The , stylized as
NINTENDO64 and often referred to as
N64, is
Nintendo's third
home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit
central processing unit, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in
North America, March 1997 in
Europe and
Australia, September 1997 in
France and December 1997 in
Brazil. It is the industry's last major home console to use the cartridge as its primary storage format, although current handheld systems (such as the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS) also use cartridges. While the Nintendo 64 was succeeded by Nintendo's
MiniDVD-based
GameCube in November 2001, the consoles remained available until the system was retired in late 2003.