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The Nintendo 64DD (ニンテンドウ64DD, Nintendō Roku Jū Yon DD) ("DD" being short for "Disk Drive", and originally "Dynamic Drive") was a peripheral for the Nintendo 64 games console. It plugged into the N64 through the EXTension Port of the Nintendo 64's bottom side, and allowed the N64 to use proprietary 64 MB magnetic disks for expanded data storage. Although it had been announced before the launch of the N64, the 64DD's development was lengthy. It was eventually released in Japan when the console was in its twilight years. It was a commercial failure,[2] and was never released in either the US or Europe.[1]
[edit] HistoryThe 64DD was announced at 1995's Nintendo Shoshinkai game show event (now called SpaceWorld). One of the games that was featured for use with the 64DD was Creator, a music and animation program by Software Creations, the same people that made Sound Tool for the Nintendo Ultra 64 development kit. The game advertised that it could be implemented into other games, being able to replace textures and possibly create new levels and characters. Unfortunately, there was no playable version of Creator available at Shoshinkai 1995. At E3 in 1997, Nintendo's main game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, speculated that the first games to be released for the new system would be SimCity 64, Mario Artist, Pocket Monsters, and Earthbound 64.[3] However, the 64DD was delayed until its release in Japan on December 1, 1999. Nintendo, anticipating that its long planned-out disc drive peripheral would become a commercial failure, sold the system mainly through a subscription service called RANDnet and customers would continue to receive games through the mail as well. However, very limited quantities of the 64DD were made available through stores. As a result, the 64DD was only supported by Nintendo for a short period of time and only nine games were released for it. Most unreleased 64DD games were either cancelled or released as normal Nintendo 64 games. [edit] Hardware The N64DD has a 32-bit coprocessor to help it read magnetic disks, and to transfer data to the main console. It was intended to be Nintendo's answer to the cheaper to produce Compact Disc that was used for Sony's PlayStation. Sony's CD storage could hold approximately 650 megabytes (MB) of information, compared to the Nintendo 64's 4 to 64 megabyte (MB) cartridge. The new medium for the N64DD was rewritable and had a storage capacity of 64 MB. The games on normal N64 cartridges could also hook up with DD expansions, for extra levels, minigames, even saving personal data. The drive works similarly to a Zip drive, and has an enhanced audio library for the games to use. The main N64 deck uses its RCP and NEC VR4300 to process data from the top cartridge slot and the I/O devices. To hook up with the 64DD, it needed an extra 4 MB of RAM for a total of 8 MB. Unlike the N64, the 64DD can boot up on its own, without the need of a cartridge on the top deck, because it has a boot menu. This would later be carried over to the Nintendo GameCube, the Nintendo DS, and Wii. The 64DD had its own development kit that worked in conjunction with the N64 development kit. [edit] AccessoriesThe released version of 64DD included a modem for connecting to the network RANDnet, an audio-video (female RCA jack, and line in) adapter called the Capture Cassette to plug into the main cartridge slot, and a mouse and keyboard that plugged into the controller inputs. [edit] RANDnet
As the Super NES had the Satellaview online service in Japan, the Nintendo 64DD had the RandNet service (named for the two companies involved with the project, 'Recruit' and 'Nintendo'). Launched in December 1999, the RandNet service allowed gamers to compete against each other online, play new unreleased games before they hit the stores, surf the Internet, listen to music online, and much more. The RandNet Starter Kit came packaged with 64DD machines and included everything needed to access the service (the subscription cost was ¥2500 per month; equivalent to about US $27.97):
Once logged on to the service players could choose from a variety of options for fun and games:
RandNet was a semi-popular service, considering the limited 64DD user base. One of the most substantial group of games to include RandNet support was the Mario Artist series that allowed users to swap their artwork creations with others. Contests and other special events also occurred every now and then. However, the service was not successful enough to justify its continued existence, so in February 2001 it was discontinued, leaving all the RandNet hardware useless. Nintendo bought back all the RandNet-related hardware (gamers could keep the 64DD which was more than able to function on its own) and gave all users free service from the time the closure of the service was announced until the day it actually went offline. [edit] LegacyThe 64DD may be seen as the Nintendo 64 equivalent of the Famicom Disk System, the aborted SNES CD, or the Sega CD for the Genesis. The concept of downloading information was earlier seen in the Satellaview for the Super Famicom. It was the last in a long list of failed console add-ons. The 64DD system is considered to be a collector's item, as it is sold on auction websites such as eBay for prices that frequently exceed $500.[citation needed] [edit] Software
[edit] Games
[edit] Proposed gamesThe Nintendo 64DD had several games announced for it that ended up either cancelled or being released on cartridge format only, the following is a list of those games:[citation needed]
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