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Why does the N64 have mismatching console/controller colours?


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NES has matching grey parts.

SNES has matching grey parts.

GameCube has matching parts whatever colour you buy.

Wii has matching parts whatever colour you buy.

Master System has matching black parts.

Mega Drive has matching black parts.

Saturn has matching parts whatever colour you buy.

Dreamcast has matching white parts.

PlayStation has matching grey parts.

PS one has matching white parts.

PS2 has matching parts whatever colour you buy.

PS3 has matching parts whatever colour you buy.

N64 has charcoal black base console with grey base controller. Why? 🤨 Did they even consider a grey console? Did it look bad and they changed to black early in development? Ultra 64 mockups and protos are already black with grey controllers, so it was not a last minute decision.

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I don't know, but probably so they could sell all those different coloured controllers at launch!

Grey has ALWAYS been the most boring N64 controller colour, and I almost never use the grey one it's definitely relegated to player 3 or player 4... They usually have bad sticks too, because they are usually the most well worn from people who had it the longest using em up.

So yeah, I would guess it's so they could sell all the delicious looking coloured controllers separately (including, of course, black to match the system).

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Maybe they had different people in charge of console design and controller design.

I know for North America, they put some guy in charge of localizing the NES/SNES console design for the North American market. I don’t know if he had any design responsibilities over the controllers though..

The N64 controller design (well, color scheme at least) is in keeping with the Super Famicom controller colors. I personally think this was a good choice as it is familiar to former Nintendo owners, it kind of capitalizes on Nintendo’s brand equity. 

But the console feels fresh. The black color is intriguing, you know that it is something different and new at first glance.

I’m totally speculating here, but this is what I think if I had to take a guess

Edited by phart010
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Yeah maybe it was done to keep a link to the past (😁) while doing a brand new colour to indicate "next gen".

After looking at the console for a while, the grey cartridge flaps and the grey controller ports do go well when you have a controller next to the console, also with the controller cable being black. It sort of flows well between both colours.

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Edited by Tyree_Cooper
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