so, i'm here wondering why my Mario Party cart doesn't work while sorting some games and i notice something that never caught my attention before.
the only 3 games i own on N64 that don't load up with a 64DD unit attached are F-Zero X, Zelda OoT and Mario Party. i sorta had an idea why FZX and OoT didn't work due to the games looking for US 64DD hardware upon turning on the system but somehow the Japanese 64DD hardware prevented them from booting up at all but i had no idea why MP didn't load. i thought the game cart had kicked the bucket.
that is when i noticed their code numbers in the front sticker of the carts.
every N64 game i have has the following structure: NUS-NXXE-USA
these 3 games have their code like this: NUS-CXXE-USA
XX = depends on game but everything else is the same. examples:
NUS-CLBE-USA is Mario Party's code
NUS-CFZE-USA is F-Zero X's code
NUS-CZLE-USA is Zelda OoT's code
normal game: NUS-NKTE-USA would be mario Kart 64 and NUS-NALE-USA is SSB
when i removed the 64DD to try the game again, it booted up fine and it surprised me since both FZX and OoT worked when i removed the 64DD.
this leads me to think that at some point Mario Party wasn't supposed to have so many sequels initially but, due to the 64DD tanking, they made the expansion disk it's own game and it became Mario Party 2. it would also explain why they recycled so many minigames for it and why all further installments had a complete new minigame roster in comparison.
this should help anyone who has both a 64DD and Mario Party know that their games aren't busted.
the only 3 games i own on N64 that don't load up with a 64DD unit attached are F-Zero X, Zelda OoT and Mario Party. i sorta had an idea why FZX and OoT didn't work due to the games looking for US 64DD hardware upon turning on the system but somehow the Japanese 64DD hardware prevented them from booting up at all but i had no idea why MP didn't load. i thought the game cart had kicked the bucket.
that is when i noticed their code numbers in the front sticker of the carts.
every N64 game i have has the following structure: NUS-NXXE-USA
these 3 games have their code like this: NUS-CXXE-USA
XX = depends on game but everything else is the same. examples:
NUS-CLBE-USA is Mario Party's code
NUS-CFZE-USA is F-Zero X's code
NUS-CZLE-USA is Zelda OoT's code
normal game: NUS-NKTE-USA would be mario Kart 64 and NUS-NALE-USA is SSB
when i removed the 64DD to try the game again, it booted up fine and it surprised me since both FZX and OoT worked when i removed the 64DD.
this leads me to think that at some point Mario Party wasn't supposed to have so many sequels initially but, due to the 64DD tanking, they made the expansion disk it's own game and it became Mario Party 2. it would also explain why they recycled so many minigames for it and why all further installments had a complete new minigame roster in comparison.
this should help anyone who has both a 64DD and Mario Party know that their games aren't busted.