded sarcastic videogame retrospectives with an ironic voice. If anyone knows who I am talking about, the channel is deleted and not vastly known so if you know them please reply to me.

[@thedudely1]

11:40 that's gotta hurt

[@JeordieEH]

I remember this coming up, but I had a fairly decent tv and enjoyed the way the game looked. Considering I seen quake and doom and tomb raider on pc with funny looking software rendered graphics, I didn't think much of the criticism with playstations bad looking pixelated textures and jumping textures. They all had their unique quirks. However given that I couldn't play most of my dad's computer games because I got motion sickness from the field of view those games operated at, and this was my first 3d console(I don't count my genesis with sonic 3d or super nintendo with starfox, that game was boring to me after 5 minutes) and it was new and exciting. Seeing mario 64 was breath taking for kids.

[@nothingsacred8684]

Nice video bro!

[@SuperM789]

wait... are playstation regards UNIRONICALLY saying that not having texture filtering is a GOOD THING????????? the cope is real.

[@dansmith1661]

I don't need to see what I am playing to enjoy the game. - Grandma.

[@FullaEels]

turned off, it actually looks like the DS, neat!

[@RiasatSalminSami]

Nvidia living the N64 dream with their shitty 8 GB GPUs in 2024.

[@GameMageVideos]

Kino

[@keaton718]

I love Nintendo 64.

[@Drslouchy1469]

Well said. 👏

[@czerogr]

you should have play ff7 when it came out, now it's not very good better play ff6 that's the best final fantasy ever

[@XDevonBueno]

fuck yeah im your 69th subscriber😎

[@kendric_BUF]

I did not just hear this man slander CRTs being part of the reason the N64 was considered blurry.

[@scpnoobers]

Crts actually look really good with n64 games

[@redfoxbennaton]

Back then you either had extremely blurry graphics or you either had pixelated graphics. Which way western man?

[@reggielj]

I actually much preferred the smoother look of the n64 compared to the jagged jumping pixels of the PlayStation as a child. Coming from PC the antialiasing was something new and I think it worked great for the charming titles the N64 is famous for. But yeah, if you wanted gritty “realism”😂 the PlayStation was undoubtedly the superior console.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

Friends showed my Voodoo Fx before I saw N64 . Consoles had 2 years (1994 - 1996 ) when they looked bette then PCs .

[@xbox360gaming]

cool video

[@TheGlitchXRDR]

'Blurry' as the illiterate started to call it is not the correct word to explain the N64 graphics. Nothing looks blurry, here, except for walls and ground textures. The correct word to explain the N64 graphics is 'craggy'. Look it up then come back and watch vid again.

[@dansmith1661]

More like a blindness issue.

[@TheGlitchXRDR]

@@dansmith1661 😂 May be a Sony fanboy thing as well. Graphics War's was BIG back then 😆. lol Ps1 graphics 🤢

[@TheGlitchXRDR]

Nope 😂

[@alpha_th0t]

Here's your 64th like for a quality n64 video essay