The Nintendo 64, 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 latest major home console to use the cartridge as its primary storage format. While the N64 was succeeded by Nintendo's MiniDVD-based GameCube in November 2001, N64 consoles remained available until the system was retired in late 2003.