Nintendo 64DD

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Nintendo 64DD
The Nintendo 64DD
Generation Fifth generation
Release date Japan December 1, 1999
USA Planned for 2000 (Canceled)
Discontinued February 28, 2001[1]
Predecessor Nintendo 64
Successor Nintendo GameCube
“The 64DD sat under your N64. Well, not yours — you didn't have a 64DD.”
British Official Nintendo Magazine
The Nintendo 64DD logo.

The Nintendo 64DD (short for 64 Dynamic Drive)[2] 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, with the disks containing their own internal memory written through the N64 instead of the disk itself. There were also several peripherals used for it.

While originally planned to release concurrently with the base Nintendo 64, the system was ultimately released in Japan in December 1999, following numerous developmental delays. It was scheduled for release in North America in 2000, but it ended up being a commercial failure both due to its belated Japanese release and due to the way it was sold (mainly through subscription to the Randnet online service, with little to no retail units in stores); consequently, the planned American release was cancelled, leaving the add-on exclusive to Japan. A remnant of this eventually resurfaced on July 15, 2016, when YouTuber MetalJesusRocks (Jason Lindsey) posted a video showcasing a then-recently-discovered prototype for an American 64DD with an included developer's disk, both of which were verified as legitimate by former Nintendo of America employee Mark DeLoura.[3] On September 2, 2016, MetalJesusRocks did a follow up on his American 64DD with YouTuber Hard4Games (Tony Visintainer).[4][5]

There were four Mario games released on this console, all in the Mario Artist series; there were also several canceled 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 canceled altogether.

Accessories

This article's name is conjectural for a part of its content. If an official name is found for the currently unnamed portion of content, it may need to be split into a new article.

Mouse

Mario Artist: Paint Studio coverart with mouse bundle
Mario Artist: Paint Studio bundle

NUS-017, this replaced analog stick input to allow more precise cursor movements in games that supported it, such as the Mario Artist series.

Modem Cartridge

NUS-029, this allowed the Nintendo 64 connect to Randnet. Mario Artist: Communication Kit made use of this accessory directly.

AV-In Cartridge

Mario Artist: Talent Studio coverart with cartridge bundleGamekult
Mario Artist: Talent Studio bundle

NUS-028, this allowed the Nintendo 64 to take in RCA and microphone as input. Mario Artist: Talent Studio made use of this accessory.

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Mario franchise games

Released

Canceled

Game gallery

Media

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Trivia

64DD boot screen.
Boot screen
  • 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.[8]
  • Mario Party originally was supposed to be compatible with the Nintendo 64DD, suggesting that Mario Party 2 was originally supposed to serve as an expansion disk to it.[9]

References