Nintendo Never Told You This About The N64 Rumble Pak
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- During the 90s we had a lot of interesting ideas introduced to gaming with the Rumble Pak bringing the idea of a more immersive experience. Today I wanted to take a look at the attachment and go over one secret that Nintendo kept with powering the Rumble Pak.
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I remember the absolute best level for making the rumble go batshit insane was the Macbeth train level, if you shot all of the 8 switches then the boss would crash into the bunker and the rumble would go off the charts! Explosion after explosion after explosion after explosion, loved it! XD
Oh yes! The train heading straight to the ammunition depot! :) You know what they say? You need fire to fire a bullet... and bullet contain explosive powder... where can you get a huge amount of explosive powder? Inside an ammunition depot of course!
That was in my opinion the best boss fight in the game, Sol was also pretty rad.
I remember that! it went nuts! lol
That's nothing compared to the warp rings in Meteo, once you hit hyperspace you'll think the rumble's motor is about to explode.
Did you use it to get off? Lol
The fact that John saved Falco and went the alternative way on the level makes this video wholesome
Who the hell is John?
I think that's just reflex at this point. It's just the thing you do if you played that game enough.
@@Appl_Jax depends which path I want to take
@@TheMysteryDriver Sure, if you wanted to take the other "fail" path, you'd do what you need to do. But the default for people would typically be to "save" everyone and pass every required mission if you're able to.
@@Appl_Jax some planets on the ok ending are cool though. Plus there's that space debris field.
There were 3rd party rumble paks that worked without batteries and I was always curious why Nintendo themselves never designed theirs this way. The 4 way power draw issue definitely makes sense
Nintendo is working with Energizer. It's all a scam to sell batteries.
I thought I had a Nintendo version, but since mine never had batteries I guess mine was a third party. I don't even remember when I got it.
those had a built in nicad battery i think to help offload the voltage requirements it
would stay charged near all the time or it would use up the battery first then charge i had a mad katz that was like that
Internal battery or a capacitor…
This device blew my 11 year old mind back then. Will never forget the first time I used it.
Same man.. I'll never forget the 1st time i shot the pp7 in goldeneye the weightiness and feel of everything was amazing lol. That and the bomb in star fox man oh man loll
Now we got dual sense, I was 7 lol the tech change is wild
Star fox 64, saw it on an old Nintendo Power VHS they'd send out to members who were subscribed. It looked amazing on video, but when I got to actually play it for the first time... 🤯
We mostly played Killer Instinct so the rumble actually got in the way sometimes.
In all my life only 2 things dropped my jaw literally. The first time I experienced Mario 64 really blew my little mind back then, with the way 3-D scaled making Mario look like the tiny hero he really is. And the second was Starfox 64 with the rumble pack, it was like a drug when you first experience it.
It's funny that Sony who once said rumble was a feature that gamers did not want, is the one who pioneered the Dual Sense controller which is the next evolution of the rumble pack.
Wait till you realise goldeye allowed the n64 to be the first console to access dual analogue controls before the dual shock controller released
Console gamers _didn't_ want rumble at the time. But Nintendo made the accessory a pack-in with the first game to support it, and most of us figured we'd try it once and then throw it in the pile of gaming junk.
And it turned out to be really good. So _after_ that we _did_ want it.
Kind of like optical mice. At first they were viewed as a gimmick and nobody really cared. But once people _tried them_ they realized that it wasn't just a gimmick, the benefits weren't just marketing fluff. And now - who still makes ball mice?
The rumble pack was one of those items that became required to use because the controller felt so light without it. It was more comfortable to use with the rumble pack on. What I thought was the coolest attachment was actually the gameboy pack so you could use your pokemon in Pokemon stadium. That was a blast! I especially loved playing Pokemon on the big screen :)
I want a current gen stadium. Would be awesome.
I only ever played Pokémon through an emulator, I didn't get the big deal of playing it on a big screen because 15" was big(ish).
@@skaldlouiscyphre2453 as a kid we had a 38" in the loungeroom with true stereo speakers in it. Seeing pokemon in those days in 3D was incredible.
My parents didn't have to go to the store when they got my Game Boy. They thought ahead and got a rechargeable battery pack with AC adapter called the "Handy Power Pak" saved them so much money!
And Game Gear you just played at home with the AC adaptor. 😂
@Clarissa 1986 You explained it all, Clarissa. 😉
This has become my favorite gaming channel on youtube. No hot takes, no bullshit, just real gaming content, news, updates, and retro stuff. Based. Keep up the good work John, joined at 650k subs, will be here for 1 million.
It really is amazing how purely gaming focused he keeps this channel.
Except that time he tried to make a video about $70 switch games and talked about a bundled game not a standard game price.
Yeah the hot takes are all in the comments 😂 yeesh they make me sorry I scroll down here sometimes
We get it.. You want a like from the channel.. Quit being a cringecel.
Lots of clickbaits though
I'd love to see a follow up where you test the rumor about 4x players draining the power.
That's not a rumor. That really can happen.
It was also advertised with one of the greatest VHS tapes ever. Only the cruelest person would put the Mario doll in a vice.
I actually got the vhs tape that they sent out to preview/debut the rumble pak. I remember watching it and being amazed at the technology at the time. Recently got an n64 and starfox and a rumble pak and it literally feels like 1997 all over again
1:20 As GameBoy Pocket used AAA and released in the same year as N64, this could've actually been more in line of them to sticking to the same battery type as their current releases.
I still have my original starfox rumble package and It was an absolute awesome experience.
3rd party followed and the NUBY ROCK ROCKER had 2 or even 3 times the rumbling power than the original.
I had the Nuby one with clear plastic!
In The World is Not Enough for N64, you could use both the memory pak and the rumble pak using only one controller. You would keep the memory pak in to load the game and save it. Before you started a level, the game would prompt you to swap out to the rumble pak before the level begins.
Road rash 64 does this too
This was pretty common in 3rd party Nintendo titles that required Controller Paks to save. Snowboard Kids, Quake II, and many others I own give you the "If you want to use a rumble pak, insert it now" message.
It was honestly pretty neat IMHO and awesome that hot-swapping was thought up for these games.
tumble pak
6:10 The "resistor" is labled F1, so it's likely to be a fuse.
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Ahh yes, the rumble pack. Yet another moment where Nintendo changed the gaming industry forever and everyone else followed.
Ahhhh yes, the battery killer. So thankful for that weak gimmick
@@im100percentg I liked the rumble pack.
Changed it for the worse in this case. Rumble is annoying and any game you can't turn it off is cancer.
The same idea already existed on other peripherals before the rumble pack launched. Even crappy stuff like that chest thing that made you "feel the game" well before the n64
@@shaggysweetness Who even actually cares who did it first? It's all garbage. Imagine if they'd just spent the extra dollar on the sticks instead of wasting money on the "HD" rumble everyone turns off anyway.
That's nifty! Definitely used this back in the day but never realized you could move a resistor to just draw power from the console itself. I wonder if my (cousin's) N64 and Rumble Pak still function (stored in a non-temperature controlled attic for decades)...
I remember the Rumble Pak _freaking out_ with full batteries when Ganon's Castle was collapsing at the end of Ocarina of Time; I set the controller on the coffee table and watched it _dance._
at least you remember the batteries. honestly, I don't recall them at all. I just texted a bunch of friends asking if they knew and not one of us remember the triple a thing. lol
You'd be surprised, I had my N64 out in a shed that had a pretty large hole in the back pretty much letting the elements in, there were a couple of old bed frames that rusted almost all the way through but somehow that console still works without issue at all and cosmetically looks new. I did end up tearing it apart to give it a cleaning but was shocked that there was no rust or corrosion to be found. The same can't be said of my old Xbox 360, it was dead without a sign of life
Hard to say. It easily gets like 120 - 140 in our attic during the summer time and its hard to imagine anything electronic surviving after being stored in those conditions for years. However I’m using a PS2 that was stored outside in a shed for years with no door. It survived 90 degree heat and below 0 temperatures. You should get it down, let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour and see if it works. If it doesn’t it likely needs new capacitors. Don’t throw it away whatever you do, it can be fixed.
4:03 It should be noted that rumble motors seem to get weaker as they get old. Had some dualshock controllers and even smartphones (back in the user-replaceable battery era) have rumble die completely (and get weaker way before that) before any other electronics in the device. And given the fact how old Rumble Packs are, it's not a surprise they may either be weak or not work at all.
I'm pretty sure his age has something to do with it also. He's talking about being 10 years old playing this and now he's in his 30's. The rumble strength is going to feel significantly different to a ten year old than a thirty year old.
It's not age, it's usage. These rumble motors are brushed motors and brushes do not last forever
@@arcticowl1091 Also bearings (in this case I think bushings) wear and gunk up.
Might be fixable if you can find similar motors!
@@dtester yeah it's pretty easy to find the motors, but you gotta check if you can actually migrate the weight to the new motor
For whatever reason the gaming community forgot about what a big deal the Star Fox 64 release was. For N64 owners it was right up there with Ocarina of Time. I prepurchased it and picked it up and was blown away. It was the hot item for months.
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The problem is that the N64 would then become unstable because too much is being squeezed off for the rumble packs and there is a risk that components in the power supply unit that are not designed for such a load will burn through.
A controller with Rumblepack Mod is not a big problem, maybe a second one, but I would leave it for three or more controllers, because the risk of damaging something is then too great
You have no idea what you're talking about. The system pulls way more power than required. Modding 4 of these for use is completely fine.
I remember reading that on dreamcast you have to avoid having 4 controller with VMU and rumble pack at the same time. Something can fry and then you cannot use any controller at all.
That ground tank world "Macbeth", when you beat the train boss the rumble was insane! And if you had the stronger Tremor Pak, it was almost too intense!
A few years ago I was at my local retro gaming store and came across a 3rd party rumble pack that already was wired like this to use system power, and it's nice.
It's impressive how much people are still finding out even now.
Hell only a few of us knew about Player Two controlling the Duck in Duck Hunt before a couple years ago.
I knew about playing as the duck! Not sure how; I was probably bored while waiting for my turn. It can make the game almost impossible for player 1, if you do it right.
@@Pslamist My sister and I found out while our older cousin passed us the player two controller when we were four and five 🤣
It's in the manual on page 8
@@TheMysteryDriver - There's a manual?? I thought games were all just cartridges and complete mystery, at least until 2001.
@@TheMysteryDriver How many kids do you think read the manual?
I did the battery free mod a few years back and it works great. I’ll never have 4 going at one time so this is perfect
"You couldn't do both at the same time"
They did eventually have 3rd party rumble controllers at the time that allowed it,
There wasn't really a lot of games that needed memory cards, so it was never really an issue.
Controllers like the Boomerang still needed batteries to use batteries to rumble, so I don't really know what was up with that.
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Didn't realize this was such a simple mod. There were some kiosk units I believe with self powered rumble packs...I seem to recall those were basically permanently attached to the controller though. Always wanted one for my own use, but shit, if that's all there is to it I'm modding my regular Rumble pack for sure!
I modified my N64 rumble pack to draw power from console via controller. Unlimited rumble.
This is the way the rumble pack should've always been! The unit could've also been a lot smaller without the slot for the two AAA's. I'd imagine the case where more than 2 players would've had rumble would be pretty slim to begin with, and I'm sure some limitations could've been built into games that supported the rumble pack and had multiplayer.
I like how the 'resistor' is labeled as a fuse...
Resistors are commonly used as fuses in electronics. Nothing strange about that.
In this case it appears to be a fusible resistor; zero ohm is typical, but this one also appears to have a silver band which is unusual. They're often used as a cost-saving part over a standard fuse in low current applications. In this case, everyone is right because it is both a fuse and a resistor! 🤪
Fun fact: some games actually allowed you to swap between the memory pak and rumble pak at certain points. The games that I remember being able to do this off the top of my head are Toy Story 2 and Rampage World Tour.
Most games did that after you save. It would then ask if you want to use the rumble pak and then you could swap
Vigilante 8 (and the sequel of course) did that. Every loading screen had a prompt reminding you about rumble paks, it's like hey we're playin' now, plug that in lol.
I don't even get why the N64 even need a Memory Pak as almost every N64 cartridge already had a cmos battery inside for saving anyways. I would just use the Rumble Pak and pretend the Memory Pak never existed.
@@VOAN Some games decided to use Memory Paks instead of saving onto the cart because it was cheaper to manufacture it that way.
The Rumble Pak reminder, before every race in Road Rash 😄 great memories
I remember the DreamCast Rumble pack drew power from the console and that had 4 controller ports but probably was able to handle the power. The Dreamcast memory units also took the pancake batteries, but could still be used if the batteries were dead
the dreamcast also came out after the n64
It's cool to look back on how gaming started with certain things like the rumble pack, cartridges/ CD, controller designs, memory storage, etc and how far those concepts grew in today's gaming market.
they’re second thoughts that became priorities
@@EbrybodyLuvTony That's a very great way to think about it. Staples of gaming.
Another case of utterly brilliant Nintendo ideas. Sure the rumble feature was in PC controllers at the time, so not new, but they took a simple idea and made it main stream. Its not overly complicated yet simple enough to be cheap and is now mandatory.
I remember getting Starfox 64 back in the day and enjoyed the new "rumble feature". I also learned that my 2nd controller, or any extra one, I had I'd just plug into controller port 3/4 and use as the save cart "disk drive" and could keep the rumble pack in my #1 controller full time. No silly swapping it out or funky error messages. Pro tip if you never knew that btw 😉
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It's clear that Nintendo didn't want to risk any possible malfunction because of the power draw.
The N64 controller ports are designed to provide a certain fixed voltage with a certain leeway, and the rumble pak most likely forces the controller to draw more than that. It may work well with just one controller, but as you say, most likely it wont work as intended with 4 controllers or even less. It may translate only in less intense rumble, but that in itself is enough for Nintendo to implement an external power source.
I got my rumble pak like 4 years ago. Still using the same batteries. It doesn't seem to eat up as much power as one would think.
I absolutely loved my Tremor Pak Plus growing up. Just flip the switch between memory card and rumble. Removes the risk from repeatedly swapping them out in game.
1, we almost never actually needed a memory card. I had one but almost every game stored it on the cartridge. 2, it wrote to the cartridge so there wasn't a ton of risk.
I keep seeing people talking about switching and I'm like "what? Aren't there two ports?" Then I remember I'm confusing it with the Dreamcast controller.
I remember getting Starfox 64 for getting straight A's my 7th grade year! My God, i'll never forget how awesome it felt with the rumble in Corneria City, stage 1 in Starfox. So amazing. Then later, using the rumble pack in Goldeneye as well, and feeling the recoil from the weapons. I was always a kid that got the shitty accessories, because the Nintendo branded ones were more expensive. I had a Tremor Pack. And it was nice because it took two AA batteries, instead of AAA. Great memories! Thanks SW!
Games that used memory card and had rumble capability typically told you when to swap out from one to the other.
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Yeah I’m old so we figured this out back in 1998 on the message boards. What a time to be alive. Although we didn’t move the capacitor. We simply ran a wire and soldered it at points. Same concept but just a bit easier.
Thx for the memories
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If they were concerned about 4 controllers rumbling at once, maybe they could have put a capacitor in there to store a bit of power for scenarios when all 4 players need to rumble at the same time. It probably wouldn't happen often and not for very long either so a short burst from the cap could help sustain the power for a second or so.
yeah but some how I don't see many families having original controllers (4) (4) rumble paks. and a game that supported 4 players with rumble function anyway. we had 3 controls 1 rumble pack and a couple of memory cards. about 3
A supercapacitor could do that today but they weren't cheap enough back then. A plain capacitor just doesn't store enough energy to average out motor power draw.
I did this same mod to the rumble pak 15 years ago. Works great but don't have all four controllers plugged in with 4 modded rumble paks it could overload the controller circuit. I also recommend removing the battery tabs so someone doesn't put batteries in it on accident.
It makes sense that Nintendo went this route with the N64 to ensure adequate power to the Rumble paks. SEGA used wired power at the time for their Jumper Packs with the Dreamcast, and they had significantly weaker vibrations.
I remember when i got my Nintendo 64 at a garage sale, came with 16 games, 2 or 3 controllers, 4 memory cards and 2 rumble packs. $80 for it all, back in 2000. Wish I took care of it
They're fairly simple to fix! 😇
Ya, I’ve been considering this. I haven’t played my N64 enough for batteries to be a big issue, but it would be nice not have to even worry about them getting low and lower the weight just a little on the end of the controller. Good to know I shouldn’t do it to four of them.
There are 3rd party rumble paks that don't require batteries. I use the Naki Rocker Joypad Vibrator and it has worked well for me for years.
It's not a resistor, it's a fuse (although the packaging is similar). Nintendo probably went with the batteries rather than drawing power from the console to avoid any potential of overloading the wires etc. (Especially third party controllers which might use lower gauge wires.) Motors can draw a lot of current on start-up and some games might aggressively start & stop the motor. That, in turn, could heat the wires in the cable and potentially melt the insulation or cause other issues.
AAA’s are probably the least annoying battery to require. So many appliances use them. It’s when they start wanting the little coin batteries when you want to scream! Plus… all my Gameboy Pocket family will most definitely already have a nice stache of AAA’s!
Wow I totally forgot you needed batteries and I remember only using the rumble pak on the Wrestling games. When I got the PS1 with a DualShock 1 I just forgot owning a N64 completely when I was becoming 15 at that time.
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Some third party rumble packs were way more aggressive with their rumbling then the official Nintendo model.
Yep 😂
You're wrong about the timing, Spawn Wave.
Before Sony had the Dual Shock, they had a much lesser known controller simply called the Dual Analog- and the early versions of THIS controller in Japan featured rumble, well before Nintendo's controller had been released to the public.
However, focus testing revealed that the public... strangely enough... didn't care about the rumble feature!
So Sony revised the Dual Analog stick and removed the feature.
The re-addition of rumble may have been motivated by Nintendo's Rumble Pak, but Sony technically had it first.
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I had a multi-voltage ac adapter. Even as a kid I connected the wires to the rumble pak and bumped up the voltage to 4.5 and man did that thing rumble hard.
Love that Rumble Pak! I have heard of this, but have never seriously considered it. I feel like Ocarina of Time really showcased the Rumble Pak the best, although the THq and Aki wrestling games made it feel pretty great too.
F-zero X. You can feel when you're going to lose control because you turn too much. You can tell with experience, it's incredible.
OoT doesn't use it much really.
Yea back then I was amazed at how much immersion the rumble Pakistan added to games. Having Andross suck suck your Arwing and chew on it was a mind blowing experience lol. I used the pak with goldeneye too but not too often because that would absolutely drain batteries quickly with the automatic weapons in the game lol.
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"Rumble Pakistan" lmao
Ah, the rumble pak. I had a hell of a time trying to convince my parents to get me one long ago, but I eventually wound up getting a third party tremor pak. Fast forward to 2022, and I just recently bought 4 because I have 4 controllers and wanted the OG rumble pak to go with each. All this time later, and I was elated to finally get my hands them. Fun fact: while the Nintendo OEM rumble pak uses AAA batteries, the tremor pak I referred to uses AA batteries.
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A bit heavier, but probably lasts a lot longer between changes. And maybe a more powerful rumble?
@@nthgth The weight is about the same, but the tremor pak does have a vibration strength toggle switch for high and low. Not all models have that switch though. And of course, the OEM rumble pak has a single default vibration intensity.
I remember I owned a 3rd party rumble pack that didn’t use batteries when I was a kid.
In fact, I didn’t even know the rumble pack took batteries until watching this video.
I knew I wasn't imagining things - my cousins had a non-battery one too. I had the first-party one from Star Fox, but I don't remember the batteries being a detriment at all
Interesting, didn't have an N64 so didn't realise the rumble paks took batteries. Remember the gameboy colour rumble paks for Perfect Dark and the like being built into the cartridge, and needing a single battery in the cart.
Great vid Jon! I remember having to always spend money on AAA's just for this item alone until I found out that an aftermarket company called Naki made a rumble pack with no batteries and performed quite nicely too! Cheers! 😎👍
Who's John?
Does anyone remember the rumble pak promotional tape where I believe Sony and Sega employees captured a Mario plushie and proceeded to torture him? I'm not sure where or how I got that tape from, but man I used to watch that thing over and over again as a kid, mostly for the game trailers they showed towards the end haha, but the skit itself was pretty funny too. Man the 90's were great, such a different time..
Not sure if it would have been feasible at the time, but I feel like having a rechargeable battery that trickle charged off the controller would have been the perfect solution.
The most recent Game Boy model at the N64's release was the Pocket, which used... AAA batteries. :P
Then there's me who used the original game boy until my dad bought me a colour for 11 dollars at a trailer Park 🤷♂️
Yeah, there might have been a short time where if you wanted a Game Boy you'd get the Pocket. I guess. I mean, if you wanted it to _literally_ fit in your pocket for some reason (or a mini-purse) and couldn't wait for Color to come out.
@@nthgth The Game Boy Pocket was the new Game Boy model for roughly the same amount of time as the Game Boy Color later was, before it too was replaced by the Advance.
I love when you make videos like this! Also, great job at making this work.
This has been I'd say fairly known information for anyone that keeps up to date with gaming news, tech, and information. John is about quite a few years late to this party. But I'm glad more people will know now.
It’s probably over some limit, could be harmless, could fry something in the controller/console eventually, could just be the wires aren’t rated for that much power, or the console can’t supply enough power in a specific scenario, like 4 rumble paks being connected. Many reasons, I’d be careful pulling more power than expected from any device, much less an old one.
Keep these hardware video coming, great job!
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It realy kick i miss the power Star fox was loud
Another weird one is the GBA/GameCube link cable, which contains a circuit board that needs power to operate. Instead of drawing the power from the GameCube, it draws from the GBA. So the batteries will drain faster when you use it.
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The 3rd party Naki N64 Rumble Pack didn't include a spot for batteries. I remember using those back in the day on Star Fox 64 and Zelda. Zero batteries. Zero issues.
I remember first seeing a working N64 at Walmart in Ponca City, Oklahoma. There was a line of people waiting to play Starfox 64 with the rumble controller. I remember being totally blown away by finally experiencing feedback. Fast forward and now rumble is in everything, even in my smart phone.
Damn this took me back! I had this back in the day..I remember using it to play Goldeneye..peak gaming experience at the time!
The 3rd party rumble pak (mad katz i think) had a much stronger rumble. I believe it had 3 settings on the strength. It also had the option to insert the memory card.
If I'd have known about this soldering trick, it would have been done.
Are there rumble packs that don't need batteries?
@@zachtwilightwindwaker596 without doing the soldering mod that Spawn did, not that I'm aware of.
@@98ek9 Actually someone in the comments did say there is one.
@@zachtwilightwindwaker596 fair enough
@@zachtwilightwindwaker596 there was definitely at least one. Third party of course. I don't remember the brand though.
FYI that's not a resistor it's a fuse. so if you wanted to you could bridge the same points with a wire and still be able to use batteries if you want/need to.
Pro Tip for SF64, if you hold down the Fire button, it will fire three times before entering charge mode. You can save 66% of button presses with that method.
Is it possible that Nintendo was going the battery route because this would be not patented somehow?
I think they just weren't 100% sure of the N64's reliability while supplying all the Rumble energy for multiple players under all foreseeable circumstances.
So they played it safe. Let third parties (or DIY tinkerers) take the potential blame for frying people's systems.
@@nthgth There could be a warning paper that you need batteries when using multiple rumble paks connected at the same time. Or there could be a non battery version that cannot be used with multiple paks at the same time. Nobody would even blame Nintendo for that.
Also what about defaulting to power source from console and only use battery when needed? In example that would be very useful for longer single player gaming sessions.
The most logical explanation why Nintendo didn't use this is obviously what John and you said. It is probably just because Nintendo didn't want mess with it.
It's weird to think that if you wanted rumble when playing certain N64 games that you required a rumble pack. Whereas now haptic feedback in a controller is standard.
I've known about this mod for a while. Done a couple for family / friends. Put a little note inside the Rumble Pak to let any users know not to put batteries in. I actually don't know what might happen if you put batteries in with this mod...
If the mod cuts the circuit, probably nothing. Maybe battery leakage at worst.
From the looks of it what he called the "resistor" is just a fuse so it's a seperate circuit and the fuse is just the jumper for it. It should do nothing.
I performed the "rumble pack - no battery mod" and felt that without batteries the controller was too light and that made the rumble too subtle and something in the battery compartment gave it a rattle sound. I found "Dummy" batteries that had a good weight and wouldn't leak long term so now it feels really good. Also by only have 1 of these modded pak's in my house I don't have to worry about the power issues.
Very interesting video! I always like seeing new stuff about N64. It's my fav retro console. Even tho I grew up on PS2, I still remember playing N64 with my cousins haha I even got a Pikachu edition one now. It's mint haha
3:39 - Rumble paks get more powerful the older the TV is. Clearly the fresh monitor has intimidated your rumble pak and it is too shy to let out a good, full rumble for you. If you can find a CRT in an alley with beer stains and cat hair, the pak should fire up just like the good old days.
The rumble in StarFox 64 was amazing because it actually showcased interesting variations in the rumble according to what was happening in game. Most N64 games didn't really make use of this very well and just had a sort of on/off rumble
I remember getting Ready 2 Rumble boxing for GB Color with the rumble built into the cartridge.
Played that game quite a bit on N64 and GB.
Vibration is one of the first things I turn off when I start playing a game.
Don't perform this mod, it's stupid.
Even without any electronics knowledge it's easy for anyone with a bit of common sense to figure out why: why would Nintendo go through the added trouble of designing a product with a battery slot, and why would they force customers to buy said batteries ? Just to annoy people, just for fun ? Because they had an (imaginary) partnership with Duracell ?
Turn your brains on please.
Batteries were needed for the same reason they were also needed in rumble-capable Gameboy cartridges: power draw. It's simple as that.
The Gameboy power supply was designed to be power efficient in order to provide the longest run time. If Nintendo designed it with a 100mA margin for the 2 or 3 games that came out with rumble functionality, it would have meant less efficiency, so less run time, and more manufacturing expenses, only to have those few games run without an additional battery. In short: a downside that will impact all users all the time vs. a minor inconvenience that will only impact those who bought those games, only when they play them.
Same goes for the N64, except it's more of an economical / sales expectation matter.
Sony expected the vast majority of users to use the Dualshock controller, so it made sense to have the Playstation's internal PSU scaled appropriately to power them, and to have the right components to decouple the sudden current spikes and noise induced by the motors from the sensitive digital circuits.
Nintendo's rumble Pak is an extension, it's optional, and chances are that Nintendo didn't plan on selling so many of them. The controller itself pulls very little power, so instead of putting money in a slighly more capable PSU and additional components in the console, they figured out that it was better to make the console simpler (= cheaper) and let the choice of paying more for a rumble pak and messing with batteries to the customers.
Performing this mod will pull current from the console's main 3.3V rail. MOTORS. ON THE MAIN. 3.3V RAIL.
Read that again: Noisy electromechanical devices on the same rail that powers the extremely complex and noise sensitive CPU, GPU, and RAM !
Sure, there's an overcurrent protection inside the rumble pak (FU1 is a fuse, not a resistor), and the console won't "short circuit" (that sounds like a bad movie line btw). But neither the console's PSU, its main board, nor the controller were designed to carry the required current AND provide it in time without any voltage sag or noise. If you do this mod, crashes, glitches, and possible failures ARE to be expected.
Of course Nintendo could have embedded the rumble pak in all controllers and designed everything accordingly like Sony, but that wasn't the case. Telling yourself that you're a genius because you think you solved the battery problem by moving one component is like waving your dick in front of Nike's offices because you found out that pouring glue on your shoelaces is faster than tying them up: you saved 1 second but your shoes are ruined.
A bunch of people have been using this mod and third party rumble paks with it pre-done for years with no issues. N64 kiosks also had rumble wired to pull power from the N64.
@@Danrarbc That's interesting. Did the kiosks use retail N64 units and joypads ?
@@furrtek Yes they did. It's likely Nintendo did design the system to power rumble packs - but in the final configuration the power draw for 4 of them exceeded the reliable power delivery of the 3v3 rail. Kiosks would never be installed with more than 2 controllers so they'd never exceed the rail's capabilities.
I did this mod back when I first had an N64. It worked great for me. I mostly played single player though with occasional 2/3 players and only had one rumble pack.
I remember getting the VHS tape in the mail. Me and my sisters thought it was so cool, both the tape and the idea.
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What sorcery is this? Hes witch, a witch I tells ya! Quick get the fire and the stake ready.
Speaking of third party rumble packs, I still have a tremor pak plus that has a secondary port for a memory card. Don't remember it ever working.
They do get weaker over time. But I do remember both the rumble pak, duel shock 1 and duel shock 2 felt a lot more intense than modern day controller vibrations
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I think use and storage conditions matter a lot more than age alone. My Rumble Pak is still notably stronger than the Xbox One controller I use on PC, though I must say I never actually had one back in the day to compare to.
It's also the fact that it's a brushed motor, they wear out over time especially when used in that application
I think that's a fuse, not a resistor. At least that's what the symbol on the silkscreen suggests.
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I'm kind of glad it uses batteries by default. I like the feel/extra weight of the controller with the rumble pak attached, but I can't stand playing games with rumble. So I always just plug one in with no batteries. No clue how many other people are intentionally plugging theirs in with no batteries though lol.
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Interesting take. I kind of get it. The weight can feel good, separate from any rumbling or not. And the fact that it uses batteries gives you the option to essentially switch it off. Choices are good 👍🏻
Now you need to mod 4 Rumble Pak's, then play a game on Spawncast to see what weird things happened.
How would that be possible?...That means you would need 4 players using the N64 all in the same room at the same time!
Let me tell you a secret:
● The original N64 controller gives a stronger rumble feedback than a 3rd party. Doesn't matter if the game cartridge is genuine or a Chinese copy.
● The Brawler64 by Retro Fighters feels best using a Rumble Pak. The rumble feels smooth and more immersive since the slot is closer to your hands & the controller is smaller overall.
I think the batteries were also a marketing ploy. In the 90s, batteries were not a big issue because everything needed batteries. If it was just a matter of technical difficulties when multiple controllers are plugged in (most people had just one Rumble Pack anyways), they could have just put in a switch. But in the '90s, people just thought: It needs batteries because it's rad.
I have a third party rumble pack maybe Pelican brand. What was cool about that model is that didn't require batteries and had to levers on each side on the right you could choose the intensity of the rumble and on the left side you could choose to use it as a rumble pack or memory pack but not both at the same time.
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StarFox64 was awesome. Spent a LOT of time with that one.
I had a knockoff rumble pak and memory pak kit when I was a kid. The rumble pak didn’t have any batteries and used system power out of the box. It was made out of solid blue plastic.
It's funny because I had a did have a 3rd party rumble pack for the N64, but I didn't ever use it really because it took batteries. Then when I got a GCN, the rumble was built in the controller, and I remember just being blown away from playing Zelda Ocarina of Time on the GCN in Dodongo's Cavern when you blow up the middle stairs with all the bomb flowers and feeling it rumble. It was mind blowing since I had played that multiple times on the N64 without rumble, and the difference was amazing!
while it could be wired to not use batteries, the gameboy pocket was prominent at that time, which used AAA batteries.
I had a third-party rumble pak, so I never had to deal with batteries, and honestly didn't know the official ones ever needed them. still interesting to think about why it was implemented that way at first. Will say, seeing this deff makes me want to play Starfox 64 again after all these years just for the nostalgia of it.
I still have my old after market rumble pak. It was one of those two in one's where it functioned as both a memory card and a rumble pak with a simple switch. My 12 year self removed the switch to use both the memory card and rumble feature at the same time and it went as you might expect. It took too much power from the system and fried the power supply.
The reason Nintendo chose batteries is because the power supply to the controllers isn't actually designed to handle that much current. Just like USB, you can draw more power from the USB bus than it's designed for - it works up to a point, but if you overdo it, the bus can shut itself down if it detects that too much power is being drawn, if it overheats and overheat protection kicks in, or in the worst case scenario, a component can just die forever. As long as you only use a single controller, of course, the bus has more spare power as it has been designed to deliver enough power to four controllers, so you are not overloading that bus as much as you would with multiple controllers, but I think even with just one controller, the rumble back already overloads the bus.
Another problem with a motor is that it doesn't use power like microchips do; there's no steady flow of current because it needs a lot of current to start up in the first place, less current when it's running for a while, and it can even return some current to the bus when it's stopped, and there's no protection against that. As a result, the voltage on the bus is constantly dropping and rising, which can cause an overvoltage that can damage components, or an undervoltage that just causes a temporary failure of the bus or the control devices.
I actually have a Rumble Pak-equipped kiosk controller that is still in it’s protective cage. Picked it up from Goodwill over a month ago. They must’ve used permanent thread locker because I have the right security bit and it broke my bit driver (shaft now turns in the handle). I highly doubt their Nintendo rep was servicing these to replace the batteries every week and if they used permanent thread locker then they would’ve had to use a micro-torch on the security bolt… not something to routinely do on the sales floor and it might even melt plastic.
I never bothered to try it in a console since the stick module is trash but I should at least see if the Rumble Pak works. Surely, it won’t have decades-old batteries in there so if it works I expect to find a factory mod in there. ;)
Years ago I had one with the battery door glued shut and I now suspect it was from a kiosk too. Since official kiosks never had four controllers it makes sense that they’d could be modified for 3.3v from the console but it really wouldn’t have been any harder to run a power cable to each controller through the kiosk arms if they had to do a bunch like that.
Will never forget those days. I asked for an N64. Got a PlayStation (with Dual shock). Was a bit confused for the first 24hrs, but when I realise what I had and it's capabilities, I've been blessed ever since.
you changed to the dark side.
All we needed was a few million more fellow SNES comrades to not change and the developers like square would have remained too.