Nintendo 64DD
The Nintendo 64DD (ロクヨンディーディー) was a short lived expansion system for the Nintendo 64. Shortly after it was released in December 1, 1999, the product was a commercial failure due to it being delayed, and was never released outside of Japan. The name DD stands for "Dynamic Drive" at the start of the 64DD's development. The main concept for the system is it would of plugged into the bottom side of the N64 through the EXTension Port.
The 64DD was announced at 1995's Nintendo Shoshinkai game show event. At E3 in 1997, Shigeru Miyamoto speculated that the first games to be released for the new system would be SimCity 64, Mario Artist, Pocket Monsters, and Earthbound 64. The system was a commercial failure which led to 49 games being canceled or removed to cartridge.
Technical specs.
The N64DD has a 32-bit coprocessor which is needed to read the magnetic disks, and it would also need the 32-bit coprocessor to transfer data to the main console (the Nintendo 64). It was intended to be Nintendo's answer to the Compact Disc that was used for Sony's PlayStation, which was cheaper to produce. Sony's CD storage could hold approximately 650 megabytes (MB) of information, compared to the Nintendo 64's 32 to 512 megabit (4 to 64 MB) cartridge.
- Co-Processor: 32-bit coprocessor
- Memory: 650 megabytes (MB)
Proposed games
Several Pokémon games that were announced for the N64DD were either ended up canceled or being released on cartridge format only, below is the following Pokémon games that were announced:
- Pokémon 64/Pokémon RPG
- Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)
- Pokémon Stadium Expansion Disk
- Pokémon Stadium 2 (moved to Nintendo 64)
Non-Pokémon games
- Super Mario 64 2
- Super Mario RPG 2 (released in cartridge as Mario Story in Japan and Paper Mario in North America)
- Ura Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest), the expansion disk to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (released on GameCube)
- Zelda 64 (released in cartridge as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
- Zelda Gaiden (later released in cartridge as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)
External links
- 64DD.net – Biggest 64DD site on the net
- Nintendo.co.jp – Official Nintendo site of Japan
- Wikipedia - Wikipedia's article