Nintendo 64DD

The Nintendo 64DD (short for 64 Dynamic Drive ) was a disk drive unit that like the Family Computer Disk System, attached to a Nintendo 64 and could play games in a magnetic disk format, the disks containing their own internal memory, written through the N64 instead of the disk itself. There were also several peripherals used for it. It was released in Japan in December 1999. It was scheduled for release in America in 2000, but it ended up being a commercial failure due to the way it was sold (mainly through subscription to the RanDnetDD online service and low retail units in stores), so it was never released outside Japan. There were plans to bring it to international shores, however; on July 15, 2016, YouTuber MetalJesusRocks (Jason Lindsey) posted a video showcasing a then-recently-discovered prototype for an American 64DD with an included developers disk, both of which were verified as legitimate by a former Nintendo of America employee, Mark DeLoura. On September 2, 2016, MetalJesusRocks did a follow up on his American 64DD with YouTuber Hard 4 Games (Tony Visintainer).

There were four Mario games released on this console, all in the Mario Artist series; there were also several cancelled Mario titles. Overall, there were only nine games released on the Nintendo 64DD, although other games planned for the console were released on the original Nintendo 64, the Sony PlayStation, the Sega Dreamcast, the next-generation Nintendo GameCube, or cancelled all together. Only 15,000 of the 85,000 unsold units were melted for scrap.

Released

 * Mario Artist: Paint Studio
 * Mario Artist: Talent Studio
 * Mario Artist: Communication Kit
 * Mario Artist: Polygon Studio

Cancelled

 * ''Mario Artist: Game Maker
 * ''Mario Artist: Graphical Message Maker
 * ''Mario Artist: Sound Maker
 * ''Mario Artist: Video Jockey Maker
 * Mario Paint 64
 * ''Super Mario 64 2
 * ''Super Mario 64 (Disk Version)
 * Super Mario RPG 2 (released on the Nintendo 64 as Paper Mario)
 * Donkey Kong World, aka Ultra Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Universe. (reworked into Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64)

Trivia

 * If there is no game inserted into the system, the start-up appears as usual but Mario then appears and plays around with the Nintendo 64 logo. The N shape changes when Mario interacts with it.