n64 forum title...

[Elazul Yagami]

um,it says " nintendo's first 3d system."

 

that's wrong.

the ill fated crappy virtual boy came first.

[ken_cinder]

If you want to get technical, the Virtual Boy used scaleable vector graphics. The drawing method provides stereoscopic effect capabilities, further enhancing the 3D effects.

To be classified as a 3D system, it must be capable of rendering polygons in hardware. Something the Virtual Boy is not capable of.

[Elazul Yagami]

wasn't the snes capable of rendering polygons in hardware?

[Agozer]

wasn't the snes capable of rendering polygons in hardware?

Not really. Only the SuperFX/2 chip used in games like Stunt Race FX, Doom, Star Fox, Yoshi's Island etc. gave the SNES the ability to render simple polygons. The SNES never had any kind of 3D rendering capabilities itself (hell, the SNES was sometimes struggling with some games even with the added power of the SuperFX chip).

[Elazul Yagami]

so technically the superfx chip was hardware, and the hardware was made for use with the snes, so the snes was capable of pushing polygons in hardware, even if they were simple, right?

 

(same way a graphics card gives a pc the ability to push polygons in hardware.)

 

so that does technically make the snes a 3d console, even if it's simple.

[Agozer]

Well, the chip was inside the carts, not the console itself. The SNES is strictly a 2D system. But yeah, you could probably say that the SuperFX chip was an addon that made the SNES a 3D system, although the chip was expensive and only used in a handful of games.

[Elazul Yagami]

so that leads me to my point, technically saying the n64 is the first 3d nintendo system is wrong.

[Alpha]

Seeing as I've personally never got my hands on the Virtual Boy in my early years, I simply said Nintendo 64 was first to bring 3D in games.

I thank both Agozer and Cinder for clearing this up and it just happened to be that I was correct.