Nintendo 64 repairs and restoration - when eBay junk turns nasty 🤮

[@sanityormadness]

7:30: The thing about Majora's Mask JP is that (besides the language barrier) they actually made a bunch of improvements between the JP and NA/EU/AUS releases - for instance, you can use any of the owl statues as suspend points in the western versions, but not the JP version. (There aren't many games changed so drastically, Yoshi's Story is another one)

[@janglur]

Lagoon on the Sharp x68k vs. SNES is wildly different. The x68k used the bump mechanics from Ys type games originally but they changed it to a tiny hilarious little knife-swing for the SNES release, plus a lot of other changes. Final Fantasy also got busted on the NES. Not so much changes as, half the code didn't work- the elemental resistances for weapons didn't work, rendering half the unique weapons useless. Many spells were busted, like Mute, Fog, and Evade and didn't work as intended if at all. Other stuff too but those were the big ones.

[@DeputatKaktus]

TronicsFix just has a video on refurbished consoles out. He paid all of 250 bucks for a „refurbished“ NES. It was clear that nobody (except maybe the former owner) had been inside the unit he purchased - and even if so, they did not do much. Probably did just what you said…bit of spit shine on the exterior, and out it goes as „refurbished“, for top dollar. So he got ripped off badly. For that price, I expect any retro machine to be spotless, both inside and out. Apart of course from the normal wear and tear. I don’t mind little scuffs or dings really but it has to have had some thorough cleaning done. Just like you did. Excellent job!

[@gonzotehclown]

I got a free N64 from someone and just turning it over I could see a dead roach sticking out of the bottom vent. First thing I did when I got it home was pull her apart and it was FULL of dead roaches. On the heatsinks, on the boards, crammed in the controller ports. Gave it a much needed cleaning and debugging and she runs great now. Ill never unsee all them bugs though haha

[@lheteach]

good restoration

[@TehJMastuh]

28:30 A call out towards DK Oldies.. I guess they're notorious for doing that!!

[@joshmiller887]

The roaches are attracted to the heat and the electric current. That’s why you found them nestled in next to the heatsink, cpu, gpu.

[@brittherself]

the n64 is mostly region free later games had some region locks built in but most will work on any n64 if you remove the slot cover its a physical block.

[@flagrama]

While there are only two distinct regions for the lockout, PAL official releases will not work in NTSC, and NTSC won't work in PAL. This is due to the CIC lockout chips, or more specifically, the PIF which communicates with the CIC chips at boot. Although the code is identical between PAL and NTSC CICs the data is different. The PIF will check that the region the CIC says it is matches the region stored in the PIF's hardcoded data and will outright refuse to run the software. So it doesn't matter if your NTSC copy is from Japan, Taiwan, or Brazil, it'll work on a US NTSC console, but not any PAL consoles. Modern unofficial carts will use some form of an UltraCIC that can be switched between NTSC and PAL either by a switch or automatically to avoid this issue.

[@retronexusnet]

big fan of your videos! where do I find these angled/bend multimeter probes?

[@TheRetroChannel]

They were straight, I just bent them by accident 😄

[@christopherflower3973]

You do incredible work

[@triPixel]

7:33 any cartridge will work on any n64, it's just that they don't fit

[@TheRetroChannel]

NTSC games will not work on a PAL machine and vice versa. The CIC chip in the cart and the console must match, hence why that everdrive clone has a NTSC-PAL switch on top

[@tspawn35]

@@TheRetroChannel Also, As you know the games won't play right even if you got them working. Ntsc runs too slow on pal and pal runs too fast on ntsc. That's why the US and Japan can import each others stuff. They play fine once you get passed the region lock of the systems. Since they use the same video encoding so the TV doesn't care and will output a correct display.

[@animusdialect]

@@TheRetroChannel I've never tried one, but you can buy or 3D print a 'region free' cartridge tray. Allegedly that's all you need to boot games from other regions. Again, never tried one, no clue if that is accurate.

[@TheRetroChannel]

That is true, but really only applies to NTSC consoles. The only thing stopping a Japanese cartridge from working in a US N64 is the cart slot. But PAL games still will not work due to the CIC mismatch

[@annadenaro9919]

What is the cartridge, is it like a system check cartridge?

[@GearShiftin42]

It's like everdrive cartridge: it has a SD card slot, where you can upload roms and run it on N64 like original cartridge

[@waynetemplar2183]

Looks like an ED64 which is basically a rip-off of the Everdrive. Can be bought for a low price on Aliexpress

[@StevieWondersOptometrist]

Can you share what you use for a capture device? Is it just software on your laptop or is there a hardware component too? I noticed RetroTINK-5X Pro on one menu, but I wasn't sure if the RetroTINK itself serves as a capture device, or if that's there because you're using it to convert the image into one that can feed into your laptop. Thanks!

[@TheRetroChannel]

Yeah the HDMI out of the retrotink feeds into a EVGA XR1 lite, then USB out to the laptop running OBS

[@StevieWondersOptometrist]

@@TheRetroChannel Awesome... thanks! I just stumbled upon you channel and really enjoyed this video. You have me as a new subscriber... Cheers!

[@androxilogin]

Drinking game: every time you say "so". Not to call you out on it, but it becomes all I hear!

[@TheRetroChannel]

Don't worry, I hear it too 😄

[@androxilogin]

@@TheRetroChannel I usually have one word I repeat throughout each video and later catch myself on after the fact. Way of the road.

[@conzpiracy9382]

Super 64! Sub’d

[@skyoneasassin]

Bro, is that 64 connected to your laptop?! Please tell me how so I can do it!

[@BlackGymkhana]

Ultrasonic cleaning probably needed... surely on the infested one...

[@TheRetroChannel]

That would have been my preferred route, but it's had enough IPA and scrubbing to remove anything

[@jowi_24seven43]

Bugs for days! Better than having Gremlins i guess!

[@Brandon1213]

What do you use to polish the shell? I just did a scrub inside and out of mine this week but don't know what to polish with

[@TheRetroChannel]

Chemical guys VRP

[@vhfgamer]

Nasty! Cockroach hotel! The house which had that N64 must have been disgusting.

[@AzumiRM]

I can never understand why people put stickers all over their consoles or PCs. I can understand why you'd want to cover a mac in stickers because they look like sxxx.

[@TheRetroChannel]

🤣

[@flagrama]

It was almost certainly a child, so there wasn't likely too much logic. They were stickers of pictures they took themselves of the Pokémon in Pokémon Snap though. They could be printed out at Blockbuster stores in the US, not sure how it worked in Aus, but definitely some personal attachment involved.

[@jandjrandr]

Where did all the roaches go? (Inside the N64)

[@TheRetroChannel]

Dinner

[@johnfrisina6987]

Why is the ED64 junk?