The Nintendo 64DD remains an intriguing part of the company's history, with the expansion ultimately being short-lived and limited to the Japanese market. Though it wasn't a commercial success after frequent delays and an arrival that fell too close to the GameCube, it nevertheless helped to pave the way for new ideas.
A good example is the Randnet Disk, which launched 22 years ago today (23rd February) in Japan; hat-tip to the Nintendo Reddit 'on this day' thread. Though Nintendo's partnership with Randnet was live from the expansion system's launch the previous December, this disk release unlocked a full set of features for subscribers. Yes, if you balk at paying for anything internet-related nowadays, you should have seen prices back in the day.
The video above provides an interesting summary, and researching the app shows that it was pretty impressive for the time. As we've alluded to in our headline, too, it ironically had some features that are evidently unlikely to ever arrive on Switch. For example it had a full web browser; the Switch has this, but it isn't an app we can access at will as users, possibly due to the equivalent on Wii U being a notorious security weakness. This 64DD app also let you send emails!
The Randnet Disk had some features that sound quite familiar, too. For example there were message boards to chat with other players and interact with developers, which immediately made us think of Miiverse on Wii U / 3DS. It also had early equivalents of familiar services, including the ability to buy apps and games online. It even had its own currency that you'd use to purchase these downloadable products, which seems a bit like Wii Points to us.
Of course, that's not to say that Randnet Disk was necessarily the source of inspiration for the likes of Miiverse and Wii Points, as different stages of Nintendo's online services have adopted various ideas and approaches.
It's interesting to see ideas like these realised on Nintendo 64, though, albeit through a Japan-only expansion.
Comments 85
What's the point of the Expansion Pack?
This.
At Nintendo, we decided to charge a monthly or, even better, yearly fee to our loyal fans to play the same games that they have been playing since they were 10 years old and that they will be playing for the rest of their lives.
I can’t see anything. Must be all the shade.
It takes me back to all the good times when I didn't own a 64DD.
Hmm... I'll say it again - We NEED 64DD games on NSO! And Satellaview games too as well!
Where's my 3DS-style Themes!?!?!
And Folders.
Dag-nabbit, the Switch is a failure!!!
@Jayenkai,
More outrage seeking from Nintendo life, always fun though.
...No? It did have features that Switch Online doesn't have, but I don't think this is really comparable.
Randnet was above all, an ISP tied to the 64DD and simply offered internet basics?
A lot of the features are I think a bit misunderstood and overblown.
What is that thing ? 🧐
Never saw N64 model like that.
But anyway... I still choose PS1 over than N64 for better games library for me.
Wii had more online features though.
Brawl was free to play online.
If you were to duct tape all of Nintendo’s consoles together, the combined net abilities just might lift Nintendo out of 2008
It really is pretty insane how Nintendo has been able to get away with their online offerings for Switch. I mean seriously how is there STILL no way to message friends on Switch? Really? I'm not asking for the world here!
@Korgon AMEN!
Interesing retro curio.
@Korgon Because other ways to message people exist, and moderating a message service is a massive headache? It's one of the areas I'm not really surprised on.
I think NSO and the Expansion Pack are more experiments if nothing else. Nintendo knows that the way forward is to have a regular source of income through subscription models - like it or not, that's the direction the industry has moved.
But Nintendo's problem with online this generation is that it's struggled to find a value proposition, since there are both benefits and drawbacks to the previous alternative.
Virtual Console is viewed with rose-tinted glasses, yet the truth is that we were over-paying for games with darkened filters, only one save state and no backup. Have we already forgotten that you could pay £3.50 for NES Pinball? £6-8 for a SNES game? Almost £15 for the N64? I really don't want to go back to that.
The argument that were was more choice is clearly valid, but I don't believe for a second that anyone 'owned' these games. Nintendo's latest move with the 3DS and Wii U eShops are evidence of this.
NSO has a nicer interface, superior emulation, more save states and cloud backup. And although all the titles from Virtual Console aren't present, it costs approximately £1.50 a month to access a very good selection of NES and SNES titles, as well as online play. I honestly think that's undervalued.
Nintendo probably knew this and came up with Expansion Pack as a knee-jerk reaction, which has had almost the opposite effect as the value isn't quite there.
Then there's Game Vouchers, which are actually decent value for a first-party full price game (£84 minus £4 for Gold points = £40 per game). This solves the issue of digital games being more expensive, but will there ever be a Game Pass competitor?
Who knows... This is Nintendo after all!
@AlienX Yep, the features, not just online but features in general are very poor on Switch.
PS: Wii U had video chat!
@Korgon as a father of two I really have peace of mind letting my kids play on switch, I know they will not communicate unsupervised because there isn't a web browser or a message system.
As an adult player, I don't care about those features because I have a smartphone.
So instead of lazyness or incompetence, I believe that the lack of those features is a planed move to please the actual customer (many times the gamer is just a moneyless annoying teenager, and not the actual person that puschase stuff)
@Banjo- I think the past few months have made it clear that the Expansion Pack's purpose is basically as a 1st party DLC subscription service. So like if instead of Game Pass adding 1st party Xbox games day 1, the DLC for those games got added day 1 and the games weren't part of Game Pass at all.
Maybe if all the hackers / modders left the systems alone then Nintendo might feel more inclined to add these things.
But then they won't so I guess neither will they!!
@Emperor-Palpsy I'm basically agreed with you, except I think I pay £7 per year for the whole NSO + expansion pack (thank you, 7 friends).
If this were anyone else, it would be hubris, but the value proposition of Nintendo is their first class IP. Their online offering doesn't have to be great considering the games I can only play on Nintendo and that are still great despite the hardware being far behind the last gen.
They've obviously goofed up in the past, but this had nothing to do with their online offering, and if anything we now have a generation of children playing and loving the same video game franchises as their parents.
@Grumblevolcano Then the value of Expansion Pack is even worse!
@Banjo- Except they offered future DLC for games almost every Switch owner already owns. Getting Mario Kart and Animal Crossing for free would have benefited almost no one (maybe parents with multiple switches).
@abdias For parents of small children, I highly recommend the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls phone app. It helps protect your kids’ gaming sessions with a good degree of granularity.
That said, I don’t see why this app would not work just as well if Nintendo‘s online approach were brought up to anything resembling current standards.
Ah, yes, the 64DD, the only piece of Nintendo hardware to sell worse than the Virtual Boy, at a meager 15,000 (roughly speaking) units sold.
The Virtual Boy sold around 770,000, making it their worst selling standalone console, but the 64DD is by far their worst-selling hardware.
The Switch didn't have any online features (or exist) 22 years ago.
DD stands for Double **** 😳
@TryToBeHopeful Do you think that paying a $49.99 annual fee is better value than buying DLC for two games?
Unfortunately the constant delays ruined the 64DD. By the time it launched, almost all of the planned software to be released on it were either moved to cartridge or cancelled.
Give us an article about the Famicom's online capabilities, NL!
@Banjo- Not something I've had to consider as I pay £7.49/year.
Not really related to @Grumblevolcano's point either.
Is it worth the extra £3.12/year over what I was already paying? Undoubtedly.
Clickbait headline
@TryToBeHopeful,
Totally agree, even the full family online expansion pack is peanuts when you break it down, honestly some of the people on here.
@TryToBeHopeful Grumblevolcano said that the value is the new DLC, so it's related to what he said.
Even if you got a discount for the Expansion Pack somehow (since there is no family plan for the expansion pack and you didn't explain anything, I don't know what you did), I think it's very poor value to pay a fee for DLC for games that are not included. If you think it's good value, good for you. Opinions and all that. All must be respected, including mine.
@alcabcucu,
Yes, this and the home of the pitate Bowser the other day, must be going for them advertising clicks.
Ah yes, another nlife article downplaying Nintendo.
You'd think this was a sony fansite.
@abdias @TryToBeHopeful
I mean it didn't seem to be a problem on the Wii U so I'm not sure why it would be a bigger headache on the Switch. And yes I know there are other ways to message people that's not the point.
I understand Nintendo wants to be kid friendly. That's fine but we also have parental controls for that issue.
The point I'm making is Nintendo's online is so inconvenient to use while also costing money. If it was free I'd give them a bit more of a pass but if they want to charge for online I'm sorry missing basic features like this among other things is pretty much a deal breaker for me.
Is it a big deal? No I just go to other platforms for online features because of it and just don't buy Switch online. But it's a shame because I'd like to play some Nintendo games online if playing with friends wasn't such a pain.
Why do you require people to leave Apple News to read your articles? I’m running adblock so you certainly aren’t seeing more revenue.
Additionally one cannot “customise” their cookies when entering the site. The button does nothing. This feels like it might be in violation of some EU laws.
I don't need all that stuff on my gamong console, but I DO miss the Miiverse. It was such a cool feature on the Wii U. (Although the moderation was a little "odd" from time to time)
@Korgon You're right. Parental controls can be set so "who will think of the children?" is an old excuse for the awful Nintendo online services, that aren't free. They were better and free on Wii, Wii U and 3DS but some people will defend Nintendo even if they make things worse.
@Banjo- You absolutely can get a family membership for the expansion pack.
I respect your opinion that you think the online is poor value. For what I pay and what I want, it is objectively good value.
Providing Mario Kart for free would be zero value to 50% of Switch owners (https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/01/nearly_half_of_all_switch_owners_have_a_copy_of_mario_kart_8_deluxe).
And if they were going to provide access to all first party games (like Microsoft does) you can bet it would cost A LOT more.
I played Virtua Tennis, Daytona, Unreal online on my old Dreamcast for free in 1999 - excelent quality conection. I played Mechassault, Daytona, Pro Racer Driver, Top Spin, on my old xbox-1st generation for free, in 2002....excelent quality conection. Today I play Steam, excelent quality conection for free. I won´t never pay for playing online. Never!
Very well. I respect your opinion, too.
@Korgon I've got no insight into why Nintendo do what they do, but at some point they took a cost-benefit decision on providing communication features.
I'm surprised they provide them at all for the drama it causes.
Who wants to pay for all the moderators?
I doubt very much if they provided the features that people would use them. Just a hunch. Text communication with a game controller is a pain anyway. And if you're going to use a phone anyway, why not use one of the many better systems that already exists?
@Banjo- That was shut down at the end of 2017, but yes the Wii U had video chat.
@TryToBeHopeful
I actually never minded using a controller to send texts myself. Maybe I'm just a fossil with regards to that but I'd even be fine with only allowing messages strictly between friends and no one else. Heck I already do this on PS5. I don't receive messages or friend requests from random people.
Plus I like to try to keep my gaming friends and my real life friends seperate for the most part. Maybe that's just a me thing but I mean even Steam has a messaging system and they have less incentive than anyone considering they are a PC platform where you can have discord or the Xbox app to talk to friends right there on your computer. Nintendo doesn't have that luxury. I know its a 1st world problem but like I said I just go to PC or PS5 for my online needs instead.
@justintabs Correct.
The reason why this garbage failed, it doesn't had any games. Yes you had internet and crap but what's the point if you can't play games with it. Nintendo of America did the right thing by not releasing this over here. Even worst is that Nintendo delay it like multiple times and adding promise that it would still come with games but every single games this garbage should had at launch (Final Fantasy VII, Animal Forest, Dragon Quest VII, Eternal Darkness, Mortal Kombat Gold, Grandia 2, Golden Sun, Mega Man Legends, Street Fighter Alpha 3, EarthBound 64, Zelda URA Quest, Ogre Battle 64) either got released for the base system or got ported to the PS1, Dreamcast, GameCube, or GBA instead. By the year 2000 NOA just says screw it, we don't want it anymore.
@AlienX There's literally only around 600 Virtual Consoles games on Wii (combining all regions and exclusive titles) and even if you add in the additional 650 GameCube games via backwards compatibility, it still won't beat Switch digital offerings at this moment. With Switch right now you can have access to over 2500 retro games digitally or physically spanning multiple platforms (from Atari 2600 to Arcade to NeoGeo, to Sega CD to PS1, NeoGeo Pocket Color, Dreamcast, N64, PS2, PSP, to even the Wii U) and that's not counting anything via NSO. All other features aren't even game related and are unnecessary anyways.
I recall reading EGM and they teased the 64DD with DLC disks...roster updates, game engine updates, all for a fraction of the cost of the initial game.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......
Oh the crystal ball was cloudy that day back in 1998.
@Stnkygrngo To be honest expansion disks did exist for F-Zero X for exemple, but also Dezaemon 3D (a shoot 'em up maker, the expansion never released), and one of the games (Japan Pro Golf Tour 64) actually supports DLC (but it never happened).
I remember magazines mentioning the 64DD as Nintendo's response to the CD-ROM. Only much later I found out the disk size was 10 times smaller, same as the biggest N64 cartridges. What was the point of it then?
@TryToBeHopeful I thought that the Expansion Pack was an independent service with a single pricing.
@betterman The 64DD didn't make sense but Nintendo was too scared of piracy. That's why the GameCube discs, the first time that Nintendo didn't use cartridges, are smaller than regular DVDs. However, Wii uses full-sized DVD-based discs and Wii U uses beautifully polished BD-based discs. For Nintendo 64, the best solution would have been bigger-capacity cartridges instead of a peripheral. There was some logic, though, since the cartridges couldn't be written and the DD64 magneto-optical disks could.
I’ve been playing badge arcade on the 3ds trying to get all the badges, that game is addictive!
@Vyacheslav333 That would be a cool addition to the Nintendo Switch Expansion Pack that I would love to see. Back in the day I remember reading about the 64DD in Nintendo Power and being sold on it's planned addition to the then unreleased Mission Impossible and being able to scan your face in on the GB Camera and then transfer it to the 64DD for face masks. When it didn't release in the West it was disappointing for many. For now I've had fun going back to it via an Everdrive 64 x7 and the english fan translations. But yes, it would be cool to see Nintendo add this themselves.
@Banjo-
Nintendo fans money blips away
@Banjo- no, it’s an added cost to your normal online service package.
And as @trytobehopeful said, it’s great value if you have another 7 friends in the family plan. I end up paying as much as $1/month with the added 64 games and DLC. So, it’s worth it.
@fafonio As I said above, I know it's optional, that's why I thought that there was just one pricing for it. Anyway, let's go back to the topic.
@Vyacheslav333 YES!!!
If they're not gonna give us a new F-Zero I'd at least like to see the Satelliview and N64DD F-Zero games we never got here come to NSO.
@betterman It didn't make sense which is why they made the Expansion Pak instead to accommodate for the lacking 64DD support. Majora's Mask, a game planned for the 64DD needs the Expansion Pak to play in able to get the full experience that were originally gonna be in the peripheral add-on version. Without it the game could become very buggy.
I never thought about it... But I actually miss the Miiverse on WiiU. I wasn't really all that active in the community, but it was a really cozy environment.
@TryToBeHopeful it’s so weird that people don’t realize that Nintendo doesn’t want to make a multimedia machine.
Before somebody says “hulu and youtube!” yeah I know - and I bet if they were really popular more would have followed.
Crunchyroll surprised me.
@LuigiBlood yup! I recall the F-Zero and Ura Zelda for Japan, slipped my mind about that when I commented.
Just remember them talking about how it could be possible to update the recently released FIFA 64 with new rosters.
Man, what a bad game FIFA 64 was, but damn it was so much fun and crazy to play at the time.
@GannonBanned It's useful if you've got no other console or smart tv box. But if you want to watch things on a tiny screen your phone is probably easier. I'm mostly saying that because unless it has netflix or disney+ I don't have much reason to use it.
It shouldn’t be funny, but it kind of is.
@TryToBeHopeful I just assume watching 1 movie on a switch would 86 the battery
@tstorm Those Satellaview F-Zero games aren't really anything special. All you get is four new vehicles (which are basically just the same four from the first game but with a different skin) and five new tracks. Heck those five new tracks aren't even new unique levels, they're just different track of existing levels from the first F-Zero game for example Mute City 4 and Port Town 3 are basically just modified versions of Mute City 1 and Port Town 1 with different twist and turns. The 64DD F-Zero game is not even a game, it's just a track editor for F-Zero X. You couldn't even share tracks unless you sign up for their service at the time which only happens in Japan.
Ridiculous title, Tom. Unless you are very selective about what "feature" means to suit your aforementioned ridiculous title.
@Specter_of-the_OLED You're describing BS F-Zero Grand Prix 1 and the practice version of 2. There's more tracks than that, that's why there's a bounty to get the actual BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 broadcasts which are still missing.
Hahahaha True! Ohhh well!! Man I loved that sweet Orange & smoke JPN version!!!
@Korgon sadly because Nintendo faithful can’t hold them accountable. They refuse to.
@Specter_of-the_OLED Unrelated to you perhaps, anyone could use messaging to get their friends to play online with.
The browser allowed easy access to any game's secrets or walkthroughs directly from the console, that's an incredible feature to have! It even enabled instant chatting with anyone.
Netflix during the Wii's run had several titles based on games, any diehard Mario fan would have appreciated having access to the Mario cartoon that was on there. For me it was Sonic (all three of them were there.)
I don't deny the Switch has content but it's definitely lacking in many areas that previous consoles weren't. I also very clearly said "buy" and you can't buy SMW or ALTTP on Switch... or Chrono Trigger for that matter.
Yet somehow even though the Switch has more titles, the GC and Wii library already had plenty of Dreamcast and PSone titles, many not on Switch, SA1/SA2/PSO/Crazy Taxi/MDK2/Skies of Arcadia all come to mind.
It's still great that Switch has some popular titles you can buy that weren't on Wii or Wii U, such as the FFs after VI. But I still see the selection being worse on Switch, especially because 99% of the SNES/N64 titles can only be "rented."
@Specter_of-the_OLED Hard4Games made a video a month or two ago where, it seems they got some guy to translate an old Japanese magazine or article which said Nintendo had the 64DD itself ready by 1998 (when they should've released it) but they just decided to sabotage themselves by holding it ransom until they got more base console sales (like they wanted to see 6m consoles sold in Japan or something, which was still a half mil more that the JP total lifetime sales). What a stupid idea. I guess it's good that Nintendo eventually released it in Japan. After it was already far too late and dead in the water.
So it had a browser and message boards. Ooh great, The whole internet has that now, Why would a video game system have it these days? Such a clickbait article. Show me on the 64 DD where you could play a bunch of N64 games online and you had a large subscription service for older games....oh wait, it didnt have any of that. These fake outrage over Switch artivles are getting lame.
I think we can all agree with NintendoLife here and acknowledge that the 64DD was a better platform than the Switch. It's so painfully obvious now.
Is a web browser too much to ask?
Even the friggin' DS had one (albeit requiring two carts to launch it).
And hardware as technically ancient as the DSi had one built in!
@Silly_G When you release a browser you commit to security updates for the life of the platform. Again, why bother when everyone with a console has a phone?
@TryToBeHopeful : I understand that, but the same can be said of any mobile device (plus, the Switch itself has already been long compromised, browser or no browser).
One of the best things about the 3DS and Wii U was the ability to jump into a browser mid-game. Like voice chat and messaging friends, the Switch makes things convoluted by requiring a second device to perform functions that the device is more than capable of doing.
Not to mention that online services on the 3DS/Wii U came at no additional charge, while users are now paying to receive less (with respect to online play anyway).
What kind of rabble rousing nonsense is this?! This absolutely didn't have more features than the Switch. It had a few very basic things like web browser usage. It's not ironic that it has this and the Switch doesn't. As you pointed out, it's something that made the Wii U easily exploitable (and the PS3 as well, for that matter). It's also entirely unnecessary. If you have access to the internet, surely you have a device better suited to web browsing than a game console.
Every device on earth with a WIFI chip has more features than a Seitch…
@Lyricana still has a browser which the Switch doesn’t ao yes it has more online possibilities
@koekiemonster Having a browser is one feature. The Switch has many more.
@Lyricana like messageboards, mail possibilities and userinteractions?
Cause the N64DD had those…
Thing is, this is a comparison of two devices from different time periods inside a vacuum, as if nothing else exists. The big reason why Switch does not contain things like a fully development web browser is not because it can't handle them, but that it doesn't need them, not with all the devices currently in the world that offer them.
Let's not forget that in order to utilize these online features on an N64, you had to have made multiple purchases. An N64, the 64DD, an N64 dial-up modem cart, and the Randnet disk. Add on a subscription service to get access to the internet ONLY with that device via dial-up that hogs the phone line while in use.
Again, different times, different circumstances. I doubt anyone would pay to get those features on a Switch nowadays. Let's take a quick look at what the internet was like before 2K.
https://imgur.com/gallery/wiOmcwS
@Anti-Matter The N64DD was a addon for the N64 which added a disc drive to allow for more processing power and other features. Unfortunately, it sold poorly and didn't have many games on it, so it remained Japan only.
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