N64 DD - What was the point?

You're drastically under-estimating the cost of solid-state storage at the time. Nintendo did the same - they expected costs for ROM chips to drop much more quickly than they did. Hence $90 N64 games.

 

I'm sure it cost less than making a 64 Megabyte ROM cartridge would have at the time. Again though it just shows the half measure it really was going to be. Using CD-ROM was the logical choice for mass storage. The software would be so much cheaper to produce plus you'd get way more space.

 

you couldn't fit 64MB of memory in a gamepak in 1997. The dev units were pretty tall too, even some of the 128/64MB ones later on.

 

I've read somewhere before that Yamauchi admitted that the N64's programming difficulty was deliberate at Space World 2001.

I've had Barcode explain it to me in such detail once before, but I'd like to know if anyone else recalls such a statement made by Yamauchi?

 

It was marketing spin.

 

Could Mario 64 be running on 64DD hardware in this video? Check the 2:41 mark.

 

Sure it could. Using a 64DD disk would work for plenty of games if the game was programmed for it.

 

I'm still waiting for Mario 64-2 and Ura-Zelda to be released on the 64DD. Nintendo, grant my childhood wishes!

 

Mario 64 was demoed on 64DD at shoshinkai '97 ( or was it '96 ? ) to show that the loading time between the disk and cartridge were comparable.

 

+1

It's been an obsession of mine for years, I wish more 64/dd stuff would get leaked.

 

You know, though to be fair Wii MotionPlus was an addon that's been fairly successful. As well as things like the Rumble Pack among other things.

32X, Sega CD, all failed because they had no title that was worth the add-on costs.

Past addons definitely have worked to some extent.

The N64 Expansion Pack also comes to mind.

Plus I and other people were really excited about it I remember. Ura Zelda executed properly would've made it sell a billion copies.
Plus the idea of "expanding a game" like DLC today was a revolutionary idea back then that would've been amazing.

All you need is a flagship title to be successful.


The N64 itself had some amazing titles, but the library was quite small when compared to other consoles I think.

 

the kinect is an expensive add-on, 8 million sold though. It's a matter of right timing, perceived usefulness of a device etc. Nintendo got none of those right apparently.

 

doshin the giant , it is very interesting game

 

Exactly, there's plenty of other add-ons that did okay. Multitaps, light guns, NES Zapper, and so forth. I bought some add-ons just to play one game.

Ura Zelda would've been the start of something great. A expansion to arguably the greatest game ever made would've been insane. The amount of great games on the 64 pales in comparison to the SNES or PSX. Nintendo had a good amount of momentum and hype going for the 64DD. I think most issues of Nintendo Power back in the day mentioned it. Plus, it was a top story on IGN (N64.com back then). It's really a shame these 64DD projects never came about like Nintendo wanted.

 

It was a poorly designed attempt to rectify their lack of foresight and arrogance.

 

About Ura Zelda, I always tought that the concept and the stuff Miyamoto said about it were exaggerated. Even if the DD allowed extra storage for new dungeons and the RTC system, I don't think it would have been that much different from the original.

 

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/1/4

Hmm seems like the 64dd had some issues with ram limitation and access time.

 

It wouldn't had been THAT exagerated actually. The possibilities were there, big N just did not believe in them. There.