Parts and Accessories: Difference between revisions

These accessories allow the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES (redesigned after the launch of the Nintendo 64) to hook up to the television through RF. It was primarily intended for customers with older televisions that lack AV cable support. Since the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES lack built-in RF compatibility, the modulator acts as a special adapter that plugs into the Nintendo 64's AV port to give the Nintendo 64 RF compatibility. The RF switch itself is identical in every way to the RF switches released for Nintendo's prior systems (the NES and the SNES) and can be interchanged if needed. This set was later re-released for the GameCube to give it RF capability. The cables intended for the GameCube will also work with the Nintendo 64 and SNES.

 

[[File:Nintendo-64-Jumper-Pak.jpg|thumb|Jumper Pak]]

 

===RF Switch ([[NUS-009]])===

These accessories allow the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES (redesigned after the launch of the Nintendo 64) to hook up to the television through RF. It was primarily intended for customers with older televisions that lack AV cable support. Since the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES lack built-in RF compatibility, the modulator acts as a special adapter that plugs into the Nintendo 64's AV port to give the Nintendo 64 RF compatibility. The RF switch itself is identical in every way to the RF switches released for Nintendo's prior systems (the NES and the SNES) and can be interchanged if needed. This set was later re-released for the GameCube to give it RF capability. The cables intended for the GameCube will also work with the Nintendo 64 and SNES.

 

[[File:Nintendo-64-Memory-Expansion-Pak.jpg|thumb|The 4 MB memory Expansion Pak.]]

 

Game developers took advantage of the increased memory in various ways, including greater visual appeal. The Expansion Pak is required in order to run two cartridge games, Donkey Kong 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask; a third game, Perfect Dark, would lack most of its content (such as the single-player campaign) when no Expansion Pak was present, a fact described on the back cover as "approximately 35%" of the game being available in that case, arguably amounting to a mere demo mode. It is also required for all 64DD software. In StarCraft 64, it is needed to unlock levels from the Brood War add-on for the PC version of the game. The Nintendo 64 all-remade version of Quake II features higher color depth and better performance, but not a higher resolution when using the Expansion Pak. Finally, in the vast majority of games with support, such as Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the expansion Pak is merely used as additional framebuffer memory to enable various high-resolution (usually interlaced) mode options, at the downside of usually worse performance, in some cases dramatically so. This common simple use of the Expansion Pak can be attributed to ease of implementation and the fact that games still mainly targeted the stock N64 configuration; also, the additional RDRAM could not be easily used to circumvent other bottlenecks of the console, such as the small texture cache. Also, the original NTSC release of Space Station Silicon Valley is known to potentially crash in certain places if the Expansion Pak is present.

 

 

=Nintendo 64 Disk Drive (64DD)=

[[File:64DD-Bare.jpg|thumb|The 64DD peripheral, unattached.]]

The [[64DD]] (short for "Dynamic Drive", and subsequently "Disk Drive") is an official peripheral capable of reading and writing disks. The peripheral was initially announced in 1995, planned for release in 1997, and repeatedly delayed until its release in December 1999. It launched alongside a now defunct online service called Randnet. With nine games released, it was a commercial failure and was consequently never released outside Japan.

 

===[[64DD Disk]] ([[NUS-011]])===

* Mario Artist: Polygon Studio (Released at August 31, 2000 : bundled 64DD Kit)

* Randnet Disk (Released at February 24, 2000 : bundled 64DD Kit)

 

===[[Mouse]] ([[NUS-017]])===

A 28.8 kbit/s modem on a Nintendo 64 cartridge, formerly for use with the Randnet service and compatible 64DD games.

 

An official compact [[keyboard]] for use with the Randnet service and compatible 64DD games.

Re-licensed by Randnet under Nintendo Licence. Comes with stickers to identify controller buttons.

==N64 Controller Accessories==

 

[[File:Nintendo-64-Controller-Pak.jpg|thumb|A Nintendo-brand Controller Pak.]]

 

It is plugged into the controller and allows the player to save game progress and configuration. The original models from Nintendo offered 256 kilobits (32KB) battery backed SRAM, split into 123 pages with a limitation of 16 save files, but third party models have much more, often in the form of 4 selectable memory bank of 256kbits. The number of pages that a game occupy vary, sometimes using the entire card. It is powered by a common CR2032 battery.

Upon launch, the Controller Pak was initially useful, and even necessary for the earlier Nintendo 64 games. Over time, the Controller Pak lost popularity to the convenience of a battery backed SRAM or EEPROM found in some cartridges. Because the Nintendo 64 uses a Game Pak cartridge format that allows saving data on the cartridge itself, few first party and second party games use the Controller Pak. The vast majority are from third-party developers. This is most likely due to the increased production and retail costs which would have been caused by including self-contained data on the cartridge. Some games use it to save optional data that is too large for the cartridge, such as Mario Kart 64, which uses 121 of the total 123 pages for storing ghost data, or International Superstar Soccer 64, which uses up the entire cartridge's space for its save data. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater uses 11 pages. Quest 64 and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon use the Controller Pak exclusively for saved data. The Japan-only game Animal Forest uses the Controller Pak to travel to other towns.

 

[[File:Nintendo-64-Rumble-Pak.jpg|thumb|The Rumble Pak.]]

 

[[File:Nintendo-64-GB-Transfer-Pak.jpg|thumb|The Transfer Pak.]]

 

In Japan it is called "64GB" as Shigeru Miyamoto described at Nintendo's Space World 1997 trade show. It was a key feature of the infamous creature raising game prototype that was never released, Cabbage.

===Microphone Foam Ball ([[NUS-026]])===

The yellow-cover for the sound of a breath not being taken in by the microphone. It is bundled with Voice Recognition System Unit.

 

=Cleaning Kits=

Unknown - Not Used / Unreleased

 

 

Unknown - Not Used / Unreleased

 

 

Unknown - Not Used / Unreleased