Share. Inspire. Discuss.
Whilst building ReCollect 64's main collection app, I have devised list after list of things I need to add, fix, or look into. I recently found some time to focus on one subject, so I began looking into Operation Cards, the foldable piece of paper included with the manual, and any other items of paperwork you may find in a boxed game. Not every game came with one, and not all regions had them. I didn't remember having any whilst collecting a PAL set (though I focused on carts over CIB), and I don't own a single one in any of the games I've purchased boxed from any other regions.
Operation cards, or quick start guides, are designed to give you the bare basics it would take to perform the majority of moves, or abilities of your character depending on the game. Wave Race 64, for example, lays out the instructions for how to change the camera angle, shift your weight on the Jet Ski, or dampen the waves with the "B" button. The flip-side of the page explains all the tricks and stunts you can do, it's a compact and colourful way to quickly reference important features without having to read tonnes, or hold a manual in front of you while you play.
When I began searching, my first Google hit came from The Chozo Project and the writers footing into USA Operation card hunting. I noted several things when scouring that site, firstly, it's a great insight into the owners collecting mentality, but secondly, it felt a tad untapped. Sure, it was a tremendous starting point, but I knew there were more out there to discover.
With this thought lodged firmly in my brain, I contacted a person I knew would have some insight into the matter, an absolute fountain of knowledge: @JosetteTrinkets. We had a lengthy conversation regarding these over the course of several days, over which time we really dug into these cards and got a grasp on what games had them, and in which regions. We exchanged countless messages exclaiming a new find, and eventually figured out ways to mine Nintendo's own Virtual Console servers for scanned treasure.
Finding them was as simple as combining an NUS ID into the known URL. For example, https://m1.nintendo.net/docvc/NUS/JPN/NCZJ/NCZJ_J.pdf opens up the Custom Robo V2 Operation Guide and manual, so editing the end of the URL to NUS/JPN/NWRJ/NWRJ_J instantly bagged us the JPN Operation card for Wave Race 64 (as an example), though changing it to NUS/USA/NWRE/NWRE_E (USA) or NUS/EUR/NWRP/NWRP_P (European) only holds manuals for these regions π.
As you can see, hitting Japanese links yielded results, but it was still too hit and miss. A lot of games, particularly third-party ones, were not stored on Nintendo's servers, so I invested some (a lot) of time in scouring the global eBay sites to figure out which games we were even looking for!
Below is a list of games I formulated based on my findings and with @JosetteTrinkets valuable insights. Together, we managed to find the majority of JPN ones at a decent quality, but others we had to nab from random auction sites around the world:
| π » Title π » / π Ί Country π Ί | π¦πΊ | π§π· | ππ° | π―π΅ | π°π· | πΊπΈ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080 Snowboarding | βοΈ | βοΈ | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Banjo-Kazooie | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Banjo-Tooie | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Blast Corps (Blast Dozer) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Bomberman (Baku Bomberman) | βοΈ | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Bomberman Hero | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Custom Robo | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Custom Robo V2 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Dezaemon 3D | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Diddy Kong Racing | βοΈ | β | βοΈ | βοΈ | βοΈ | βοΈ |
| Dobutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Donkey Kong 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Excitebike 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| F-1 World Grand Prix | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| F-Zero X | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Glover | β | β | β | β | β | βοΈ |
| GoldenEye 007 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Human Grand Prix | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Hey you, Pikachu! (Pikachu Genki Dechu) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Killer Instinct Gold | β | β | β | β | β | βοΈ |
| Kirby 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Mario Golf | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Mario Kart 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Mario Tennis | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Mickeys Speedway USA | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Paper Mario (Mario Story) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Perfect Dark | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Pilotwings 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Pokemon Snap | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Pocket Monsters Stadium | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Pocket Monsters Stadium Kin Gin | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Shiren the Wanderer 2 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Sin & Punishment | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Snowboard Kids | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Snowboard Kids 2 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Star Twins (Jet Force Gemini) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Star Wars Shadows of the Empire | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Super Mario 64 | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Turok | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Wave Race 64 | βοΈ | βοΈ | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| WinBack (Operation WinBack) | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Yoshis Story | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | βοΈ |
| Zelda Ocarina of Time | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| Zelda Majoras Mask | β | β | β | βοΈ | β | β |
| TOTAL GAMES: 46 | 3/39 | 2/35 | 1/7 | 44/44 | 1/4 | 10/39 |
| KEY:FOUND:β MISSING:β NONEXISTENT:β |
The majority of games that contained these cards came from Japan, with very few coming from PAL regions at all. Of the 46 games identified, we managed to find all 44 of the available NTSC-J ones! We also confirmed a tenth USA one (Hey You, Pikachu!) and I spied a sneaky -1 variant of the Mario Kart 64 one that would have come with a revision, or second print, of the cart later on. Hopefully the writer of The Chozo Project site (Zach Lindemann) will read this someday and revel in our obsessions!
While researching, I also spotted evidence of Korean, Hong Kong, Australian, and even Brazilian Operation Cards, so the quest to find them all will expand into these quirky regions. I highly suspect that the main titles depicted here will share cards regionally, with Diddy Kong Racing, for example, having one for Japan, USA, Korea, and Australia, so it stands to reason that a version should exist for Brazil, and so on.
I will be continuing my efforts to uncover more, and all that remains now is an ongoing hunt for the illusive ones that are still widely unseen. I have already uploaded everything we have found so far to my repository because they will be added to the ReCollect64 collectors app, for all to access properly in the next update!
ReCollect64 Operation Card Repo
Give @JosetteTrinkets a follow
Can you contribute? Contact me!
Share on:
Less than a month ago, Joshua Barretto set the GBA and N64 scenes ablaze with news of something we all thought would be impossible: Super Mario 64 was being ported to the Game Boy Advance.
Since early May, the visuals have gone from a primative red triangle to a rudimentary silver model of the plumber to a bendable, animatable facsimile of the main man himself. The progress is wonderful to behold, and the coder behind it is doing some very impressive work in delivering an instantly recognisable version of the original for the 2001 handheld.
The gravity of this statement is unimaginable, probably even for Nintendo, who no doubt will want to stomp all over this and DMCA the heck out of it. Hopefully this will fly under their radar and continue undetected.
The word "Port" implies that Joshua is taking the decompiled code and recompiling it for GBA, but this doesn't appear to be the case. He is not taking the 64-bit binaries and simply converting them to 32-bit. Rather, there is a lot of custom code, no pre-built engines in use, and what appears to be a lot of trial and error in getting the game to render. Understandably, performing this feat is going to be extremely challenging, and there has to be a heck of a lot of optimisations and specific techniques to get a version anywhere close to the original, so it may be more accurate to consider this a de-make, rather than a port.
The latest iteration of this project sees Mario regain some of his distinguishing acrobatics, with flipping, crouching, sliding, and jumping looking extremely recognisable. What's impressive is how the developer is gradually adding features that gave the game its distinctive look and feel, and he's attempting to rebuild every element within the restrictions of the 240 Γ 160 aperture.
The Game Boy Advance was limited to just 288 KB RAM and 98 KB VRAM, whereas the N64 has access to 4 MB (or 8 MB for games that were created to take advantage of the Expansion Pak when inserted). The SOC design of the GBA means that onboard was an ARM7TDMI running 16.78 MHz and a Sharp SM83 running 4 / 8 MHz, whereas the N64 housed a dedicated 64-bit NEC VR4300 CPU running at 93.75 MHz, paired with a dedicated SGI RCP GPU running 62.5 MHz. A huge difference in technology, and a vast difference in architecture, all of which would make directly porting a 3D 64-bit home console game to a traditionally 2D 32-bit handheld extremely challenging.
The fully bespoke approach taken, to effectively recreate the entire game from scratch with only graphic resources to hand and an understanding of how SM64 looks, feels, and plays, will be no doubt tougher, but is already yielding visible results at a lot faster rate than a traditional port would see.
Hopefully this game will flourish and allow yet another console to enjoy the 1996 platformer, and that's what matters at the core of this: that everyone can enjoy their favourite games any way they like.
I will be continuing to follow this project as it evolves and will be sure to keep you up to date on any significant updates going forward!
Joshua Barretto's YouTube Channel
Share on:
Welcome to ReCollect64 chat Foslerfer AKA The Perfect Dark Girl. Please, tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm here to express my love for Perfect Dark/Zero and archive as much information as I can about the Perfect Dark franchise. I can recognize that my love for the series is maybe a little bit out there. My ultimate goal on the interwebs is to show other folks like me to allow ourselves to be authentic to who we are, regardless of if it can be considered weird or maybe means loving Perfect Dark a bit too much.
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
I must have been really young when I first started gaming. I'm younger than most people in the retro gaming community, born in 2005. But I was 12 when I started playing Perfect Dark and talking a lot in online forums. My first collection was my current one, sparked by a single Perfect Dark Zero polo shirt, fueled by some awesome encouraging people in the Perfect Dark community.
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
All stuff somehow relates to the Perfect Dark series. Copies, Magazines, Clothes, dolls, posters. You name it, I have it with Joanna Dark on it. Oh, and of course; 108 Copies of Perfect Dark Zero.
Do you have a favourite console?
Hard to say, I love the 64, But I love the Xbox 360 too. If you had a Falcon 2 to my head, I'd have to say 360. Maybe the N64 is just a little before my time. But it is very, very close.
What games do you play regularly?
Believe it or not (and this is a shocker) mostly Perfect Dark and Perfect Dark Zero. I play some other games like Grabbed By The Ghoulies, Goldeneye 007. But I spend most of my time on PD. There is always something new to upload to the Data Uplink in my brain.
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
Probably my Perfect Dark Vinyl record. It's not particularly rare, but it's a really neat thing, gifted to me by a really neat person. Not a whole lot of my stuff is particularly valuable (I maybe spent $600 on everything in total) But it's really sentimental to me, and much of it is gifts from awesome 64 players and PD lovers.
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
Perfect Dark Zero recorder pen. There is so little about it out there that it's like it doesn't exist. And I'm still looking for more pictures from the βMeet Joanna Darkβ event in 2000. Not a lot of this stuff is well documented, which is why I feel like it's my duty to document whatever I can.
Are you looking forward to Perfect Dark via N64 Recomp?
I may not be super up to date with my knowledge when it comes to this sort of thing, but any way to make Perfect Dark easier to play and experience makes me happy. After all, it's projects like N64Recomp that keep the community alive and well!
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
Peperoni. Onions. Red Peppers. It's weird, but it's tasty. Pizza is my favorite food.
How many games consoles do you own?
3. I used to have 6 but I had to sell a few to acquire some extra funds for kittens who were born recently.
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
Probably the Perfect Dark Initiative Reboot dev t-shirt. I have one of the only ones, as a non-devβ¦ I think. I spent like 350 on it. Sadly it has faded quite a bit π
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled up for gaming?
Monsters, pizza, and more monsters. But I gotta keep it under control if I want to keep up the whole Joanna Dark look.
Thank you very much for your time and being part of the ReCollect64 Q&A chats!
108 copies of Perfect Dark is certainly something! I fully respect the dedication to the cause of collecting!
If you don't already follow The Perfect Dark Girl on Twitter or YouTube I highly recommend that you do, because all of her Perfect Dark/N64 content is definitely worth checking!
.. @Foslerfer
Share on:
I have heard this a lot throughout the years. People would sound off that the SNES had 1,700+ releases and that there were a startling 4000+ games on Sony's first PlayStation console, but the N64 had "f#&k all." I would typically retort with "What percentage of those SNES/PSX games have you actually played?" and the answer was always very few, perhaps a handful of games, but definitely no where near a significant percentage of the available titles.
Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Super Nintendo had a lot going for them, particularly RPG games, movie tie-ins, and light guns! During the 90's, they were fierce rivals, with the whole reason the first PlayStation existed being for Sony to spite Nintendo after the sourness of their illfated SNES-CD partnership.
Rivalry is a good thing in the industry because it nurtures progression, innovation, and most importantly, variety. But back then, obtaining 1000+ games was impossible for most people, and within each console's respective catalogue was undoubtedly a percentage of dud titles. The bigger the catalogue, the higher number of games that small percentage represents.
With the N64, Nintendo utilised their "seal of quality" to best effect, ensuring endless torrents of sub-quality games didn't show up on their platform and thus the number of games quickly dimished. That, plus Ninetndo 64's cartridge-based approached to distribution as opposed to CD, meant smaller or more optimised games and higher development and manufacture costs.
If you wanted your game on a Nintendo, it had to be good! There were even games like Resident Evil 2 that is today deemed the impossible port, because of the incredible amount of optimisation and skill it took to whittle down 2 CD's worth of data (757 MB to be precise) into a tiny 64 MB cart.
As a collector, I like to know how many games it takes to complete my collections, so I recently broke this down and discovered that of the N64's 388 individual titles, within that you have (roughly) 83 Sports titles, 65 Racing, 49 Action, 36 Fighting, 25 Platform, 20 Simulation, 18 Shoot 'em up, 16 Adventure, 16 First-Person Shooter, 14 Puzzle, 14 Board Games, 9 Strategy, 8 Party, 3 Card-based, 1 Rhythm, and a couple more miscellaneous ones that slip through an indescript net. I have classed these fairly loosely because there are arguments for and against calling the Zelda games RPGs or action-adventure games, and while both are true, which is really the most accurate categorisation? You could probably cantankerously argue that you're role-playing as Wayne Gretzky, Superman, or even Star Fox in their titular games.
You could even get more granular and sub-categorise sports games, for example, into ice hockey, soccer, fishing (OOT also had fishing in it), and so on, but for the purposes of keeping it simple and easier to follow, I have kept the genre split to a minimum with games falling into their most approximate categories.
I wanted to visualise this data and see what proportion of the N64's catalogue made up those categories, so I crafted a crude chart. As you can see below, the N64 was actually a sports-heavy console with racing and action-based games at the forefront, regardless of it being synonymous with some of the best FPS games ever made:
While the N64 had less than 400 games to its name, of those titles, which ones stood out? Well, though most "top 10s" almost always site adventure and platforming games for the majority, there is notably only one sports title in the feature: Mario Tennis.
This seems to indicate that though the N64 was saturated with over one fifth of its titles being sports games, they were rarely impactful or console sellers. The N64 has had a reputation for having mainly first-person shooters on it, but the reality is that under 5% of its catalogue is actually comprised of FPS titles, and of those 16 games, 2 of them hold the second and third spots in the N64's all-time top ten on Metacritic, a site that aggregates thousands of reviews per-game.
I think that the majority of the N64's preconceptions spring from the fact it had 4-player support, and as such, experiencing multiplayer FPS games in front of one single TV screen was unheard of in the late 90s. A lot of people have shared memoires of playing the likes of Turok 2, Rage Wars, and even Duke Nukem 64 in the luxury of their homes with three mates huddled around a screen. Those days were massively impactful formative memories of a relatively fledgling gaming environment where more than two players competing together was brand new.
RARE notably stepped up and excelled with the N64 hardware, exclusively bringing us not one but two solid first-person shooter titles that every other console manufacturer at the time would be jealous of, for years to come.
Perfect Dark and its spiritual ancestor, GoldenEye 007, are two of the most incredible FPS games ever made, transcending the N64's end of life in 2002 and still being talked about in 2024!
With the games listed above still being referenced today, the N64 is perhaps a misunderstood console. It could also stand as one that people possibly missed out on during the late '90s, and as a result they either had a PS1 or held on to their SNES until they eventually graduated to the PS2, DC, and GameCube era.
Ocarina of Time is widely acclaimed as the best game ever made. Super Mario 64 was a pivotal release in demonstrating and redefining the analog stick and showing off innovative 3D platforming. GoldenEye 007 redefined and pioneered the modern FPS, and Perfect Dark raised the bar 007 set, and is still revered as a masterpiece. I'm not saying that the PS1 didn't have highly rated games; I'm just pointing out the ratio of quality vs quantity that Nintendo's "seal of quality" stood for back then.
In Metacritic's top-rated games of all time, OOT, GE 007, and Perfect Dark solidly hold three of the top 20 spots, while the nearest PS1 entry sits at number 23 with Tekken 3. Personally, I love the Tekken series of games, so I fully appreciate Tekken 3's longevity in the charts.
It's great to see that the N64, a console that purportedly "had no games", still holds its own in 2024.
Personally, I can recommend a whole slew of games for the system, the majority of which were N64 exclusive up until very recently. Nightdive Studios have done a stellar job in bringing N64 gems, such as the Turok trilogy, Shadow Man, and Doom 64, to the modern consoles. I recently completed all of those on my PS5, and I have to say it was the perfect blend of enhanced graphics, rejuvinated controls, and pure nostalgia; highly recommended!
Diddy Kong Racing, Rocket Robot on Wheels, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Space Station Silicon Valley, Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, and Donkey Kong 64 to begin with are all worthy of your attention, even today.
(Note: DK64 & Ogre Battle haven't been available since Wii U VC.)
None of the above games are available on recent platforms, probably due to licensing restrictions, but regardless, they are N64 exclusives that are still definitely worth a look today.
N64Recomp should pave the way to enjoy these games on PC again, with better framerates and upscaled resolutions. Their style, playability, and originality are through the roof, so I cannot wait to get stuck back in!
Hopefully this will set the topic to rest, and allow people to enjoy the games they want to, however they want. Emulation, ports and OG hardware are all fine by me!
Click here to visit Metacritic
Share on:
Welcome to ReCollect64 chat Litronom! Now, I know you from Mario Kart 64 modding, in particular the incredible Amped up mods, so can you describe your work on social media?
I share my mods and other cool stuff with all the people who are interested. I just want to bring joy and fun to everyone!
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
My earliest memories are about me playing Sonic on the Mega Drive (Genesis) together with my dad!
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
Sadly my old consoles and games went missing after moving places alot in the past.
Do you have a favourite console?
It's no secret: Nintendo 64!
What games do you play regularly?
Almost exclusively indie games! Absolutely love the creativity smaller developers bring to the table. Oh, and The Binding of Isaac is permanently installed on my device.
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled up for gaming?
I try not to snack that much when gaming or working on the PC, but I really need caffeine!
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
Quite a few! But my favorite is probably my original Famicom.
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
I have no idea, haha!
Are you looking forward to replaying any particular games via N64 Recomp?
The one and only: The BOM: Bomberman 64! One of my childhood classics.
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
Nothing too fancy: Prosciutto cotto, broccoli and mozzarella.
How many games consoles do you own?
Famicom, NES Mini, SNES Mini, N64 (2x), PS1, GCN, Wii, NDS, WiiU, 3DS (2x), Switch, Steam Deck. (14)
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
It's probably my PC, which I've upgraded over the years, again and again. A single HDD is the only thing that survived from when I first got my PC (around 2010).
Thank you very much for your time and being part of ReCollect64's 5th Q&A chat!
If you haven't seen the incredible Amped up mods for Mario Kart 64, you really should check them out!
All you need is to patch your "Mario Kart 64 (U) [!].z64" (CRC32: 434389C1) ROM via your favorite patcher, or this online ROM patcher.
You can find Litronom, as well as their Amped Up progress updates here:
Share on:
As a collector of variants, I want to know that I'm getting a legit game and that I will have the freedom to dump, preserve, examine, modify, and emulate them should I wish to.
The JoeyN64 by BennVenn is a device that I have had in my arsenal for a while. It's operation is so simple that all you have to do is connect a USB-C cable to your PC and drag and drop the ROM off of an N64 cartridge to back it up.
If you want to play your backups in an emulator, or on another flash cart, just dump them in a ROMs folder and away you go. Want to play through Project64? Simply connect the JoeyN64 to your PC, load up PJ64, and select the ROM from the cartridge once the drive pops up. In order to use your saves with the cart, copy them off first and put them in the PJ64 saves folder.
At the time of writing, the JoeyN64 is $55 AUD (Β£29) from BennVenn's Shopify store, and it is supported by a discord group where the other main feature is a very lively chat: the ability to reflash repro carts!
Reflashing clone carts means that if you were to be in posession of a Smash Remix cart, you could simply update it at any time by dragging and dropping a more recent version ROM onto the cart, overwriting the previous version.
The only issues you may face are those of the CIC regioning, and as such, you must flash a compatible ROM to the installed hardware CIC, or you can try to convert the ROM.
JoeyN64 main features:
I recently used my JoeyN64 to dump some Taiwanese and Malaysian cartridges, and it took mere seconds to achieve this. Inserting the cartridge, and dragging the ROM off is incredibly intuitive, and it's so quick in comparison to older, less stable methods of dumping with a Game Shark and parallel a port!
Updating the JoeyN64 to the latest firmware is as simple as plugging it into your PC, dragging across the "mode.txt" file first, and then dragging the "firmware.jr" file afterwards. The "mode.txt" file is editable in several ways, and for flashing an update it must have the word "UPDATE" in the first line. After this you can change the modes as you wish:
Changing modes is as easy as editing the txt file, which is simple, but it feels a little clunky, and what if you have it on the wrong mode? Thankfully the JoeyN64 is pretty smart for the most part, and I haven't experienced any issues using mine to dump or reflash repros.
As alluded to above, there are software CIC commands (softCIC) you can use too, such as "61052" for converting a 6105 ROM to run on a 6102 cartridge. It's by no means foolproof and more often than not, it won't work due to compatibility of the CIC in your repro hardware. Luckily there is a fantastic flashing guide and reference by Gent over on his github page that untangles softCIC quandries, and BennVenns Bootleg Guide lets you see which repro carts are the most compatible for flashing ROMs to.
There are other resources too, such as Paladin or MotetIII, that can convert the CIC and patch the CRC to run again.
The ability to copy saves from the cartridge or dump them from the Memory Pak, also opens up the possibility to use modded saves, because not only are they readable, they're writable too!
An upcoming feature for the firmware includes 900k/sec transfer speed, which is over twice that of the current JoeyN64 MCU speed. This will make dumping and flashing so much quicker than it already is, and I for one will be updating the second it becomes available. Another upcoming piece of software, that BennVenn has hinted at is a GUI for these tools, which will begin with the Joey JR GBA flasher/dumper and will eventually make it to the JoeyN64 someday. This could be incredibly useful and would negate the need to manually edit a txt file each time you want to swap modes.
The JoeyN64 is a dream come true for verification and backing up ROMs as a collector, but also as a reflashing tool for hobbyists. The one downside to the JoeyN64 is that it cannot dump development carts, the tombstone-like prototype cartridges we see people finding in random places that miraculously contain a fully playable build of Rev Limit, for example.
Incredibly easy to use
Compatible with PJ64 plug-and-play
Supports multigame flashcarts
Works on smartphone too
Prototype carts need a 12v mod to dump Needs a GUI to further enhance usability
I'm a huge fan of this device because this is the perfect way to verify, dump, and preserve your own ROMs with zero fuss and minimal effort. You can even drill into the other available features to do a heck of a lot more if you need to. Overall it is effortless to use and well supported through the discord channel, and I cannot wait to see what updates and features come next!
Click here for BennVenn's shop
Join BennVenn's Discord server
Share on:
It's a shocking statistic; less than 10% of the N64 catalogue is represented officially on Nintendo's NSO online platform. This week Perfect Dark and Turok Dinosaur Hunter join the ranks of replayable games, but how do they fare?
To date, there are just 36 N64 games, out of a possible 388, on Nintendo Switch Online's N64 Expansion Pak service. Japan has Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2 as exclusives, while the USA and EUR regions have Dr. Mario, Iggy's Reckin' Balls, Pokemon Puzzle League, and Turok Dinosaur Hunter as their exclusives.
Notably, Sin & Punishment, a Japanese exclusive, has had USA box art added for its English language release that's exclusive to NSO, even though no such physical copy exists other than in bootleg form.
Nintendo is drip-feeding games across NSO at such a slow rate, that I'm beginning to doubt that the Nintendo Switch will ever see Donkey Kong 64, or Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, as the Wii U did (though there are at least two slots still remaining in the NSO N64 database).
Licensing issues aside, I feel that Nintendo is trying to get away with doing as little as possible when it comes to truly offering and preserving the games in a way that people can replay them faithfully, as they were intended to be experienced.
Nintendo is the keeper of the games, and also the ones DMCA'ing anyone who attempts to enjoy games that aren't even on their shaky platform. Why is N64 emulation on NSO so broken, and why is it acceptable for them to leave it in such a state?
The internal name for the N64 emulator is "Hovercraft" and it is based on the Wii U N64 emulator developed by Nintendo and iQue. It is used as a blanket emulator, in tandem with LUA config files, to operate with every ROM. While the emulator does bring a few features such as JIT real-time code compilation, RPT for texture replacement, and online multiplayer, it also brings a lot of game-breaking bugs thanks to this blanket approach and no game specific optimisations. Rather, they use LUA to bodge the games into running on an all-for-one emulator.
How on Earth does this even pass QA??
Nintendo has seen fit to included suspend points, upped resolutions, and enhanced frame rates to play these games, though all we see is broken or missing effects, performance issues across the catalogue of games, and horrible input lag. That's not to mention a complete lack of a proper remapping function for the Joy-Cons or the N64 controller. The way the buttons are laid out, or worse, the requirement for you to switch configurations on the fly on a Joy-Con, is heartbreaking.
It's incredible to think that Nintendo could mess up their own platform for playing games that are otherwise unavailable to play elsewhere (unless you own the carts). Somehow, they have taken a console so beloved by so many, and churned out crappily emulated versions of our favourite games almost every time.
Perfect Dark is something we have dreamed of for a long time, with a solid story mode, cooperative, and now online multiplayer. But yet somehow this version, the version you pay your hard earned money for, is borked upon release.
For starters, the game chugs in a way that it NEVER did on OG hardware, there are sounds, effects, and textures rendering incorrectly, hiddeous input lag, poor analog controls, and to top it off, the controller bindings are useless: even with the BlueTooth N64 Controller.
Turok Dinosaur Hunter also suffers from heinous input mapping, missing screen effects, and memory Pak pop-ups that should have been patched out at very least. It's a poor showing for a game that revolutionised FPS games in 1997, that it can't be replayed seamlessly in 2024.
Looking back at the GoldenEye 007 release in January 2023, it was the same story. It still has not been rectified to make the game less janky to play and fix various issues that the N64 never presented. There was one patch released in August 2023 that addressed some texture and framerate issues, though it only served to exacerbate sound quality issues, and still has yet to be fully fixed.
Fundamentally, the methods deployed are sub-par at their core. Nintendo needs to up their game in the 64-bit emulation stakes, and rather than giving us half-assed emulation, give us guns blazing, cycle accurate playability with the option to enhance frame rates and resolutions, and the ability to correctly display all in-game effects across all games. A little care and attention would go a long way, and they could learn a huge amount from the N64Recomp project!
Heck, 64DD emulation wouldn't go amiss either. We have known it's existence since the Wii U and 64DD games havn't ever been added to any Nintendo storefront.
Click here to check out 64DD on ReCollect64
Click here to check out the full 388 N64 set on ReCollect64
Share on:
Welcome to ReCollect64 chat Emu_kidid! I vividly remember you from back in the the Wii/GC days with Wii64/Cube64 working with Tehpola, and I have contacted you a few times regarding ReCollect64's collection app, but what are you up to nowadays?
My mission is to try and preserve niche GameCube homebrew related info and to try and keep the GameCube relevant. Social media wise I just try and stay up to date with all things retro gaming/hardware, that's mainly why I'm on twitter, I don't post much π
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
I got into gaming from a very young age, my dad bought a NES in 1989 and I can remember getting Metroid, Super Mario Bros. I have very fond memories playing NES in my early years, many days on end spent exploring Zelda etc.
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
I have way too much I'm afraid to admit. I have a complete PAL NES set (cartridges only mostly, but Black Box titles are complete in box), complete N64 PAL cart set (no variants like some people!). Lately my collecting has been rather niche, for instance I just recently got all the PlayStation 1 Street Fighter games, and some niche SNES RPG's that I intend on playing. Console wise, I have just about all I'd ever need, with at least a backup for each and a MiSTer.
Do you have a favourite console?
I'd have to say the GameCube & NES are a tie for first place, with SNES/N64 VERY close behind. I'm a Nintendo fanboy for sure.
What games do you play regularly?
It's weird as you get older you go back to those which you have the best muscle memory/nostalgia for. For me it's (NES) Bionic Commando, Zelda, (SNES) Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing, (N64) GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, OoT, (GameCube) Mario Parties, Mario Golf.
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
Probably my Zelda - Link to the Past PAL sealed copy.
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
Vindicators for the NES, released unlicensed by Home Entertainment Suppliers (HES) in Australia.
Are you looking forward to replaying any games via N64Recomp?
It'd be a good way to experience some N64 games I haven't had the pleasure of playing yet such as Body Harvest.
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
Pepperoni, Olives (controversial!), cheese.
How many games consoles do you own?
68 (not including handhelds!)
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
I bought Stack Up and ROB complete in box for $1700 AUD, that's the most I've ever spent on a game/accessory.
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled up for gaming?
Anything that won't dirty my controllers!
Thank you very much for your time and being part of the ReCollect64 chats Emu-kidid!
So there you have it! If you're into emulation, N64, and GameCube and don't already follow Emu_Kidid on Twitter, you can do so here:
Share on:
I don't know why, but I've wanted one of these for a very long time. I think it's a mixture of morbid curiosity and a penchant for the weird and wonderful in the world of N64 controllers!
The Performance UltraRacer 64 is unlike anything you've probably seen before, with a singular handle to hold onto and a small foam encircled wheel mounted on the top. The wheel acts as the analog stick twisting left and right to steer, and it houses the four C-buttons at the summit of its form. The remainder of the buttons are sprinkled upon the top of the handle, in thumbs reach, but oddly, even they aren't as they seem. The cluster of blue and green buttons are NOT A or B buttons, instead, they are L/Z/R buttons with a bonus "Extra" green button as the fourth.
Underneath the handle is not a Z-trigger, it's the A and B buttons but in the form of a strange two-way-trigger; clicking upward for B, and clicking downward for A. This trigger also acts as the up and down analog stick controls. On the right hand side is a switch, and this one turns the A and B buttons on and off, and remaps them to the D-Pad left and right buttons. It's like Performance said, "Take every feature and turn it on its head", because not much on this controller makes sense.
The D-Pad buttons are just beneath the position of the main wheel, and again, in what I would consider odd order; Up, Down, Left, Right. I perhaps would have positioned them; Left, Up, Down, Right so that the cardinal directions matched up more with the edges of the controller, for ease of use? Towards the bottom of the prong are the Start and Set buttons, the latter of which can be used to programme 14 out of the 16 buttons on the controller, so you could completely remap it if you were so inclined!
Programming the buttons is simple: hold the Set button until it beeps, tap the button you want to change, followed by the button you want it to become. The pad beeps when beginning and again upon completion to indicate a successful programming. Reverting the pad back to default is achieved by holding A+L+R for several seconds upon turning the console on with it plugged in.
The wheel, is a very strange creature. It measures 2-inches across and fits nicely between your fingers with its squishy, foam-rubber surround. It turns just 45Β° clockwise and 45Β° anticlockwise, so it has a tight, responsive feel to it, but, and this is a big but: its responsiveness is questionable.
In order to test out this racing-centric controller, I chose the original racers on the console: Mario Kart 64, Wave Race 64, F-Zero X, and, for good measure, World Driver Championship.
For Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, and World Driver Championship the UltraRacer 64 fared well overall. Steering around corners and navigating tracks feels good, but the buttons feel slightly off all around the controller. In any game menus, character or vehicle select, it's recommended to slide the A/B switch off so that you can use the D-Pad left and right buttons as the A and B buttons. Once the game commences you switch the slider back to the on position.
Wave Race 64 was pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to control. It was like skating on ice, the turning circle was almost nonexistent, and the characters glided effortlessly out of bounds when attempting to round any corner.
The biggest issue I had with this controller was the A/B slider/trigger controlling the analog Y-axis. I genuinely don't understand the design choices made to get this pad to function. It's so specific in its design towards racing games that it feels like Performance then tacked the rest of the features they omitted back on, through any bizarre way possible.
Overall, the UltraRacer 64 has its merits for driving games specifically, but beyond that, it's purely chock full of gimmicks that sadly won't make this an essential purchase unless you are mad on racing games 24/7.
Completely remappable
Good, but exclusively for driving games
Awful analog controls
Questionable design
The UltraRacer 64 is yet another oddity from the N64 era that now serves as a talking point collectable rather than a controller that you would choose to ever replace your OG trident. It's niche means that you should only reach for it when strictly playing car-based racing games.
Mr-Wiseguy's N64Recomp project came to light at the beginning of May, bursting out the gates with a promise of statically recompiling N64 binaries into C code for use on other platforms. With one demonstration provided; The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask has seen an incredible resurgence in the last 4 weeks, with virtually everyone I know enjoying the game at 60fps, with gyro aiming, in wide/ultrawide screen, and with a rejuvenated analog camera system.
The way the Majoras Mask port was built using the RT64 graphic renderer, means modern APIs such as Vulkan, can be deployed for maximum compatibility across more platforms and with massive resolutions compared to N64's native 320Γ240, or 640Γ480 with an Expansion Pak.
Recompilation aims to immediately recompile binaries without the need for lengthy (upwards of years) decompilation beforehand, followed by months of porting to other platforms via their respective SDKs. Some decompilation projects have been running for years, with only Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Doom 64, Perfect Dark, and most recently, Paper Mario taking the limelight. The problem with decompilation is that to get a perfect one-to-one replica of a game's source code takes a long time because each function, instruction, and opcode needs mapping out and verifying at multiple stages to ensure correctness.
I have been following the majority of these decompilation projects for a long time, most since inception, but the progress is a long and arduous one, and not one that most game-enjoyers can commit to, even if they REALLY want to see their favourite games get a fancy new up-rezzed PC port. It's usually left to those in the know, but with N64Recomp; it could become very convenient for anyone to run any game.
By incorporating tools such as Rabbitizer, which is a MIPs decoder that can convert ASM (machine code) to C, ELFIO, TOML11 and FMTLIB, then directly piping it all to RT64; you will have the ability to easily build your own ROMs into playable PC ports in minutes.
At least, that's the aim, because currently, without Mr-Wiseguy's tools being made public yet, it takes even the most well versed in coding a couple of hours to get their head around the process of linking and building, let alone fixing errors and residual problems, such as game specific microcode, you will undoubtedly face when starting each game from scratch.
With incredible features such as ray tracing and HD texture support coming to the RT64 engine, N64 ports could look like fresh games, and with Banjo Kazooie, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, and Superman 64 being immediately worked on by Mr-Wiseguy, the future of N64 gaming is very bright!
The ability to recompile our own games is a feature I'm massively looking forward to. Wave Race 64, Lylat Wars, Diddy Kong Racing, and Conkers Bad Fur Day, to name but a few! Can you imagine Wave Race 64 with Ray Tracing?! There are so many gems in the N64 library that could benefit from just the enhanced framerates and increased resolutions, that I'm extremely excited to get my hands on the toolset when they drop.
Thankfully, as mentioned before, Mr-Wiseguy is in the process of building tools that can load, translate, and read any N64 ROM for recompilation in next to no time. Extra touches like modern controller mapping, gyro support, increased FPS, and widescreen culling will come as configuration files and executable revisions, because each game needs individual care and attention to port features to offsets, but the overall time reduction, compared to standard decompilation, is astounding. As an example; Majoras Mask was recompiled to a playable state with RT64 upgrades and full console-accurate effects in under 2 days!
If any of this still sounds like too much work, then rest assured that others will jump at the opportunity to provide the final executables we need to play the games, we will just have to shove a ROM into a directory, the same way the Majoras Mask works right now.
You may be asking yourself if N64Recomp will make emulators redundant; I don't think so. Emulation is a more universal approach to faithfully, and cycle-accurately, play ROMs, but N64Recomp adds a lot more by way of modernising the games with features that emulators don't currently offer if you have the time and inclination to put into it. Emulators, because of their maturity, are instantly more compatible, and are way more convenient for the end user across a variety of platforms. This may change depending on N64Recomp advancements, but that remains to be seen at the time of writing.
I do wonder though: can these principals be used to recompile games from other systems, such as 3DS or GameCube?
I hope we might find out in the not-so-distant future!
Click here to check out N64Recomp
Click here to get Zelda64 Recomp
Share on:
Let me guess; you just looked at the banner image and said to yourself, "What the $&%# is that thing?!". I did too when I first saw the InterAct Vortex controller for N64, but it didn't stop my hunting one down and bagging one, for the insanely low price of just Β£10!
The Vortex is an enigma, even to those who know about it. It's half steering wheel, half flight stick, and half controller, making it 150% insane. Starting with the controller aspect, you have to un-dock the controller portion from the mounting bracket via a square metal peg, and once you have just the controller in your hands, you will be quite disgusted at its chunky, unflattering and un-ergonomic form.
It is quite literally horrible to hold, and to make things worse, its vastness and unwieldy edges make it uncomfortable to grab on to for long periods of time. The button placement is good, and the shoulder buttons are there, but where is the Z-Trigger and the actual analog stick? Well, I'll get to those gripes later. The whole thing feels plasticy, it has squared-off sides, and it's far too burly to grip. It reminds me of the OG Xbox controller, the Duke, it's far too big, but at least the Duke had comfortable curves.
Connecting it back to its mount you get an idea for its steering pedigree. While the mount has ZERO buttons or functions, the square metal peg pushes into the back of the controller, and the device regains its analog abilities. The switch on the front right controls the analog modes, and you have the option to use it as a wheel or as a flight stick, the latter meaning if you tilt the whole thing towards you or away from you, you will rise or fall, just like a plane's yoke. Back in the 1990s this must have seemed so space-age, but today it's a stark reminder of how NOT to make a hybrid controller, I mean; how many things like this have you seen for modern consoles?
The Vortex is a jack of all trades but the master of none. Not one. It offers so much and looks fantastically "90s-modern", but it squanders its potential in every direction.
Using the controller, most games control ok, but you're missing the analog stick and an L/R or Z-trigger depending on what position the switch on the bottom left is set to. Not to worry because the J button acts as a surrogate for whichever button you misplace, but that button is rock solid.
To give it a varied test I fired up Knife Edge Nosegunner, Mario Kart 64, and Hexen using the three available setups. Mario Kart 64 admittedly controlled well in steering mode, and using the toggle on the top right I could adjust sensitivity on the V-Axis. Knife Edge was a mixed bag, with the sensitivity and inversion throwing me right off, however, in-game you can alter the settings to make it far more controllable and enjoyable.
Hexen, on the other hand, was hilarious to essentially drive around, with flight controls. Pushing forward moves the analog stick forward to walk, while tilting to the left or right turns the protagonist, so for a hot minute it was quite fun! The auto-fire and slow-motion buttons worked fine; however, I found that the "Direction Control Knob", or D-Pad, was very quick to rapidly fire off when even so much as slightly held down in any direction, and I could not seem to turn that off or prevent it from happening.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that the Vortex also features its very own rumble mechanism, which requires 2xAA batteries inserted into the rear. It has a small switch on the back of the pad to select rumble mode or save mode, though why it can't rumble whilst saving to a memory card in the slot is beyond me. Another swing, and another miss!
Driving & flying modes
Built-in rumble
Horrible to hold on to
Terrible, just terrible
Interact DID make decent accessories in the 90s but this is NOT one of them, this one's having an identity crisis! The Vortex looks the part and has all the gear; but absolutely no idea what it even is, or what it really wants to be?!
Welcome to ReCollect64 chat Q&A Toadfan5!
Thank you! I'm always happy to talk about games since they're such an important part of my life.
Lets begin this Q&A by telling people how you would describe your presence on social media?
So I think a lot of the retro content being created has been focused too much on the NES and SNES, and while those consoles are excellent, I think the N64 has a lot to offer that people just genuinely don't know about. So I'd like to tell people of all the great N64 games that have gone overlooked for too long.
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
I've actually been playing games since I was about 3 or 4 years old. I found my sister's original Game Boy and played Super Mario Land 2 a Power Rangers game and a Barbie game (I also lost Mario Land 2 by dropping it through some floorboards) My first home console though was the N64 that I got from my grandparents for Christmas in 1998 with Yoshi's Story and NASCAR 99.
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
My retro collection is most filled with just the games I really like or that seem worth playing. Except for the N64 collection which is the 296 north American releases and around 40 of the Japanese exclusives, and one European exclusive...and one game that went everywhere except north America. Funny enough the console I have the most games for besides the N64 is actually the Xbox 360 which is definitely my second favorite console.
Do you have a favourite console?
Speaking of favorites yeah of course the N64 is my favorite console. I have such good memories of it throughout so many different parts of my life. To round out my top 5 though I'd have to go Xbox 360, Dreamcast, SNES, and GameCube.
What games do you play regularly?
I've actually really been back into GTA 5, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, Donkey Kong 64, Super Smash Bros Melee, and Rock Band 4.
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
I've actually got an autographed copy of Diddy Kong Racing DS that I won from an old Banjo Kazooie fan site called Roysten's Fishbowl! That and I got a custom Mario themed N64 that I've used practically everyday since 2015.
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
The N64 DD. I've wanted one since I heard about it in Nintendo Power back in like 1999. I feel like most of the games are possible to obtain someday (minus Japan Pro Golf Tour 64 and Doshin 2) but I want the actual add on so badly.
Are you looking forward to any games via N64Recomp?
If it gets more people playing more games I'm fine for any of 'em. If I had to pick one game to get the decompilation treatment though it would be Bomberman 64 the Second Attack (easily the most underrated and overlooked N64 game)
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
Extra cheese, cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese.
How many games consoles do you own?
Alright I own: NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Switch, Switch lite, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA, GBAsp, DS, DS lite, 3DS, 2DS, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, PlayStationTV, Xbox, Xbox 360 (with Kinect), Xbox One, Genesis, Saturn, and a Dreamcast π
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
Clay Fighter Sculptor's Cut, and it was 325. I've also got Bangai O and Getter Love but those were around 150 each.
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled up for gaming?
Oh man my favorite drink right now is a mix of Melon Soda and Root Beer, it's just such a perfect mix. Other than that I drink mostly water and Decaf Earl Gray tea when it's cold. Food wise I love cola and melon soda gummies, and some mozzarella sticks.
Thank you very much for your time and joining me for another ReCollect64 chat Q&A!
If you want to hear the best hand-picked music from N64 game soundtracks, and witness incredible playthrough clips for almost all N64 games, please give Toadfan5 a follow on twitter!
Share on:
I picked this wheel up a few years ago because I intended to craft a small, cheap as chips racing set up in my living room. I wanted to be able to re-play the Top Gear Rally series of games as well as World Driver Championship and of course Mario Kart 64!
The V3 feels great, even if the wheel feels a little small, though that works to its benefit by feeling tight and compact. The face buttons do a great job of The wheel has two lock switches to configure the wheel in two adjustable ways. The first is the tilt of the wheel, which has two spots: 45 degrees and straight up like a forklift driver. The second lock switch controls the height of the wheel, which is a blindingly good feature to have depending on how you approach using the wheel.
You can either mount the wheel on a surface via four suction cups, or you can raise the wheel to max and plant it between your thighs like a novelty go-cart! The main mechanism is spring-loaded on each side of the wheels axle meaning it feels like it's pulling you back and automatically re-centres itself when you ease off.
It is possible to completely modify all aspects of this input peripheral thanks to a nifty on-board programmable button. For example, if you hold the "Set" button for two seconds you enter function mode, and from there you can either remap any buttons you like to any other button you like, or you can adjust the sensitivity of the Y-axis steering between 30/90 & 150 degrees. Setting it to 150 degrees means turning the wheel a lot, whereas setting it to just 30 degrees means quicker turning with less effort. For fine tuning, you also have a small red slider on the left of the wheel that can adjust it tighter or looser on-the-fly. But if you hate it all and want to reset the wheel you can do so by holding Start+L+R at any point and you're back to default in a jiffy.
The V3 comes with a set of pedals too, and these are also springloaded. They feel great, they have a nice tension and a satisfying returning action to them that feels great. They plug in to a rather weak looking DIN socket on the rear of the wheel, but both the pedals and the wheel come with 8 feet of cable to give you plenty of room to manoeuvre.
The first batch of V3 wheels was not compatible with the Rumble pak, but a second batch was produced, and by the end of 1997 everyone was treated to force feedback. Luckily mine rumbles, however if I insert any sort of third-party rumble pack the controller completely stops working, and I have to remove it before it comes back to life. I'm unsure why it does that, and it's rather ironic given the third party nature of the wheel itself, but thems the breaks!
I'm quite a fan of this wheel because it has so many features and so many comfort settings, but it gets really creaky after a short period of time because of the full plastic construction. The buttons feel great, not spongy at all, and overall it has a nice quality to it that you rarely see from third-party peripherals.
Would I have paid $79.99/Β£65 for this back in the day? I probably would have if I hadn't been just a child with no income of my own in the 90's. There was zero chance my parents would have sprung for this for me either, as I wasn't into realistic racing games as a kid, and if I hadn't used the wheel, it would have been money down the drain that could have been better spent on another game for the entire family to play!
Customisable setups
A Solid performer
Hit-n-miss for Rumble Paks
Creaky AF
Interact made some decent accessories back in the day and this is one of them. Considering I scored this for under Β£15 a couple of years ago, I now wish I'd had one back in 1997 to really give my racing games a boost!
Today I would like to welcome none other than Graslu00 to this weeks ReCollect64 chat Q&A session! So without further adue, let's start by telling people how you would describe your presence on social media:
I'm a YouTuber, focused mainly on classic N64 games, GoldenEye and James Bond in general. I like to share my gameplay and also help others with the games I cover or show them the best up-to-date ways to enjoy the classics.
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
My family got me into gaming and PC's in general - my dad would play on the N64 while giving me an unplugged controller as a kid (who didn't do this) and eventually I got old enough to give it a real go by myself. His favourites on N64 were GoldenEye, Donkey Kong 64 and Star Wars Racer. I've been involved with gaming since I have use of memory. My mom introduced me into PC's and that eventually lead into gaming there as well. It wasn't until the Xbox 360 that I got into online gaming however, Halo 3 was my first Xbox Live title back in January 2008 and that was a life changing moment which starting my online presence.
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
I don't exactly collect old games other than keeping the copies I've always had - I did expand a bit on those titles I was interested in and/or complete sets for a few pieces. For N64 and GameCube.
Do you have a favourite console?
The Nintendo 64 would be my favourite console - it's the one I still use to this day and enjoy the most, but if I had to choose one other than that it'd be the Xbox 360 for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
What games do you play regularly?
Outside of my YouTube work which includes playing GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and other Bond titles, I focus on multiplayer games mainly. These days I'm mostly just hopping between Fortnite, Counter-Strike and an indie game called Friends vs Friends - but in general I play a huge variety of titles. Metroid, Tekken, Resident Evil, Zelda... But I'm definitely more of a competitive player, I've had some good competitions, tournaments and leagues on my back by now.
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled up for gaming?
Chocolate.
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
I own a signed copy of GoldenEye & Perfect Dark by the developers that I've met multiple times in the UK. Always a great experience to meet them and share some time together. The Rareware devs really are down to earth!
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
Some day I'd love to get my hands on a beta copy of Perfect Dark & GoldenEye. I know they exist somewhere out there... Maybe one day. A few years ago it'd have been the XBLA remaster of GoldenEye but we finally got that!
Are you looking forward to any particular games via N64Recomp?
I'm especially excited about Star Fox 64 recompiled. That game must be a dream to play with native widescreen and high framerates. F-Zero X is another title that I think would be interesting to see on PC.
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
Wouldn't really know, I'm quite simple when it comes to pizza toppings! Anything meaty is fine by me though, kebab pizza is probably one of my favourites if I had to choose.
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
The most expensive item I own in my collection (other than my PC lol) is probably the official Golden Gun prop replica, while not exactly a gaming item - it is definitely appreciated by those who played GoldenEye!
Finally: How many games consoles do you own?
I'd have to count... x1 RGB modded N64, x1 UltraHDMI modded N64, x1 Pikachu Edition N64, x2 Black N64, x1 Jungle Green N64, x1 Ice Blue N64, x2 Xbox 360, x1 Xbox 360 Elite x1 Xbox 360 Slim Devkit, x1 Xbox 360 Slim RGH modded, x1 Xbox One, x1 Xbox One X, x1 Xbox Series X, x1 Switch, x1 Wii, x1 Wii U, x3 (?) DS, x4 DS Lite, x1 3DS OoT Edition, x1 New 3DS XL, x1 New 3DS XL Metroid Edition, x4 Game Boy Advance SP, x2 Game Boy Advance, x1 Game Boy Pocket, x1 Game Boy Color and x1 Steam Deck... I may be missing something, ah a GameCube! (38)
Thank you very much for your time and being part of my ReCollect64 Q&As!
If you too are a James Bond 007 fan and want to see some seriously skillfull GoldenEye 007 playthroughs, I would highly recommend giving Graslu00 a follow on twitter, and you can do so here:
Share on:
As part of my ongoing N64 collection, I have recently purchased the SummerCart64, created by Mateusz Faderewski (aka Korgeaux), a brand new flashcart that not only plays your N64 ROMs and homebrew, but also plays 64DD ROMs without the need for conversion!
Krikkz EverDrive 64 X7 has been my go-to for a while now, since I upgraded just after it was released in 2019, and before that I happily used the EverDrive 64 2.5 without issue. SummerCart64 stands on the shoulders of giants and takes multiple strides forward, building on everything that's great about the EverDrive series of carts and adds in features such as native 64DD emulation and heaps of developer forward features.
It should be noted that the SummerCart64 I bought was from Phemon Mod, meaning the casing is the version sold by Mena. Each store and supplier has their own build quality as it is assembled by a third-party, but the SummerCart64 hardware was designed by Korgeaux, and the N64FlashcartMenu software was developed by Korgeaux and Networkfusion (Robin Jones), as well as multiple other contributors, including Meeq (Christopher Bonhage) and Suprapote!.
Some people will argue that clones are better value, and easier to get hold of. I have never bothered with knock-off devices because though they get the job done, they always seem to have some form of hiccup when it comes to durabilty and software support. I know plenty of people that have purchased a cheaper clone only to have it fail or quite literally fall to pieces just months down the line. This Β£120 pre-built model is extremely convenient, though for much less the unit is entirely self-buildable, 3D printable, and flashable!
The build quality of this Mena built SummerCart64 feels really nice; it uses a sleek plastic finish on its smoky grey exterior that feels wonderful even though it doesn't have the tactile texturing of the OEM carts. The cut-outs for the Micro SD card and the USB-C connector are recessed nicely (note: the SD card slot is miniscule and difficult to remove once inserted), and the hex bolt screws are a nice solid touch to hold it all together.
The first thing I noticed about the SummerCart64 shell is that there is a somewhat gangly button on the rear that clunks around a bit, it really needed to be spring-loaded, or just less rattly, to push it up even higher in the build-quality stakes buy the assembler, in this case Mena. This button can be configured to change 64DD disks, sending USB packets, or raising N64 interrupts for devs.
After formatting your Micro SD card to EXFAT or FAT32, you will need to download the latest sc64menu.n64 and copy it to the root to load the OS on your virgin SD card. Using a PC and card reader to drag and drop whatever you want onto the device and make any folders you wish is very simple, though you can also use the sc64deployer app on PC. The only stipulation is that the 64DD IPL files need to be stored in a folder called "menu".
Selecting N64 and 64DD ROMs is straight forward, select with A and then load with A, however, playing games like the F-Zero X Expansion Kit requires you to do the following: Select the N64 cartridge ROM (F-Zero X [J].n64), back out with B (don't load the game with A), select the F-Zero Exp Kit dump (NUD-EFZJ-JPN.ndd), then hit R to load the pair in tandem. While this works fine and only REALLY applies to F-Zero X and Dezaemon 3D, I still feel that there should be a simpler way to do this, it feels a little clunky in its execution.
At first, for the life of me, I could not get the thing to connect to my PC, so I couldn't set the RTC or update the firmware. I later found out through @LuigiBlood that there were specific Windows drivers required to communicate to the device, and this allowed me to flash the update and sync the RTC to my PC with ease.
The sc64deployer app is for loading ROMs, updating, backing up, and debug terminal access. It's a command-line app and relies on commands to operate, but luckily, the SummerCart64 Documentation covers everything you could possibly need to know. All I needed were the commands: "sc64deployer.exe firmware update sc64-firmware-v2.18.1.bin" and "sc64deployer.exe set rtc" to get me where I wanted to be with the device.
The load speed of ROMs is extremely fast from the SD card, and from my testing: EVERY ROM I threw at it worked perfectly without having to convert a single thing. Games like Morita Shogi 64 and Mario no Photopi are just about the only ones don't work on N64FlashcartMenu yet because they require further individual hardware emulation, but that's the same with any other flashcart out there, including the EverDrive X7. Backing up saves for sharing or modifying also worked brilliantly well and was exceptionally fast!
As you can see, the SummerCart64 is packed full of features and also includes ROM information with boxart support as well as compatibility for emulators within the N64FlashcartMenu OS. The emulators I used include Neon64 V2 for NES, Sodium64 for SNES, GB64 for Game Boy & Game Boy Color, and TotalSMS for Sega Master System/Game Gear and SG1000 (not currently working)! These emulators worked to a point; the SNES emulator is a little less refined, and there were some layer issues in games like Super Mario All-Stars + World but they played well enough to be enjoyable!
The SummerCart64 is an incredible device, with blisteringly fast load times, compatibility across all regions for a vast selection of ROMs, plus the ability to play games like F-Zero 64 with the Expansion Kit without the need for the 64DD itself! What's more, the SummerCart64 project is completely open source meaning you will see community improvements, forks, and more, making it truly future-proof.
Mateusz Faderewski is the creator of SummerCart64's core hardware, firmware, and supporting software, and they have done a truly incredible job here. Bearing in mind that the SC64 began its life as a device for creating homebrew, its an incredibly well rounded package that can do virtually everything!
Easy to load up & play
64DD emulation is a gamechanger
Compatibility is through the roof!
Rattly button on the rear (Mena shell version)
Tiny, fiddly Micro SD slot
Needs a GUI for PC connectivity
The SummerCart64 is a superb addition to any N64 set up thanks to its open-source nature and sub Β£100 price tag if you build it yourself. The plethora of options and modes available make this a superb developer tool and an astonishingly good flashcart to boot!
With community created menu themes and styles already popping up, such as a vibrant boxart-heavy Nintendo Switch Online theme, it certainly gives the EverDrive 64 X7 some stiff competition!
Click here to check out SummerCart64
N64Brew discord #summer-cart-64 channel
64DD info + files via 64dd.org
Share on:
Welcome to ReCollect64 chat Quest64, or should I call you Brian/Mike?
Mike is fine, over the last few months we've become pretty friendly and it's nice to use a name π
Shall we kick-off this Q&A by describing your Questing antics on social media?
I don't think I really have a thing anymore to be honest. The overall goal is to make Quest 64 more visible on the internet in a memorable way, but the road to getting there is weird. There are days where I focus on jarring people's memories about the Nintendo 64 and the games outside of the normal Goldeneye/Smash Bros/etc...posts you see all the time. Other days it's talking about the retro gaming discourse and what we can do to improve it for everyone. A lot of times it's just Quest 64 memes and me chasing people around social media with pictures of Brian. I like to keep it fresh.
When did you get into gaming, any formative recollections?
The first system our family owned was an NES, my parents got it for my brother and I when I was 4/5 (early 89). It was an absolute blast and my Mom was super into it as well, so a lot of my gaming memories and favorite games were ones I shared with her. She is the reason I have such a fondness for Bomberman, as Mega Bomberman on the Sega Genesis was a longtime favorite of hers.
What does your retro gaming collection look like?
I have a lot of physical games, though I have been trying to shave my collection down as I get older. There was a point where I probably had between 4000/5000 physical games across all the systems..... but as time has passed I've sold/traded some of them to continue building my Nintendo 64 collection (and make more space in my house)
Do you have a favourite console?
Absolutely! It's the Nintendo 64! Another system my parents bought for me, and one we shared a bunch of memories with....something I'm trying to keep doing with my kids.
What games do you play regularly?
I don't have a routine for games, though obviously I play Quest 64 quite a bit lol. Most of my game time these days is games my kids want to play, so it's been a lot of ARMS, Animal Crossing, Roblox, Kirby Forgotten Land...and almost always on the Switch. I still play a fair amount of Nintendo 64, but mostly games I didn't grow up with so I can familiarize myself with the entire library more.
What snacks/drinks keep you fuelled for gaming?
My favorite go to snacks are all banana based. I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches, banana pancakes/bread and smoothies....but for traditional garbage food I'm fond of regular Lay's potato chips and Dr. Pepper. Really anything will do though, I'm a food hole.
Do you have a prized gaming possession?
I don't really thing there's one thing I hold above everything else. I have a fondness for Densha De Go pocket watches, so that's probably the most unique thing in my collection.
Do you have any gaming unicorns left to obtain?
This one is a moving target for me. There's not one thing I dream about, but when I find out that there's an article I want to read in a hard to find copy of Gamefan magazine or a official N64 soundtrack I've never seen before and isn't online..... I tend to get hyper-fixated.
Are you looking forward to Quest64 via N64Recomp?
YES! The amazing people over at the Quest 64 Speedrun Discord were already working on a traditional decomp of the game, but the new Wiseguy tools are exciting and I hope to see Quest 64 make it's way to PC through a recomp sooner than later!
Youβre ordering pizza, you get three toppings, whatβs your combo?
I'm traditionally a cheese pizza guy, but if forced to pick three more toppings I would probably do onions, sausage and red chili flakes.
Whatβs your most expensive/thrifty retro purchase to date?
The most expensive game I every purchased was Super Bowling...I think I paid $250USD for it, but that money came from selling a bunch of Guitar Hero guitars during the pandemic to make space in my basement, so it was close to a wash. The most thrifty thing came recently, I spent $1 at a thrift store on a Code Lyoko OST CD that regularly sells for north of $100. Hopefully I'll be trading that soon though as there are lots of people looking for it and that's not really my thing.
Finally: How many consoles do you own?
I have around 45 consoles but as for games, I have no idea anymore lol. I do have just over 500 N64 games, and the total games across all systems is probably north of 3500-4000. I really should go through and re-catalogue everything but that seems like such a job....especially when I really don't play a lot of them anymore.
Thank you very much for your time and being first in a series of ReCollect64 chats!
So there you have it, Mike is not only a meme master and all round nice guy, he is also a fantastic resource for retro gaming trivia!
If you don't already follow him, or for anyone wanting to give Quest 64 a follow on twitter, you can do so here:
Share on:
I'm kicking off the reviews section with an odd controller, let's keep this short but nostalgic!
When I saw the QuickShot NitroStick (yes that's what they called it!) for sale recently, at a ridiculously low price of just Β£5, I jumped at the opportunity to add to my selection of oddball N64 accessories.
QuickShot made a few accessories in their time and this was perhaps their most specialised piece of input equipment for the N64, specifically having been made for the controlling of aircraft. I dont know if you know this but there are only a handful of "flight-sim" games on the Nintendo 64 including Buck Bumble, Lylat Wars (Star Fox), Star Wars Rogue Squadron, AeroFighters Assault and Pilotwings, so there isn't much to pick from!
The NitroStick has the Z-Trigger on the rear as you would imagine, the A and B buttons are up on the top of the stick along with a hat-switch that acts as the D-Pad. On your left-hand side are the C-buttons, the L/R triggers in button form and the start/turbo/reset buttons too. Lastly, on the underside resides a switch that converts the input from analog to digital, so if a game requires D-pad input instead of stick input, you're sorted!
QuickShot sadly didn't build this thing with games like Lylat Wars in mind, because the pew-pew button is not in the correct pace as you would hope, the Z-Trigger, its on the A button. You cant re-map the buttons either so it feels a little off, but on the other hand games like AeroFighters and even Knife Edge Nosegunner utilise the Z-Trigger for your main guns and it feels superb!
Handling in-game feels nice, really nice, and the pitch and yaw of this stick really builds the immersion when playing games that best suit this equipment. In actual fact ANY game could theoretically be played with this controller, including Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, or even Zelda if you REALLY wanted to, but I wouldn't. Barring a couple of these fringe-case flight sims the NitroStick doesn't feel great for RPG/FPS/Platforming play, as the learning curve becomes huge, so stick to the perfectly formed trident-controller for those games!
Feels great for flight games.
Exceptional precision.
No remappable buttons.
Limited use for games.
It's not for everyone, nor is it for every game, but I kind of like Quickshot's quirky stab at a realistic flight stick.
Not only will this site offer information on your favourite console, I also aim to fill your mind-hole with info on a plethora of accessories and interesting related devices too.
In Y2K China's government imposed a ban on games consoles, so Nintendo had to think outside the box to crack the market. The iQue player is an oddity in that it is a console that is built into a controller, and it only plays N64 games that have been paid for and downloaded to the memory card. This system was to combat rampant piracy in China, and it worked up until as recently as 2019, when it was hacked by Normmatt, Marshallh, Stuckpixel, Riley/ROL and SUXXORS.
The iQue had just 14 games available in its life time, these were:
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask was meant to be release too, which even featured as a screenshot on the iQues box, but it never happened. Additionally a Traditional Chinese Translated version of Ocarina of Time was found ready for release in Taiwan (ROC) but it never happened.
When I bought mine in 2021 I was elated to have finally got my hands on one of my unicorns (I have a list I'll explain in another post). The console was notably different feeling to an N64 controller, due to the missing middle prong and the more traditional form factor. It was smoother, sleeker heavier, and kind of nice! I booted it up thinking that not a lot would happen, and luckily I had the paired memory card supplied with it. I was buzzing to find not only Wave Race 64, and Dr. Mario, but also Mario Kart and OOT!.
The games are all localised in Chinese and so look incredibly different when they boot up, and I find that fascinating to observe!
The iQue could be the ultimate way to play N64 games, for its simplicity and form factor. Nintendo sound definitely revisit this system-on-a-chip model if they ever make an N64 "classic" because it is ideal for pick up and play and the analog stick feels really nice too! The only caveat is lack of multiplayer without an additional device, but these days Nintendo could implement online instead, HDMI out, and possibly let you use your Bluetooth N64 controllers for the Nintendo switch on it for local multiplayer.
The 64-bit possibilities are endless!
Click here to check out the iQue section on ReCollect64
Share on:I got my console day one, from Toys R Us, after patiently/impatiently waiting on the "if someone doesn't come collect theirs, you're next in line" list. Without thinking, I bagged a console, Super Mario 64, and a green controller, though why I bought a second pad when SM64 clearly wasn't two-player is an enduring mystery.
I excitedly phoned my friend that evening and told him to come round ASAP to checkout the 3D graphics. The idea of doing homework was thrown to the wayside that night!
I have great memories of borrowing Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Banjo-Kazooie off another friend, swapping out Wave Race 64 and Diddy Kong Racing for a bit. Turok was one of my first experiences of FPS games, and I loved every blood-soaked second of it!.
I was in secondary school when the N64 released, so my friend-group had weekly meet-ups at each other's houses; to share and play whichever games we had purchased. We regularly held 4-8 player tournaments for ISS, Killer Instinct Gold, Lylat Wars, Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye to name but a few. If it was during our lunch breaks: we were guaranteed to be late back to class.
Almost 30 years on, and I still play these games regularly, and I am now closing in on my attempt to collect a full world set of 388 titles. I have just 11 to go!
I found it a minefield to get an app that could let me check off my personal collection, tracking exact versions such as UKV as opposed to EUR or AUS instead of EUU. I have tried to collate as much information as possible into one resource, along with matching images for box art, cart labels, manuals, and accessories.
N64 collection apps usually reside as phone apps that don't contain regional variants, every ROM revision, or even correct images to accompany all of them. ReCollect64 aims to change this by bringing images, information, and a full-featured and customisable collection app to any device that has a web browser.
N64 will always be my favourite console, and I'm proud to present the next iteration of my passion project, which is now known as ReCollect64!
Whether you are reminiscing (recollecting) the nostalgia of the console, or embarking on collecting a specific set (re-collecting): you can use the site to do this and much more!
The ReCollect64 Blog will regularly provide a distinct format with articles centering on the world of N64!
Firstly, there will be weekly Q&A chats with prominent faces of the N64 world, giving an easy to read and light-hearted insight into who they are and what they're about! I have had a lot of support and plenty of willing victims messaging me to join in with the fun, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and I already have more than 10 Q&A chats lined up!
Secondly, I will be reviewing games, accessories, and merch relating to the Nintendo 64, both new and old whereever possible. If you have any suggestions or would like me to review something N64 related, my coms are always open (see below).
Lastly, there will be featured posts that contain news, ReCollect64 site updates, interesting modern developments, or simply reminiscing about the good old days.
Overall, this is simply a space for sharing neat things, memories and bathing in nostalgia, nothing too heavy.
So please bookmark this site, spread the word, and check in from time to time to relax and unwind!
Click here to visit ReCollect64
Share on:| # | Name | No: |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Emu_Kidid | 68 |
| 02 | Quest64 | 45 |
| 03 | Graslu00 | 38 |
| 04 | Toadfan5 | 27 |
| 05 | Litronom | 14 |
| 06 | Foslerfer | 03 |