N64 COUNTDOWN HQ!!!
Everything about the Nintendo 64, by Samuel (age 14)

UPDATE Saturday night 9:45 PM: ONE DAY!!!!! Tomorrow is the day. The mall opens at 11 on Sundays and my mom says we can leave at 10:30. I am going to be standing at the door of Pacific Sound & Video when they unlock it. I already have my receipt from August in my wallet so I don't lose it, and I've checked it about twenty times tonight.

Gabriel says his cousin in Portland saw people buying N64s at a store on THURSDAY. Not fair!!! I called our store and the guy said they can't sell them before the 29th and they're sticking to it. So I guess I have to wait like a normal person. One more sleep. I probably won't sleep.

Mom, if you are reading this, I already cleaned my room.

My name is Samuel and I'm 14 and a freshman in high school in Oregon. I've had every Nintendo there is (NES, Game Boy, Super NES) and I have been waiting for this one for basically my whole life, or at least since I first read about the Ultra 64 in a magazine in seventh grade.

On Saturday, August 10, I put $50 down to reserve a Nintendo 64 at Pacific Sound & Video at the mall. They only had so many reservations and the lady said they were almost gone. I made this page that same week so I'd have something to do besides cross off days.

• 64 BITS!!! That's twice as many as the PlayStation and the Saturn, which are 32-bit. The main chip is made by NEC and runs at 93.75 MHz.
• The graphics chip was designed by Silicon Graphics, the same company whose computers make the dinosaurs in movies.
• It uses cartridges, not CDs. That means NO loading! You turn it on and you're playing. They can't get scratched either. (Brian says cartridges cost more than CDs, which is true, but he has a PlayStation so he would say that.)
• Four controller ports built right in, so four people can play at once without buying an adapter.
• It's way smaller than I thought it would be. It's dark gray, sort of like this page.

The controller looks weird in pictures but everybody who has held one says it feels great. It has three handles. You hold the middle one and the right one for 3D games, or the left one and the middle one for regular games with the + pad.

• The analog stick in the middle is the biggest deal. On a regular controller, you're either walking or not. With the stick, if you push it a little Mario tiptoes, and if you push it all the way he runs.
• Z trigger on the back, under the middle handle, right where your finger is.
• A is blue and B is green.
• Four yellow C buttons. In Mario they move the camera around.
• L and R on top, and START is red.
• There's a slot underneath for a Controller Pak to save games on, but Mario 64 saves right on the cartridge, so you don't need one for that.

There are only two games on the first day:

SUPER MARIO 64 - Mario in 3D!!! You can run around anywhere you want, not just left to right. It came out in Japan in June with the system and everybody who's played it says it's the best game ever made. I'm getting this one first, obviously.

PILOTWINGS 64 - A flying game. You fly a hang glider, a rocket belt and a gyrocopter over a little miniature version of the United States. Gabriel is getting this one and we're going to trade.

Cruis'n USA was supposed to come out on the first day too, but they pushed it back. Other games that are supposed to be coming: Wave Race 64 (jet skis), Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Killer Instinct Gold and Cruis'n USA. I want all of them.

I got these from magazine previews and from the guys at the store who have played it on the display. I haven't tried them yet (OBVIOUSLY) so if any are wrong, e-mail me.

1. The game takes place in Princess Peach's castle. You go into the levels by jumping into the paintings on the walls.
2. The first painting is Bob-omb Battlefield. Start there.
3. There are 120 stars to get in all. You need stars to open doors in the castle.
4. Triple jump: Run and press A three times in a row, right when you land each time. The third one is huge.
5. Long jump: While you're running, press Z and then A right away.
6. Backflip: Hold Z to crouch, then press A. Good for getting up on high stuff.
7. Wall kick: Jump at a wall and press A again right when you hit it.
8. There are three special caps. The red ! blocks give you the Wing Cap (you can fly), green is the Metal Cap, and blue is the Vanish Cap. You have to find the switches to turn the blocks on first.
9. The camera is run by a Lakitu who follows you around. Use the yellow C buttons to swing him around if you can't see.
10. Don't fall in the lava. (That's not from a magazine, I just figured.)

This thing has been delayed SO many times. When it was still called the Ultra 64 it was supposed to be out for Christmas 1995. Then it was going to be April 21, 1996. Then they changed the name to Nintendo 64 and it came out in Japan on June 23, and we got stuck with the fall. Japan gets everything first.

Here's every day I've crossed off since I reserved mine. X = crossed off.

50 days crossed off. 1 to go!!!

The Nintendo 64 is $199.99. In Oregon there's no sales tax, which is one good thing about Oregon.

That leaves me $6.01 for a pretzel at the food court. It's all in an envelope in my sock drawer. I counted it twice tonight.