N64 Collection Pointers

[Pichu]

Hello, I am new here, but I need some help.

I am starting my N64 collection, but I would like some pointers.
Like, how should I store my games?
What are some of the rarest games out there?
etc.

BTW, I will mostly play them, so Im not exactly focusing on CIB games.

Thanks!

[NayusDante]

The DP guide shows that nothing on N64 is above R5 (with the rare ones being the likes of Elmo's Number Journey), and the most expensive game on there is Harvest Moon 64 at $40. In fact, check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/HARVEST-MOON-OGRE-BATTLE-STARCRAFT-Nintendo-64-N64_W0QQitemZ400101153108QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_ Games_Games?hash=item5d27e31954

Three of the rarest games on N64, $32 each after shipping. It's not an incredibly difficult system to collect for, so have fun with it. If you go CIB, then it'll probably be rougher, but are you going for completion or just the interesting ones?

[scooterb23]

My best tip for the N64 is get a label printer that prints out 1/2 inch wide labels. All those boring grey carts look the same when stacked. A label printer makes life so much easier.

[Pichu]

Well I am going for completetion,
and that ebay ad looks good, but I wont have the money in time.

So I'm guessing it wont be mind-breakingly hard to get every game?
Considering I only want all

-US release
-Retail release(no repros, mods, etc)

Anything else?

[NayusDante]

A few didn't see retail release, as they were rental exclusives. I don't have the list, but I believe Clay Fighter is included, at least one revision of it.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Clayfighter 63 1/3: Sculptor's Cut and Razor Freestyle Scooter are the two I know that were rental-only.

[Enigmus]

Well I am going for completetion,
and that ebay ad looks good, but I wont have the money in time.

So I'm guessing it wont be mind-breakingly hard to get every game?
Considering I only want all

-US release
-Retail release(no repros, mods, etc)

Anything else?

If you get the Pokemon Stadium games, try to get a deal that comes with the Transfer Pak. Then, get the Expansion Pak (the red-topped replacement for the Jumper Pak that is below the cover on the front of the Nintendo 64) due to it being able to upscale some games and being required for Majora's Mask and practically being needed to play most of Perfect Dark. Also, swap the Expansion Pak for the Jumper Pak when playing to a certain point of San Francisco Rush 2049, as the Expansion Pak somehow blocks getting past a certain point. That, and shoot for either the standard Charcoal Grey unit or get a transparent or colored unit if you plan on adding LED modifications (as standard white LEDs look very good with the see-through red ones) or get one of the verv good looking gold units and get a few gold controllers to go with it. Also, try for the gold Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask cartridges, as they contain a few differences from the later gray retail releases. And try not to get a cartridge covered with either Pokemon or rental store stickers. I had to go through hell and back to get those off my used copies of Goldeneye 007 and F-Zero X! :bad-words:

[Pichu]

If you get the Pokemon Stadium games, try to get a deal that comes with the Transfer Pak. Then, get the Expansion Pak (the red-topped replacement for the Jumper Pak that is below the cover on the front of the Nintendo 64) due to it being able to upscale some games and being required for Majora's Mask and practically being needed to play most of Perfect Dark. Also, swap the Expansion Pak for the Jumper Pak when playing to a certain point of San Francisco Rush 2049, as the Expansion Pak somehow blocks getting past a certain point. That, and shoot for either the standard Charcoal Grey unit or get a transparent or colored unit if you plan on adding LED modifications (as standard white LEDs look very good with the see-through red ones) or get one of the verv good looking gold units and get a few gold controllers to go with it. Also, try for the gold Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask cartridges, as they contain a few differences from the later gray retail releases. And try not to get a cartridge covered with either Pokemon or rental store stickers. I had to go through hell and back to get those off my used copies of Goldeneye 007 and F-Zero X! :bad-words:

I already have the Stadiums, thanks for the San Fran 2049 tip,
and I have the gray OoT, and Half Gray/Gold MM, so I'll look for the gold one.

Also, Razor Freestyle Scooter and ClayFighter, were those the only rental-only? Or are there others?

[Baloo]

I already have the Stadiums, thanks for the San Fran 2049 tip,
and I have the gray OoT, and Half Gray/Gold MM, so I'll look for the gold one.

Also, Razor Freestyle Scooter and ClayFighter, were those the only rental-only? Or are there others?

I think those two were the only rental-only N64 games.

[Pichu]

I think those two were the only rental-only N64 games.

Ok then, cause I just saw them on ebay for
about 10 and 5 bucks. <_<

[bend]

International Superstar Soccer 2000 and Worms are the most expensive games loose ($40-65 average). Sometimes Clay Fighter Sculptors Cut and Harvest Moon will climb up there too depending on availability($30-50), but usually it hovers below these two in price. Sculptors Cut complete will probably cost you a couple hundred. I've seen people offer $300 just for the box. The other 3 you can find for under $100 complete.

Conkers is another game that people don't really think is expensive, but on average sells $30-45.

Beast Wars Metals, Clay Fighter: Sculptor's Cut, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, International Superstar Soccer 2000, International Track and Field 2000, NFL Blitz: Special Edition, Razor Freestyle Scooter, and Stunt Racer 64 were Blockbuster exclusives.

Then there's the N64 Test Cart. Very few of these go for sale and i've seen them sell from $150-400.

[Blanka789]

For display purposes, I discourage labeling the carts themselves. Instead, look into getting some Universal Game Cases and printing covers from the Cover Project.

[Pichu]

For display purposes, I discourage labeling the carts themselves. Instead, look into getting some Universal Game Cases and printing covers from the Cover Project.

That looks like a good idea,

but Im gonna have alot of N64 games, and arent those universal cases a bit pricey?

[A Black Falcon]

The one thing to really keep in mind is that if you're planning on playing many third party games, you will need a lot of controller paks. Also, the third party compressed cards with 4 blocks and stuff aren't too reliable, and there are no first party memory cards with more than the standard 123 blocks.

Trust me, this starts getting REALLY annoying when you run into stuff like Turok 2 and Shadow Man that require two thirds or more of a card for a single save file (Turok 2 has to be one of the worst offenders, it uses like 90 blocks and still has save points that are like an hour apart, making the game incredibly difficult; Turok 3 uses a lot less blocks, and lets you save anytime (and start from the entrance of the stage area). Vast improvement there at least.)... or ones like Snowboard Kids 1 or many sports games that require an entire card... N64 memory cards are 256KB, which is technically twice the size of Dreamcast or PS1 memory cards, but they are either horribly inefficient or developers are incompetent, because on average I'd say I fit fewer save files on an N64 card than a PSX or DC one. Some games use more blocks for their N64 savefiles than they do on Dreamcast, despite Dreamcast having 128KB broken into 220 blocks (plus formatting), while the N64 has 256KB broken into 123 blocks (plus formatting)... Shadow Man, for example.


If you stick to games published by Nintendo you're fine, they all have on-cart saving, but third-parties more often than not require controller paks, and it's a real pain.

The best part is, of course, that while most (NOT ALL but most) games with on-cart saving use EEPROM of Flash RAM (that is, kinds of save chips that do not use batteries), the Controller Paks DO have batteries in them, and those batteries are getting older now.

Moral of the story? Getting it set up (finding a computer that will run it, etc) will be a pain, but getting something like a DexDrive really is highly recommended for anyone wanting a large N64 collection... that and the ability to replace those aging batteries...

Oh yeah, and the games aren't in English, but the Japanese versions of some of Konami's N64 games all have on-cart saving, while the US versions all require controller paks. This is true for many of Konami's major US-released N64 games -- Hybrid Heaven, Castlevania, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, and Goemon's Great Adventure, for sure.



Beast Wars Transmetals, Clay Fighter: Sculptor's Cut, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, International Superstar Soccer 2000, International Track and Field 2000, NFL Blitz: Special Edition, Razor Freestyle Scooter, and Stunt Racer 64 were Blockbuster exclusives.

Yeah. It's good that you can get these online now, because the ones of those that I bolded are N64 exclusives, and the italicized one was N64 and PC only, not PSX... Stunt Racer 64 and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine are definitely games worth considering, at least. Might be hard to find in person depending on your location though, so you might have to get them online. Also it'll be hard to find copies of these games with their manuals, for sure.

Oh, and it's Transmetals, not Metals, so I fixed that.

[Pichu]

Is there any way to replace the Controller Pak batteries?

Cause I am aiming for all 387(I think) US releases.

[Pichu]

Also, if anyone has ANYTHING for the n64 they'd like to get rid of,
like duplicate carts or controller paks or controllers or anything.

I'll take it off you. :D
Just saying...

[Doonzmore]

If you get the Pokemon Stadium games, try to get a deal that comes with the Transfer Pak. Then, get the Expansion Pak (the red-topped replacement for the Jumper Pak that is below the cover on the front of the Nintendo 64) due to it being able to upscale some games and being required for Majora's Mask and practically being needed to play most of Perfect Dark. Also, swap the Expansion Pak for the Jumper Pak when playing to a certain point of San Francisco Rush 2049, as the Expansion Pak somehow blocks getting past a certain point. :bad-words:

That's interesting. I remember not being able to go into the 7th season of class C in Roadsters. At one time i owned 3 different copies and none of them would allow me to begin the race. I had the expansion pak plugged in every time. Wonder if it's a similar issue?

[Blitzwing256]

Beast wars had a very very low run as a non-rental game (only ever saw it new at babages) that version does not have the bb logo on the box.

good luck finding that one ;-)

[Pichu]

Beast wars had a very very low run as a non-rental game (only ever saw it new at babages) that version does not have the bb logo on the box.

good luck finding that one ;-)

Heh, I'll go for at least a copy of each game,
then I'll go for CIB, special editions, etc. But thanks for the tip.

[A Black Falcon]

If you get the Pokemon Stadium games, try to get a deal that comes with the Transfer Pak. Then, get the Expansion Pak (the red-topped replacement for the Jumper Pak that is below the cover on the front of the Nintendo 64) due to it being able to upscale some games and being required for Majora's Mask and practically being needed to play most of Perfect Dark. Also, swap the Expansion Pak for the Jumper Pak when playing to a certain point of San Francisco Rush 2049, as the Expansion Pak somehow blocks getting past a certain point.

Basically, I wouldn't bother playing Rush 2049 without an expansion pak. Without it you can't play race mode track 6 (play it and you can see why, it's a huge, complex course) and as a result can't play the last two circuits, which total 36 of the game's total 50 races in the championship mode, you won't get any ingame music, which is a huge loss with music as amazing as Rush 2049's, there are no moving track elements like the trolley cars in tracks 1 and 4 or the train in track 4 and the jets in track 3 (I think that's the one), to name just a few things, there's no ghost-race mode... the back of the box says "For the complete experience use an Expansion Pak" for a reason.


Is there any way to replace the Controller Pak batteries?

Cause I am aiming for all 387(I think) US releases.

It's pretty much the same as replacing NES, SNES, etc. batteries, except with really small cartridges. It uses the same style of battery attachment (that is, not easy to replace unless you have the right specialized tools), the same screw type to open it, the same CR2032 battery, etc.

Note that, though, many third party controller paks use normal Phillips screws, and Interact/Performance ones, which are pretty common, actually use a battery clip inside, so you can replace the battery without any problem. As long as the cart still works -- and as third party products they probably are a little less reliable than first party ones, though I have mostly found them to be about the same, as long as you stick to X1 cards only and stay far away from the compressed 512 block or whatever cards -- it's easy to replace the batteries in those. Kind of cool.

Remember that as with any cart replacing the battery erases anything on the cart, though, the same as happens when the battery dies, so that's why I would recommend some kind of memory card backup device so much...

[Pichu]

So would a dexdrive be reliable for todays world?

[bend]

So would a dexdrive be reliable for todays world?

A dexdrive works perfectly fine. It'll come with the software on some floppy disks, but it's available online if you look hard enough incase you don't have a floppy drive. Dexdrive also connects via serial db9 cable. Unfortunately, a lot of newer computers have dropped the serial port on their machines. You'll need a serial to usb cable if need be.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

There have been some storage suggestions already, but I would suggest not labeling them, and instead displaying them face-up on a magazine shelf.

If you go into google images, and type in "magazine shelf," you'll see what I mean.

You may also be able to track that type of shelf down from a store that is closing (like a Blockbuster) and is selling their shelving.

[BetaWolf47]

I don't get the point of labeling them. I thought applying adhesive to our games is something we've been trying to avoid. I'd recommend getting one of those drawers dedicated for storing N64 games.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/721/n64drawer.jpg

They come in sizes that fit 12 and 24, and they can be used as a surface to hold the system or more games.

[Trebuken]

For storage:

http://www.mediashelving.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=USCG&Category_Code=VHS

I believe there are 295ish US released N64 games (I think I have them all...). 387 may be inclusive if variants or something.

[Pichu]

I already know about the Universal game Cases, and that was what I was planning, but those other options seem doable..

I'll look into it.

Keep any tips coming! Everything helps!
Thanks

[jonebone]

N64 is so cheap that you might as well go CIB (or even sealed). Sealed is a much more daunting adventure than most people may expect. Clayfighter SC and ISS 2000 would be REALLY tough to obtain and could take awhile.

Everything else really isn't that bad though, you can get a Worms for about $200, Bomberman 2nd for about $200, etc. Ogre Battle is barely $100 itself too.

[chrissylas]

Congrats on starting your 64 collection. I just recently got my final cart for mine (I went cart only unless I got a good deal on a CIB. As a result it is about half and half).

Knowing the rare titles is great but be warned... they might not be the ones that get you :) I don't really buy games online so, oddly enough, my final game was V-Rally '99 (ridiculous, right?)

I store mine on cd shelves right now but I've been thinking of getting some universal covers. Since I plan on eventually going CIB, I might just leave them on the shelf for now.

So yeah, have fun!

[Famidrive-16]

i don't bother going for CIB cause i hate the boxes

i mean, i'll have it CIB if i can, but i'm not gonna stress if i never find the box for California Speed

[swlovinist]

I wish you luck with your N64 collection. Like others have said, loose is not too bad. I am down to my final 6 manuals for a CIB collection.

[MachineGex]

I wish you luck with your N64 collection. Like others have said, loose is not too bad. I am down to my final 6 manuals for a CIB collection.

Your collection is amazing. I always like looking at it. What are the last 6 manuals? Also, the link in your signature is broke, just a heads up.