 During the Nintendo Entertainment System ( NES ) and Super NES ( SNES ) eras , Nintendo and Capcom enjoyed a close relationship , with Mega Man as one of the NES ' most prominent franchises . This closeness was partially due to Nintendo 's monopoly of the video game console market , which allowed the company to compel third @-@ party developers to release exclusive content according to Nintendo 's schedule . Sega 's rival Genesis system forced Nintendo to relax some of its restrictions on third parties with respect to the SNES . However , relations with third @-@ party developers reached a turning point when Nintendo decided to retain a proprietary cartridge @-@ based format for the Nintendo 64 , in the face of Sony 's disc @-@ based PlayStation . Due to increased manufacturing costs and severely limited cartridge memory capacity , many third parties — Capcom included — moved to the PlayStation to start new franchises , such as Resident Evil . On this new platform , developers could create bigger games while avoiding the restriction of ordering the manufacture of expensive proprietary cartridges through Nintendo , which could lead to under- or over @-@ stocking inventory which might eat into revenue . This third @-@ party abandonment allowed the PlayStation to outsell the Nintendo 64 during that console generation . 
