Modified N64 for sale!

[Greatsaintlouis]

Alright, so since eBay are fucktards and pulled my auction because somehow import-capable cartridge-based systems are synonimous with piracy, I am looking at selling this here. I was hoping to pick up the extra few dollars from some less-than-knowledgeable eBay chap, but whatever.

I have for sale a well-loved NTSC/U Nintendo 64 unit in very good and complete working condition, modified to play Japanese games with no extra hassle. No games or controllers are included, but I will toss in the power pack and the composite A/V cable. And if you catch me on a good day, I might be persuaded to throw in a sealed copy of Perfect Dark for only a few dollars more.

Looking in the $25-$35 range, whatever you think it's worth, plus shipping. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

[NEW!]

PAL Atari Jaguar System. Modified for 60Hz output. The thing works beautifully, I just can't get it to run on my TV or even my TV capture card on the PC - still B&W or goofy colors. I'm just selling the console and one controller, as it took me forever to track down an A/V cable, and the power supply it uses actually belongs to my Sega Genesis. I would also entertain a trade, straight across, for a working and good condition NTSC Jaguar unit. Sale price between $30 and $40. Thanks!

[dj898]

will it play PAL cart as well?

cheers

[LeGIt]

Proboably not without a cheat device or converter I would assume. NTSC n64's are easy to modify as all you have to do is melt 2 tabs inside the cart slot. Basically the jap & us games have the same region encoding but different cart shapes which prevent them from fitting. PAL games have different encoding so even with the melted tabs to fit in the slot fine the encoding prevents direct play.

Correct me if I'm wrong GSL :smt023

[Greatsaintlouis]

Nope, you're absolutely right Legit. I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances, but I believe it's something like the old CIC lockout chips used in the NES. Nintendo relied on both hardware and software lockout methods for the N64, but did so in a very odd manner:
US <-> Japanese: Hardware lockout only
Japanese <-> European: Software lockout only
US <-> European: Hardware AND software lockouy

Very strange. The moral of the story is you'll need something like the Passport III cart to run PAL games on this system.

[A. Snow]

Nope, you're absolutely right Legit. I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances, but I believe it's something like the old CIC lockout chips used in the NES. Nintendo relied on both hardware and software lockout methods for the N64, but did so in a very odd manner:
US <-> Japanese: Hardware lockout only
Japanese <-> European: Software lockout only
US <-> European: Hardware AND software lockouy

Very strange. The moral of the story is you'll need something like the Passport III cart to run PAL games on this system.

Not too strange when you think about it. People in Europe are more likely to speak English than Japanese so Nintendo probably figured the majority of imports would come form the US.

[AntiPasta]

Not too strange when you think about it. People in Europe are more likely to speak English than Japanese so Nintendo probably figured the majority of imports would come form the US.

That is correct, I remember when the N64 had just been released in the US, before the PAL launch, Mario 64 (Import) was on top of the Nintendo sales charts :drinkers:

[Calpis]

There aren't security chips preventing lockout. N64 games do have security chips (around 10 types), but thats irrelevant to regional issues. The US/EU problem is a internal NTSC/PAL lockout routine. Because N64 games are HIGHLY optimized for their video, it'd be pretty pointless trying to play a NTSC game on a PAL system anyhow. I don't know if there is even a way to install a 50/60 switch because the system archetecture is entirely different. PAL systems might just have to play in 50hz... The US/JP N64s don't even output RGB.

[TheDeathcoaster]

Well after recieivng an anti-lockout chip code from GSL I managed to get the NTSC Evangelion game running fine on my PAL N64. No problems with the graphics whatsover (Automatically switched to 60hz mode for the NTSC game).

[Calpis]

Thats good to hear (that the console is autoswitching.) N64 security works in a somewhat abnormal way. Each game contains a security chip, that the console talks to, to most likely decode a security block in game. (So as long as you own an original cartridge, you're set in terms of that.) Your code most likely broke the game's video check routine.

[AntiPasta]

Because N64 games are HIGHLY optimized for their video, it'd be pretty pointless trying to play a NTSC game on a PAL system anyhow. I don't know if there is even a way to install a 50/60 switch because the system archetecture is entirely different. PAL systems might just have to play in 50hz...

Got any more info on this? How's this optimizing implemented?

[Evangelion-01]

Proboably not without a cheat device or converter I would assume. NTSC n64's are easy to modify as all you have to do is melt 2 tabs inside the cart slot. Basically the jap & us games have the same region encoding but different cart shapes which prevent them from fitting. PAL games have different encoding so even with the melted tabs to fit in the slot fine the encoding prevents direct play.

Correct me if I'm wrong GSL :smt023

well... i remember that my cousin had a n64 and he played us games, but he had this baseball game "is some baseball game by namco or capcom that look like south park characters (the mouths jump like on south park characters)" and he could play it and dindt do anything to hes n64 :S , maybe the console was ntsc/j... since in mexico you can buy those in the streets for cheaper than ntsc/uc, can ntsc/j play us games without modification?

[Calpis]

Got any more info on this? How's this optimizing implemented?

No clue, I don't touch N64 code :P It has to be though, games aren't 27% slower in 50hz mode are they? No console can get around Vblank. Also, I notice that lots of games need patches for different videomodes, that usually means something. There are some tools which convert the game's video as well, the technique must be similar to PSX, where the system doesn't know (or care about) the difference between NTSC/PAL so it autoswitches without a warning. Thus if you wanna force a game to play in a specific video mode (NTSC game in PAL50) you HAVE to use some video conversion tool. (Don't ask me how it works, iunno) I thought originally the N64 might be like older consoles in that they can't switch their video system, just their speed. (And they'd then give you some shit about how illegal importing is) I guess after the Saturn, all consoles could do both NTSC/PAL.

[XerdoPwerko]

How much is shipping to Mexico?

I want an N64, and I'm interested in yours for sure. I'd pay some 30 USD plus shipping if it's not very expensive; but I'd have the cash until november first (Yeah, I get paid almost zero for teaching whilst attending graduate school, but morons who can kick a ball get paid at least one thousand times my salary... isn't my country great?)

[Greatsaintlouis]

Just did a quick check on the postal service website, and with my estimate of 3.5 pounds (figure that should be fairly accurate) it's going to be somewhere around $17-$20 depending on the method used. I personally wouldn't think that would be worth it, but if you're still interested, let me know.

Added a new console for sale in the top of the thread.

Oh, and as far as the PSX games go - you don't even need to do any conversion or patching to run PAL games on NTSC and vice-versa. There's a nifty utility called PALPAR that will read the game executable file off of a PSX disc and then output a Gameshark/Action Replay code to force the video mode to PAL or NTSC, and it works great with everything I've used it on.

EDIT: HOLY SHIT!! I hit 1000 posts!!

[Evangelion-01]

EDIT: HOLY SHIT!! I hit 1000 posts!!

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP ! :smt043