Playing imports on a US N64 isn't too hard, but I'd say it's slightly more of a pain in the butt than with the SNES. The tabs are in the corners of the slot so you can't get a grip around them, and the plastic seems harder as well. You need some more serious tools to pull off a modification than merely a pair of pliers and a little elbow grease. Most methods require opening the system up to either remove the entire plastic piece with the tabs or to cut them out, so you'd need a game bit for those approaches. I personally melted the tabs down with a soldering iron, which didn't require opening the system, but it's not nearly as pretty as my SNES modifications (and I got a couple tiny melt marks on the flaps).Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro
And I also have heard that some N64 games won't work with some of the passthrough devices out there, so the adapter route isn't perfect either.
However, one advantage the N64 has is that, besides the different notches for the tabs, the plastic front and back pieces of N64 carts are the same for both Japan and the US, unlikely the entirely different cart designs of SFC and SNES games. You can just as well open up an N64 import you want to play, open up some random US cart, swap the back pieces, and close them up. Then your Japanese game will fit in the system just as well as any US cart. Then just swap the shells again when you're done. Of course, this all requires a game bit too.
Even though it sucks that imports can't be immediately played on a US SNES or N64, I'm not going to complain or suggest that Nintendo was dumb. I'm very glad they made it as easy as it is. Most home consoles have regional lockout, and the fact that the SNES and N64 merely have a physical lockout that's easy to get around is great.
Reply With Quote
