Dear Future Gamer

Earlier this week I managed to pick up an N64 plus one game for £40, along with a number of (second-hand) games at a tenner a piece. Most of my local stores are now selling similarly priced N64 games. While there's no doubt N64 is on its way out, there's never been a better time to sample some of its greats, which critics raved about when they came out over the last few years - F-Zero X, Mario 64 and WaveRace 64 to name a few. The console and games seem so much more robust than PlayStation or Dreamcast, and the premature calling of the console's death knell is certainly keeping prices low.

When compared to the en-vogue retro consoles like the Mega Drive and SNES, a second-hand or reduced N64 seems to me like the ultimate low cost retro experience, and it certainly outperforms the PlayStation. Now, will a combination of PSX2 and cheap PCs spell a similar fate for Sega's great hope?

Mark Ormerod

FG: I suspect a fair few second-hand N64s are going to start being offered for sale over the coming months, and if you can snap 'em up for that kind of price and get some classic games for a bargain price too then I'd certainly go for it. It's a little too soon to speculate whether the same fate lies in store for Dreamcast, but it doesn't look likely if Sega manage to keep the high level of support for the machine they've demonstrated so far.