| Manufacturer | Nintendo |
|---|---|
| Generation | Fifth generation (32-bit/64-bit era) |
| Retail availability |
|
| Units sold | 15, 000 [1] |
| Media | Magneto-optical discs (64 MB) |
| Storage capacity | Cartridge battery, Controller Pak |
| Online services | RANDnetDD (Japan only) |
The Nintendo 64DD (64DD Roku Yon Dī Dī) ("DD" being short for "Disk Drive", and originally "Dynamic Drive") is a peripheral for the Nintendo 64 game console. It plugged into the N64 through the EXTension Port on the Nintendo 64's underside, and allowed the N64 to use proprietary 64 MB magneto-optical discs 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. Scheduled for North American release in 2000, it was a commercial failure,[2] and was never released outside of Japan.[1]
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The 64DD was announced at 1995's Nintendo Shoshinkai game show event (now called Nintendo World). 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. However, 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. Only 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 64DD games were either cancelled entirely, released as normal Nintendo 64 games, or ported to the GameCube.
The N64DD has a 32-bit coprocessor to help it read magneto-optical discs, 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 4-64 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. Like nearly all disc-based consoles, the 64DD can boot up without a cartridge on the top deck, because it has a boot menu.
The 64DD had its own development kit that worked in conjunction with the N64 development kit.
The 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.
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, also known as "landnet", service allowed gamers to compete against each other online, play unreleased games, surf the Internet, and listen to music.
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 the following options:
RandNet was a semi-popular service, considering the limited 64DD user base. One of the most substantial series of games to include RandNet support was the Mario Artist series, which 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. Nintendo bought back all the RandNet-related hardware and gave all users free service from the time the closure of the service was announced until the day it actually went offline.
The 64DD may be seen as the Nintendo 64 equivalent of the Atari Jaguar CD. Both are disc-based add-on consoles, announced in the weeks surrounding the launch of their base consoles. In both cases, the base consoles did not perform as well in the market as their publishers (Nintendo and Atari Corporation) had hoped, and the add-ons were ultimately released for only two reasons: to keep the promise of their release to gamers, and to recoup some of the money already spent on the consoles' development. Because of this, the consoles were both released in limited numbers and with little marketing, made available only in the publisher's home country, and supported for a very short time. Finally, both consoles were released with an unusually high amount of pack-in materials (the Jaguar CD was packed with two games, a soundtrack CD, and a demo disc).
The concept of downloading information was earlier seen in the Famicom Modem for the Famicom and Satellaview for the Super Famicom.
The Nintendo 64DD had several games announced for it that ended up either canceled or being released on game pak format only; the following is a list of those games: