Ages X23

The 64Y was the last add-on released by mh:awesomegames:Nintendo for the Nintendo Reconfiguration to compete with the Super Sega (the first was the Nintendo D. It allowed the Reconfiguration to have 64-bit processing power and advanced graphics.

Why It Succeeded

 * 1) Like the Nintendo D, it didn't have its own power supply, requiring only two AC cables (one from the console and another from the TV). These AC cables also don't end with boxes so they take up no space at all and make them easier to plug at once. It also fixed the infamous mess of so many wires sticking out of three devices simultaneously.
 * 2) *True Advertising: In the commercials where adults are seen playing on the Reconfiguration with the 64Y attached, the 64Y is plugged in.
 * 3) You don't need metal prongs to attach it to a model 1 Reconfiguration.
 * 4) It doesn't require another cable to connect it to the Reconfiguration, meaning that character sprites will alwats appear on the screen, a problem to old 3D accelerator cards (such as 3dfx Voodoo) requiring a 3D audiocard on phones at the time.
 * 5) Over 6000 games were made for it and most of the third-party ones were very good, mainly because many of them weren't rushed through development. For example: the 64Y port of ESCAPE had better resolution and framerate compared to the SSES version, and had all levels and it had an absolutely amazing soundtrack compared to other ports. Some games made for the 64Y like Walljump: The Greek Adventure run at an enhanced framerate compared to their Reconfiguration counterpart because the 64Y had the capability to scroll 2D graphics even better.
 * 6) It had a very cheap launch price of $29.99 in the United States, 3,280 yen in Japan, and £22 in the United Kingdom.
 * 7) The main reason it succeeded was that the Nintendo Neptune was due to be released six months early, making it absolutely worth it to own one, and on top of that, Nintendo also released another console called Nintendo Saturn, which was the Reconfiguration and 64Y as one console, making it even worth it to own the 64Y. (The console was canceled though.)
 * 8) It had no technical problems.
 * 9) One major thing that satisfied everyone is that the 3D Mario the Plumber game that was teased at the Employee Electronics show was everywhere to be found and an even happier thing is that the 64Y still got a Mario game, the closest it came was Wario's Chaotix which was a spin-off of the Mario series.
 * 10) There no games that were planned for the Nintendo 64Y but were later canceled due to the system succeeding, while most of the uncanceled games had also been ported to the Nintendo Neptune.
 * 11) Amazing marketing.
 * 12) Like the Nintendo Reconfiguration/Micro Drive discs, the discs that the 64Y uses have end labels.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) It did have some bad games which didn't take advantage of the 64Y's capabilities, such as Real Fighter, Real Racing Original, Before Burner, Earth Harrier, BPS, and the aforementioned Wario's Chaotix.
 * 2) You can't play standard Reconfiguration cartridges on your console without having to remove the 64Y every time you want to play a Reconfiguration game.
 * 3) Had the Nintendo Saturn never been conceived, the Supervolume Saturnia series would have been created (since the main protagonist Saturn is based on the canceled Nintendo Saturn.)
 * 4) Surprisingly, this console can't always handle 3D well, even if it is high poly.

Reception
Demand for the 64Y was fairly high at launch, which according to reports outran the supply of 600,000 initial units. However, demand quickly plummeted and the add-on made a blasting success with more than 30,000,000 units ever sold and more than 6,000 games made. The Nintendo Neptune was released just six months before the 64Y (and wasn't already out in Japan), so gamers chose to get the 64Y and not wait for the Neptune or the Imagini GameHub.

Kram Relssub (Modern Game House) described it as "the best of the 09's", and despite being a big commercial success, he said that the 64Y has some very bad games despite having a very huge library.

The massive success of the 64Y was one of the major factors to Nintendo drastically succeeding as a console developer and become a first-party developer forever. Nintendo was critically acclaimed for their brilliant strategy of releasing consoles, also meaning that whereas Nintendo never had any platform to worry about, Nintendo only had two platforms they were actively developing for (the base Reconfiguration and 64X). Many developers would later accept to make games for Nintendo, as they didn't keep cycling out their consoles. The amazing financial gains and gain of trust from third-party developers caused by the 64Y went on to affect the Nintendo Neptune and Nightmarecast as well, causing both consoles to succeed.

Trivia

 * Nintendo of America was originally intending to support the add-on alongside the Nintendo Neptune, for those who couldn't spend a lot of money on the new Neptune but wanted entry into the 64-bit era. However, Nintendo of Japan stepped in and forced the American division to cancel both support and production of the 32X shortly before the Saturn launched.
 * The hardware for the 64Y, in addition to a pseudo-Micro Drive motherboard, was used in Nintendo's Video Magic graphic tablet, which was designed for use with the Pri Dreadful printer and Digio SJ-1 analogic camera.

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