Every once in a while, I come across a gaming device that utterly fascinates me. Recently, Youtuber MetalJesusRocks wowed me when he showed off a US retail prototype of the Nintendo 64DD disk drive add-on. This latest find, however, has me at an absolute loss. What the hell is this thing? How have I never heard about it? And where can I get one? This ”thing” is the Doctor V64 development console, a bootleg add-on for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1996 by Bung Enterprises Ltd and retailed for $450. While expensive for the time, it turns out it was a popular option for some third-party developers. Apparently, it was a much cheaper alternative to Nintendo’s official dev kit, which was made by Silicon Graphics. The Center for Computing History recently grabbed one and put it through its paces: The Doctor V64 attaches to the bottom of the N64 via its expansion slot, just like the 64DD does. An official Nintendo 64 game cartridge must be plugged into the base console in order to bypass its region lockout chip. The Doctor 64 features a CD drive that can read N64 ROMs and load them into the machine’s RAM. Once loaded, the user could select a ROM, power up the N64, and play the game smoothly. Although the Doctor V64 was sold as a budget development kit, it doesn’t take a genius to realize it had more utility as a way to play pirated games. The CD drive also acts as a video CD player, a format very popular in Asia at the time. The Doctor V64 has a 25-pin serial port in back that allows connection to a PC. This allows users to dump ROMs directly into the V64’s ram, bypassing the CD drive. Granted, the Doctor V64 is not nearly as rare as MetalJesusRocks’s Us 64DD. Still, I would love to own one for…historical purposes.
"NACON Revolution X Unlimited is a premium device with a premium price - stacked with features like an LCD screen and built with Hall Effect tech for longevity."
THIS IS HUGE. Do you know how long i've been waiting for an XBox style controller with rear paddles, a touch pad and gyro? This is enormous. I spent 400 dollars on a custom PS5 controller with rear paddles just so I could have that - but it broke and i've been devastated ever since. Even that controller didn't let me use keyboard macros as buttons (specifically the rear paddles) because it didnt have XBox Elite support in Steam (obviously). This is the greatest controller feature list of any controller on the market. Finally. Finally! Ordering one soon.
Few consoles have ever felt as good a home for RPGs as the PS1. But not every RPG could go on to have the insane success of Final Fantasy.
This peripheral is ghostly good.
You know I was really excited about the concept of owning a 64DD back in the day but it wasn't to be but that recent one showing up was super cool to see.