http://64dd.net/modules/news/

Pretty sad to see them go. After seeing that on the front page I immediately went to Planet Virtual Boy hoping they hadn’t shut down either. Both sites share the same page design and structure, so I’ve always thought of them as brother and sister sites. Are they independent or are they related? Is PVB in danger of shutting down too?

Here’s your answers: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5963&forum=6

🙂

Ah so that’s why I didn’t see that, it’s over in Feedback (I only browse the VB sections) and it doesn’t specifically include 64DD.net in the title. Thanks though.

And now you place online poker adverts? :P?

Seriously, tho, is there a financing gap?

cYa,

Tauwasser

Tauwasser schrieb:
And now you place online poker adverts? :P?

Seriously, tho, is there a financing gap?

There have been a few adverts on the bottom of the frontpage for a while – only visible to not logged in users, though.

Since most people don’t even seem to notice these, I think I have chosen a very acceptable way of covering the expenses of running the site. 🙂 I’d hate any advertising banners.

Lately, though, this way of advertising (“text links”) seems to have become less interesting for advertisers. We have only one ad left on the frontpage and one on the games page. Plus that one on 64DD.net of course and the occasional donation from one of our users. All this is still enough to cover a good part of the costs, so no problem.

I don’t have a problem with advertising at all – if it helps run the site, I’m very grateful for it. Ads can also be contextual – eBay, amazon etc. are not that intrusive in my opinion.

I’ve been thinking of buying a 64DD, I’m really missing 64DD.net now, it was a great resource. I haven’t found a 64DD info source that’s comparable. Archive.org has backups of 64DD.net but they are often broken, missing various pages.

Anyone here into 64DD? Know of good sites on it? I suppose on one hand there isn’t much to say about it, but I hate waiting, I like to read while I pass the time.

If you want to try some titles hands on, the newest Everdrive 64 firmware supports 64DD imgs perfectly.

Really? I was looking into getting an Everdrive for each system, and was wondering if 64DD’s would be supported. That whole thing is confusing to me, there are so many different ED versions. Would the ED 2.5 for the N64 support those games? It’s about half the price of the V3.0 so I’m hoping it does.

In response to the original post, I was obsessed with the 64DD back in my young Nintendo Power days. I was very sad when it just kind of flopped before disappearing altogether. I really want to get one myself.

In fact, in preparation for my upcoming Everdrive purchase, I picked up that really nice “capture cassette” that came with the Mario Talent Studio on 64DD. It will look way better than a repro or modded cart IMO, very sleek with just that N64 logo on the front. And with the back being open, I can mod the SD card slot to be accessible without filing away the shell 🙂

Yes, I really did purchase a 64DD console, so far I have SimCity 64 and Doshin the Giant 1, just watching for additional disks to appear. Of the 10 disks, I just want 6 or 7, depends if Mario Artist: Communication Kit any good. I never thought I’d spend so much on a console. Oh well, it was my only other big want (the other was Neo-Geo).

Even if I had heard before hand that the Everdrive 64 supported 64DD ROMs, I’d be very skeptical of how complete the support is, even just going by the accessories used by 64DD games. I’m the kind of person to want the real deal, even if it’s kind of expensive.

Lovethrash, please don’t kill a Capture Cassette for an Everdrive 64 shell. 64DD anything is very rare. You should also be aware there’s no way you’d be able to use the Capture Cassette using the Everdrive 64 method, they both use the cartridge slot.

Lovethrash, please don’t kill a Capture Cassette for an Everdrive 64 shell. 64DD anything is very rare. You should also be aware there’s no way you’d be able to use the Capture Cassette using the Everdrive 64 method, they both use the cartridge slot.

Once I’ve set my mind on killing a rare gaming accessory, the excitement is too much to go back on :). Actually I’m not TOTALLY set on doing it. I know that a cheaper option is to get some crummy game in a black shell, strip the labels off and make another N64 logo for the front. It depends on how much modding is needed for either shell. If I could do this without external cutting, the capture cart would just look more official. I’m also not opposed to hard-wiring the Everdrive inside the system for a super low-profile look.

Speaking of 64DD, I just scored one finally! Got a great deal on a complete in box Randnet starter kit :). It should arrive in the next week or so. I plan on ordering that Doshin game and some of the Mario creative suites since they all sound fun.

Which of those Mario titles would you recommend?

Oh and did you guys see that video on the Metal Jesus Rocks channel about the possible retail prototype of the would-be North American 64DD system? I saw that just hours after ordering my own, it made me that much more excited to finally get the add-on 🙂

HP Lovethrash wrote:

Lovethrash, please don’t kill a Capture Cassette for an Everdrive 64 shell. 64DD anything is very rare. You should also be aware there’s no way you’d be able to use the Capture Cassette using the Everdrive 64 method, they both use the cartridge slot.

Once I’ve set my mind on killing a rare gaming accessory, the excitement is too much to go back on :). Actually I’m not TOTALLY set on doing it. I know that a cheaper option is to get some crummy game in a black shell, strip the labels off and make another N64 logo for the front. It depends on how much modding is needed for either shell. If I could do this without external cutting, the capture cart would just look more official. I’m also not opposed to hard-wiring the Everdrive inside the system for a super low-profile look.

Speaking of 64DD, I just scored one finally! Got a great deal on a complete in box Randnet starter kit :). It should arrive in the next week or so. I plan on ordering that Doshin game and some of the Mario creative suites since they all sound fun.

Which of those Mario titles would you recommend?

Seeing how Recruit made the Modem cartridge and keyboard, I wouldn’t be surprised if they (or Alps) made the capture cartridge too, rather than Nintendo. Given how different those cartridges look, it’s possible they have different PCB mounting inside. When I get my copy of Mario Artist: Talent Studio in, I’ll investigate the capture cartridge and see if it would accept a game PCB. I doubt it though.

I cringed when you said you’d consider hardwiring the everdrive into an N64…

Did you win that recent Randnet starter kit that appeared on Yamatoku? Definitely a nice price. Technically it was a better deal than 350 EUR on my loose 64DD, but I don’t care one bit for boxes, I’m happier to be without it.

Given how few games there are for the 64DD, I recommend you obtain every game that is cheap.

Buy these:

Doshin the Giant 1 ($50 – $70)
F-Zero X Expansion Kit ($70 – $100)
Mario Artist: Paint Studio ($40 – $60)
Mario Artist: Talent Studio ($40 – $60)
Mario Artist: Polygon Studio ($40 – $60)
Mario Artist: Communication Kit ($30)
SimCity 64 ($40 – $60)

Maybe not the communication kit, it’s apparently just for moving content between the other Mario Artist games and the Randnet service which has been dead for the past 15 years.

Avoid these:

Doshin the Giant 2 ($500+)
Japan Pro Golf Tour 64 ($500+)
Randnet disk ($30 – $50)

The Randnet disk in particular is not a game, it was just the client program for logging onto the online Randnet service.

Why did you cringe?? There’s probably no real point in hardwiring the Everdrive into the system, but I like the ultra low profile aspect. That’s one downfall of cartridges going on top of the system, so I try to save overhead clearance on my game shelf when I can. Plus I would love to have just a tiny SD card sticking out of the cart slot like that’s what Nintendo wanted 🙂

And yep, I got that Yamatoku unit. I don’t totally care about the box but would still prefer to have it. Plus this package comes with the modem and Randnet disk, two things I may not go for on their own. Sucks about that golf game being so rare, I feel like that would be my favorite on the system.

I got my capture cart last month actually, and promptly took it apart. I’m pretty sure there are some pictures on my camera at home, I’ll post them here when I get a chance. Maybe that will aid in a preliminary idea of how futile my inevitable cart hacking might be. From memory, the PCB and shielding seemed a little bigger than regular games I’ve taken apart.

This is just my opinion, but if you want an ultra low-profile N64 system, just get creative and build a little ITX PC into an N64 shell, there’s tons of them out there. Heck, I have an N64 that, although works, has had some pretty bad corrosion from being left in a dumpster, the cart slot is in rough shape. That’s a good candidate for a PC build.

As for putting a game PCB in a capture cartridge shell, yeah it’s possible, but it’s not ideal. The big problem is the huge gaping hole in the back of the cartridge, it wouldn’t look too hot with RF shield or PCB in place of the original input jacks. Most likely all you’d have to do is remove the middle screw posts so the RF shields can fit inside, but it seems silly to waste a rare accessory on something like an Everdrive. The transparent red shell from retrogate looks way better.

As for me, I finally have Mario Artist: Polygon Studio and Talent Studio, also Doshin the Giant 1 from earlier though it wouldn’t work at first, the fix was cleaning the magnetic disk inside with alcohol and cotton swabs. The 64DD has certainly been a trip, I wish I had these creativity tools as a kid. Talent and Polygon are loaded with Mario Paint-y goodness as well as their own personality. They are definitely user friendly aside from the lack of an English translation.

It feels weird to finally play this beast after so long. It’s a side of the N64 most of us have never experienced. I admit, like most other opinions online, there’s not a lot we were missing out on, but the 64DD catalog still has that Nintendo magic that we all love. It was a wasted opportunity, but what remains is still fun to play.

All I need now is Mario Artist: Paint Studio and F-Zero X Expansion Kit, also a JPN copy of F-Zero X. Maybe I’ll get the Communication Kit anyway.

As odd as this may sound, I knew going into this that I might be disappointed, or feel that the entry fee wasn’t worth it. I told myself I’d give the 64DD until November, namely because retrogate runs their Black Friday sale that month. I might decide to eat the high price of the 64DD, or I’ll bail and get an Everdrive 64. Above all, I wanted to experience the 64DD, scratch it off the ol’ bucket list. Playing it right now, I can say confidently it is a really cool add-on. This is the Nintendo I will always love.

Hey,if you can i recommend you to download F-Zero X Climax for the everdrive,a awesome 3D remake of the last f-zero game released so far,but get the JPN ROM of F-zero X and patch it ’cause it support 64DD. And knowing the the Dreamcast community are reviving long-dead servers of even unreleased games like PBA bowling 2001,i think it’s possible to revive Randnet servers.

3DBoy, you’re probably right- the capture cart would be a weird choice. I was going to mount the SD card slot in a way so I could stick that in the hole where the RCA jacks sit. I guess it seemed better than one of those official red shells you can buy, neutral colors just appeal to me more (except for that one Nintendo system, what was it called, hmm…).

One other thought was to put a piece of clear hard plastic in the RCA jack area and have some backlit logo etched onto it. Not sure if that would do much good on the back of the cart, but maybe it would project a “64DD” logo onto the wall :p

Those Mario studio games look awesome. Just tonight I won Doshin on ebay, so that’ll be my first true game. Do you have the mouse for the system? They are impossible to find, and I haven’t had any luck researching a self-made one. I wonder if an SNES to N64 controller adapter would let you use the SNES mouse?

Glad to hear you’re not immediately regretting the purchase :). Since I got a deal on mine, I can’t imagine selling it unless it actively pisses me off somehow. Even if there’s only a couple of fun games, it’ll be worth it.

Side note, why on Earth did somebody leave that N64 in a dumpster??