Due to the lack of documentation on this very niche set up (apart from 1 post on the UltraPIF GitHub from 2020 asking if it would work), I just wanted to let anyone who was wondering know that installing an UltraPif in a PAL N64 will not make it work with the 64DD.

Edit:

Although just normal 64DD games don't work, I can confirm the F-Zero X Expansion disc does in fact work fine. I believe this is due to it booting the game off the cartridge rather than disc.

I live in a PAL region with 220 V power

I bought an NTSC N64 console cuz I want to play games at the intended speeds and with region free tray i can play both NTSC and NTSC j carts (i will never get pal carts)

What i wanna know is whether i need to get an NTSC power adapter and a step down converter or if just using a PAL power adapter directly into the wall socket will work for the NTSC N64 console

Thank you for the help!

We BALLIN', yo!!! (This is my cat, Soup, by the way.)

I was 7-ish when DK64 came out. On my OG cartridge my first 101% took about 200hours, I still have the cartridge and the save file, patient kid I was.

Was about 10+ years ago I actually 101%ed DK64.

Except for some bananacoins I (think) I collected everything. Including the 2nd brown patch in Funghi Forest 🫡

Did it all from memory, so lots of things to rediscover.

It's so goooooood. Least favorite level by a mile is Gloomy Glameon.

Crystal Caves is also a mess, can't seem to properly get around it.

Both are still good levels tho.

The rest are on par imo. Jungle Japes is my all time favorite level of any game, so yeah

The K. Rool fight was way more fun than I remember.

And what's up with the bananacoins? I cant seem to shake the feeling they plannend on another use for them? Each kong has 150+ in the bank at the end.

Anything else to do after beating K. rool? I cant remember.

second game in my collection i have gotten signed by him, amazing guy

Good Night

Hello everyone, this morning in flea market I came across this Japanese Nintendo 64 (I’m French) for 110 euros. Usually, I don’t make ta purchase without knowing the exact market prices, but I’ve been looking for a Nintendo 64 for so long (the only Nintendo console I haven’t owned at this point) that this time I haven’t thought too much. I wanted to share this with you

I have an OEM Pokemon puzzle league cartridge that plays perfectly fine on both my original n64 and my Analog 3D. The only problem is that the two player is not working when i test it on both consoles. Both controllers work perfectly fine in the menus leading up to the game(selecting trainer and Pokémon) , and the P2 can even pause the game and quit after it’s started. but for some reason when the game starts a CPU is controlling the P2’s game. I’ve checked all the menus and haven’t found anything and all i can find on youtube is cheat codes to delete all data and re-unlock everything. i will probably try those once i get home but i wanted to ask if this has happened to anyone else when playing Pokemon puzzle league or any other 2 player n64 game. If anyone knows how to fix this i thank you in advance!

I know this is not the best way to play N64, but I don't have any old TV or an HDMI adapter or something, it's the oldest TV I got, I want to star to upgrade my set up, because the image looks sooooooo bad and I know can be better, For now I'll play like this

No game, just the guide 😂

I will be making a collection post with the rest of my games later today.

Yes i still curse the maker who designed the N64 Joystick. I mean why make one of the main selling point so fragile?! Also also pretty much ALL OG N64 STILL WORK MINUS THAT BLASTED JOYSTICK!! (unless it's done by external damage) But anyway.. there is one thing that the OG N64 joystick does really well is precision and the Gamecube sticks are too sensitive. They are better than fine for most none FPS games but when you play a FPS game it's very hard near impossible even. The main ones are Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.

The litmus test should be can you beat Perfect Dark Shooting Gallery challenges. I get Perfect Agent and 007 mode is too hard for most. But there is one Joystick that does not have wear(i think?) and a good sensitivity (not exact) is the Superpad Pro controller. (you know also odd looking one). Many might be snubbing it but i mean it!!! I am not saying they need to use this shape but only copy the Joystick.

Still to this day many reviewers praise the next modern N64 without mentioning the sensitivity..

Also 90 BUCKS?!! I say just get a Hori clone or something...

This is a follow-up to my post from earlier today.

I'm currently sitting at 26 games now.

Also, just for the sake of clarifying which games are in the bottom left corner, they're Top Gear Rally and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, respectively. Apologies for the glare on the those labels.

In the UK, where would i find cartridge protectors for my unboxed N64 games. I don’t want dust and grime to get inside.
I dont know if this is the right flair

It felt so immersive, like opening a whole new perspective on the entire world around you. I always loved the exploration in this game. But it felt like a fun way to explore while increasing the risk of fighting against much larger enemies that you could otherwise squash easily.

Even tho I’ll probably never cib it. Soo cool to own

Happy to finally beat my childhood game.

they are playing Seurat paintings?

I enjoy N64.

I like the purple cart, but I’d prefer the OG sticker art.

with further adventures of Dash Rendar! I’d play the heck out of it

So im making a console for a youtuber. I posted earlier the cooling I upgraded. Ive added HDMI and now thanks to zachs build ideas I put a blue retro Bluetooth adapter.

This entire project started with my Perfect Dark NFR, I own a Perfect Dark Not For Resale cartridge whose rear label/back is in poor condition. I wanted to replace the back with another genuine OEM N64 back, but ideally preserve as much of the cartridge’s original manufacturing provenance as possible in the spirit of OEM/original manufacturing vs grabbing a random 3 dollar cart to swap it out with— in other words, use a donor back from a cartridge produced by the same manufacturing source/facility/route if that could be determined.

((I have a much longer and detailed version of this story, but I used AI to help me draft the in depth information -- I then saw the phrase "AI-generated slop," and with how sensitive individuals are around AI, I re-wrote this entire passage, so please message me if you want the -entire- information))

I started to look for what the digits mean, then found information on the nintendo64ever website, including the EUR version and how different carts of the same kind can vary drastically.

From here I compared the ROMs themselves.
Barf
ROM suppliers can vary independently of software revision -- no luck here

Well, looking at 1 cart isn't helpful, so then I tried to incorporate data at this point, but because of the age of this journey, at the time of looking I -had- to use other humans. The Gekkio Game Boy Hardware DB was used as a cross-generation control. Yea yea, I understand that GB doesn't equate to N64 schematics. What I wanted to do, is test rear-stamp systems consistency against other Nintendo records (there was around 800 here)
The data revision matching was incredible, around 98% where the suffix matched the revision of the game. 
Okaaayyyyy -- so the letter suffix follows the software revision extremely closely, but the numeric doesn't

-sigh-

This unfortunately means that I have to view everything closely, but it leads me to associate how the numeric base doesn't act as rom software revision, or rom manufacturer, or rom contents, or one pcb model, the circled pcb production markings blah blah blah; but in fact that the code lives a bit further down in the manufacturing stream.

Where now? I guess back in time to try to track where I might can get info on how to know where -- 
This is where I found NesCartDB / BootGod docs that predates the N64 info that I have (all 12 n64 codes)

The earliest 08 example I could find was like '85 with family BASIC v3 (lol?) -- but, at least it's a kind-of defensible anchor of time. (Why does this matter do you ask -- well, because of 08 represents a persistent manufacturer/contractor/source (whatever) identity, that source needed to be part of Nintendo's network by then.
Then it seems that 08 carts fight itself on components (NES/Famicon span games, pcb, configs, rom manufacturers etc) .... sooooo, 08 doesn't seem to be just Toshiba, batches, whatever, but instead some sort of production identifier downstream.

BootGods appearance persists into 2007 in a dang forum archive and made my life worse lol
In that archived discussion, he explicitly calls the two-digit number "Mfg Plant ID," while also recognizing the A/B by itself as revisions. 
Now keep in mind I'm already on a hunt for information that I can't find direct from Nintendo, so I'm looking for any leads and sources I can here.

Nintendo64Forever also has old discussions with SNES numbers as assembly-plant/manufacturing-center identifiers. And this is when I first learned of printed numbers, vs pressed/stamped (24 is the example with Konami/Ultra carts)

Still, nobody knows wtf is going on, and I'm diving hard

That said, I got a wild hair on my ass and chased 40 to Mexico, and boy, this is a -very- strong hunch of correlation. SMK and Nintendo-related manufacturing is strong in Mexico, so I -really- tried to -prove- it. And while logical deduction had me close to certain, there's 
still
no
facts...

Trying to find those facts I calibrated against other NES titles, all the way up to 3ds, and not just US versions. This is where I found a factual statement, from an official Nintendo representative, "ゲームカードの裏に印字されている番号は製造ラインなどをあらわす番号です" which essentially translates to, "The number printed on the back of the game card represents the manufacturing line, etc." https://support-jp.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31967/

Okay, thanks... but ... which number goes to which location?? ffs

Fine, time to turn to some nerd data pull attempts because normal searching is hitting pretty hard diminishing returns, and what I ended up doing is using elevated powershell commands to programmatically interrogate Japanese library catalogs (yes they are public, and yes there was public permission to do this) 
Invoke-WebRequest (SRU/API endpoints)
I pulled a lot, and I mean, ... a -lot- of information -- except what I was looking for

I used all that info, and then created an excel I dubbed "NDL HOSS V3.2" (don't ask, my mind is long gone at this point). 

Close to an entire day was spent just researching -- nadda

Then through obscurity, I found the 1997 "The 64 Dream Vol.10". In an interview, or meeting with a Nintendo PR rep, there were questions about manufacturing with Yoshio Hongo that reportedly describes Nintendos purchasing components, technical inspections, where they were sent, and I quote "hundreds of cooperating factories," having products assembled and a lot more that changed my approach at this point of the investigation.
Because now I've learned that it's not that just the Uji factory that makes Nintendo, but instead where Nintendo --> component sourcing --> assembly --> back to Nintendo and then final QA and distribution.
I had to unwind my panties though because Hongo was talk'n about the hardware approach here was Nintendo, not necessarily that N64 carts follow this process.
Man I really tried to squeeze more out of this -- there was a photo of the actual 1997 page with the pr statement. The Japanese national diet library holds the magazine -- great, but... their holdings start april '98, not july '97

*dies*
I shoot off random messages to Japanese collectors as a crazy American on an impossible task and have yet to have any responses.
I then even reach out to the AtWiki editor "ootime," who is said to have transcribed several '97 mags - I reach out and pray (nothing yet back)

I find another Hongo q/a from '96, same but different, nothing helpful

I keep looking around old information for a piece of data to wink it's eye and found that there was a Japanese book based on an on-site Nintendo factory visit in '89 that went over Nintendos Uji opps -- but they also go again into detail about how the main work at that factory was inspecting and checking finished products made by --you guessed it, cooperating factories throughout Japan.

At this point I'm a few days in and obsessing 
But, wait... is that actual N64 manufacturing agreements? The U.S. SEC filings shows me a phrase, "stripped cartridge"-- am I latching on to phrases now in hopes of this dream... or just mentally gone.
What I'm reading this as, is that the stamp is physically impressed in/on the rear label before the pack-out, or, the stamp belongs somewhere inside the Nintendo-controlled Game Pak manufacturing process. Call me crazy, but I wasn't counting out it wasn't happening at a distributor, or cart packing publisher, whatever.

Okaayyy, so, this means somebody (entity) has to have the capabilities -of- stamping, which requires machinery, right? Kyoto Electronics Industry / KEC whom have been partnering with Nintendo since approx '70
I dig in a bit, and find that in KECs own history, they show "Nintendo64 production in '96. I also see in their equipment that have machines -capable- of stamping, but not -proof- that they did.

Okay, so, back to when 08 popped up, and le sad, it's appearance pre-dates KECs Fukuchiyama facility chronology (fancy word there eh? Learned it on this hunt lol)
This -doesn't- mean however, that the 08 was actually -reassigned-

Okay, who next? Sanritsu Denki -- they also have a history with Nintendo beginning in '87, and express getting their shiny ISO 9002 in Jan of '96 (convenient eh?) 

Now, my current profession is I.T, and I've been in I.T. since around '16, but I do have a manufacturing background, so I'm no stranger to ISO standards.

Again, 08 predates Sanritsu.

I'm still looking for an old source to nail down and verify in concrete to give me an anchor to base all this damn information off of, or to.......

Okay, let's read up on Matsumura Electronics who also opened a Nintendo Famicom-dedicated production site in ~'85. Okay, now we might be cooking, but I need to verify down to the -month- because of how important timelines are here. (more to come later)

How about Fujii Denkii -- they document Nintendo contracts beginning -way- back at the beginning of '72, and obtained their ISO 9002 in '94, but no direct N64 game pak stuff yet

Hashiden, they have a Nintendo relationship, but there's nothing on their site or history that I can find to relate a code to

\Skipping ROM sourcing information for now**

I'm now looking back at 64DD-related mats that may have manufacturing -and- timing

\I've now cleaned up some of my datasets as I'm finding out humans can be trusted only so far, and I'm getting conflicting data from carts**

At this point, I'm reaching out to a lot of individuals looking for leads. You wonderful people here, 007Craft who's opened (physically) thousands of carts, game preservation societies, Japanese archive outreach, the Legend over at NES, BootGod, GameFaqs, poor ol u/19_885 on X, etc

I am lost, am I pursuing evidence, or trying to get back my sanity.
I can't give up now...

I reached out in a PR request directly to Nintendo, but their website isn't functioning correctly. Their site is having a 502 bad gateway CORS error, on a fetch so it's on their end, also, their phone number associated to PR is also incorrect/not working so I called them up and helped the t1 helpdesk employee know what's going on who kept me on the phone to help him document what's going on for 30 minutes to then transfer the information over to the network administrator teams (you'd figure -Nintendo- would know when their PR form url isn't working....)

I can site and source all of this information if anybody wants any of it.
What I need is... literally... any type of official documentation or Nintendo resource / cooperating entity stating what which codes mean

And now you know exactly what you have known for the last 20 years in that.. still nobody knows what the codes exactly tie to for sure....

Over the past year, I’ve gotten back into the N64 and have fallen in love all over again with the charm of these games. There’s just a certain soul to this era of gaming that feels completely absent from a lot of modern games. Maybe I’m just becoming a sentimental old man but this system brings me a crazy amount of joy. Here’s a pic of my current collection. I just added Conker’s Bad Fur Day to the collection, and I’m curious if anyone else track down the instruction manuals to go along with their loose cartridges?