When this came out everyone went crazy because it was new and the games were on discs. Which is much eaiser and handier to keep clean and take places. Most people had a N64 before this and even at the same time, so they were used to the cartridges which were big and bulky and somewhat annoying. It has two memory card slots and two controller slots, and it can play compact dics so you can listen to music when your bored on your tv with your own cds. Most games on this console had good graphics back then so people thought it was amazing. They became highly addicting and very fun to play. This became the most popular system in the USA and almost everyone had one back then. Many games get scratched and broken as time goes on since they are old but try to keep them in their own cases they came in so they will play better and much longer with out the annoying freezing and skipping of the game. I am saying this because many games will not play or work anymore because of the lost case so they were just thrown around in the closet untill i finally put them in a computer case way back when....now i am more protective of the games because it is very dissapointing to find that your favorite game will not work anymore and you have to go through the trouble to buy them online because stores do not keep or sell them anymore. This is a very good console that i would purchace if you do not have a ps2 or just to have this original masterpiece to bring back memories!!!