Editing Nintendo 64 (section)

=== Announcement ===
The newly renamed Nintendo 64 console was unveiled to the public in playable form on November 24 at Nintendo's [[Nintendo Space World#Shoshinkai 1995|Shoshinkai 1995 trade show]]. Eager for a preview, "hordes of Japanese schoolkids huddled in the cold outside ... the electricity of anticipation clearly rippling through their ranks".<ref name="The Game is 64 Bits" /> ''Game Zero'' magazine disseminated photos of the event two days later.<ref name="gamezero.com">{{Cite web |title=Coverage of the Nintendo Ultra 64 Debut from Game Zero |url=http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/articles/industry/shoshinkai_1995/nu64-1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011115949/http://gamezero.com/team-0/articles/industry/shoshinkai_1995/nu64-1.html |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |access-date=March 27, 2008 |website=Game Zero}}</ref> Official coverage by Nintendo followed later via the ''[[Nintendo Power]]'' website and print magazine.

The console was originally slated for release by Christmas of 1995. In May 1995, Nintendo delayed the release to April 21, 1996.<ref name="Fisher">{{Cite news |last=Fisher |first=Lawrence M |date=May 6, 1995 |title=Nintendo Delays Introduction of Ultra 64 Video-Game Player |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/06/business/nintendo-delays-introduction-of-ultra-64-video-game-player.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107213609/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/06/business/nintendo-delays-introduction-of-ultra-64-video-game-player.html |archive-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name="The Game is 64 Bits" /><ref name="gamezero.com"/> Consumers anticipating a Nintendo release the following year at a lower price than the competition reportedly reduced the sales of competing Sega and Sony consoles during the important Christmas shopping season.<ref name="Popular Will">{{Cite magazine |date=March 1997 |title=(Will You Still Love Me) When I'm 64 |magazine=[[Popular Electronics]] |volume=14 |issue=3}}</ref>{{rp|24}} ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'' editor Ed Semrad even suggested that Nintendo may have announced the April 21, 1996, release date with this end in mind, knowing in advance that the system would not be ready by that date.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Semrad |first=Ed |date=April 1996 |title=N64 Delayed... Again? |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |issue=81 |page=6}}</ref>

In its explanation of the delay, Nintendo claimed it needed more time for Nintendo 64 software to mature,<ref name="Brandt" /> and for third-party developers to produce games.<ref name="Fisher" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=July 1995 |title=Ultra 64 "Delayed" Until April 1996? |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |issue=72 |page=26}}</ref> Adrian Sfarti, a former engineer for SGI, attributed the delay to hardware problems; he claimed that the chips underperformed in testing and were being redesigned.<ref name="Brandt" /> In 1996, the Nintendo 64's software development kit was completely redesigned as the Windows-based Partner-N64 system, by Kyoto Microcomputer, Co. Ltd. of Japan.<ref name="KMC Overview">{{Cite web |title=Kyoto Microcomputer Co., Ltd. |url=http://www.kmckk.co.jp/en/img/about_KMC_en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114231939/http://www.kmckk.co.jp/en/img/about_KMC_en.pdf |archive-date=January 14, 2015 |access-date=January 14, 2015 |publisher=Kyoto Microcomputer Co., Ltd.}}</ref><ref name="Metrowerks Kyoto">{{Cite press release |title=Metrowerks Announces Partnership with Kyoto Microcomputer Co. Ltd. |date=November 4, 1998 |url=http://www.theautochannel.com/news/press/date/19981103/press000089.html |quote=[Kyoto Microcomputer Co. Ltd.] is the authorized tools vendor for Nintendo 64. |access-date=January 14, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115001724/http://www.theautochannel.com/news/press/date/19981103/press000089.html |archive-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref>

The Nintendo 64's release date was later delayed again, to June 23, 1996. Nintendo said the reason for this delay, and in particular, the cancellation of plans to release the console in all markets worldwide simultaneously, was that the company's marketing studies now indicated that they would not be able to manufacture enough units to meet demand by April 21, 1996, potentially angering retailers in the same way Sega had done with its surprise early launch of the Saturn in North America and Europe.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 1996 |title=So Howard, What's the Excuse This Time? |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |pages=6–8 |issue=17}}</ref>

To counteract the possibility that gamers would grow impatient with the wait for the Nintendo 64 and purchase one of the several competing consoles already on the market, Nintendo ran ads for the system well in advance of its announced release dates, with slogans like "Wait for it..." and "Is it worth the wait? Only if you want the best!"<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 1996 |title=The Ad Blitz Kicks Off |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |issue=81 |page=17}}</ref>