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From the sysinfo.dat file included with MESS 0.119:
"$info=n64
$bio
Nintendo 64 (1996)
Features:
---------
* Processors: 64 bit Risc CPU, (R4300I series) 93.75 MHz; Graphics 64-bit MIPS Risc
Co-processor, GSP & DP, 62.5 MHz (RCP); Built-in Audio/Video Vector Processor (RSP);
Built-in Pixel Drawing Processor (RDP)
* Memory: 4.5 MB Rambus DRAM (36 megabits); Rambus DRAM subsystem; Custom 9-bit Rambus Bus (to the DRAM)
* Video Resoloutions: 256x224 to 640x480. PAL also 768x576
* Video Output: RF, Stereo A/V, S-Video
* Colors:21-bit colour video output, 32-bit RGPA, pixel colour frame, buffer support
* Audio: Digital Sound, Wavetable Synthesis
* Major Special Features: Perspective correct texture-mapping, Realtime Anti-Aliasing,
Tri-Linear Mip-Mapping, Z-Buffering
* Expansion Options: Cartridge Slot; Controller Ports; Pak Holder (Controller); Extension
port (Bottom); Memory Expansion Option (Top Front)
(from Nooz' N64 FAQ and Guide)
History and Trivia:
-------------------
The Nintendo 64 is Nintendo's third home video game console, and its third home video game
console for the international market. Named for its 64 bit processor, it was released on
June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America and Brazil, March 1, 1997 in Europe
and Australia, and September 1, 1997 in France (the system also saw a release in South America,
albeit an unofficial one).
It was released with two launch games (Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64) plus one in
Japan. The N64's suggested retail price was US$199 at its launch.
Nintendo 64 is the culmination of work by Nintendo, Silicon Graphics, and MIPS Technologies.
The SGI-based system design that ended up in the Nintendo 64 was originally offered to Tom
Kalinske, then CEO of Sega of America by James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics. SGI had
recently bought out MIPS Technologies and the two companies had worked together to create a
low-cost CPU/3D GPU combo that they thought would be ideal for the console market. A Sega of
Japan hardware team was sent to evaluate the chip's capabilities and they found some faults
which MIPS subsequently solved. However, Sega of Japan ultimately decided against SGI's design,
apparently in part due to internal problems between Sega of Japan and Sega of America.
In the early stages of development the Nintendo 64 was referred to by the code name "Project
Reality". This moniker came from the speculation within Nintendo that the console could produce
CGI on par with then-current supercomputers. In 1994 the console was given the name Nintendo
Ultra 64 in the West. The console design was shown for the first time in late Spring 1995. The
first picture of the console ever shown featured the Nintendo Ultra 64 logo and showed a game
cartridge, but no controller. The final console was identical to this, but with a different
logo. When the system together with the controller was fully unveiled in a playable form to
the public on November 24, 1995, the console was introduced as the Nintendo 64 in Japan,
contrary to speculation of it being called Ultra Famicom, at the 7th Annual Shoshinkai Software
Exhibition in Japan. Photos of the event were disseminated on the web by Game Zero magazine
two days later. Official coverage by Nintendo followed a few weeks later via the Nintendo Power
website and print magazine. In February 1996 Nintendo of America announced a delay of Nintendo
Ultra 64 until September 1996 in North America. Simultaneously it announced that Nintendo had
adopted a new global branding strategy, calling the console everywhere Nintendo 64. Subsequently
the PAL introduction was further delayed, finally being released in Europe on March 1, 1997.
During this stage of development two companies, Rareware (UK) and Midway (USA), created the
arcade games Killer Instinct and Cruis'n USA which claimed to use the Ultra 64 hardware. In
fact, the hardware had nothing to do with what was finally released; the arcade games used
hard drives and TMS processors. Killer Instinct was the most advanced game of its time graphically,
featuring pre-rendered movie backgrounds that were streamed off the hard drive and animated as the
characters moved horizontally. Nintendo dropped "Ultra" from the name on February 1, 1996, just
months before its Japanese debut, because the word "Ultra" was trademarked by another company,
Konami, for its Ultra Games division. The console was finally released on June 23, 1996.
* Hardware: The CPU powering Nintendo 64 is a MIPS R4300i-based NEC VR4300. The CPU is clocked at
93.75 MHz and connects to the rest of the system through a 32-bit data bus. VR4300 is a RISC 5-stage
scalar in-order execution processor with an integrated floating point unit. It is a 64-bit processor,
in that it has 64-bit registers, a 64-bit instruction set, and 64-bit internal data paths. However,
the cost-reduced NEC VR4300 CPU utilized in the console only has 32-bit buses whereas more powerful
MIPS CPUs are equipped with 64-bit buses. Many games took advantage of the chip's 32-bit processing
mode as the greater data precision available with 64-bit data types is not typically required by
3D games. Also 64-bit data uses twice as much RAM, cache, and bandwidth thereby reducing the overall
system performance.
Nintendo 64's graphics and audio duties are performed by the 64-bit SGI co-processor, named the
"Reality Co-Processor". The RCP is a 62.5 MHz chip split internally into two major components, the
"Reality Drawing Processor" (RDP) and the "Reality Signal Processor" (RSP). Each area communicates
with the other by way of a 128-bit internal data bus that provides 1.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RSP is
a MIPS R4000-based 8-bit integer vector processor. It is programmable through microcode, allowing
the chip's functions to be significantly altered if necessary, to allow for different types of work,
precision, and workloads. The RSP performs transform, clipping and lighting calculations, triangle
setup, and has a geometry throughput of approximately 100,000 full-featured polygons per second.
The RSP, as said, also frequently performs audio functions (although the CPU can be tasked with
this as well). It can playback virtually any type of audio (dependent on software codecs) including
uncompressed PCM, MP3, MIDI, and tracker music. The RSP is capable of a maximum of 100 channels of
PCM at a time, but this is with 100% system utilization for audio. It has a maximum sampling rate
of 48 kHz with 16-bit audio. However, storage limitations caused by the cartridge format limited
audio size (and thus quality).
The RDP is the machine's rasterizer and performs the bulk of actual image creation before output
to the display. Nintendo 64 has a maximum color depth of 16.7 million colors (32,768 on-screen)
and can display a resolution range of 256 × 224 to 640 × 480 pixels.
The final major component in the system is the RAM. Nintendo 64 was the first console to implement
a unified memory subsystem, instead of having separate banks of memory for CPU, audio, and video,
for example.
Nintendo 64 games were cartridge-based. Cartridge size varied from a tiny 4 MiB (32 Mbit) (i.e.
Automobili Lamborghini) to 64 MiB (512 MBit) for Resident Evil 2. Some of the cartridges included
internal EEPROM or battery-backed-up RAM for saved game storage. Otherwise game saves were put onto
separate memory cards.
The new controller included with Nintendo 64 consisted of 1 analog stick, 2 shoulder buttons,
1 digital cross pad, 6 face buttons, a 'start' button, and one digital trigger (Z). It beat the Sega
Saturn's analog controller to market by approximately one month.
The Nintendo 64 had some weaknesses that were caused by a combination of oversight on the part of
the hardware designers, limitations on 3D technology of the time, and manufacturing capabilities.
One major flaw was the limited texture cache of 4 KiB. This made it extremely difficult to load
anything but small textures into the rendering engine, especially textures with high color depth,
and was the primary cause of blurry graphics.
(info from Wikipedia)
MESS Emulation State:
---------------------
Good."
-Trebor
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