Originally designed to accompany the 64DD disk drive expansion peripheral for its larger multimedia workstation applications, the Expansion Pak was launched separately in Q4 1998 and then bundled with the 64DD's delayed December 1999 Japan launch package. It is installed in a port on top of the console and replaces the pre-installed Jumper Pak, which is simply a Rambus terminator. The Expansion Pak (NUS-007) consists of 4 MB (megabytes) of random access memory (RAM)-which is RDRAM, the same type of memory used inside the console itself -increasing the Nintendo 64 console's RAM from 4 MB to 8 MB of contiguous main memory. The Japan-only game Animal Forest uses the Controller Pak to travel to other towns.įollowing the 1996 Christmas Shopping Season, Next Generation reported "impressive sales of the memory pack cartridges despite the lack of available games to take advantage of the $19.99 units". Quest 64 and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon use the Controller Pak exclusively for saved data. Some games use it to save optional data that is too large for the cartridge, such as Mario Kart 64, which uses 121 of the total 123 pages for storing ghost data, or International Superstar Soccer 64, which uses up the entire cartridge's space for its save data. This is most likely due to the increased production and retail costs which would have been caused by including self-contained data on the cartridge. The vast majority are from third-party developers. Because the Nintendo 64 uses a Game Pak cartridge format that allows saving data on the cartridge itself, few first party and second party games use the Controller Pak. Over time, the Controller Pak lost popularity to the convenience of a battery backed SRAM or EEPROM found in some cartridges. Upon launch, the Controller Pak was initially useful, and even necessary for earlier Nintendo 64 games. It is powered by a common CR2032 battery. The number of pages that a game occupies varies, sometimes using the entire card. The original models from Nintendo offered 256 kilobits (32KB) battery backed SRAM, split into 123 pages with a limitation of 16 save files, but third party models have much more, often in the form of 4 selectable memory banks of 256kbits. It is plugged into the controller and allows the player to save game progress and configuration. The Controller Pak was marketed as a way to exchange data with other Nintendo 64 owners, since information saved on the game cartridge can not be transferred between cartridges. Certain games allow saving of game files to the Controller Pak, which plugs into the back of the Nintendo 64 controller (as do the Rumble and Transfer Paks). The Controller Pak (NUS-004) is the console's memory card, comparable to those seen in the PlayStation and other CD-ROM-based video game consoles.
The Nintendo 64 video game console had a market lifespan from 1996 to 2002. Third party accessories include the essential game developer tools built by SGI and SN Systems on Nintendo's behalf, an unlicensed SharkWire online service, and unlicensed cheaper counterparts to first party items.
Nintendo's first party accessories are mainly transformative system expansions: the 64DD Internet multimedia platform, with a floppy drive, video capture and or, game building setup, web browser, and online service the controller plus its own expansions for storage and rumble feedback and the RAM-boosting Expansion Pak for big improvements in graphics and gameplay. Nintendo 64 accessories include first party Nintendo hardware-and third party hardware, licensed and unlicensed.