It helps that the original Xbox came at a time when HD was just starting to be a thing, 3D games were ready for primetime (PSX and N64 were to underpowered), controllers settled into their modern configuration, and ethernet had just become viable for consumers. In a lot of important ways, less changed between 2001 and 2022 than between 1991 and 2001.
While the N64 was indeed underpowered - mostly due to its extremely limited texture cache size - it still represented what I’d describe to be my first true ‘prime time’ experience with 3D in terms of Super Mario 64.
I’d played stuff like Virtua Racing on my Genesis and Star Fox on the SNES, but without texture mapping, there still felt like an awful lot of compromise; moreso like how Atari 2600 games still required a lot of ‘imagination’ compared to even an NES.
My point is, I guess - that Super Mario 64 was the first ‘true’ 3D experience without any compromise I first played.
I get that it’s no ‘Metroid Prime’, and the low poly count and admittedly poor texture quality take away from the experience a bit, but it’s my first memory of a ‘true’ 3D game.
It could output 720p or 1080i over component cables, but the vast majority of games did not support it, and the ones that did used lower internal resolutions. Still, 480p looked really good when most people were still watching analogue TV and VHS tapes.
