Nintendo 64DD - Gaming Historian

Gaming Historian provides a history of the Nintendo 64DD, including it's long delay and lackluster release. What was this add-on for the N64 and why did it completely fail?
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[@FierceDeityRick]

Cartridges were so durable though I kinda miss that.....You know many CD games got ruined by a few light scratches? I don't ...Think I lost count.

[@johnventura764]

right on that one 1 . i love the dreamcast becuase you can burn games from isozone.com and it would play so you wouldnt have to worry about it being scratched and games are free

[@wolfenman1013]

+John Ventura You do realize burned Dreamcast games are missing a lot and have WAY worse graphics than their legitimate counterparts.

[@wolfenman1013]

+Fleece Johnson Thats a BS urban legend based on the lossiness of mp3s, which aren't even actually what stored on CDs, only what the songs are usually converted to when you rip audio files. CDs, if they're coated right, taken care of right, and written correctly (as 99.9% of games sold would be, at least on the manufacturing end) then a CD will last just as long, if not longer, than a cartridge. The only advantages cartridges have is they're slightly easier to take care of, and MUCH easier to repair without fucking up data.

[@SilkyLew]

back before the ps3 and 360S came out. I have the p24 now and treat my CDs like shit and never get scratched lol. but when I had the the ps2 and Xbox, it felt like the freaking consoles were destroying my CDs smh

[@brandonselitetv1436]

c.lewis XBOX AND PS2 USED DVDS NOT CDS

[@Kanjilearner]

At least the Disk Drive didn't need its own power adapter, unlike the Sega CD, 32X and Jaguar CD.

[@GatorRay]

+Kanjilearner Not to mention the Kinect if you didn't own a slim Xbox 360.

[@beyond16bit]

(Shivers) not the 32X!!!!!😱

[@Foxy02016]

Kanjilearner I think you mean the Sega Add-On system

[@und4287]

Typical 80s and 90s Nintendo, avoiding additional power bricks. The Famicom Disk System ran on batteries by default, you had to buy the AC adapter seperately.

[@TheSP33DFREAK]

yeah but there were barely any games for it. Atleast the Sega 32x/CD had more than 10 games available to buy.

[@GiordanDiodato]

actually N64 carts could hold 96MB Also, I'm still shocked Capcom was able to put the full Resident Evil 2 on the N64, FMV and all. Yeah it's compressed to hell, but think about it: a 2 disc PS1 game on a single N64 cartridge. Mind = blown.

[@BlackPopeye44]

I'm still amazed at that still today

[@XenoParadox]

+Frank Clinch IV same here and by the way whats the song that started playing in the background at 3:11 in the video

[@GiordanDiodato]

Mega Man Paradox That is Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road theme

[@XenoParadox]

+Giordan Diodato thx bro 😉👍

[@Wooystun_ok]

im pretty score n64 carts could hold only 64mb

[@MrTSUUA]

2:14 *looks at bookshelf* "Wow it looks like he's got some cool SNES games over there." *squints* "What's that one standing upright-" *sees Starman* "..."

[@randomd2146]

To this day i'm triying to get my hands on an earthbound cartrige

[@T-Dawg75]

@@randomd2146 good luck not being fooled by a reproduction cart

[@mrmacross]

While the early N64 games were 12-16 MB's, later games were around 32 MB, and the impressive-for-its-time Resident Evil 2 held 64 MB. For those who don't recall, Resident Evil 2 was quite an achievement because it had the complete 2-disc PlayStation game, including the FMV's, on a cartridge, using compression techniques not commonly used in the late 1990's. Of course, 32 and 64 MB is still pretty small compared to what CD-ROM's were capable of doing, and the N64 version of RE 2 had some compression artifacting. I miss cartridges, though. They're bulky, and Nintendo made sure to pass the extra expense of them onto consumers, but they also meant that you could supplement the hardware by adding specialty chips in the cartridges to enhance the games. Nintendo and Sega both took advantage of this feature of cartridges in the 16-bit era.

[@SalDOWN]

Very well said!

[@star_reshiram]

Yeah, like the Super FX. I forgot what Sega did though, and the other chips Ninty used.

[@michaelparker2449]

Things like the Super FX chip were a good use of cartridges but the fact is that now firmware updates can now do much of what those chips did back then.

[@HEADBOY_PHENOMENON]

David Barragan Sega had the lock on for Sonic and Knuckles, it worked with Sonic 2 and 3, trying with Sonic would just have the blue sphere game.

[@mrmacross]

David Barragan Some other chips used in SNES games include a DSP chip used in games such as Mario Kart and Pilotwings, the CX4 chip used in Mega Man X2 and X3, and another special chip used for Street Fighter Alpha 2. The only specialty chip I know for sure that Sega used was the SVP chip in Virtua Racing. I should note the drawback of these chips, though, was that many of these games ended up being a bit more expensive, and in the case of Virtua Racing, a lot more ($100 for a 16-bit Sega game; ouch!). Michael Parker I'm not a programmer or a developer, so I don't know the limitations of a firmware update, but I imagine that there has to be some advantage to allowing the game developers themselves to customize the hardware as they seem fit for specific games, instead of waiting for the console companies themselves to release firmware updates. But again, I don't have that much technical know-how, so I'll defer to someone with true expertise.

[@F0CKSTR0T]

"$500 on ebay." I had to look at the date of this video. Try $1500.

[@911WASanINSIDEjob420]

+Michael Ross thats fahked

[@retrikstudios9025]

+Fawkstraht I remember when it was 500 dollars, its gone up ALOT!

[@mycroftmagno9558]

umm try $1740

[@bneyens]

As of July 2016 its back down to around $600 with games. www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo64-64DD-Disk-Drive-Unit-NUS-010-and-3-games-tested-read-games-bundle-Z-/162131022118?hash=item25bfc31126:g:wWYAAOSwyKxXgLrg

[@uTubeNoITube]

Ummmmmmmmm try $23985728375234527356237562735627352735

[@dandastardly2792]

I have watched almost your entire library. A well spent binge. Keep making great videos

[@robcotto7081]

"A step in the right direction, to bring gaming online" Seems like everybody but Nintendo actually took the step. *Looks at Nintendo Online*

[@elizabethricken7569]

To be honest, I've perfered the cartridges times.

[@OfficialRetroCoin]

If only Nintendo released this in 1998 worldwide we could've had Super Mario 64 2, banjo Tooie (possibly with more gameplay and better graphics), Ocarina of Time (more gameplay and better graphics) and so much more. The N64DD will remain just one huge "What if" question forever.

[@beyond16bit]

Don’t forget M🌎THER 3

[@sgtcreasegrease]

And maybe even the rumored MGS port that was being developed for the N64.. That would've been interesting.

[@virtual212]

Makes me sad no one has even found the earthbound 64 prototype cart. Yet at least

[@kingeddy7966]

@Princess Rosalina I don't think Peach was cut in smash 64

[@hontoniarigato7956]

Holy crap Mario 64 was only 16 megs max??? That's amazing an entire 3D World with no load time within 16 megs, whoever was apart of making that game is extremely talented.

[@kannabi]

+Hontoni Arigato Mario 64 is only about 6.5MB, believe it or not, it was on an 8MB cart

[@hontoniarigato7956]

attichris Dam 6.5 mb that's like an MP3, that really does showcase what the N64 was capable of. It's too bad it didn't do better. Some of the games are terrible like Superman 64

[@zayaannashrid1374]

Hontoni Arigato The worse game of all time isn't horrible. It is so bad it makes the word "horrible" look good

[@kannabi]

+Hontoni Arigato yeah cartridges tended to have very little actual data on them, and the actual game was built on the fly, whereas a lot of CD based games are pre rendered and take up a lot of space. Resident Evil 2 on the N64 was an impressive feat, a game of about 1GB in size pre rendered onto a 64MB cart. The guy in charge of the full motion video for it wrote a blog talking about how he did it, he has 32MB to fit about 600MB of video on, he did it by introducing scan lines, blank frames, lower color bittate - I think each frame was down to 900 bytes - which is mind blowing considering it looked really good!

[@hontoniarigato7956]

attichris That's amazing, real talent! I wonder why there weren't any more games like Zelda 64 etc I look back at the library of 64 games and some are so lame lol

[@TheTechnicalWizard]

2012: "About $500 on eBay" 2020: $1,500

[@AshtonCoolman]

Funny thing, cartridge games could make a come back because flash storage is stupid cheap nowadays. A 32GB MicroSD costs $10 or less now ( March 2016). Load times would be efficient as well.

[@groszak1]

Yes!

[@franciscoandrada412]

Where i live, 128GB SD cards are like 40 or 50 dollars

[@CoolicReview]

You predicted the switch

[@AshtonCoolman]

@@CoolicReview holy crap! Thanks for pointing this out to me. It seemed like an obvious move to me at the time.

[@rockoorbe2002]

They're definitely wouldn't be as advanced as say, a Doom Eternal or Minecraft. But given the rise of the casual gamer market, mostly after the pandemic, the average gamer that got used to Candy Crush or Angry Birds isn't really going to mind.

[@stphinkle]

I think that if Nintendo would have used a CD-ROM on the N64 it would have been much more successful.

[@cartoongame5007]

@Cameron Moore the joint venture was in the SNES days for a SNES disk drive so there would, at least then, still be a playstation. It had NOTHING to do with the n64 and if it had cartridges or not

[@kyle857]

Maybe. I still love mt N64. Nintendo always used weird formats. Including mini disks that came in regular sized DVD cases...

[@tifforo1]

It would've been more successful, but it would've been too similar to the Playstation if that had still come out. Imagine BOTH consoles having CD load times and the need to buy memory cards.

[@galacticwarlock2271]

It would have destroyed but Nintendo had all those cartridge manufactures.

[@Redcactus5]

actually they were thinking about it but decided against it to lower the cost of the console.

[@PikaLink91]

So America didn't want the N64 DD, and yet the Virtual Boy got the greenlights? To quote the AVGN "What the f**k is wrong with this f***ing world??", I mean, the DD held so much potential! :(

[@HylianMaster-ls2ps]

it really did, i would kill for a early oort build

[@psp420bam]

PikaLink91 A little thing called low sales compared to the competition happened and forced them to work on the next gen system instead

[@pioneermega-ld3236]

Eh, I think the system would have flopped anyway, I mean they couldn't even get a format that even came close to a CD in terms of storage, and wasn't that the main problem with the N64? And anyway, didn't Nintendo cancel the SNES-CD with Sony due to the amount of control Sony got and that Nintendo thought that CD's would be very successful? And besides who would pay for an add-on to a aging system that had 8 games available? But I will vouch that it was far superior than the virtual boy and that N64 is way better than PS1 (btw, FF7 can't hold nothing on Ocarina Of Time)

[@gmcnewlook]

PikaLink91 look at nintendo america now, they only sell the new 3ds XL but not the new 3ds, claiming no demand, uh yeah, because you only sold the predecsor xl and stopped selling the orginal 3ds model when the xl came out.... gee i wonder why theyd come to the conclusion no one wants the original model....going on flawed sales demand.... they continued to make the orginal 3ds in japan thats why the new model came out there (though its a stop gap method to get idiot fanboys to buy it before they annouce a new handheld platform, theres nothing new about the "New" 3ds, think of it as DSi 2.0)

[@AlinktoPersona]

I think the 64 and the 64DD should have been fused into one giant console.

[@dynastylobster8957]

+Tei Citan 4:20 simon Belmont is hiding on the vectrex

[@PatrickTCAPIreland]

They should have done CDs from the start, The N64 was the beginning of Nintendo's stubborn attitude biting them back

[@omo7002]

+PatrickCalvey1337 it's because of the snes CD or playstation that they didn't want to use CDs

[@Kyuubert]

Omar Mohammed It was more of an anti-piracy measure honestly

[@kevinbryant8939]

@Andy Fennell Sega tried that with the Sega CD and 32x. And looked how that worked out....

[@AiOinc1]

The Dreamcast had much more to do with Online Gaming than the N64. Doesn't matter what you say, it brought the internet to gaming and more people have played the Online games on the Dreamcast than the entire library for the N64DD. The Dreamcast even came PREPACKAGED with a modem, unlike the N64.

[@TheDistorted]

AIO inc. FUCKING A. This video is spinny as balls.

[@AiOinc1]

What?

[@TheDistorted]

AIO inc. translation: * Assertive affirmation. Much spin can be found within the content of this video's depiction of historical events and/or the valuation of the significance of various factors contributing to said history. * TL;DR - Yes. Much spin, many wow.

[@AiOinc1]

TL;DR? Much spin many wow? As in world of Warcraft? I don't spend much time on social media.

[@TheDistorted]

AIO inc. just ignore me, I'm just fucking around lol

[@carljenk]

Earthbound 64... I cri everytiem

[@psboy668]

I'm sorry

[@carljenk]

@@psboy668 Hugs. 5 years later and I still cry every fucking time.

[@FemboyCommie]

@@carljenk How old are you now?

[@carljenk]

@@FemboyCommie 34

[@nitinanku]

carljenk True dedication responding after 5 years.

[@fermelom]

I love your channel so much. I just got a 3 days marathon watching your videos. Your voice is so relaxing.... You are doing an amazing job....

[@the.seagull.35]

I remember being so pumped for the 64DD. Every time I read Nintendo Power there'd be a big feature article on it, how many games it would have, how powerful it would be. Then it just... didn't come out. Once I got Ocarina of Time, I forgot all about the 64DD. I wonder why it didn't live up to its potential.

[@Snappers1_]

Probably because the internet isn't that popular with console video games and the prescription fee was too much to pay per month.

[@Allerdyne]

It's good to see a new installment of this series. Keep up the good work!

[@JerrySnook]

Congrats on the new video, it's very well researched and presented (as always!) You do great work, keep it up.

[@LoganJeffers]

Really enjoy listening and watching your videos. Please keep up the good work. It is greatly appreciated and enjoyed!

[@liquidhype3025]

How was this video made in 2012?! The quality is nuts for such an old video.

[@GenesisMoss]

That is the most I have ever learned about the N64DD! Heck I had honestly forgotten about it!

[@Corristo89]

Nintendo really started to lose traction with the N64. - Cartridges instead of CDs, even though CDs were finally useful and games actually profited from them (before, developers used to just cram them full with videos so to max out the storage while the actual games were little more than regular 16-bit titles). The Gamecube did use optical media, but only the unpopular miniDVDs, which held only a third of the space of a regular DVD (1,4 GB vs. 4,7 GB). So devs had to either reduce the quality of games in order to get them on one disc, or split the game into several discs. - They did notice that the internet was becoming a thing, but even the Gamecube could only go online via adapter (modem or LAN). The Wii was their first console to go online out of the box (only through wifi), but even that was pretty lackluster in comparison to what Sony and Microsoft were offering.

[@GiordanDiodato]

-At the time, most CD based consoles were expensive to produce and I think the SNES CD debacle didn't help Nintendo much. Also, CD based consoles were loud and had obnoxious load times. -Fair enough, though Resident Evil 4 was exclusive to the console for a while. -The Wii wasn't made for hardware, it was to have families play together. I think Iwata said it best "Video games are for one thing: Fun. Fun for everyone." Not to mention, 100 million Wiis vs. 95 million Xbox 360s and 94 million PS3s.

[@pferreira1983]

+Corristo89 In my opinion Nintendo sort of failed with the N64 and GameCube but became scored with the Wii. Unfortunately the Wii-U has proved to be a sort of failure as well.

[@mitailic1462]

P Ferreira N64 was great but ps1 was better and gamecube was same story but with ps2 wii was awesome but wii u kind of.

[@Corristo89]

The Wii U was certainly a failure. 3rd party developers lost interest quickly, Nintendo failed to truly show off the possibilities of their system and the hardware was simply outdated. I don't know who thought that releasing a console with hardware just good enough to beat the Xbox 360 shortly before the new consoles launched was a good idea...

[@Corristo89]

- The problem is that the N64 wasn't cheap either. And what's the point of a cheap console when the games are more expensive? True, CDs did have very high loading times, but clever developers could overcome that. Soul Reaver is one example where clever programming and intelligent file placement on the disc made the game seem almost seemless. - I absolutely agree that the Wii offered some of the best games of the 7th console generation. And it sold well. Phenomenally well. But it did lead Nintendo down the wrong path, convincing them that a gimmicky control scheme and outdated hardware would be enough to beat the competition. Sony and Microsoft may not have the same lineup of in-house exclusives, but 3rd party support is simply better. By miles. Skyrim? Nope. Battlefield? Nope.

[@GaZlovesGames]

Enjoyed this a lot mate. Wanted learn more on the DD. Nailed it.

[@PicklerEntertainment]

I'm glad you posted this Vid!! I was always a Nintendo kid, well Nintendo and PC. I love the 64 and I was so excited for the DD, unfortunately it was just another unrealized dream. However, I still am a huge Nintendo fan, the 3DS is untouchable and the Wii U is much better than the market's current perception of it. The Wii U suffered more because of branding & marketing issues, than actual software/quality issues. We'll see if it can turn itself around here in the next few months with their heavy hitters releasing soon.

[@DzzO]

nintendo 64 is my favorite console of all time.

[@archyatis]

i would still love to use cartriges

[@incredibleninja]

These videos are great. Very professionally done. The Kokariko Village music was a little hot. I'd mix it lower.

[@sdFreerey]

Hmm....what should I do with my $500? Should I buy an Xbox One, a Ps4 with a couple new games, or a Nintendo 64 add-on that can do next to nothing useful?

[@Resimaster]

The addon probably has more games for it than the next gen does at the moment ;)

[@ZanathKariashi]

It's got simcity 64....reason enough to buy it.

[@Resimaster]

Bad Language and an Angry Birds name all equates to....10 year old keyboard warrior.

[@Resimaster]

***** He's allowed to have an opinion. It's just bad because he called the other guy a piece of shit. Very juvenile and very lame.

[@sdFreerey]

***** I know this is late coming, but... lol..hipster XD

[@fhuckgoogle4171]

"The cartridges could now hold 64 megabytes of data." Is that some sort of creepy coincidence!?

[@TheReviewSpace]

I remember the 64dd being like $700 via import. Had nothing to play on it though. What a complete waste, smh.

[@deadhippie61]

God, the production on this videos are effing stellar!

[@WickedGamerCollector]

Thanks for the video, really like how you make, edit and talk with your vids. You are one of the channels where I click your video grab myself an cup of thee and relaxing enjoy your awesome video's.

[@Sjono]

N64DD is proof that Nintendo shouldn't ditch their consoles halfway through the lifetimes and stay the course

[@user-jj4vo1yg6s]

take notes,Sega!

[@SianaGearz]

Hector Guevara Too late!

[@xevious1538]

This comment aged well with the Switch passing the 100 million mark after ditching the Wii U.

[@galacliva]

2:22 Earthbound in the background. love that game

[@hugo182]

I believe it's Zelda: Ocarina of Time

[@kellyshea92]

I loved how you used the StarFox 64 music in the beginning

[@BeardTech]

And GREAT job using the Super Mario 64 track at the end. It's one of the best ever

[@Estragon17]

Cripes, was there EVER a system released that didn't suffer from a chip shortage??

[@AverageSynth]

ones that didn't use carts perhaps

[@AshtonCoolman]

And it's still not as rare as the 3.5" floppy drive for the SEGA SATURN!!!!

[@louiei.1552]

im a huge nerd in both console and pc and i didnt even know about the floppy drive for the saturn. wow.

[@AshtonCoolman]

+Lizrad Sceptile no kidding! The Saturn had a bunch of obscure peripherals. There's a MIDI interface for the darn thing too hehe. I'm half tempted to buy it to see if it will work as a midi module for my DOS games like a Roland SC55 or Yamaha MU80.

[@louiei.1552]

JohnnyNismo oh my god. why did they even bother with all these periphs when the saturn sold like crap?

[@AshtonCoolman]

+Lizrad Sceptile because it out sold the Nintendo 64 over its lifetime in Japan. Sega didn't die in Japan until the Dreamcast came out with no DVD support.

[@Rubycon99]

Saturn was very popular in Japan, and one could argue that the reason it failed in the U.S. was because Sega of America refused to import a lot of games. Bernie Stolar pretty much figured Americans wanted to play sports games and Doom and nothing else.

[@mcdonkey500]

i remember seeing this thing all the time in old gamepro magazines in the 90s and I was really excited for it

[@jons5756]

I love the Mario 64 underwater level music you played at the end of the episode

[@stephenrochester6309]

I remember being so hyped for this and so sad when it wasn’t released. Now for the first time I am seeing it in action and I’m even sadder.

[@MagnaLynx21]

This is one of the most helpful episdoes I've enjoyed. Despite my following of Nintendo, I genuinely had no idea about Doshin the Giant being on this system. I remember seeing him as a SSBM. trophy, but I just thought he was part of a quirky new game! I do have one question though, was Ocarina of Time Master Quest on the DD as I think was claimed on its two re-releases?

[@Hernans-World-On-YouTube]

Fun Fact: Capcom, Hudson Soft, and Konami also made Mega Man, Bomberman, and Castlevania games for N64.

[@thetruthexperiment]

I remember wondering what all the different slots were for in the 64. All I ever had at my own house was a TurboGFX. But all my friends had all of them. Accept the one I had. But they really made the 64 ready for upgrades. It’s kinda sad it didn’t take off. What a battle field Nintendo was.

[@Davidevgen]

the n64 game cart was capable of 64mb storage (like conkers bad fur day)

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

***** though it could do it.

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

***** donkey kong and majora are the only 2 required to have the expansion to my knowledge

[@leathery420]

+aaronlink127 The only game I can remember that you could play without the expansion pack was perfect dark, and it would just be like trial missions or something. Not the story or the multiplayer with all the setting, and bots. I think it just wouldn't let you play most the other games that required the expansion pack, it would give you a screen with a picture of it the pack saying it's required if i remember correctly. Although it's been at least a good decade since I've played an n64. at least anything besides Mario cart. I can confirm Conker didn't need an expansion pack though. That game taught me, and my friends how to swear lol. We had some foul mouths for some years.

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

leathery420 there are loads of games that benefit from the expansion pack but do not require it to play.

[@leathery420]

digitalblasphemy1100 could you name a few please?

[@nintendoninjaturtle3750]

Nintendo Pulled a Sega with the 32x running out of ideas huh

[@warringtontyson365]

great video ..you taught me something ..I had no idea this even existed again nice video

[@metalgrinch]

Cool vid, i love the background music!

[@Tuberuser187]

So technically with paying (via subscription) for and downloading small updates to games you already owned Nintendo invented DLC? Damn.

[@retrogmoder2331]

DAMN YOU NINTENDO 64DD FOR MAKING MARIO 64 2 GET CANCELLED!!!!

[@smlfan0072]

Mario sunshine

[@TheKiloMight]

@@smlfan0072 no

[@battatat730]

love these videos! I hope to see one on MOTHER someday.

[@adameccleston1926]

I can't believe they fit Turok 2 on a cartridge. That game was enormous

[@sonomama82]

I had a 32x. Not that horrible.

[@Newie69MK]

sonomama82 May not have been bad performance wise, but it was a marketing failure and only served as a means of extending the Genesis's life. Think of the Sega CD and 32X with all their extra cords as the Genesis being on life support...(check out the Angry Video Game Nerd's review on them and you'll see what I mean.)

[@terminox6540]

Newie69MK umm then if you dont want 3 power supplies (genesis, mega cd, 32x) and want just 2, then get a sega cdx/multi-mega (it might work on it i havent checked and i dont own a cdx or 32x) the sega cdx is a genesis that can play sega cd games and cds.

[@Newie69MK]

I'm aware of those. Bear in mind that Sega produced those to keep the Genesis in competition against the SNES which didn't depend on any real major add-on. I'm sure there were add-ons for the SNES but given the success of it, they weren't needed. The SNES's one power supply>Genesis's 2 or 3 power supplies. FYI, I'm not hating on the Genesis, it was a good system, no arguments there but the whole "blast processing" sales gimmick was nothing more than just that, a sales gimmick.

[@terminox6540]

yeah snes had setellaview and there was supposed to be a cd based add-on created with sony (sony would also do a snes with a built in cd attachment) and phillips

[@Newie69MK]

Ahh, I remember reading about that. Personally, I think the concept of creating add-ons for a console is a sign that things aren't working well for the console. Sega should have focused on developing a better system instead. Check out Cinemassacre's "Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis", it's a pretty interesting and fair review of both systems.

[@GUBMENTxCHEESE]

As a self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboy, I'm ashamed I didn't know this existed. Thanks Gaming Historian! One of your most informative shows to date.

[@XJay900]

your video is great! I wish to be a historian like you some day

[@Tavorath]

Great choice on the soundtracks u use for the videos. Funny thing seeing them trying to compensate the low memory issue on cartridges with a still very small 64MB format.

[@ZanathKariashi]

DD Stands for Dynamic Drive, not disc drive.

[@blekhero]

It stands for big tits!

[@ZanathKariashi]

Ahem, "It's called the 64 DD, DD stands for disc drive" Which is wrong. The DD stands for Dynamic Drive.

[@lambsauce7969]

No, YOUR wrong. It meant that during development.

[@ZanathKariashi]

It still means it. THE ONLY reason it's sometimes called the Disc Drive is because 80% of people instantly assume that's what it means...even though it doesn't. It's called Dynamic because of the fact the drive downloads the game's rom and keeps it running so you can physically remove the cartridge and insert another game to get various effects. But only games intended for that function will allow it (like Ocarina of Time > Majora's mask (dropped), Banjo-Kazooie > Banjo-Tooie (dropped), and the 2nd Doshin game (which is the only game to actually use the function, though non-japanese Ocarina and Banjo will prevent the system from even loading while the 64DD is hooked up, due to an incompatibility due to part of the feature being coded in and then scrapped for the NA releases)

[@lambsauce7969]

Why is this even an argument?

[@R.B.forMER_S.]

Personally I feel that N64 won the 5th generation video game console war.( pros : Fun Games, four player console,joystick,rumble pack,transfer pack,no load⌛ng, variety of color consoles and controllers, expansion pack. ) ( cons : lack of MB,Audio CD capability )🙄

[@AssociationAdmirer]

That's rather a dismal list of pros, given that the competing consoles also had all of them except the transfer pack (which works with what, five games?) and no loading.

[@ParodyKnaveBob]

@Hector Martinez & @@AssociationAdmirer Four player ports built into the console was not a thing, no; only N64 did that; everyone else required adapters, same as the NES days 10 years prior. For that matter, analog sticks only came to PSX in extra, optional accessories after the N64 had it as the default standard. Rumble controllers were not a thing until after the N64's Rumble Pak, but since that was not a built-in default for the N64 either, I won't hold that one up as "winning" per se. Variety of colors, eh, super cool, but not a win condition in my mind; that said, I owned three controllers, the default gray, the black, and a special promo golden controller. $E^ ]

[@AssociationAdmirer]

@@ParodyKnaveBob Nobody said anything about ports being built into the console, just four player console, period. Also no, not every other console required adapters; the 3DO supports up to eight players with no need for adapters. Analog control wasn't any more prevalent on the N64 than the PS1, so if anything the controllers being optional rather than mandatory is a point in the PS1's favor. You're also mistaken about it appearing on the N64 first; the Saturn and PS1 both had analog controllers months before the N64 launched, the Atari 5200 had them years before, and analog controllers have been available for PCs since the 1980s. No, rumble controllers were "a thing" before the N64. Look up the Aura Interactor Vest just for starters.

[@ParodyKnaveBob]

@@AssociationAdmirer AssociationAdmirer AssociationAdmirer Ty for all that. I meant in context of this generation of consoles since that was the context. I enjoyed Atari 2600 games using analog paddles. $:^ ] And of course, Pong-like devices existed for TVs back then, too. I didn't know the 3DO had 8 ports--cool, nice--but it was no serious contender, much like the TurboGrafx 16. And right, I forgot that right after Nintendo announced their new controller, Sega and Sony jumped in with their options asap. However, I've never heard of most the games not using analog; I only knew of traditional fighting/puzzle games really retaining digital movement.

[@AssociationAdmirer]

​@@ParodyKnaveBob The 3DO did better than have 8 ports. It has one port on the console and one on each controller, so you only have to get one more control port than you use. Actually, the 3DO and TurboGrafx-16 were both serious contenders. As an editor wrote in an issue of EGM back in the early 1990s, people tend to remember that the winning console of the generation was always the obvious choice, and in reality the console industry is never that simple. If you read over the gaming news from the era, the 3DO was considered a serious contender up to less than a year before it was taken off the market. I phrased my comment about analog usage too vaguely. What I meant is, from what I've seen the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Saturn all use analog control with the vast majority of games that could benefit from it, and the N64's library doesn't tend towards those games any more than those of the PS1 or Saturn. It wasn't like the Wii, where Wii games clearly use infra red control a lot more than the competition.

[@tayloroc1]

Keep up the good work!

[@brannenthompson9662]

I spent almost a month's wages on an imported super wildcard 32, now that was a great DD add on and the importer had a PS one in his living room, this was just a few weeks after Sonys Japenese launch it really was like seeing the holy grail of gaming at the time, but the Wildcard was amazing it even played DK Country and also gave you your horoscope in one unit.

[@totallynotjase4198]

*sighs* if only the 64DD was a success.

[@Kanshario]

Still love the Nintendo 64.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

One game that was planned to be released on 64DD was the follow up to Ocarina Time, tentatively titled “Ura Zelda” in Japan. However, that was scrapped, and parts of that game were contributed to Majora’s Mask. The main body of the game is now referred to as Zelda: Master Quest, and that has been released on GameCube and Nintendo 3DS, paired with Ocarina of Time and Ocarina of time 3D. I appreciate the ingenuity of the game and I wish that Nintendo would do similar experiments with some of the other Zelda games.

[@dontackett]

Nice video, I was never aware of this hardware.

[@Mech1000]

Its funny, but sad, how Nintendo is still selling them short and having a dated "brand new" console. My Wii U is a dust magnet...

[@zephiel123]

Nintendo doesnt really care about the specs. They never have. I guess thats why i like their charm..they dont rely on high end graphics to get the job done, their games are still enjoyable. The Wii U using "dated" hardware isnt the problem. After all, they do have more games that run at 1080p 60fps than the other consoles do (that doesnt really matter though, its just funny how its competition is way more superior in hardware yet they are having trouble doing something last gen can already do) The main problem is the lack of games the Wii U had. When it first launched the only games i owned were Nintendo land, Mario U and Zombi U..over the year though, alot of great games came out. Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, WindWaker HD and Mario 3D World for example. And now this year, some really cool stuff is coming out, so Wii U should be fine

[@Mech1000]

I would agree with you, but its almost like they dont care about releasing many games within the first 18 months of launch. No, a remake HD zelda doesnt count as a fun new experience lol.

[@zephiel123]

Mech1000 it added enough to the game to make it feel fresh, at least to me. things that were annoying were simplified a bit to make it more enjoyable.

[@Mech1000]

I like the pad, but... they just wont go anywhere with it... Its like the Wii Mote. They never took it to the next level.

[@Mineav]

zephiel123 Except they did care about specs in the early days. The SNES was more powerful than it's main rival, the Genesis. The N64 was more powerful than the PlayStation and the Saturn. Even the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 (but not the first X-Box). So you're wrong.

[@Gambit771]

The 32x was actually a good device. Just ill timed and advised but at least it was a big upgrade unlike the 64DD

[@Neoguest]

+Gambit771 The 32X was good at 2D games.

[@Gambit771]

Neoguest And 3d. Stellar Assault is a classic

[@Enygma702]

+Gambit771 It was supposed to release in 1997. If it had, it could've possibly revolutionized the market and even beaten (or made it closer to beating) the PlayStation. It would've been a HUGE upgrade. The size of the disks would've allowed for games that rivaled the PS1, with the extra processing power the N64 had over that system. Ocarina of Time with CD music and FMV? Yes please! Alas, Nintendo screwed it up (as usual) and it was delayed until after the Dreamcast was already out! It was obsolete and pointless. And, in a way, the biggest bust add on in the 90's. The 32x was pointless as well, but at least Sega gave it a few titles. The 64DD only got Doshin the Giant and the F-Zero expansion (the other games it had were all kinda garbage).

[@itmcbhpbgf.6374]

+Gambit771 how DARE you talk shit about the N64DD!!! the 64DD had actual potential, unlike the puny 32X, which put the Genesis on life support.

[@Gambit771]

ITMCBHPBGF. Life support? They was going to stop supporting one of the most successful consoles ever to make way for their next one. What potential did the 64DD have? It's not as if it offered the upgrade the 32x did. Play Stellar Assault on the 32x and ask if the 64DD had the same potential then. The 3d capabilities in the 32x show that if Sega had used it as a platform to build off for the saturns 3d capabilities instead of making it a 2D console then haphazardly slapping 3d rendering in at the last minute to compete with the PS1 the saturn would've been so much more capable. There's potential there. The 64DD on the other hand offered what? Save features. No the 64DD was a nice add-on but not in the same scope for potential to the device it was made for or the one that came after unlike the 32x.

[@darkone292]

Dude, I remember reading about thus in the tips and tricks magazine too

[@The_Mimewar]

I saw a shot of Junping Flash during the PS1 montage! Love that damn game

[@RichLux713]

PLEASE tell me what song you used at the end of the video please!!!!! PLEASE tell me what song you used at the end of the video please!!!!!

[@pokemonmaster2685]

Super Mario 64 - Dire Dire Docks And Jolly Roger Bay Themes :)

[@1mfilms]

+Pokemon Master 26 that song reminds me of so many happy memories of playing Mario 64

[@pokemonmaster2685]

1mfilms I feel the same

[@Blueniter]

+Rich Lux i even heard Mario Kart 64 - Rainbow Road Song

[@CraftyPeach1]

+Rich Lux Dire Dire Docks, Super Mario 64

[@TheGamingDandy]

I'm wondering if this might be why Nintendo is so reluctant to have a robust online service. They probably keep thinking "we tried it before and it was a huge failure!" The DD was ahead of its time, but if that tried pioneering the online market again instead of trailing behind, I'm sure they could do amazing things. I love the idea of a weekly online newsletter. I guess the miiverse is kind of like that system of swapping messages and photos though.

[@wizzardoo6228]

It's foolish to be ahead of it's time if you can't do it properly. Besides that, was the DD pioneering the market at all?

[@TheGamingDandy]

I think they did it properly, I didn't see any issues with it, other than people not wanting to get it.

[@wizzardoo6228]

TheTrueHappy Because it was not good enough.The whole idea of extension is flawed anyways in my opinion.

[@thatDavidMota]

Awesome video! Thank You.

[@ErnieJ89]

I remember as a kid taking my N64 apart and wondering what that slot was for at the bottom. Now I finally know!

[@pearlmax]

N64 cartridges hold up to 512Mb (64MB). Where did you get 12-16 MB from? The Mario 64 cart you showed in that graphic is itself only 8MB. Also, the N64 did not feel "dated" at all when it was released, it is the most groundbreaking, and awe inspiring console ever, in terms of graphics and control improvements over a previous generation. Consumers didn't really care about the storage capacities back then when buying a video game. The additional space on CD-ROM based games was almost exclusively used for video and audio, which was nice, but the game itself was more important to consumers. Which is no longer the case, probably because of increased storage capacities as well. It has turned video games into video productions, and is for the most part, mind numbing junk.

[@pferreira1983]

+pearlmax Norman and his errors. Tut tut.

[@FierceDeityRick]

+pearlmax Well said, I agree.

[@Changetheling]

+pearlmax "It has turned video games into video productions, and is for the most part, mind numbing junk." If anything, Music in videogames went through a much-deserved quantic jump thanks to CDs, and consumers with good tastes did care about it. Refer to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasies VII to IX for further information. "Also, the N64 did not feel "dated" at all when it was released, it is the most groundbreaking, and awe inspiring console ever, in terms of graphics and control improvements over a previous generation." - It did feel dated, specially on the sound department where other companies took their time to really get a hold of the 700mb possibilities after the 16-bit era (where arguably the sound processor of the SNES developed by Ken Kutaragi behind Sony's backs helped them bury the "Sega-does-what-Ninten-morons" and their "blast processing" blabbings). - Groundbreaking, Awe inspiring console ever according to who, other than the ones that bought off that "no CD's" politics from Nintendo...? Facts are facts. Don't let nostalgia cloud your vision (specially today where emulators can supersample everything and get rid of the jagged melancholy).

[@nikprobg9327]

pearlmax Whatever you say the ps1 was better. And then by the time of the PS3 Sony was the better choice for gamers. Nintendo died lol

[@pelgervampireduck]

it always looked dated. don't get me wrong, these days I think cartridges are better and they were right in the long run (no loading times, no videos of unskippable logos, no stupid fmvs, and cartridge systems last. cd drives just die and stop reading discs), but the system looked less powerful than ps1. it was more powerful internally, more ram, better cpu, but the games looked all like blurry, without detailed textures, and somehow games looked "smaller" compared to ps1 games. it had a texture limitation that allowed only 4k textures , that drove developers insane. nintendo didn't care because they made almost everything with just big colored polygons. also nothing looks or feels 64 bits at all, the cpu is capable of 64 bits, but nothing uses it. games look, feel and play like 32 bits. it takes ps2 and a game like god of war or tekken 5 to feel, look and play like 64 bits.

[@jacklope1]

N64 graphics were always much clearer to me. The Playstation was good, but it just wasn't as pretty to look at.

[@TheDamino]

Like Army Men World War: Land, Sea, and Air.

[@lachlanbrown8110]

Honesty both the Playstation and N64 look awful today.

[@TheDamino]

Lachlan Brown Good consoles, but I guess they haven't aged well.

[@jacklope1]

The N64 looks better on a CRT TV, not an HD digital monitor. The image is much nicer on CRT.

[@charliericker274]

It depends on the game. Most of what you call "awful" was just early 3d rendering. 2d games on those consoles looked great, granted there were not a whole lot on the 64, but look at Symphony of the Night and tell me it looks awful.

[@Jikangire957]

What is the music that starts playing at 6:26 in the video? The music sounds so familiar but I just can't place it.

[@OneTrueBelmont]

Is that Simon Belmont from Simon's Quest on your Vectrex in the background? I approve.

[@TheArceusftw]

Imagine if this addon was successful. I mean The games would be Bigger and Nintendo would of beaten The Dreamcast to the Punch to Bringing Game consoles online.

[@BLY99]

I hate to tell you this, but the Saturn already had online before that. And the Snes before that, and the MegaDrive before that.

[@TheArceusftw]

The SNES And Genesis Maybe but the Saturn?

[@BLY99]

TheArceusftw Yes it has a modem called the netlink. You do know that the Saturn came after the MegaDrive? So it's not surprising it had online after the MegaDrive had it before.

[@borediideath6526]

What do you mean beat the dream cast? They already did beat it

[@jasonhensley3926]

Sniper Melon finish the sentence you dope.

[@salozmen29]

Nintendo has just as many screw ups as Sega has. If it wasn't for the random success of the Wii and 3DS, this company would be hurting.

[@thewebhead101]

handheld industry....?

[@ads2686]

"Random success" let's see the first Nintendo, the super Nintendo, the n64, the Wii, the first gameboy, the 3ds and now the Nintendo switch. That's hardly random success. It seems like Nintendo is a damn good company who seems to always come up with pretty brilliant ideas and like all good innovative companies will occasionally have a bad idea.

[@mopbrothers]

Nintendo was good at keeping its failures quiet. That's the difference between Nintendo and Sega.

[@legostarwarsrulez]

Aaahhhhh nostalgia from background music!

[@rug0s0]

Love the starfox 64 music intro “Corneria fourth planet of the Lylat system....”

[@Mitjitsu]

I hope in the future we go to a SD card based console.

[@SupraViperhead]

Though not a "console", the PS Vita games are basically SD Cards. As are the DS and 3DS. There are also adapters that certain consoles can use to play games off an SD card. The SD Cards are making very good progress, it shouldn't be long before an actual CONSOLE uses them.

[@juiceala]

What about Turbografx16?

[@SupraViperhead]

juice hedgehog Those used HUD Cards, as did the Sega Master System.

[@juiceala]

***** You just described the Nintendo Wii, like quite literally!

[@juiceala]

***** Wii has a Video Channel and a Music Channel as homebrews, also there's the Photo Channel which runs music, and KZbin Channel which runs videos!

[@spacepirateivynova]

Hate to say it, but although the PSX was a lot more powerful and offered a lot more storage space on the game discs, It was still a rather difficult system to develop for as anyone who had a Net Yaroze can attest to. The way the PSX handled memory and reading from discs was extremely specific, to the point that most devs quickly learned that the actual physical location of data on the disc could make a huge difference in loading and allow for dynamic loading off the disc in-game. Keep in mind that the PSX had a very small amount of executable memory, and graphics memory, and sound memory that all had to be handled carefully. Add in the proprietary programming language and time-to-triangle (the time it takes to make an engine that can render to the screen) was upwards of 6 months to a year for most publishers. Sony was very good with developer support though, and specifications and dev kits and whitepapers were made available quite early on to ensure that there were a good number of launch titles. Later in the PSX's life, dev kits were even more robust and it was designed to make the memory management a lot easier, and the system had many many titles released for it because of this. The PS2 and PS3 were similarly exotic hardware and difficult to develop for, but the PS4 has taken a more standardized approach and is far easier to develop for than many consoles (save for maybe the xbox 360 which is more or less a PC, and the nintendo DS which has one of the best dev kits I've used). Personally, I like coding and developing for PC, but the lines are quite blurred in that respect these days, and developing for one system and porting to another is a far easier task than it has ever been.

[@GlobalWarmingSkeptic]

*Comment presented to you by PSX* Loading, please wait ..........

[@wizzardoo6228]

Wait a minute, the PSX and more powerfull?

[@daleva187goligo]

quick calling it psx, whats wrong with you people? wtf is a psx? since when does x=1? just call it ps1 like a normal person

[@TheRezro]

daleva187goligo What wrong is with you? Why you lecture people when you not know case? X-Box One is not first X-Box but has that stupid name so you accept that. To the point: When Sony first presented they new console they called it "play-station X" simply because it have no name yet, and because it sound good it stayed as Play Station (and PSX as a short). Yes, there is other later hardware with similar name but no one care of it, so forget. And Play Station One aka PS1 is Slim version of PSX. Yes, that is weird but that is how it is, accept it.

[@wizzardoo6228]

TheRezro It's One not 1. But do you mean the project titel? I can't remember that the playstation ever called PSX in the early days.

[@Lennyrapid]

what was that last piece of music from?? I recognize it, I can sing it by heart but where is it from? ff? klonoa? lba?

[@KevinTwiner]

An awsome review!

[@mezykin]

so basically they tried to pull off a sega cd and failed just the same way

[@Shadamyfan-rs8xc]

Except the Sega CD was actually released outside of Japan, and had a decent sized library of games for it.

[@AisukurimuYusukurimu]

anybody know why this new stupid google minus frankenstein youtube won't let you reply to anyone who doesn't have the 2 most recent comments?????

[@rdub9020]

Yes

[@Greger88]

5:00 - omg, "God simulator" just made me have flashbacks to Black&White :p I had totally forgot about that game.

[@The_Future_isnt_so_Bright]

One of the DD's biggest fails was the floppy style like disk. Nintendo didn't shield them properly and could be completely erased if placed near a magnetic source. CRT televisions had a large enough field around them to damage data on disk.

[@jtszabo1691]

I'm probably gonna get a lot of shit for saying this but am I the only person who wasn't a fan of the N64? I love all of Nintendo's other systems though, but for some reason I never got into it other than Smash Brothers

[@GreatAwesomeReviewer]

No, I found the N64 to be a decent console, but wasn't blown away by it. I didn't care for the any of the consoles of that generation, really. I liked the Saturn because it got great ports of great Capcom arcade games, had no reason to like the PS1 (since it pretty much got the worst games in some of the best franchises. I won't mention which ones). But if I had to say, the N64 was simply the least terrible out of all of them. It 's easily Nintendo's worst console. Not saying it's really bad, just that every other console they've made was much, much better.

[@jtszabo1691]

Agreed. I've come to like a lot of the games as an adult, I went with the Playstation at the time. Some games like Mortal Kombat 4's endings looked better in 32 bits than on the 64

[@sonaleaguetv7747]

The N64 was just Goldeneye , Maria 64 Orcania (Zelda)...then I left for FF7 and never went back to Nintendo...

[@BlackPopeye44]

but to me Nintendo knew what it was doing. They knew it was still too early for CD games. You see all the poor live acting that some games got and Street Fighter the movie could have done without that cheesy music video when you beat it difficult. They waited until loading time was less to go into CD games them Fighting games and Sports games made you mad with that loading time. You saw that Shang tsung need a special option for his morphin ability in MKT on Playstation when you picked him. And I think the N64 could have played them Marvel VS Capcom games

[@GiordanDiodato]

indeed. At the time, CD based consoles were expensive, noisy, unreliable, and had long load times.

[@joedigger9919]

+Giordan Diodato Expensive? PS1 was only $200 at launch. Noisy? PS1 was quiet. Reliability? Man you never owned a ps1 did you?

[@GiordanDiodato]

Joe Digger 1. PS1 was $299 at launch 2. It could get noisy if you had scratched discs

[@slaytura]

nintendo was overall awful

[@fuckooo]

They made the wrong bet with cartridges.

[@FargnbastageOFmisha]

You should do an episode on the 3dO and trip hawkins. fascinating story

[@Stellerex]

I pre-ordered this thing and then cancelled its production. Was excited about it too. Great video.

[@r0bw00d]

I never knew Nintendo had such a large bust size! O_o

[@AisukurimuYusukurimu]

Nintendo used to be the prom queen, now she is consistently the butterface at every new console pageant

[@sonicfan4242]

and i thought the sega 32x was a failure...

[@joebaumgart1146]

what's the name of the song at the very end? Where do I remember that from?

[@ezsonic6]

i love how he always smiles at the end