The N64 was the first true 64-bit system on the market. The only thing that had close to its power was the, ultimately unsuccessful, Atari Jaguar. The Atari Jaguar... had two 32-bit processors, not one 64-bit processor. The Nintendo 64 was release with a very large library of games, and still depended on the cartridge format. Nintendo wanted to avoid the long loading times, and fragility of CD-based media that many other companies were moving towards.