View source for Ideas & Thoughts: The Perfect 64DD Pack-In


17-Jan-98

Well, I figure the 64DD will do better if it has a pack-in that people want. &nbsp;But that's kinda obvious, right? &nbsp;Well, the first part of my idea is to have it help you out with controller pak data. &nbsp;I mean, we can all agree that it sucks when you have so much to save, so little to save with. &nbsp;Remember this: controller paks save 32 KB of information. &nbsp;The 64DD can save 38 MB of information. &nbsp;In other words, about 1187 times a controller pak! &nbsp;Even if they only left, say, 1 MB writeable, it'd be 31x a controller pak. &nbsp;Just imagine the advertising. &nbsp;:) &nbsp;Let's go with it being 31x controller pak size, and let's just say that by the time the 64DD comes, 1st-party controller paks have dropped to $15... and that the 64DD costs $120... &quot;Save $345 on controller paks!&quot; &nbsp;Not bad, eh?

It'd have to have a good way to keep the things in order, though... First of all, you'd be able to have more than 1 save of a certain type, unlike with controller paks. &nbsp;That way you could have 10 different TGR paint jobs on there or something. &nbsp;Next, you'd be able to input a description of what it is, to help you identify them. &nbsp;For example, with those TGR cars, you could name them &quot;Flames&quot;, &quot;Mt. Dew&quot;, &quot;Old Bessie&quot;, whatever you wanted. &nbsp;Then when you wanted to switch between them, you'd just put in your controller pak, choose the one you want, and (after doing an &quot;Are you sure?&quot; thing) copy it onto your pak.

This would be just another easy, great way to get people to look upon the 64DD better. &nbsp;If you're a big Mario Kart 64 fan, you've got no more worries about having the entire pak taken up by 2 of your favorite Time Trial runs. &nbsp;You'd have no more problems with games that take up the entire pak. &nbsp;Etc.

Now, this could be good or bad for Nintendo in the controller pak business. &nbsp;I mean, I know many people get the first-party Nintendo paks because the 3rd-party ones will sometimes mess up, and you'd lose your data. &nbsp;If you could easily back it up, though, you probably wouldn't be worried about the pak messing up. &nbsp;Then again, if they could find some way to make it only work with Nintendo-made memory paks, it'd get them more money... but I really doubt that could happen... and even if it did, 3rd-party controller pak makers would just find a way to make theirs work with it anyways. &nbsp;:) &nbsp;Then again, with the extra saving of the 64DD, that would at least slow down the sales of the 3rd-party 4x controller paks... but I don't think this is a huge deal to Nintendo. &nbsp;I mean, do you think they'd be more concerned about controller pak sales or 64DD sales? &nbsp;Exactly...

But that still leaves a lot of space on the 64DD to go. &nbsp;I mean, even if we say that they ue all 38 MB of writeability, and the program to handle it was 1 MB, we've still got about 15 MB left. &nbsp;What could be done with this? &nbsp;I've got 3 ideas.

'''1. Add-on.''' &nbsp;Yup. &nbsp;F-Zero is confirmed to be a 64DD-compatible title, and I'm sure there'll be another or two that will be too by that time. &nbsp;The extra space could be used for a mini-add on to these (I'm thinking preferably multiple) games. &nbsp;Perhaps just a few stages for F-Zero, or a mini-adventure for Zelda...

'''2. Demo.''' &nbsp;Well, it could have demos of games. &nbsp;But I don't know if Nintendo'd really do that. &nbsp;Maybe non-playable demos. &nbsp;No, I don't mean FMV, either. &nbsp;Real-time stuff. &nbsp;It'd be like the videos they send out, only it could have more.

'''3. Info.''' &nbsp;I'm thinking just info on current and upcoming N64/64DD games. &nbsp;Let's say that there's only that 15 MB left. &nbsp;And let's say that by that time the number of games released and games officially announced add up to 200. &nbsp;That leaves 75k for each game. &nbsp;So they could have a screen shot or two and info on genre/developer/# of players/etc.

Well, I think that's about it for this set of thoughts...

[[Joshua J. Slone|Joshua Slone]] is, at the time of this typing, alive and well.