Super Mario 64 Dd Discovered

Super Mario 64 is one of the most iconic, important games ever produced, and is treasured by many gamers. It's safe to say that it's in most collections of those rocking a Nintendo 64, so while it's much-loved it's not exactly collectable gold. The unreleased Nintendo 64 DD version, however, is something else entirely, and it's been so rare that some have even doubted whether any copies remained in the wild.

The Nintendo 64 DD was an intriguing disc drive expansion that opened up far more expansive games and opportunities, such as detailed customisation and level creation. It was only released in Japan and barely got off the ground, however, as it arrived too late and was perhaps a little too far ahead of the time in terms of what it was trying to achieve.

Only ten games were formally released, with F-Zero X Expansion Kit among the most well-known, though various releases and projects were started and abandoned. One of these was a disc version of Super Mario 64, shown at SpaceWorld 1996, though it since quietly disappeared. Nintendo 64 collector jimmy130 has snagged a copy, however, and has recorded some footage of it in action.

Unfortunately this version doesn't appear to have any hugely exciting differences — possibly because it was never truly finished — and seems largely the same as the original version. You can see it below, including the second video that shows some bugs.

A fascinating collectable, though the standard N64 cartridge still seems to be the way to go to really enjoy the game at its best.

Thanks to Evan Butler for the tip.

[source retrocollect.com]