Sony had already announced a new range of Platinum software - which retailed at £19.99 - prior to N64's launch and then, in the same week that the first N64s arrived, Sony casually informed us all that the price of PlayStation had been dropped from £199 to £129. A bombshell. NUK put on a brave face and stated, through Dick Francis, head of Nintendo's UK distributor THE Games, that: "Sony have measured the quality of the Nintendo 64 compared to the PlayStation and priced it accordingly," but the public weren't convinced. Just two months later the N64 also dropped in price to £149 - causing a PR disaster in the process - but it wasn't enough.

The Nintendo business model was still weighted against third-party publishers. Electronic Arts, for instance, brought out just one N64 game - a half-hearted port of FIFA - and then retreated. Despite having some of the best games ever released on any format, like Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, Zelda and GoldenEye, three years later the N64 is still a niche machine. Pokémon Stadium and Perfect Dark notwithstanding, the format isn't expected to perform a Lazarus-like return either, particularly with PS2 on the way.

We can only hope that Nintendo have learnt from their mistakes this time, and that Dolphin, when it eventually turns up, will be handled differently. We've run out of time now so I'd just like to thank my guest, NUK, and we'll be back next week with another episode of Those Who Do Not Learn From The Mistakes Of The Past Are Condemned To Repeat Them. Thanks for tuning in. Goodnight! (Fade to black, roll credits.)