Nintendo 64: Everdrive 64 3.0 Review

We all have our fond memories with our first and favorite home consoles. These experiences usually stay with you and played a big role in your childhood. I spent alot of quarters from my allowance to play at my local video arcade. Some of my favorites included Sunset Riders, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, Ninja Turtles, Cruizin’ USA and Metal Slug. While the SNES and Genesis consoles were available for purchase and rent, they didn’t come close to the video arcade cabinet experience. The video game arcade scene made gaming a social activity and multiplayer made gaming just that more enjoyable. That was until Nintendo boosted about developing a true 3d gaming machine with multiplayer in mind.

I actually had a subscription to Nintendo Power back in the day. I was stunned by hearing the name Ultra64 and I was determined to purchase the latest and greatest. I went door to door to provide services such lawn care and automotive cleaning services. I had learned the value of a dollar and my parents were proud of me for taking the incentive. They then brought me additional games, three extra controllers, party food and allowed me to invite a friend over to come and enjoy this beast of a gaming machine. Little did i know when purchasing this fine gaming machine the Nintendo 64, I was seeing the 2D transform into the 3D platform we still continue to enjoy to this day.  Platform gaming had been defined and some PC titles where even making appearances as well. It was huge and Nintendo was putting up so much hype for this beloved console. Nintendo 64 still has some of the best titles ever released and is widely accepted by the gaming community for good reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sScj7MwjHBs

With all these new modern consoles and PCs available you have many titles and genres to play. Gaming is at an all time high and this has lead to people wanting to discover gaming’s fine roots. While you can normally enjoy quite a bit it of using emulation. It’s not even close as purists and gamers from those generations can definitely tell the difference. Slowdowns, glitches and such are to be expected as software emulation doesn’t hold a candle to the hardware. The Nintendo 64 is a good example of that and even after many years of work on that emulator. It still can’t replicate the experience and there are some cool gems you still can’t play. But for you hardcore Nintendo 64 fans out there, this is a way to fully enjoy the whole experience with your original hardware. Some of the most obscure titles are either unavailable for purchase or too expensive to purchase due to collectors price gauging.

Krikzz has done great work with making multiple backup flash carts for many platforms. His everdrive 64 is unique for adding features not present in many clones available. You are now able to play Pokemon Stadium 2 and even the Japanese exclusive title Animal Forest (The First Animal Crossing game in the series). You can even patch Japanese Backups with English translations and play them on a non-Japanese console. 🙂 Thanks to the new Real Time Clock and CIC boot emulator feature.

• High compatibility. Nearly to 100% compatibility with the N64 game library.
• 64Mbyte (512mbit) SDRAM for ROM data (max ROM size 64Mbyte)
• 256Kbyte battery RAM (Save RAM) [v3 ONLY]
• RTC (real time clock) [v3 ONLY]
• GamePak saves do not require system reset [v3 ONLY]
• Push-push SD card slot [v3 ONLY]
• SD and SDHC cards are supported
• FAT16/FAT32 support (unlimited partition size for FAT32)
• SD to SDRAM transfer speed up to 23 Mbyte/s
• Emulation features
• Gamepak saves support (SRAM, SRAM128Kbyte, EEPROM16k, EEPROM4k, FlashRam)
• GameShark cheat support
• IPS/APS patches
• Region free – PAL ROMs can be played on NTSC systems and vice-versa
• CIC boot emulator. Enough to have CIC6102/CIC7101 to play any games
• No extra software needed
• Byteswapped and non-byteswapped ROMs are supported
• USB port 800k – 1Mbyte/s. USB port useful for developers [v3 ONLY]

I was able to obtain the Everdrive 64 V3 Deluxe Edition from Stoneage Gamer and they are an official reseller of the Everdrive. They offer basic carts to completely custom editions with nice cases to store away your investment. You now have the options to chose from variety of colors and labels to make that unique cart your very own. I opted for the gold color and you can see below how much detail Stoneage Gamer puts into Krikzz’s products.

Setting up the everdrive 64 is pretty simple and all you have todo is download the initial OS for the flash cart here. Just simply unzip the folder and add the contents to your SD Card and make a backup folder with your backups inside. You have the options to change the wallpaper on the UI, add gameshark codes and even backup save files from the memory pak on the Everdrive 64. If you plan to use gameshark codes use this as a reference and I will use Paper Mario as an example

Directory recommended to add codes

• SD:\Extras\Gameshark Codes

Game and text document must be named the same thing

• Paper Mario.z64 (Legal Game Backup)
• Paper Mario.txt (Text Document)

Gameshark code structure should be added like this

DE025C00 0000 Must Be On
F106C6B0 2400

8010F298 0063 Max Badge Points
8010F29F 0063 Max Star Pieces

This handy cart played almost everything i threw at it with the exception of a couple of modded roms intended for emulation in mind. I successfully dumped the ROM from the GameCube zelda collection disc and played Master Quest on the original Nintendo 64 hardware!! 🙂 I played the following games with English translation patches and they ran awesome. For added fun I even searched the web for prototype unreleased games as well.

• The Legend of Zelda : Master Quest
• Animal Forest
• Sin & Punishment
• Wonder Project
• 40 Winks
• Glover 2

I would recommend this product for anyone really into retro gaming and want the good times to roll. If you truly want the most compatibility possible you need to opt for the V3 of the Everdrive 64. All the games V2 wouldn’t play are now running silky smooth and you don’t have to worry about pressing the reset button each time you want to save. If you looking for new games to play i would recommend checking out these classics.

• Flying Dragon
• Jet Force Gemini
• Perfect Dark
• Space Station Silicon Valley
• Vigilante 8 – 2nd Offense

I would overall rate the Everdrive 64 V3 a 8/10 and I hope you enjoyed reading this review as much as I did playing with it. For those of you interested you can purchase this fine product here. So if you excuse me I have some retro gaming todo! 🙂

Team Hackinformer signing out