The days of mid-June slipped by one after another as players waited anxiously.
Sales of Arc the Lad II in game stores were still rising steadily, proving that Sony had already carved out a place among traditional RPG players.
But whether in school corridors or in Akihabara's secondhand cartridge trading areas, the topic players talked about most was always the approaching date of June 23.
Some players took detours to electronics stores every day after school, standing before the Super Mario 64 promotional screens and staring blankly at the looping in-game demo footage.
A wait-and-see mood spread through Japan's entire game market.
Other manufacturers that had originally planned to release games in late June all chose to delay them, trying to avoid the unstoppable flood tide of the N64's launch.
Remember the launch website domain
Late at night on June 22, 1996, long lines had already formed on the streets of Akihabara, Tokyo.
The sweltering heat of the rainy season did not drive away the players' enthusiasm.
Many people brought folding chairs and boxed meals, waiting outside the entrances of various electronics chain stores.
Months of overwhelming publicity, along with hands-on reports sent back from E3, had pushed players' expectations to their peak.
On the morning of June 23, game retailers opened their doors on time.
Nintendo's next-generation console, the Nintendo 64, officially went on sale.
Placed on shelves alongside the console were three launch escort titles: Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, and Strongest Habu Shogi.
Compared with the awkward situations when the Game Boy and Super Famicom launches had been sniped by Sega back in the day, Nintendo's launch this time appeared exceptionally smooth.
Sega had not arranged any heavyweight titles near the June 23 date to confront it head-on.
This was not because Sega was showing mercy.
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