US Version of N64 64DD has been found !

Hey there, I am a big collector in the Seattle area and I am reaching out to you guys because I can't find what I am looking for.

I acquired what might be a rather unusual N64 64DD drive. Keep in mind, I live in Seattle where Nintendo of North America resides just 20 minutes away...

Notice anything unusual about this screenshot? Keep in mind, the reason why the picture is soft is because it's running through a HDMI upscaler...but the picture with English text (instead of Japanese) is legit. This is the prototype for the US version of the 64DD.

Have you seen this before?

This unit also had a N64 blue disc inside, but I don't know what is on it as the drive just clicks and displays an error message. However, I KNOW that Nintendo of America used this unit and the contents could be anything. This unit also has some usual writing on the front of it that doesn't look like any third party developer kit I have seen. I was told the label means "Nintendo Ultra Disc unit #1 for the USA".

I want to know what the contents of that blue disc is. Do you have a recommendation of somebody who could help me out?

Thanks!

 

I've never seen a US version of the 64DD. (Or even heard of a US variant) How about some more pictures of just the 64DD? I'm sure this thread will explode quickly.

 

Edit: Take that disc out of the unit now! If this is a production unit you could damage the disc. Blue discs are only for the development units with blue trim.

@Zoinkity , @kammedo , and @LuigiBlood are the guys you need to talk to.

 

Actually... this IS a dev unit... that was used at Nintendo of North America. The disc was found INSIDE the unit.

 

Dude, cool find. I wonder how many of these exist. I guess at least one going by the number, lol

I think he meant a dev Nintendo 64? That is clearly a dev DD

 

What the heck is all over controller port 4? Are there any other markings on it?

 

The back of the blue disk

 

With this being a US variant, it is unclear if this is actually a development 64DD. A 64DD dev unit that is made for blue disks should have blue trim like the unit pictured above. Retail 64DD discs and DEV 64DD discs have different formatting. A retail unit can not read a development disc. I am assuming this is a prototype version of a retail USA 64DD and not an actual game development unit.

 

Here is a shot of the serial number on the bottom of the unit. Not sure if that tells you anything... since clearly the bios or firmware was changed to a beta version of the US version.

 

The person I acquired this from thought it may be a Nintendo TEST unit used for Q&A... Which makes that blue disk all the more exciting

 

BTW: I'm friends with Emilio...the guy who found the rare orange Halo XBOX.

The stuff you find in the Seattle area, huh?

 

Holy crap, my eyes are apparently failing me, for some reason I thought I saw that blue trim in the picture. Maybe the disc sitting in there threw me off, ha. My bad.

Man, I wish I could find that sort of stuff around here. I'm not even that far away, I could make a weekend trip there. I don't have a clue where to hunt though =P

 

I've come across US units, I had about 50 of them once, pretty much the entire US supply of them.
When it was decided to kill it off they were recalled and recycled, which is how I got them (90% of them new in box too)

People weren't interested in them at the time, even at only $90 a piece, new and boxed.
I sold only about 20 of them, the rest I still have. When prices peak I will sell them, buy a boat and retire.

 

Aaaaand Assembler crushes the thread. Haha there may still be something on the disc. You'll need to find a dev unit or send the disc to someone with a dev unit to see if there is anything on it.

 

Do they run retail disks?

 

Were they labeled like this from Nintendo?

Also...I plan on doing a video for my Youtube channel on the device, just like I did the orange Halo Xbox... That should drum up some interest.

What else can you tell me about the units so I get the details correct in the video? Thanks!

 

If there's a US one then there should be some US DD games somewhere in this world.

 

Man, assembler has to be the most jaded guy I've ever seen.