According to Miyamoto, "Pilotwings 64" was designed to allow gamers to experience free flight in realistic 3D environments on the Nintendo 64. Prior to the game's conception, Paradigm had worked on military vehicle and flight simulators, but not video games. Dave Gatchel of Paradigm disclosed that with regard to creating the game, they began with a "physics-based approach", but deviated from this in order to gain a balance between accuracy and fun for players. He indicated that there was never an issue as to whether "Pilotwings 64" should be more of an arcade game or a simulation, as their goal was to "always have a more arcade feel". The technical team studied the original "Pilotwings" extensively during development.