Have you ever wondered which Nintendo console has had the most games released for it?

We have the answer.

And then there’s the N64.

Nintendo consoles overlaid on a blurred background of game cartridges

Far less than any other Nintendo console, in fact.

Let’s dive into exactly why that was.

How Many Games Did The N64 Have In Total?

F-Zero X, Super Mario 64 and Pokemon Stadium 2.

Impressive numbers, and they tended to grow with each console.

So where does that leave the N64?

There are under 400 games for the N64, with 388 the most commonly accepted final number.

Link riding Epona in artwork for Ocarina of time, the N64 against a blurred background, and an enemy running past the screen in Perfect Dark.

Compare this to around1,700 on the SNES and around 650 on the Gamecube, the N64 lies bizzarely low.

Why Did The N64 Have So Few RPGs In Particular?

While RPGs were popular internationally, they found their most devoted audience in Japan.

Triple-A Games

As such, it became somewhat of an expectation that any Nintendo console would be rich with RPGs.

This, however, was not the case.

While the N64 was lacking in an overall number of games, it was lacking most especially in RPGs.

Nintendo 64

In fact,Japan was the worst-selling region for the N64, and Europe did not fair much better.

As such, of the13 dedicated RPGsreleased on the N64, only6 of them actually launched internationally.

Why Did The N64 Have So Few Games In Total?

Well, it ties back into the same reasoning but on a much larger scale.

For many, this was enough to jump ship.

But then why didn’t they develop for both consoles?

Well, a lot of that came down to the storage media as well.

Discs and cartridges stored data differently and read it differently as well.

It wasn’t a simple copy-and-paste job.

This meant less money for third-parties.

This attitude is even seen when carried over to the subsequent GameCube.

The classics of classics.