That sentiment was soon revised ; also in 1994 , Nintendo 's vice president of marketing Peter Main stated that " The choice we made is not cartridge versus CD , it 's silicon over optical . When it comes to speed , no other format approaches the silicon-based cartridge . " The Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 , which destroyed a major RAM factory in Japan , increased the prices of RAM in the 1990s . Nintendo planned to continue to supplement the use of system RAM through innovations in high speed ROM cartridges . SGI suggested that Nintendo should utilize cartridges to keep the console 's costs low and performance high
Great Hanshin earthquake
Great Hanshin earthquake
Nintendo 64 Game Pak