The Next Nintendo System

    I have seen some things in Nintendo Power magazine, as well as on the internet that lead me to beleive that Nintendo has a new system in the works. In Nintendo Power's January Bonus Issue, it contains an interview with Zelda-creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and one of the questions he was asked was about the sequel to Super Mario 64. His response was "We've been thinking about the game, and it may be something that could work on a completely new system."

    My best guess would be that the new Nintendo system would be out around 2002, for several reasons. First, Nintendo generally releases a new console system every 5 or 6 years anyways (NES in 1985, Super NES in 1991, and N64 in 1996), and 2002 would be 6 years after N64's release. Next, since it takes an average of 2-3 years to complete a game, the sequel to Mario 64 (which would almost certainly be one of the first titles available for the new system) wouldn't even be ready until 2002. Finally, it would take a few years for Nintendo to design a new system and have it ready for use at home, which points to a 2002 release.

    The next question about a new system is how powerful it would be. I beleive that the new system will be a 256 bit system. Nintendo always goes the extra mile to make sure their systems are better than the competition's. With the Super NES, even though it was a 16-bit system like Sega Genesis, it was much more powerful. With Nintendo 64, Nintendo made a 64-bit system when the competition was still making 32-bit systems. Since Sega is releasing Dreamcast, their 128-bit system, it only makes sense that Nintendo would make a 256 bit or higher system.

    When Nintendo does release their next system, will it use cartridges or CD-ROM? I cannot speculate on this yet, but Nintendo always makes sure that their games have virtually no load time, so if they do use CD-ROM, it will certainly be an extremely fast drive. An idea I have come up with that almost definately won't be implemented into the new system because of cost is a combination of cartridges AND CD-ROM, or cartridges and DVD. This would allow extremely fast load time for the actual gameplay, which would be on the cartridge, and if the game had any cutscenes, they could be on the CD-ROM or DVD, allowing great video effects on the new Nintendo system. The CD-ROM could also have CD-audio tracks on it for CD-quality background music.

    As far as the controller goes, I hope they keep the N64 controller on the new system, but I doubt this will happen. The cross pad will almost certainly be removed, since hardly any N64 games use it at all, and even those games support the analog joystick, which provides better control anyways. The new controller should not have many more buttons than the N64 controller, and hopefully will still have a slot in it for controller packs, and rumble packs.