Actually Doing the Stop N' Swop Cartridge Swap on Real Hardware

[@floatingonairandwater]

So this is NOT the way you’re supposed to do this. Removing/inserting carts with the power on can damage carts and console. This was a significant factor in Nintendo telling us to take the feature out of DK64 and scrap it altogether. SnS works by (1) Switching the console OFF, (2) removing a SnS game cart and inserting another compatible SnS game cart, (3) Switch the console back on again. The carts must only be exchanged with the power OFF! Anyway, this is the first time this feature has ever been seen working in any form outside Rare in Twycross/UK. We had planned for 6 Rare games to work with SnS, and if you collected all 6 then the last game would send a “super-code” back to the first one (Banjo Kazooie) to complete the circle. Zelda was never intended to be one of those games………. (PS, i write this as a Rare employee who was a member of the Banjo development team and the actual inventor of Stop ‘n Swop). Enjoy, but please be careful with your equipment folks.

[@tonydogo8207]

Wait your what

[@Skawo]

Oh, I am aware you were meant to shut the console off - I just wasn't sure I would get it done in time that way. Thanks for commenting!

[@floatingonairandwater]

@@Skawo When we tested it on that revision of the N64 hardware we had reliable results up to about 23 seconds of power-off time. If more games had come out using the feature, and we had to tell people about it then we’d have claimed a 10 second limit to give a big buffer. Quite honestly, 5 seconds would be enough for someone to lazily cut power, remove/replace carts, power on again. Nintendo didn’t spot what we were doing when we were getting certification for BK which is why the feature is fully enabled there, however our next release was DK64 and they spotted the DK64 cart “doing something weird” at boot up, asked us what it was, we explained SnS to them and they said “NO”. Can’t blame them really. If that hadn’t happened then DK64 would have connected to BK, and then Banjo Tooie after it. I don’t 100% recall what the other 3 games of the 6 we envisioned would be, but Perfect Dark and Conker were contenders. Possibly Jet Force Gemini as well but i don’t recall exactly when we released that one. Anyway, go easy on your hardware and have fun folks……..

[@Skawo]

@@floatingonairandwater Oh really, the Nintendo lot check actually examined what the game was doing programming-wise? That's fascinating. I'd've thought they would just inspect the game from, well, the gameplay perspective. Really shows how far they went with quality checks back then.

[@anthonycomeaux1804]

@@floatingonairandwater This is all really interesting. I'm actually just learning about all of this Stop n Swap stuff that was planned. So what was the end goal? Like, what would be unlocked or shown in these games if you connected the chain with stop n swap? In BK in the video, an egg showed up, but what else?

[@mads_in_zero]

Color coding *important words* in the OoT dialogue in the same way the game does was a very cute touch.

[@kiwi7006]

RIP Link, 1996-2023. Died to an explosion after a short countdown induced by the KZbinr named "Skawo".

[@Meatball132]

That is supposed to be Skawo, he has the black tunic and says "I" and "real-world-me" in reference to himself. ...is that worse?

[@Absolutely_puck_fakestine]

He is called Zelda

[@Bchulo88]

So Skawo's the one actually responsible for the downfall timeline

[@Segadud]

​@@Bchulo88yes, he is

[@omegahaxors9-11]

That's not Link, that's Stink from the Super Zelda Bros romhack. Link and Stink replacing Mario and Luigi.

[@Pryexel]

It is amazing to see this actually working in real time. Thank you for this!

[@BryaStar]

I still remember finding out about the stop n swop cheat codes online back on Nintendo's old 2000s era website. it's amazing to now finally get to see it in action as it was (mostly) intended.

[@RaymuHakurei]

This is really cool to finally see it being done on real hardware. I'm guessing there's no way to restore the functionality to Banjo-tooie though, which is too bad as it'd finally feel like closing the book on that chapter of history. Thanks for sharing!

[@Skawo]

Given that decompilation projects for N64 games are popping up everywhere, one day it might very well be possible.

[@wedarobi]

if you mean taking the bk sns items and using them in tooie (as the heggy eggs and the dragon kazooie ice key), it can already be done right now. it needs a sliiight addition of some custom code to tooie, so it won't work with an original tooie cartridge, but it's the closest we can reasonably ever get

[@PokettoManStar]

Stop N Swop was killed by Nintendo on October 1, 1999, at which point the functionality was (mostly) removed from DK64. By the time Tooie was finished, it would've been long since removed and reworked into the BK game pack system we see in the final game. I know the Xbox Live Arcade version reimplements SNS by way of connecting to Nuts and Bolts but I believe this was done with newly scripted flags and scenarios.

[@omegahaxors9-11]

You can get that functionality on the Xbox release of the game, but there are many preferable alternatives, including death. Having mumbo refer to "Nuts and Bolts" as making Tooie "look like a joke by comparison" is a price way too steep to pay.

[@omegahaxors9-11]

@@wedarobi Sadly the cutscene where we get to find out where Kazooie wanted to put that ice key was cut early.

[@bradye21playsIndieHorror]

How nice of Link to do this for us, at his own expense.

[@enochliu8316]

How nice of Skawo to do this for us, at his own expense.

[@jamesmiller206]

He had to use a custom zelda romhack because banjo tooie purged the actual stop n swap code from its data thus making it useless for this experiment. Eventually people will make a tooie romhack where the original method was restored.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@jamesmiller206 Given that DK64 was intended to be the first Stop n' Swop recipient game, making it all Tooie would take some refactoring - even the 360 versions had Nuts 'n Bolts involved.

[@WilfredCthulu]

What a fantastic and groundbreaking video it was so cool to finally see the intended method happen. I also admire how simple, clean, and to the point the video is, with some charm and humor naturally put in. No typical modern youtuber bs of someone yelling some obnoxious, obvious, or time wasting stuff at me. Just stop n swop. You've known what the whole deal is forever. Lets finally make it a reality. It gives the video very classic vibes yet very high quality even without any fancy stuff it's ironically so refreshing. I'm probably going to look back on this very fondly like the start of the gigaleak.

[@reddo4079]

woah skawo has an acutal human functioning hand that human on earth has, i did not see that coming

[@Delcat42]

The custom ROM with the red-blue name and the little flourishes though How does it feel to be god-tier

[@splatana6660]

Seeing Skawo's arm is a strange feeling, because it means he's not just text on a screen

[@IvanezRus]

Who said it's his hand? 🌝

[@Shantae1188]

He did say he was going to be authentic

[@JustABroom]

The arm is actually made of of millions of really tiny letters, Skawo is still a fully text being.

[@theivoryguy2476]

@@JustABroom Skawo hearting this means that it's true.

[@jsphn2008]

Skawo is a being composed of every language. Every time you speak, you are giving him more power.

[@escopeto7849]

8-year old me sends you five dollars from the past, it's been his entire allowance and you have delivered closure - Thank you more than ever, Skawo!

[@Skawo]

Thank you very much for the support!

[@GoldenGrenadier]

Inflation must have made that exchange brutal.

[@pacsmile]

Lmao your payload injecting method is pure genius, not to mention the ninja skills when switching the cartridges

[@johnnymind4151]

My guess for them not using the memory pak is that it came out more or less at the same time as Banjo-Kazooie and so they couldn't make the latter compatible with the former for Stop N' Swop before release. If it were possible to do so even after... then I have no clue. Anyway, it's so cool to see Stop N' Swop performed on real hardware, good job!

[@Skawo]

When was the Controller Pak released? I thought it was available on release, given that games like Mario Kart 64 required one and released shortly after launch.

[@johnnymind4151]

@@Skawo Oops, got the dates confused with the Expansion Pak, that one came out in 1998 while the Controller Pak in 1996/1997 so yeah, no clue why they didn't use that for Stop N' Swop!

[@drcj725]

​@@johnnymind4151they forgot it existed

[@Wiimeiser]

The one obscure thing I know about the Controller Pak is that all games that were released on both N64 and PS1 only used the Controller Pak to save on N64 and never the Game Pak SRAM (though this is actually unconfirmed as the only multiplatform games I ever played on N64 were Gex 64 and Rampage: World Tour if the latter is even multiplatform). I wonder why that is? Easier to program across both versions? I guess this _is_ the console generation where using programming languages like C and compiling into assembly became the de facto standard...

[@CKDEV]

@@Wiimeiser The PS1 memory cards could store significantly more data than the typical cartridge SRAM could, as well it would've been more expensive for the publishers to get cartridges with SRAM from nintendo.

[@MMadous]

You absolute madman. You've done it. You've done what BK fans around the world have been itching to do for decades. Thank you for completing my childhood. Signed, former admin for The RareWitchProject, source of the original Stop 'n' Swop unlock codes :)

[@TwilightVestige]

Hey, long time no see!

[@MMadous]

@@TwilightVestige OH MY GOD YOU'RE HERE TOO? IT'S BEEN DECADES!

[@PaperBanjo64]

@greatman3388 I actually used those cheats back a month ago when I played Banjo Kazooie in honor of the 25th anniversary, I'm not a let's play channel, just a gamer who loves Banjo Kazooie and the Nintendo 64.

[@JoeyJ0J0]

I remember those super long Stop and Swop codes, I used all of them even if the items never worked, it was nice having them. Thanks

[@maverickhuntermeta4954]

RareWitchProject? I haven't read that name in years.

[@jimboslim]

Ngl, the section where you swapped the carts made be laugh because of how ridiculous it looked. It's like Rare intended someone super drunk to play Banjo-Kazooie, only to boot up Banjo-Tooie, realize this like 20 minutes in, and stumble over to the N64 and clumsily swap the carts, resetting the power as the collapse to the ground

[@megamix5403]

Honestly, this is cool considering not only we get to see a Rare feat in action, but also showing that a cheap flashcart like the ED64 is capable of pulling this off. I'm still with Guru Larry on the Memory Pak thing though lol but in all seriousness, thanks for this man. This was right up there with Luigi being in Mario 64. What a time to be alive. :)

[@yomama9390]

what does the flash cart matter? they could be using a piece of toast as long as the toast wrote to memory, which every game has to do or you aren't going to be playing any of them. The data is in the n64's memory, not the cartridge. it isn't a special thing.

[@elemkay5104]

A Rare feat... I see what you did there mister

[@megamix5403]

@@yomama9390 Well, as a potential consumer. I have a right to decide whether or not a flash cart is "good." No need to be pendantic my dude. lol

[@megamix5403]

@@elemkay5104 Thank you, my good sir.

[@yomama9390]

@@megamix5403 Wow you completely missed the fucking point. Way to go genius. You're too uninformed to make any decisions about anything.

[@Meatball132]

eggcellent demonstration of this rare feature

[@ls190v2]

Good praise. Bad puns.

[@Driggsdamonstah]

And he made an arm reveal too. Didn’t see that coming

[@zecmo]

Super cool and thanks for sharing. Really want to see the ice key get gotten 😎

[@RustyNova]

Probably the most cursed Skawo video yet. - Visible arm (Not the first time seeing it, but still) - NPC Skawo VTubing an explaination of the video inside a zelda rom hack running on actual hardware And I don't mind any of this

[@MartKart8]

Wasn't expecting Banjo to fly out of the bed, watching this. I find older hardware still runs great. I remember entering all the codes on the sandcastle floor to get them before.

[@kirbytsukinoXD]

All the codes including the Grunty's Lair unlock codes? Using more than 2 cheat codes that unlocks doors and worlds in Grunty's Lair will end up with Grunty warning that she will erase your Game Pak (if you say Yes she DEFINITELY erases your Game file)... So that's impossible...

[@31darkstar37]

If Stop N' Swop worked back then, I wonder what the remaining three mystery eggs would unlock. I wonder if one of them was planned to unlock Bottles Revenge.

[@Skawo]

I've read somewhere that a few of them were actually fakes meant to indicate to the other game you cheated to get them. I don't know how true that is.

[@RiposteBK]

@@Skawo Not reeeeally true - I think it was started by an easter egg in Grabbed by the Ghoulies where a whiteboard in the game only had 4 eggs and the Ice Key - that and supposedly some of the flags being set in the code differed by collecting different combos of the eggs People assumed from there that some of the eggs were fakes to catch players who cheated to get them This was all like 15+ years ago on the Rare Witch Project's Stop N Swop theories board though, so I may be misremembering slightly 😅

[@Wiimeiser]

@@RiposteBK One way to figure that out would be to find out which eggs get unlocked by the intended code. All of them? Just the ones with their own unique subroom or part of the map?

[@fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771]

Probably not as it was cancelled on request by Nintendo during the development of DK64

[@renakunisaki]

@@Wiimeiser unfortunately I think that code would have been in the other games and was never actually put there. BK just unlocks whatever it's told to.

[@theivoryguy2476]

There's something weirdly nostalgic about this video.

[@cattysplat]

You're back in your bedroom as a kid in 1998 staring at your tiny CRT tv, trying to uncover the Stop n Swop secrets so you can tell everyone on the playground at school how you did it.

[@maxrichards5925]

This reminds me a lot of what you can do with sonic 2 & sonic 3 (alone) because if you activate level select on sonic 2, swap carts with the power still on, & reset, then you’ll have level select in sonic 3 without having to do an impossible cheat code on the title screen lol. There’s a ton of frames where you can & can’t do it so it’s a pain so I’ve never gotten it myself

[@LCOmusic]

I remember pulling off the Sonic 3 level select cheat but it was wildly inconsistent. I had no idea that you could do such a trick with Sonic 2! Very neat.

[@busybody42luigifanxxx20]

You CAN, but it's REALLY not good for your console. @@LCOmusic

[@shostako1284]

@@busybody42luigifanxxx20 neither your games. Don't do it.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@shostako1284 Better to just use a cheating device.

[@caioferreira4389]

So it was real all along. I knew there was something special about that cartridge and I tried so hard as a kid. Thank you for this video.

[@Emcy]

what i REALLY wanna know is, why is the language selection in Banjo Kazooie on a timer???

[@Skawo]

Probably because it just reuses the menu system from the quiz show game.

[@Emcy]

@@Skawo well, good luck to anyone who doesn’t speak those languages, because they don’t have much time to figure out what they hell’s going on lol

[@Skawo]

Seems like it was really quickly slapped in, seeing how it doesn't even save this information.

[@Emcy]

@@Skawo 10/10 UX design

[@Shantae1188]

@@Skawo It is kinda funny how the version made for their region, is the one that has a tacked on extra bit

[@miguelmendes777]

Years! YEARS and YEARS waiting for this! My God. N64 games really were magic. Thanks for the video

[@ArtyDarth]

The only time I ever saw someone pulling out a game out of my N64, in the middle of a game, was a friend from school. We were playing Bomberman 64, and he so wanted to play another game that he angrily pulled the cartridge out. Thankfully, the N64 and the game were not harmed. But I never forgave him.

[@Skawo]

The danger is not _that_ great. You'd have to take the cartridge out very crooked.

[@ArtyDarth]

@@Skawo I was shocked nonetheless, because I was aware that doing so might damage the console. And he did it so violently that I was fearing the worst.

[@yoshiwoollyworld]

Why didn’t he just ask first?

[@KopperNeoman]

@@yoshiwoollyworld Because he was a dick.

[@BigNateDoggOG]

People would always throw and drop their n64s back in the day trust me those things are damn near bullet proof.

[@mikeyjohnson5888]

Its funny as a kid, I knew stuff like this had to be possible just not how. Used to cart jank for fun glitched playthroughs on tons of games when I was kid without any idea why it worked or what it really did. When I got interested in gameshark/action replay it gave me a little peek into what the world looked like behind the scenes. I swore at the time the two were related but still wasn't sure how. 20 years later and its crazy to think my career only happened because of that shit.

[@NorkiNorkiGaming]

I read a headline that said this had finally been achieved. I did not expect it to have been done by my most dedicated follower! You're a legend!

[@Skawo]

:)

[@CookieButter-x]

Damn, that was a smooht stop'n'swap between cartridges.

[@diskoBonez]

Awesome seeing this done on real hardware! Thanks for showcasing in such an over-the-top way! Can't believe you created an entire zelda romhack to dump the payload!

[@toastbrot97]

5:02 now that's a tactical N64 reload if i've ever seen one.

[@MarMaxGaming]

Always been curious how this played out, I appreciate you braving through the dangerous maneuvers! You’ve done an AMAZING service, I’ve always wanted to know about this ❤

[@NintendoCollecting]

Well done! World's first on real hardware!

[@drgabi18]

The meta of OoT appearing the video really surprised me, good job somehow pulling it off!

[@CrashMcCloudX29]

8 year old me waited 25 years to see this

[@hypnotised-clover]

At the time you made this comment, the game was only 22 years old. It is now 24.

[@CrashMcCloudX29]

@@hypnotised-clover Banjo-Kazooie came out in 1998. 26 years ago

[@jamessant5723]

Me, watching the whole video for authenticity

[@jamessant5723]

Also lemme go on record and state that I CRIED HAPPILY seeing it work. I remember playing both games back in the day

[@Victini7472]

oh my god the music at 2:50 kinda sounds like something outta a creepypasta lol i love it its like some kinda toy with dying batteries trying to sing lol

[@ThatGuy38757]

I can't believe it! He made Stop n Swop real!

[@sudolinuxfish]

This is so bizarre to see after all these years. You have earned this sub from me!

[@AMD2600]

The whole thing is amazing, but I am just in awe of the speedy cartridge swap.

[@minscandboo1213]

Now we talking content!

[@Gator159]

The Ocarina of Time diversion made this all worth it lol.

[@lukeminix7312]

There are also the floor pounding codes in the game that let you get the eggs and unlock the door to the ice key.

[@SailorGreenTea]

The egg was supposed to reveal something

[@p.rofessionalidiot]

what?! Skawo has hands, and he isn't just text on a screen?!? I don't believe it.

[@slimeinabox]

Did you just make an entire rom hack for oot just to talk to use via text. Incredible dedication.

[@Skawo]

Well, it's more of "I had this project going on already and used it for this" kinda deal :v

[@slimeinabox]

@@Skawo still cool

[@Dremag_Gaming]

RARE was ahead of their time with this idea.

[@l_Zero_l]

No gonna lie, when I saw Zelda loading, and a the dark tunic link, I really thought it was a ARG or something, it really gave me creepypasta vibes

[@danieldudas8740]

That cartridge swap was ASMR

[@Magus12000BC]

They didn't use the Memory Pak because nobody had a Memory Pak. Finding one being sold anywhere was incredibly rare because they didn't sell in their initial run and retailers didn't want to waste money carrying it.

[@Skawo]

Is that so? Huh. I mean, I expected the Controller Pak to not have sold well at launch, 'cause there were no games that really needed one out of the games you actually wanted to play - like Mario 64. But I would've thought that eventually - by the time BK/DK64/BT were coming out - there would be plenty of them around, as there was a load of games that called for it.

[@Magus12000BC]

@Skawo - The only games off the top of my head that needed it were Mystical Ninja, Quest 64, and Madden. I'm sure there are more, but thinking of the games that actually sold well (the games people talk about today) what games used it? You even had Star Fox 64 and Pokemon Stadium using that slot for other accessories by this time. The Controller Pak was done by the time Banko Kazooie came out.

[@Skawo]

Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, both Castlevanias, Rayman, etc. Seems like a lot of stuff, really: www.nintendo64ever.com/Nintendo-64-Games-Memory-Card.html

[@Magus12000BC]

@Skawo - I don't know what Perfect Dark used it for. Maybe mission times? All your progress is saved without it. I wasn't even aware it had Controller Pak support until you brought it up. The Castlevanias sucked and were universally panned. Rayman had superior (by virtue of being cheaper) ports on other hardware. And while I can't speak at all personally to Killer Instinct, by the time that hit the N64, 3D fighters were the rage and 2D fighters were largely considered antiquated likely flying under the radar of many. Tekken and Virtua Fighter were the rage at the time. Aside from Perfect Dark, any of the games that you and I have mentioned so far were games that largely flew under the radar. Third Party support was shoddy, and they were the ones largely supporting what Nintendo had already all but abandoned. Personally, I never found a Controller Pak out in the wild after their initial run until 2000 when I spotted one in a Wal-Mart bargin bin of random clearance goodies for $10. Maybe it was a different story for Europe and Japan, but they were largely extinct here in the States. You also had to bare in mind what the Controller Pak did or didn't do. For Quest 64 or Mystical Ninja, you absolutely needed it to save your progress. For Madden, Perfect Dark, ir Mario Kart 64, you didn't need it to enjoy the game. This was basically a Memory Card you didn't need for 80% of the library. No one was buying that.

[@Skawo]

@@Magus12000BC Yeah, I dunno - I have 3 controller paks myself just from buying random N64 stuff, so maybe they were more common here or something. There's about 384 billionty million third party versions of the thing, as well - some bundled with the rumble pak, some with page switching, etc. - so it seems companies thought there was at least *some* money to get there since they kept churning them out.

[@TimewornUncle]

I wish I could email this link to myself in 1999. My skinny younger self would probably go into neurogenic shock.

[@fnsbidk]

That game audio

[@Aiyoros]

I don't know why Rare didn't make something like the "lock on" technology as Sega did with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, that would've been awesome. Or someone with the knowledge can make it possible

[@Skawo]

Well, N64 carts were already pretty expensive to make, developing a custom one with a passthrough cartridge slot might've not been feasible.

[@solonepeon5805]

​@@SkawoNin is a rich greedy company so they could have done it but always act cheap with their products.

[@jesright6126]

Nintendo designed notches in the cartridges as a form of region lockout between Japan and NA. A lock-on style cart could have been used to more easily circumvent the region-lock indents. This arrangement also creates a fragile connection, which would easily break the connector off the top cart if leverage was applied. (happened to my OoT cart while it was attached to a gameshark). and as stated by Skawo, the cost would have been prohibitive, especially considering the number of titles they wanted to include with the Stop'n'Swap mechanic.

[@yomama9390]

@@solonepeon5805 Not only is Nintendo NOT cheap but this is NOT A GAME BY NINTENDO

[@tamanakio7552]

Whoa I didn't know skawo has a hand

[@veronicaporras9246]

Hand reveal?

[@fruitsnackia2012]

well thats gotta be an achievement there. using SnS on real hardware and as a bonus attracting the attention of two old rareware devs lol. impressive if you ask me :P

[@Skawo]

Two, you say?

[@ZBatt1]

This is very impressive, i cant even get my 64 to play my game carts without turning the console on and off 5x 😂

[@Skawo]

Clean the cart & slot with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. Should help.

[@BigNateDoggOG]

You need a new N64 for sure that one is cooked

[@scottlandis8488]

Have nothing constructive to add. Just wanted to comment for algorithm purposes. Was on the RWP back in the day and seeing this just work is awesome.

[@Skawo]

Very much appreciated!

[@epikitee2186]

2:49 harmonica, commence!

[@kronedog]

So cool to see this on an actual N64! I so badly wanted it to work as a kid. Well done.

[@MoonSarito]

This is so cool to see on real hardware, pretty impressive !!

[@AnnCatsanndra]

Listening to the audio and having the screen really small made this feel like a creepypasta! AND THE DUDE FREAKING EXPLODES, THIS IS TOTALLY CREEPYPASTA

[@LudosusGames]

If this functionality was already fully implemented in Kazooie (as seen in this video), it makes you wonder why Rare put in those long cheat codes that could also unlock the Stop N' Swop items if they were fully expecting to put this cartridge swapping feature in Tooie. I sort of thought that Rare put in those codes after being told by NIntendo that they couldn't do the cartridge swapping thing, giving another way to get those items.

[@scottlandis8488]

My guess would be for debug/testing purposes. A lot easier to play test these areas without needing all of the other games actually needing to be completed.

[@LudosusGames]

@@scottlandis8488 This doesn't exactly make sense given the length of the codes that you need to enter on the Sandcastle floor in Treasure Trove Cove, such as the code: "OUT OF THE SEA IT RISES TO REVEAL MORE SECRET PRIZES", which takes about four minutes to enter. If the developers wanted to debug these areas, it would make far more sense for them to just toggle an option in the debug menu to access these areas. Given how the words in these codes rhyme (and how much thought the developers put into this), this suggests that the developers wanted the players to eventually know about these codes.

[@xphiles2345]

man i love this game, glad i still have my launch copies of this game and the console.

[@Mewcrozma]

Hand Reveal pog

[@MaffiLu]

Thank you for this wonderful trip back in time. And congratulations to this feat. You rock 😸

[@duskdash2546]

Guys it's obivious that Skawo is an AI and it computer generated this video. The hand is fake as Skawo doesn't actually exist

[@Randomsomewhat-kinda-quasi-sem]

It's deepfake, i know it!

[@balombo3737]

I absolutely disagree.

[@MarioOwnsAl1]

This is so cool to see working as intended.

[@skel3370r]

When an easter egg used to mean the world just because you found it

[@seraph4581]

That cartridge swap was really satisfying to see

[@Welcome2410]

0:43 still like how banjo gets flinged out of bed and out of the window poor bear can’t take a break

[@Alexs23743]

Wow, Link sacrificed himself for Banjo and Kazooie. What a gigachad. ¬_¬;

[@ed3386]

Who knew Skawo was a human. LMAO.

[@Thepopcornator]

I never got why they went with this silly solution instead of just using N64 memory cards (yes, they existed) to share data between the two games.

[@Cozmixcartoons]

So it is possible!! Wow! I've wanted to see this since I was like 7 years old. You rule dude!

[@Victini7472]

thats very crunchy camera audio youve got there, mind if i take a bite?

[@Skawo]

There was fan noise from two computers and an actual fan due to the ongoing heatwaves. Had to denoise it quite heavily, and, yeah.

[@Victini7472]

@@Skawo ah, didnt know about that i do actually like the sound of the denoised audio tho, kinda feels nostalgic????

[@solonepeon5805]

I came here today only because of Spawnwave pointing this out. Congrats!

[@KakashiLvr26]

I remember trying this as a kid and I couldn't get it to work! I'm glad it actually does

[@yugureyt]

The thought of pulling out the cartidge while the system is still turned on, and immediately swapping for another game to plug in then shut off, and turn on is still insanely cool. Sad this concept was scrapped due to potential damage

[@skyhawk9710]

Woah, didn't know Skawo had actual hands. It just feels weird seeing them from the usual text commentary.

[@uhhh_adam]

Wow and i thought this was just some rom hacker guy, definitely subbed.

[@omegahaxors9-11]

7:13 OMG it's that moment from the end scene of Tooie.

[@aortaplatinum]

Holy fucking shit this is insane to see, it's like discovering the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Though like the pinned comment from the dev says, I'm surprised your N64 booted at all doing it like that since the console doesn't at all support hot-swapping and doesn't even like when you plug in or unplug controllers while it's on. Hope your Everdrive survived this lol

[@Skawo]

Naw, the everdrive is fine. Honestly, for something to actually break permanently, you'd have to make the VCC pin short out with another pin near it - which is possible if you take the cartridge out by one side making it tilt, but it generally shouldn't happen otherwise. If you take it straight out, then from the cartridge's perspective, it's really not that much different than just shutting off the power to the console.

[@aortaplatinum]

@@Skawo Ay that's actually some really smart hardware design then. Total opposite of the Dreamcast where removing a controller could cause a short and totally fuck that controller port's capacitor 😅

[@Skawo]

Oh man, really? That's... not great. But, yeah, I mean, think about it; say you had a cartridge and/or connector that was a bit dirty or loose and prone to connection issues. You'd be running the risk of the cartridge dying every time you played it. There'd be no NES games left in the world by this point, I think.

[@fernando98322]

Stop N Swop is finally real... in Banjo-Kazooie. But we'll need a romhack to make it real for Banjo-Tooie: to insert the unlock payload into memory (maybe you can change the N64 Carts you beat for the Eggs to do that instead?), then on startup read the payload from BK to unlock the items in Banjo-Tooie (I'm guessing BK inserts the payload already or maybe they didn't implement that and only implemented reading it)

[@Skawo]

BK does indeed have the payload in memory for another game to read from. I'd have showcased this off as well, but it wouldn't work with an ED64 - you'd need to make a standalone cart.

[@_demitri]

@@Skawo When you say "another game to read from" do you literally mean Banjo-Tooie or is it speculative as to which exact game? I recall seeing a video once that suggested the Stop N Swop feature could have also been integrated into DK64

[@Skawo]

@@_demitri Yes, DK64 was apparently meant to be the first game it worked with, and then BT. But there were meant to be more titles than that.

[@travismarshall3089]

I feel like Rareware could have done this if only they developed a hardware attachment that inserted into the cartridge slot. This would-be attachment would have 2 slots in which 2 carts could be inserted. Basically, it'd be a two cart pass-through with some toggling switch to "swap" back and forth to and from. Turn the N64 off, flip the switch, turn N64 back on.

[@kaizoku83mugiwara]

legendary game. so fun just running around alone ruuu ruuu one of my favorite n64 game

[@eviemaybe]

impressive stuff! why DIDNT they use the memory pak?

[@SNS3000]

I imagine because using a memory card for this would have been boring and mundane. If they had been able to pull this off then in theory gamers would be have been wondering how it was done for years. In theory anyway, odds are someone would actually figure it out relatively quickly.

[@nathanszczepanik1676]

So now on a real 100% run they have to do this haha 😀

[@DaellusKnights]

This is just so weird because I REMEMBER that rock by the key and I had no idea that's what the whole SnS thing was about 🙀 😻👍

[@hetepatat]

Stop'n Swop was the original amiibo.

[@MegaManNeo]

Back then I saw a mock up of Banjo Tooie with a cartridge connector on top for the first game just like Sonic & Knuckles did it for Sonic 3. I wonder why they didn't just go that route.

[@megamix5403]

Well, the average N64 cart cost $30 to manufacture. The average N64 game that wasn't third party was retailed for $59.99 (which is about $119 in today's money when rounded to the nearest dollar) if they went that route. It would have been more expensive to make and sell as was the case for S3&K considering all the extra hardware and stuff.

[@scottlandis8488]

Probably because they had no idea there would be a motherboard division, or that it would potentially cause issues. My opinion this is a really creative way to do it without adding an extra cost for hardware etc.

[@yomama9390]

Probably because Banjo Kazooie would ALSO need this connector and they've already completed the game, and this is the idea they wanted to run with.

[@DannyJS1]

Incredible. My younger self always wanted to actually activate Stop N' Swop legitimately instead of using the in game cheats. No, I really don't count the Xbox 360 versions of the games. It's just not the same... ...And then they made Stop N' Swop II on the re-release of Tooie just to fuck with us.

[@armaansingh7452]

I still don't know what stop n swop 2 is supposed to do, if anything that is.

[@MofoMan2000]

Just wanna drop this here. You CAN reset the entire save file, including wiping the S&S items... if you have an external device that can wipe cartridge save memory. I recently did it with my B-K cart with the Joey N64. Great device.

[@Skawo]

...well, yes, with an external device you can. Not many people have such an external device, though.

[@nightwintertooth9502]

So, I checked out grant kirkhope at ralphs. Not allowed to say which but it was fun meeting the man behind the music

[@PlantedWave5190]

A pretty interesting way to use Ocarina of Time to execute the Stop n Swop payload!

[@QuintonRe2s]

I'm not super versed in the Stop N Swap lore, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. But can you do the same thing but with the Ice Key? So you can remove the barrier and collect it?

[@Skawo]

Yep.

[@Andrew-ww1hz]

So satisfying to see this actually executed!

[@Zachawry]

This is the work of god

[@Cake_Sauce]

Love the mini-commentary from within the payload. You're probably the only person I know who does that sort of thing!

[@DakariKingMykan]

Actually, to activate the Stop N Swap Secrets SAFELY... The Treasure Trove Cove sandcastle is the key

[@Meatball132]

You completely and utterly missed the entire point of the video, which is quite an achievement since it's explained in not just the video, but the title, too. Also, it's perfectly safe. You'd have to leave the console on, and tilt the cartridge sideways a sizeable amount, to do any damage to anything. So you can just turn off the console before swapping cartridges and there's no risk. Not that there was a large risk to begin with, because no normal person is pulling the cartridge out sideways.

[@DakariKingMykan]

@@Meatball132 I just can't take that chance and damage my 64, so I never bothered.

[@Meatball132]

@@DakariKingMykan Uhh, you still seem to be missing the point of the video. You COULDN'T have bothered even if you wanted to, because no commercial games actually ended up supporting this feature aside from Banjo. The person who made this video programmed a mod for Zelda that does it, which makes this the first time anyone has ever performed the stop n swop on a real N64 (outside of Rare).

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

In light of floatingobairandwater's Rare insight, you should test this again starting at 30 second power off time and see where the limit is for your hardware. If it's truly 10-28(!) seconds, then this feature is actually kinda production-viable despite what Nintendo thought. EDIT: Oh nice, you did do a test in a following video! 20+ seconds, nice.

[@Skawo]

Yeah, that test was done with just a single word (4 bytes) in memory, though, so the 20 seconds is a little bit inflated. A Swop-n-Swop sized payload with checksum (128 bytes) only lasts about 12 seconds before getting wiped. Might be up to the age of the capacitors in the machine.