The one N64 cartridge to rule them all...

[markronz]

I've seen the cartridges for the Nintendo DS that let you put a memory card in them, and then you can put Nintendo DS roms on them.   Is there a similar type thing for the N64 where I could load N64 roms on it?   Anything like that exist, and if so, is there a specific one that someone would recommend?

Thanks!

[Dazz]

Yes, there is one called Neo N64 Myth Cart.  It seems to have good compatibility, but costs $200.  Not to mention it doesn't use standard storage media either...  I really wish there were SD/Micro SD versions of these carts.  I'd have one for all of my consoles!

http://gbatemp.net/t227739-neo-n64-myth-cart-review

Pros:
+ Fits perfectly in N64 console
+ Multi CIC chip compatible+ Game instantly runs when booted up
+ Programmable Actel A3P125 FCPGA microchip logic core
+ 512Mbit of FlashRAM which is the same size as the largest commercial ROMs
+ Supports all games of the region corresponding to the console
+ Supports all different save methods for saved games
+ Supports homebrew ROMs
+ Games load instantly when N64 is powered on
+ USB 2.0 is relatively quick and easily reprogrammed
+ No CD-Rs or Zip disks to fidget with or slow parallel port cable
+ Supports multiple roms up to the capacity of the flashram
+ Clean, crisp display when playing games and no noise/interference
+ Removable flashram cartridge for more storage and replacement
+ Larger 1024Mbit Neo2 Flash Cartridge available
+ ROMs are stored indefinitely until flash RAM is erased or overwritten
+ Continued menu, firmware, GUI, and hardware development support
+ Neo2 SD for SD memory card support is currently work in progress to be added later
+ High quality printed circuit board and onboard components
+ Low solid state part count compared to old CDROM and Zip based copiers
+ Does not use external power supply or require batteries to store games
+ Does not require external power while flashing ROMs. Can be alone and not plugged into a console

Cons:
- No mass storage device support such as SD, TF, CF (SD support is still being worked on)
- No drag and drop support directly to flash memory (SD will have this)
- N64 console user interface is virtually non-existent
- No built in cheat code program (Action Replay is being worked on to be added to Neo2 Ultra Menu software)
- No real time save
- No built in region fix (Just use the appropriate region ROM or region fixed ROM)
- Takes a while to flash games
- Plastic black and not grey like original N64 cartridges
- Updating the core programming requires a separate USB adapter which is not included
- Supplied 512bit cartridge will only hold one 512Mbit game or two games only up to 512Mbit
- Takes a few minutes to program the Neo2 Myth Flash RAM Cart

[SNAAKE]

people play n64 games ??

just get  a $20 dreamcast instead and download the entire library from torrents or whatever. you are not hurting anyone now because DC has been dead and buried.

[markronz]

dang right people still play N64 games dude!   For the record, I do have a dreamcast, and all the games already.   I'm one of those "I want everything" sort of guys.   And there were plenty of games on the N64 that you just can't get anywhere else.   Bond, Perfect Dark (although now on Xbox360 market place), The New Tetris, etc, these are games I played a lot in my life, and yes, I still want to play them.   Just because something is newer, doesn't mean it's better.

Thanks for the help Dazz!   Not sure I'm willing to spend $200 though, especially if it's not perfect.  Guess I'll have to buy the real carts.  Thanks!

[ChadTower]

There is still an N64 in my living room that gets frequent use by our whole family.

[markronz]

I was confused by the Z64.  Didn't know if it could play the new 512MB games or not.  Looks like out of the box, it can't.  Maybe mod'ing it like you mentioned would fix that problem.  I also saw a product called a CD64 I think.   But neither of these two products is still readily available for purchase.  The only one I could see available on a website for purchase was the N64 Myth Cart Dazz talks about.   But yeah, still, I was just hoping for something as easy (and cheap!) as the Nintendo DS cart, which it sound like doesn't exist for the N64.  Not a big deal, and not worth too much effort to me.  Just wanted to check to make sure there wasn't some miracle option I was missing.  Thanks for the help!

[Bootay]

Z64s are nice, but are hard to find and when you do find them they want $500+ for them. I looked for one for a while. There are a couple of people I know that are working on or considering working on a N64 flash cart. But so far the Neo Myth is the only one that exists and they are expensive. So far I have a flash cart for my Atari 2600, NES, SNES, and Genesis. And I will keep getting more. I love collecting consoles and playing the games on the original hardware...I just don't like the mess of collecting each cart. I just don't have the storage space for that.

[ChadTower]

It does take up a lot of space.  I'm thinking of putting shelves into a couple cabs so I can keep console games in there. 

[Malenko]

It does take up a lot of space.  I'm thinking of putting shelves into a couple cabs so I can keep console games in there. 

lol

[Bootay]

LOL Not a bad idea actually. I think I will stick to the flash carts though. 

[danny_galaga]

dang right people still play N64 games dude!   For the record, I do have a dreamcast, and all the games already.   I'm one of those "I want everything" sort of guys.   And there were plenty of games on the N64 that you just can't get anywhere else.   Bond, Perfect Dark (although now on Xbox360 market place), The New Tetris, etc, these are games I played a lot in my life, and yes, I still want to play them.   Just because something is newer, doesn't mean it's better.

Thanks for the help Dazz!   Not sure I'm willing to spend $200 though, especially if it's not perfect.  Guess I'll have to buy the real carts.  Thanks!

Word. Goldeneye rocks!

[northerngames]

copy and paste the US list.

pick the 10 games they made you like and add them up only to find it is cheaper to get the games you wanted for real then spending the $200.00 on that thing.

look at the cart like buying 20 $10.00 games and see if there is even 20 games on that list that are worth it or not.

me I think the console is great but the selection is horrbile.

I opnly came up with 12 games I could actually play and enjoy and would pay around $10.00 for the rest though you would have to pay me to play lol.

[wp34]

There is still an N64 in my living room that gets frequent use by our whole family.

+1

I'll keep ours around forever just to play Mario 64 with the original controller.

[Howard_Casto]

make that a
+2

mario kart ftw!

[Howard_Casto]

Btw... that thing is a dev cart, not really meant for loading up your games collection. 

I think a better multi-cart could be deisgned, but the problem is it would still be expensive.  Solid-state memory is still expensive so you are looking at around 70 bucks just to get all the chips in place for a fake cart, much less the extra chips and hardware to put a loader on top of it. 

I guess what I'm saying is a better cart that runs games off of a sd card would be possible, but it would probably end up costing 200 bucks as well.

[ChadTower]

What I wish someone would do is repro the damn analog stick.  Forget a multicart.  The problem soon is going to be that nobody can play half the games because all the sticks were ground into oblivion.

[Howard_Casto]

You know I've never had that problem.  Mind you I have the "dust" just like everybody else, but the sticks still play fine. 

I think they sell the replacement sticks online btw... can't remember where I saw it.  I think it was one of those importer websites.

[ChadTower]

They did as of a couple years ago at least but they were $10 plus international shipping.

Ground down sticks do still play but you lose range of motion.  That is a problem on an analog stick as it slowly reduces the lower range of values the stick can produce.  You eventually lose the ability to do stuff like creep in SMB64 and worse in games that really rely on analog.

[SNAAKE]

is donkey kong 64 good at all??

I totally missed that. maybe I will buy the system and dk. its cheap cheap now lol

[dre-w]

I was never big on sports games, but I was always down for NBA Hangtime or NFL Blitz on the N64

Once in awhile I play Banjoe Kazooie, I saved at the click clock wood level because I like to turn into the bee and just fly around the huge tree.

Waverace was always cool too, I really like the way the water looks.  When I get bored I just start ramming the dolphin full speed into the pier..

[danny_galaga]

You know I've never had that problem.  Mind you I have the "dust" just like everybody else, but the sticks still play fine. 

I think they sell the replacement sticks online btw... can't remember where I saw it.  I think it was one of those importer websites.

Yeah, big problem. Like Chad says, over time you lose range of control. There are no new genuine sticks, although I did see some that appeared to be based on gamecube sticks somewhere. Apparently not bad, but not great either...

[Dr Zero]

How about the replacement thumb stick, do they work?

[danny_galaga]

How about the replacement thumb stick, do they work?

Yeah, but normally you either get something that's not new, or you get that gamecube style one I was talking about. Everyone just uses a stock image of a thumbstick. It's definitely worth a punt in my opinion, I got four nearly new ones when I bought 'new' thumbsticks. Stick way better than any aftermarket controller you can buy nowadays...

[SithMaster]

What I wish someone would do is repro the damn analog stick.  Forget a multicart.  The problem soon is going to be that nobody can play half the games because all the sticks were ground into oblivion.

Repro and make more durable, though it probably won't play the same.  I always read you mention this problem and think to myself that I too should stock up on analog sticks.  Four of them.  Times two.  And then I realize that it won't be cheap.

[SavannahLion]

How about the replacement thumb stick, do they work?

Yeah, but normally you either get something that's not new, or you get that gamecube style one I was talking about. Everyone just uses a stock image of a thumbstick. It's definitely worth a punt in my opinion, I got four nearly new ones when I bought 'new' thumbsticks. Stick way better than any aftermarket controller you can buy nowadays...

Meh, might be worth something in the future. If not for the N64 then for something else.

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3574.0

[ChadTower]

Wow.  Some of that is way over my head but it is pretty cool.

[Howard_Casto]

I skimmed over it and I can't see the point of such an over-mod.  And analog stick is an analog stick.  The resistance values might be different, but you can fix that without the need for pic's.  Also, unless I'm mistaken it is the physical plastic stick that wears out on the n64 stick, not the innards below.  It seems to me like the easier thing would be to take the stick (just the plastic bit) off of a gamecube controller and mount it on the n64's stick innards.

[ChadTower]

The gist that you skimmed over is that the N64 stick is not sending raw potentiometer data.  It is sending processed data.

[danny_galaga]

N64 uses optical encoders, it's what makes it super smooth. Most other controllers use potentiometers. Completely different system. You can't easily graft a pot stick into an N64 controller. I have seen a thread somewhere where a guy put a PS2 stick in a N64 controller. he used a PIC controller to do it. Not exactly the easiest, or cheapest thing to do...

[SavannahLion]

Uh Danny, I put the link in my post.

[amendonz]

a z64 with the ram upgrade, a couple bios carts, a n64 console with cords and controller and a "disk of unknown archives" (lol) came up for $300nz (228us) on trademe (our ebay) it was posted that morning, i saw it early on, jumped off the computer to do some stuff,  somewhere along the track i decided i must have it, went back on to buy it and it was already sold


really regret missing that.

[danny_galaga]

Uh Danny, I put the link in my post.

 

That's so funny, I hadn't looked at your link. That is of course the thread I was thinking of. The first part of my comment was more pointed to howards comment as I didn't think he realised the difference. Funny that the thing that came to mind to explain it was the actual link you gave I hadn't looked at

[Howard_Casto]

N64 uses optical encoders, it's what makes it super smooth. Most other controllers use potentiometers. Completely different system. You can't easily graft a pot stick into an N64 controller. I have seen a thread somewhere where a guy put a PS2 stick in a N64 controller. he used a PIC controller to do it. Not exactly the easiest, or cheapest thing to do...

It still shouldn't need as complicated a board as they had used.  I know the old wico optical to digital encoders for their atari trackballs were quite simple and those came out in the 70s! There isn't much different in that and converting analog to optical. 

[ChadTower]

The difference is in making it fit into that tiny little housing.

[bigster]

This is a bit off topic but if anyone is looking for a Doctor v64.  I have one that I was trying to get rid of.  It comes in the box.  It has the ram upgrade.  Plus I have the Ds1 saver and the other saver cart (cannot remember name off hand) saver carts are in box too.  I can throw in a n64 that was painted white to match the v64 if needed.  I also have the parallel cable i believe.  Pretty much every v64 accessory bung ever made.  Message me if you are interested.

[VanillaGorilla]

Pinball machines are also an excellent place to store items like cigars and bottles of whiskey so I'm sure you could stash dull items like game cartridges in there.

Dammit, Jim, I like the way you think! I always get a rise out of your posts....Kindred spirits I think!