How was the PS1 more powerful than the N64, despite being only a 32 bit system?

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This isn’t a “which console is da best” thread, but more in terms of specs. You have companies like Square moving over to the PS1 for that extra disc space vs cartridges, as well as many companies looking to make a “realistic” game. Yet the N64 is 64 bit, rather than 32 bit. Shouldn’t it be more powerful? A Famicom Disc System game is still more primitive than a Super NES game, after all.

In: Technology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

64 was handicapped by cartridges vs playstations cd-drive. CDs can store much more than 64 cartridges. However there was expansion pak that was needed for few games and improved details on few games on 64. Also i think 64 had anti-aliasing while ps1 games looked more jagged. Both systems have equally good looking games to me.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

That why I feel like the developers Rare made the best games while being backed against a wall due having to work with a cartridge instead of disc media. I am 35 and remember when they both came out. I personally love both systems but GoldenEye for 64 is prob one of my all time favorite games ever.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The number of bits only indicates the maximum addressable memory space. It has nothing to do with computing power.

It’s like which is more useful to you? A notebook with 2^32 pages or one with 2^64 pages? Or does it depending on things like the size of the page, the formatting for the lines, grid, etc?

Processors are the same way. 64 bit cpus can address more memory bit it says nothing about the rest of the cpu.

A 64 bit system is a natural advancement from a 32bit system but that doesnt mean the 32bit system is inferior without knowing anything else.

Same way a 4L engine can have slower 0-60 and less acceleration vs a 2L engine. It’s only one specification and not the most important one when talking about performance.

Back on the 80s and 90s, this x-bits thing was really marketing to the uninformed. They took some arbituary thing and changed it into a marketing tactic. Just like the Mhz myth until the early 2000s.