Nintendo made an announcement in mid 1994 that came as a surprise: the game media for the Ultra 64 (that was what it was called first) would be 100Mbit cartridges and not CDs.  The decision to choose cartridges over CDs did make quite a few software developers turn away from the system all together.  Not only were cartridges more expensive, but it meant that Nintendo would be the only supplier, enforcing their grip on licenses.  Nintendo's defense was to say that cartridges were still the media of choice for home consoles because they did not suffer from slow load times and were more practical than CDs. But this is what made the PlayStation 1 slightly more popular because it did use CDs and that made them more developer friendly and the games would be cheaper to mass produce. The console was released in September 1996 and managed to sell all its initial stock  Two years later, The N64 Expansion Pack was released for the console, which added 4MB to the RAM to allow games to include larger levels and higher resolutions.  N64 became the first home console in history to feature an analog stick as a primary control for video games. It was so successful that Sony then released a new version of thier PS1 controller with analog sticks. And now there are analog sticks on every modern gaming controller. aiming with the analog stick helped popularize the first person shooters on home consoles, with the fan favorite GoldenEye 007 becoming the first successful non-PC based shooter. During its first four months, the console sold 500,000 units in America.he Nintendo 64 was responsible for Nintendo's sales having increased by 156% by 1997. 

Some of the best N64 games include Goldeneye 007, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Bomberman 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Super Smash Bros. 

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