Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64
Manufacturer(s)	Nintendo
Generation	Fifth
Release date	North America: September 29, 1996 Japan: June 23, 1996 PAL: March 1, 1997
Media	ROM cartridge
Input	Up to 4 Nintendo 64 controllers
CPU	93.75 MHz NEC VR4300
Storage	Cartridge battery Controller Pak
Predecessor	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Successor	Nintendo GameCube

“Get N or get out!”

– The N64 slogan

The Nintendo 64 was a home console released by Nintendo in 1996 (1997 in Europe). Rare released several games for the Nintendo 64 while working as a second-party company for Nintendo.

The first two Banjo-Kazooie games have been released for the Nintendo 64, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. The console also saw the release of Diddy Kong Racing, the first appearance of Banjo, as well as Donkey Kong 64, a Donkey Kong game based on the first Banjo-Kazooie.

Rare often tended to include many emblems, cameos, and references in its games about Nintendo's consoles and other different games during this era. In the Banjo-Kazooie games, there are some Easter eggs for the Nintendo 64 console, and its logo. Notably, in the Banjo-Tooie file selection menu, there was obviously a Nintendo 64 on the table, which if selected the player would enter the multiplayer section of the game. The Nintendo 64 prop was also indirectly interactive, as it reflected whether any controller was connected to any specific port on the player's real Nintendo 64 console.

Oddly, even after their departure from Nintendo and being bought by Microsoft, Rare still included Nintendo-related easter eggs in the games that were later released, although these were more negative as they seem to parody Rare's bad blood business with Nintendo at one time, as Rare still developed some games for Nintendo's portable consoles. In any case, there was a Nintendo 64 easter egg in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, during the introduction story when Kazooie was playing with her Xbox 360, one can notice a prop beside the television which resembles the dusty form of a Nintendo 64, although it had its controllers' wires wrapped around its middle, most likely to hide the Nintendo 64 logo in the middle. The Nintendo 64 prop was apparently retained in the file menu of the Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Tooie, albeit without the N-logo in the middle.