I wonder how different the gaming world would be if the 64DD weren't delayed and ended up being released worldwide. We'd probably be playing Ura Zelda 😆 Stay safe ♥
After Rare finished GoldenEye Nintendo should have ordered them to create an expansion for GoldenEye. maybe online multiplayer. it would have given an easy boost to that all important 64DD launch line up
Bought one in 2024 for an enormous amount of money. I can´t tell anyone this. It is not explainable. You get a top-notch smartphone for this money. Instead you now have this 1.6 kg old hardware block under your N64....But I own my N64 since 25 years, and this has always been my dream. Nostalgia is simply unexplainable.
I wouldn't worry about breaking the seal, most Japanese game shops wrap everything in plastic, Trader uses shrink sometimes. I've bought a lot from them on previous trips, some are still "in shrink" but it's not a factory seal.
Had them back in the testing department at rare for a bit in the 90s, we would use them to cache the gameplay on a certain N64 game you all know. I think the idea was it would essentially dump everything the game was doing and record inputs so problems could be found and resolved quickly by essentially having a repeatable real-time live save state of the game they could access , vs the age old a description in text form from the tester, or some crash dump numbers for the coders to go over. They did not last long. Came into work one day and they were just removed. No doubt the devs were experimenting on them as there were loads of innovative stuff going on at rare at that time.
i’m pretty sure the grove in the DD at 5:14 is actually for a microphone that would plug into the capture card that came with and was used for the mario artist talent studio software :)
I'm not so sure 🤔 When looking up the purpose of the groove, I found peeps had tried with the mic. They determined it wasn't a good fit (very thin wire) and it wasn't practical as the two halves would need separating to remove it. Source for reference: www.reddit.com/r/n64/s/aQlkpiUV9n
There is something weirdly fascinating about these old console hardware add-ons. Often the associated game library was tiny and/or rubbish, but even just the presence of seemingly random expansion ports hinted at some kind of arcane untapped potential. With so many hacks for older games, and with things like the Satiator kicking around, it's cool to see that there's still untapped potential in decades-old hardware. Be cool to see if anyone can do anything fun with the 64DD
There have been some attempts to add support for 64DD games on N64 Flashcarts (without needing a 64DD), and they do work, but not necessarily perfectly. I think one or two may have been translated to English. The high storage capacity allowed by flashcarts being able to use SD cards with the Nintendo 64 means that fan made N64 ROM hacks, some of which are original games, can use the maximum cartridge capacity of 64MB per ROM file, which is the same as the maximum size of the 64DD floppy disks, with no real downside, making it superior to making a game which runs off of the 64DD, with the possible exception of not being able to store as much user data or save data. Someone could, if they wanted to, make a N64 game which uses multiple ROM files, effectively making there no limit to the size of the game, though it would be annoying if you had to load up a different ROM file too frequently during gameplay. A lot of user made ROM hacks (some of which are like entire new games) do use a much higher amount of capacity than your average N64 game, and are able to use somewhat richer assets, precisely because there is no worry about increased costs of using a higher capacity cartridge. It does, to some extent, show what was possible if game devs had more capacity to work with, as most N64 games were less than 32MB in total, especially games from the first two years or so.
You can get fan translations for most of these games, mainly the Mario Artist series (excluding Communication Kit) and even the F-Zero X Expansion Kit. You can even get conversion hacks of these games that make them function on a cartridge without a 64DD at all (with or without translations), though you will likely need the Expansion Pak to play these that way though (which I assume you would have one already).
The 64DD always appealed to me as well, there was a bit of a mystery behind it since there was never a ton of info released outside what seemed like hushed whispers about its technical possibilities, what it COULD be capable of, and you'd dream about how much bigger and better n64 games could be. Every technological leap and bound forward back then seemed to make huge differences and I'd look at the bottom of my n64 and imagine finally getting a chance to use the ports on the bottom, which I had wondered about since the first day I got it. Then it just sort of vanished from the spotlight, we were left with only small rumors and updates claiming yes its still coming to okay it might not be coming to now its been cancelled all together, but it left a lasting impression and always stuck in the back of my mind about what could have been. When I found out it actually did get commercially released in Japan I was a bit shocked (and jealous lol), what had happened, why would Nintendo dangle this before us only to snatch it away only to actually release it elsewhere? Then I came to learn there was hardly any games produced, that seemed odd, why was this, what games did get made, they must have been super special and my young mind could only imagine what I was missing out on (oh how optimistic and naive I was). ALL of this stuff just added to its original allure even more, nowadays we can find out info about practically anything but back then sometimes having less info added a lot to the imagination and somethings appeal. My friends and I would have discussions about it and the rumors of what it could do, getting to make your own levels in various games sounded like a dream, plus it just looked cool and aesthetically pleasing, what we had was inferior, a mere childs toy, there was something better on the horizon and we couldnt wait to have this Big Boy N64. There's always been differences between the Japan and US markets and I kinda think Nintendo underestimated how well this could have possibly done here, especially if implemented correctly, with the right software, the right marketing, and had released at the right time. Likely both by accident and unknown to them, they created a mystery that had built up in many of us who fell in love with our 64s, we wanted the best for her and could only imagine seeing her live up to her full potential. Not that it really matters, but as a big bargain hunter I was wondering if you got a good deal on this or paid closer to online prices? Man do I miss the old days of picking up large n64 or other retro console bundles for like 20-40 bucks. One of my best finds was probably a Sculptors Cut Edition for $4, it was going for about $150+ back then, and the only reason I even thought to look it up is because there was a regular copy of Clay Fighter next to it, I had never heard of it prior to that and would have passed it up. Anyways, enjoyed your vid, thanks for the memories it brought up!
I'd like to think it was a good deal given the price it can go for. I'm not at liberty to reveal how much I paid 😉 but I can say it was much less for the whole lot than it would've cost to get just the 64DD itself (no games) from eBay at the time.
Fantastic video...i still own my old N64 pal unit...i bought it in 1997 (i was 14 years old too...i and my brother bought it with our summer job's hard earned cash..eheh) and still own it along with over 60 games (and a white/azure japanese N64)...the N64 DD..a far off dream for me...i didnt get to know about it until a few years after its release...
@@TheMultiGenGamer maybe the seller also thought it was sealed. But seriously that I'd 100% a reseal , I live in China and they reseal everything just like that . Games never came sealed in that way
I wonder how different the gaming world would be if the 64DD weren't delayed and ended up being released worldwide. We'd probably be playing Ura Zelda 😆
Stay safe ♥
After Rare finished GoldenEye Nintendo should have ordered them to create an expansion for GoldenEye. maybe online multiplayer. it would have given an easy boost to that all important 64DD launch line up
Bought one in 2024 for an enormous amount of money. I can´t tell anyone this. It is not explainable. You get a top-notch smartphone for this money. Instead you now have this 1.6 kg old hardware block under your N64....But I own my N64 since 25 years, and this has always been my dream. Nostalgia is simply unexplainable.
That smartphone will be worth $50 in 3 years and the DD will be worth twice as much.
They are reviving Randnet for it so hold out just a bit longer
I wouldn't worry about breaking the seal, most Japanese game shops wrap everything in plastic, Trader uses shrink sometimes. I've bought a lot from them on previous trips, some are still "in shrink" but it's not a factory seal.
Thanks for sharing!!! I never see this in Brazil.
Had them back in the testing department at rare for a bit in the 90s, we would use them to cache the gameplay on a certain N64 game you all know.
I think the idea was it would essentially dump everything the game was doing and record inputs so problems could be found and resolved quickly by essentially having a repeatable real-time live save state of the game they could access , vs the age old a description in text form from the tester, or some crash dump numbers for the coders to go over.
They did not last long. Came into work one day and they were just removed. No doubt the devs were experimenting on them as there were loads of innovative stuff going on at rare at that time.
Perfect dark or DK64 Hmmm
i’m pretty sure the grove in the DD at 5:14 is actually for a microphone that would plug into the capture card that came with and was used for the mario artist talent studio software :)
I'm not so sure 🤔 When looking up the purpose of the groove, I found peeps had tried with the mic. They determined it wasn't a good fit (very thin wire) and it wasn't practical as the two halves would need separating to remove it. Source for reference: www.reddit.com/r/n64/s/aQlkpiUV9n
What an amazing pickup, definitely a dream item to grab, well done
There is something weirdly fascinating about these old console hardware add-ons. Often the associated game library was tiny and/or rubbish, but even just the presence of seemingly random expansion ports hinted at some kind of arcane untapped potential.
With so many hacks for older games, and with things like the Satiator kicking around, it's cool to see that there's still untapped potential in decades-old hardware. Be cool to see if anyone can do anything fun with the 64DD
There have been some attempts to add support for 64DD games on N64 Flashcarts (without needing a 64DD), and they do work, but not necessarily perfectly. I think one or two may have been translated to English.
The high storage capacity allowed by flashcarts being able to use SD cards with the Nintendo 64 means that fan made N64 ROM hacks, some of which are original games, can use the maximum cartridge capacity of 64MB per ROM file, which is the same as the maximum size of the 64DD floppy disks, with no real downside, making it superior to making a game which runs off of the 64DD, with the possible exception of not being able to store as much user data or save data. Someone could, if they wanted to, make a N64 game which uses multiple ROM files, effectively making there no limit to the size of the game, though it would be annoying if you had to load up a different ROM file too frequently during gameplay.
A lot of user made ROM hacks (some of which are like entire new games) do use a much higher amount of capacity than your average N64 game, and are able to use somewhat richer assets, precisely because there is no worry about increased costs of using a higher capacity cartridge. It does, to some extent, show what was possible if game devs had more capacity to work with, as most N64 games were less than 32MB in total, especially games from the first two years or so.
You can get fan translations for most of these games, mainly the Mario Artist series (excluding Communication Kit) and even the F-Zero X Expansion Kit.
You can even get conversion hacks of these games that make them function on a cartridge without a 64DD at all (with or without translations), though you will likely need the Expansion Pak to play these that way though (which I assume you would have one already).
Congrats on finally getting your very own DD 😁 It’s not an easy task even if you live in Japan, believe me 😅😅 Keep up the good work!
The 64DD always appealed to me as well, there was a bit of a mystery behind it since there was never a ton of info released outside what seemed like hushed whispers about its technical possibilities, what it COULD be capable of, and you'd dream about how much bigger and better n64 games could be. Every technological leap and bound forward back then seemed to make huge differences and I'd look at the bottom of my n64 and imagine finally getting a chance to use the ports on the bottom, which I had wondered about since the first day I got it.
Then it just sort of vanished from the spotlight, we were left with only small rumors and updates claiming yes its still coming to okay it might not be coming to now its been cancelled all together, but it left a lasting impression and always stuck in the back of my mind about what could have been. When I found out it actually did get commercially released in Japan I was a bit shocked (and jealous lol), what had happened, why would Nintendo dangle this before us only to snatch it away only to actually release it elsewhere? Then I came to learn there was hardly any games produced, that seemed odd, why was this, what games did get made, they must have been super special and my young mind could only imagine what I was missing out on (oh how optimistic and naive I was).
ALL of this stuff just added to its original allure even more, nowadays we can find out info about practically anything but back then sometimes having less info added a lot to the imagination and somethings appeal. My friends and I would have discussions about it and the rumors of what it could do, getting to make your own levels in various games sounded like a dream, plus it just looked cool and aesthetically pleasing, what we had was inferior, a mere childs toy, there was something better on the horizon and we couldnt wait to have this Big Boy N64. There's always been differences between the Japan and US markets and I kinda think Nintendo underestimated how well this could have possibly done here, especially if implemented correctly, with the right software, the right marketing, and had released at the right time. Likely both by accident and unknown to them, they created a mystery that had built up in many of us who fell in love with our 64s, we wanted the best for her and could only imagine seeing her live up to her full potential.
Not that it really matters, but as a big bargain hunter I was wondering if you got a good deal on this or paid closer to online prices? Man do I miss the old days of picking up large n64 or other retro console bundles for like 20-40 bucks. One of my best finds was probably a Sculptors Cut Edition for $4, it was going for about $150+ back then, and the only reason I even thought to look it up is because there was a regular copy of Clay Fighter next to it, I had never heard of it prior to that and would have passed it up. Anyways, enjoyed your vid, thanks for the memories it brought up!
I'd like to think it was a good deal given the price it can go for. I'm not at liberty to reveal how much I paid 😉 but I can say it was much less for the whole lot than it would've cost to get just the 64DD itself (no games) from eBay at the time.
@TheMultiGenGamer good to hear!
Fantastic video...i still own my old N64 pal unit...i bought it in 1997 (i was 14 years old too...i and my brother bought it with our summer job's hard earned cash..eheh) and still own it along with over 60 games (and a white/azure japanese N64)...the N64 DD..a far off dream for me...i didnt get to know about it until a few years after its release...
That's a reseal by the way
If so, why just the one? Why not all of them? 👀
@@TheMultiGenGamer maybe the seller also thought it was sealed. But seriously that I'd 100% a reseal , I live in China and they reseal everything just like that . Games never came sealed in that way
yep nice i good my in 2001 i still have
Awesome video
you can just run DD games from a flash cart, its literally just a disk reader with nothing else. Also the mario thing, reseal.
Background music is way too loud in this video.
Basically thats just a floppy drive.
No way...
But can u explain why the disks arent actual floppy? lol