Rare N64DD System Review - Gamester81

[@DonWon313]

This guy is the ultimate gamer. I can only dream of having as immaculate of a collection as this guy. I honestly didnt even know half of these systems existed. You are a legend

[@ninman58]

I remember when this thing was coming out, I was so looking forward to it, then it didn't happen and a part of me died inside. I used to get the official nintendo magazine every week to keep up to date with the latest releases, and they hyped this thing up like crazy.

[@CyanideSublime]

6:25 "Let me know. But, if you guys know, let me know. But, I don't know."

[@EruIluvatar]

LOL XD

[@TheHeineHouse]

Hey John, BEAUTIFUL review of this classic and very rare system! Im happy you reviewed it, and also showed some game play shots! Nice work, and another A+ video my friend!

[@spiderjerusalem100]

Interesting video, i have never seen one of these in action before.

[@XKaliber2097]

wow, I am just speechless at the stuff you have in your collection sometimes.

[@finngamer]

@christo930 The capacity is 64,45 MB, out of which half is reserved for rewriting. They are magnetic, not optical. You can save all your creations on the disks, and with hotswapping the Mario Artist disks, you can for example import your 2D drawings as textures into your 3D models on another disk.

[@jwaffe]

It's unfortunate they didn't release this in the US, I think this would have been really cool to mess around with back then as a kid, especially the 3d stuff!

[@StreetTaco]

The n64dd connects like the gameboy player for the GameCube

[@jamesgarlick4573]

AJ_Thefiremaster yes and no. While it plugs in as an add-on, the EXT port on the bottom of the N64 is an exact mirror of the cartridge port above (with the addition of 12v and ground pins to supply power to the 64DD) as far as I know, it is the only system that does that, wire it up right and you could plug carts to the bottom! Lol

[@WarGamesComedy]

luv your channel...one of the best when it comes to details

[@KingJaeTV]

Learnt something new today. Did not know about this console

[@roytheboy5286]

Once I have this my life will be completed!!!

[@thenewoldgamer9040]

Your videos have gotten me back into retro gaming and collecting older consoles. My crown jewel is the Panasonic Q and a PC Engine DUO-R that's completely rebuilt and modded for region free and component video output. Let me know if the Panasonic Q is a good crown jewel of a collection. Thanks for your time.

[@TheMineMappers]

My jewel is propably little samson or something

[@ScrewAttackEurope]

@shadow09601 The US/Japanese N64 doesn't have a lockout chip, just a bit of plastic to block the carts getting in (which can easily be removed). PAL N64's do though.

[@8comicbooknerd9]

Ahhh man these things are beasts! I remember the very first video of yours I watched was your review on this and the other third party add on!

[@Gamester81]

@otomo129 yeah thanks for the suggestion. The loading intro is actually really short. I didn't cut it off, but that's actually the length of the intro when you boot it up. I'll post more vids of gameplay and you'll see what I mean. Thanks for watching.

[@Quincy111]

Thanks for sharing this m8 ive always been intrigued about the 64DD.

[@clashed13]

YES, I have been waiting for this review forever! I watched your firdt one was cool but this is even better!

[@bratina501]

I used to own a Nintendo 64 system and always wondered what the heck that slot on the bottom was for. This video answered my question even though I had to get rid of the system because it developed severe power supply problems. Thanks for resolving this bit of curiosity.

[@GamerNRetro]

Cool video man. I remember when I was young and seeing pictures of the N64 with the DD add-on and thinking "what the heck is that? How do I make my Nintendo look like that?"

[@CoolDudeClem]

Are the disks optical (like a cd/dvd) or magnetic?

[@KingGhost78OG]

thanks for the flashbacks of all the classics u show keep up gd videos

[@ScrewAttackEurope]

I'd love to get hold of one one day. I did get a Doctor V64 a while ago though, very interesting piece of kit.

[@kiomarv]

Aside from the voltage differences between PAL and NTSC, which can be corrected with an adapter, the primary problem is the difference in frame rates and vertical scanning frequencies, which result in display problems when mixed without adjustment.

[@Peyre]

great review. the dd is a real gem in your collection.

[@Aaron_Gentry]

I was unaware that these things ever actually came out. I never saw a review of this N64DD or any of its games. This is pretty cool then

[@dragonwake]

excellent video. i remember reading about this thing back in the day. had completely forgotten about it. was introduced to youre channel through happyconsolegamer :) looks like you have alot of other good stuff, cant wait to check them all out

[@armyofme1988]

this guy always has the coolest shit i never knew of some game consoles until he showed them

[@ClaySilvia]

i watch your videos almost every day and im subscribing right now!!!

[@iluvtekno]

WOW! this is amazing thanks for uploading, and thanks for your STARWARS videos too!

[@HeavyMetalKing1000]

Another great video gamester! Do you not use your theme song on your videos?

[@Gamester81]

@SuperCOJO09 You don't need any mouse to play these Mario Artist games.

[@johnnyjohnson]

Thanks for reviewing such a rare system!

[@smuckola]

In case anyone didn't know, the NES's underside slot is inherited from the Famicom. The Famicom Disk System is a totally required peripheral to play anything bigger than a 64kB game, and those games also thus used the FDS's additional sound hardware. Super Mario Bros is 64kB and can run from a Famicom cartridge but Zelda is 128kB, requiring the FDS. NES's games just waited longer to get released on larger cartridges.

[@lloydy187]

awsome video i remember news of this before it came out back in the day and have always been curious about it since! very intresting video and a super cool part of your collection!

[@GOPACKERSJT]

It was a thing in the 90's, the Dreamcast had an online gaming feature. I remember being a kid and couldn't believe I was playing multiplayer against people all over the world. It also had a web browser program.

[@darrellabbott8828]

64DD flopped simply because Nintendo signed the deal with IBM for Gamecube technology, and thus they dismantled everything related to SGI/N64 technology. Actually it didnt flop. Nintendo just released it to clear inventory and move on to Gamecube. 64DD was dead before it"launched".

[@equinoxfan82]

You’re correct. The music at 10:21 is from Mario Paint. But it isn’t from the “Gnat Attack” game. It’s actually when you go to load or save a game.

[@pinio5132]

I live in Canada. So what are the odds I found one of these at a local pawn shop. Low. EXTREMELY LOW. Well guess what? I did. I didn't buy it though, because at the time, I was not fully 'knowledgable' with Nintendo... Dammit

[@Skyler744]

Whereabouts do you live in Canada? I'm From Calgary Alberta myself.

[@gamerjesse1009]

Skyler774 lol same

[@crazydudetz]

My friend had this. We played but something was wrong with the CD or the system itself so the select screen of the games we had was blurry, so we couldn't see what games we were choosing. Most games were in Japanese, some were in English. I feel privileged to have played it.

[@knicksfan4life100]

Dude you hit the jackpot on this one!

[@xyanide1986]

Man I was really looking forward to seeing F-zero's expansion in all its glory, I love that game. If I can request it could you please do a review of more of these games in the future?

[@colinDESU]

I translated the directions at 8:39 for you! "how to create a crazy manga (comic). select a film strip. draw a picture on the paint screen. once you finish your picture, click the (blue circle icon) to complete that film strip. once you finish a couple of pictures, end it by clicking the (red circle icon) on the last film strip. watch your crazy manga by pressing the (play button icon)" If you ever need anything translated into English from Japanese, feel free to send me a PM! Great video man!

[@pestro87]

Omg, it's Ecco the N64 Disk Dolphin! Great review man!

[@sonypsp05]

thanks for amking this video, this really answered a lot of questions.

[@lightningkatana10]

In case you didn't know there was going to be 8 Mario artist games but only 4 were ever made. They were: communication kit (white), paint studio which you were playing first (red), polygon studio (blue), and another one that I forgot the name of (green).the cancelled/ unreleased games were: game maker, ghraphicle message maker, sound maker, and video jockey maker, whatever that is.

[@FoundationsofPause]

Cool upload. Thanks for this. Never actually seen footage of this thing.

[@fabiandesignz]

The N64DD looks really good and like a really good idea. I'm surprised they didn't carry on with it. I remember living in Japan at the time and my friends talking about this being released and getting it, but never seen it sold. What was the reason for this?

[@smuckola]

Yeah. The games are bigger. As it happened, many standard N64 games considered the RAM upgrade either optional or mandatory. Some games were packaged with a RAM upgrade. The whole 64DD was always intended to be quite a premium experience.

[@Medachod]

Only a thousand dollars? Huh, not as horrible as I had priorly anticipated. I was expecting it to be five or ten grand, but a thousand is affordable to me. However, buying that entire thing just for nine games, still more than the Virtual Boy, does not sound worth it to me. However, I might just wind up caving in at one point and buying it for its aesthetic and the Mario Artist titles. This system really does look quite awesome.

[@tyty7023]

Talk about one heck of a blast from the past! In it's early days, that system would have really blown the competition away with awesome features. I just wonder why it was a flop to begin with...

[@Sc0pee]

Arite, glad we can agree on that it was a financial success at least. But in my eyes it still was a commercial success as well, only a smaller one than it's rival PS1 or Nintendo's earlier consoles.

[@Geekintheloft]

@Gamester81 do you own the N64 mouse or the capture cassette that came with the mario artist games ? I would definitely like to know more about the capture cassette in particular if you do have it !

[@4bx_evo]

I have been looking around for a Nintendo 64, and everywhere I go there out of it. I regret trading it in, I been wanting to play Goldeneye so bad the past few days, great game. ( Great videos, I never knew they had all those accessories for the Nintendo 64 until now. )

[@tripdefect87]

When you were doing the movie option, I saw an icon that vaguely resembled the Gameboy Camera What does that do exactly or do you know?

[@christo930]

What is the capacity of the disk? Does it use optical discs inside or magnetic? Can you save your animations and such on the drive ((it is writable) have an old floptical drive (from the same era) who's disks look exactly like the one you showed here.

[@smuckola]

I totally hear you, man. It's not just about what the DD64 was; it's about its obvious potential. The N64 was already radically advanced, but this would take it way beyond that. Nintendo had a complete Internet strategy including social networking, which was tied to the dead-on-arrival 64DD, and which stayed dead until the Wii U. Internet console gaming and browsing could have been "a thing" in the 1990s.

[@browsertab]

I can always trust this channel to make me jealous. DAYUM - It's your world Gamster.

[@HalfBlindGamer]

The unit will most likely fry connecting it to an outlet here in Europe, unless the unit can take 230 volts, but most units are build with only the local electricity standard in mind. This is however quickly helped with a converter. Japan also uses NTSC though, maybe there will be a problem in conflicting standards from the main N64 (PAL) and the DD (NTSC-J) units. Not to sure how they work though, just my first thoughts. Great look at this rarity man!

[@oldschoolhero66]

I've always wanted to see this!!!

[@GardioxNebilim]

i've read an article about an expansion for OoT. it sounded really cool because they remixed dungeons and turned the medallions into weapons, you know like aLttP

[@shorty1k]

I want one so bad, I really wish this idea would have taken off. The DD looks so awesome hooked up.

[@Therealjimjam]

10:22 the music is from when you save/load a picture in mario paint and that awkward robot sat there on your screen while it saved/loaded the picture.

[@meccorr]

nice system review. i would like to see more from the n64dd.....

[@nick6var]

The sound bite when the program loads is from the loading screen in Mario Paint. (Mario Paint had a few coloring book pages that you could load and color. You could also save your original animation, song, or background image to the cart.) I would love to see this released for Wii U or Wii.

[@Bannanawaffles2]

Actually no, that song you mentioned that was familiar was actually the music for the save screen in Mario Paint, that song always scared me when I was little for some reason.

[@NukTap]

i wonder if there is a secret legendary funtastic color version of this

[@finngamer]

The 64DD is a very potent piece of hardware. Shame it didn't make it back in the day, it would have helped to get this released when they originally intended it to, pretty soon after the N64 itself was released. Could be worse though, at least we got F-Zero X Expansion Pak, a fantastic package available only on the DD.

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

Mario Paint sequels? yikes. no wonder the N64 DD tanked. Gamester, can you show off Simcity 64? I really liked the Super Famicom SimCity and notice Dr Wright on the cover, so I'm assuming this is a sequel to the SFC version?

[@dss103]

You know, I remember reading about this just a couple of weeks ago. Crazy stuff! Thank God it didn't sell too well cuz Cartridges are much, MUCH more durable than CDs

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

@Gamester81 I think the N64 DD didn't so much fail, but suffered the same fate as the Supergrafx. Overall, I would love to own the DD add-on.

[@epblu]

Jesus dude, you collect things that I didn't even know existed.

[@lockjawlarrythememeteam]

I am a Swifter, but Jesus, this video is going to get flooded. GAMESTER81 THIS IS A PLAGUE.

[@mustangs-marketing]

so I'm curious, why is your expansion ram blue, not red, are they different?

[@UBEDAMAN3]

im going to have to look for these when im out looking for consoles

[@Janglez311]

@Gamester81 Not sure if your interested but i just searched for N64DD on ebay and i noticed a auction for a lot of 3 N64 DD Games CIB it contains SimCity 64, Mario Artist and Doshin the Giant it also comes with the N64 mouse for $29.95 ends in 8 hours. The name of the Auction is "3 N64 DD Games Nintendo 64 CIB Complete N64DD" it's not mine i just thought you'd might be interested, just a friendly suggestion to another fellow true gamer.

[@FrigidPhoenix]

This look's cool and had alot of potential so I wonder why it dident do well? Good review!

[@Antnie]

I am so jealous of that you have a dd. I want one. But I will wait till I find one at a thrift store lol.

[@citywill2]

@Gamester81 have you ever gotten your hands on a satellaview system?

[@hewey999]

cool man i too have never seen the 64DD before!

[@bigryan991]

omg ive always wanted a n64dd with the f-zero expansion!! but i was younger kinda when i had a 64 so i had no idea about the 64dd

[@sinistermoon]

I think I will live with out this thing lol. Way cool seeing it in action though.

[@tsskiller08]

For the record, the Mario Artist version he's playing at 6:36 is Paint Studio.

[@townsjim]

back in the day official uk nintendo mag in the UK was talking about this thing for about 2 years, and I was really looking forward to it. Then a friend told me it wasn't going to be released outside of Japan. I was so bummed out :-(

[@BHGMediaGroup]

The issue with PAL is the tv itself. Japan and North America TV's are both NTSC, it's all about the scan lines and the DD has no way without a converter, if one is even available to be viewed properly on PAL tv's. Old systems, and I mean old, you could get around this with an old tv that you could adjust the horizontal.

[@mrmusito]

I was wondering is the DD loud? like you know how a 3.5 inch floppy drive make quite a lot of noise when it loads data and since the DD also uses magnetic discs I just wondered if the DD also makes a similar sound

[@MariokidYT]

There was also a N64 Forgotten Mouse for it bundled with Mario artist.

[@PinBallReviewerRepairs]

Aaawww dang I want one but if that is the price they are going for I can't ever get one. Thanks for sharing this gem of an expansion bay. I always thought the N64 in the US could of used an expansion kinda like what is in the video. ;)

[@bluetonic78]

Interesting video, cheers - always been meaning to pick a DD up but the cost these days might put me off a bit :)

[@demetriuslewis4632]

Can't believe this actually happened when I was small. Here I am almost 30 just viewing this

[@smuckola]

No. The Expansion Pak is a RAM upgrade, not a permanent storage upgrade like the 64DD is. The N64 soon did standardize on the Expansion Pak, and some games were packaged along with one. The main difference was the storage size. As with the Famicom Disk System games, those games simply waited until it became more affordable to directly increase the sizes of cartridges. And they removed any minor functionality in those games which depended upon significant writability.

[@MaximumRD]

Very cool, must be nice to play such rare titles on original hardware, at the same time kinda sad it never reached potential.

[@gastonboi444]

The bug swatting music you referred is actually the save/load screen music

[@ARMODILLOXX33]

Nice video! Up to today i always thought that N64DD was a myth! Now i know it's real! By the way, i think there may be one way to mod for this system to make it work with a standard CD-Rom or a DVD rom! This may be a matter of finding out what the pins in front of the that N64DD unit are! I wish i have one like this to rip it apart for a research! Thanks man

[@MasterKofficial]

very nice review, i have a N64DD too :) greetings from switzerland

[@Steelebourne]

I think I saw this advertised in one of my Nintendo Power magazines. I remember I wanted it SOOOOOOOO bad!!!!

[@UnkleRenoGaming]

Man there was so much hype for this thing and then it never came out, what a misfire for Nintendo. Great video, thanks so much for sharing this.

[@DNAsGhostzHouze]

I remember seeing an advertisement for this in an old issue of Gamepro. Too bad it never really got pushed. I would have loved to had this.

[@overcastgabriel]

@Gamester81 really its not if you have no cartrige or disk in it will go in to a bios mode where you can wacth the whole intro

[@samusaran11]

There was a planed Banjo Tooie for the N64DD. And you would be able to play all the levels in Banjo Kazooie.