Every N64 Cart Board has now been photographed and documented in one neat guide to combat counterfei

I started this endeavor last year and with the help of several community members: all of the 296 carts in the U.S library have been documented! Check it out here: http://s9.zetaboards.com/Nintendo_64_Forever/topic/7464768/1/



Edit: Here's a nice little zip file if you want to keep it on your hard drive

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_9oK1UxJmdOLThPa2RENThsSjQ/view?usp=sharing 

Comments

  • I think it was Star Wars Shadows of the Empire where I saw different PCBs. One version had 2 ROM chips while another had only 1 ROM chip.



    iPhone won't let me view the file, so I'll check from a computer soon...

  • Originally posted by: Ichinisan



    I think it was Star Wars Shadows of the Empire where I saw different PCBs. One version had 2 ROM chips while another had only 1 ROM chip.



    iPhone won't let me view the file, so I'll check from a computer soon...



    Yea I noticed that some boards have different PCBs. Mario Kart 64 for example: PCB1, https://farm1.staticflickr.com/741/31630845582_215674eb05_b.jpg, PCB2, https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4187/33519668923_2e96910a6a_h.jpg


  • Thank you very much !
  • This is great, thank you!
  • Thank you for sharing!
  • I am so glad I completed this set before the end of the world  
  • I'm not the biggest fan of the N64, but thanks nevertheless. In case you want to do PAL too, I can send pics of some of my carts  

  • Originally posted by: Vectrex28



    I'm not the biggest fan of the N64, but thanks nevertheless. In case you want to do PAL too, I can send pics of some of my carts  

    Think I'm going to let someone else take over on that regard since doing this was brutal but thanks for the gesture nonetheless.  




  • This is awesome, and unfortunately becoming more and more necessary to combat piracy. For a long time I thought the N64 was "safe", but obviously the floodgates are now open.
  • Originally posted by: Quaze



    This is awesome, and unfortunately becoming more and more necessary to combat piracy. For a long time I thought the N64 was "safe", but obviously the floodgates are now open.



    nothing is safe! at least once prices reach the point where bootlegging becomes "worth it"



    darn shame really. I'm not really keeping up with N64, are fakes starting to become a big issue?

     
  • Originally posted by: Bert

     
    Originally posted by: Quaze



    This is awesome, and unfortunately becoming more and more necessary to combat piracy. For a long time I thought the N64 was "safe", but obviously the floodgates are now open.



    nothing is safe! at least once prices reach the point where bootlegging becomes "worth it"



    darn shame really. I'm not really keeping up with N64, are fakes starting to become a big issue?

     



    Yep. Starting to get to the point where you need to look very closely when purchasing any of the "good" games for the system, even common ones. Goldeneye and Mario Kart repros are a dime a dozen these days. Sculptor's Cut has already gone way off the repro deep end.

     
  • Originally posted by: Quaze

    Originally posted by: Bert

     
    Originally posted by: Quaze



    This is awesome, and unfortunately becoming more and more necessary to combat piracy. For a long time I thought the N64 was "safe", but obviously the floodgates are now open.



    nothing is safe! at least once prices reach the point where bootlegging becomes "worth it"



    darn shame really. I'm not really keeping up with N64, are fakes starting to become a big issue?

     



    Yep. Starting to get to the point where you need to look very closely when purchasing any of the "good" games for the system, even common ones. Goldeneye and Mario Kart repros are a dime a dozen these days. Sculptor's Cut has already gone way off the repro deep end.

     



    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?
  • Originally posted by: Bert



    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?

    When chinese guys ignore quality and build them for $5, selling for only $30 is still a massive profit.  
  • Originally posted by: bunnyboy

     
    Originally posted by: Bert



    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?

    When chinese guys ignore quality and build them for $5, selling for only $30 is still a massive profit.  



    Wow. I never realized fakes were so cheap to produce.

     

  • Originally posted by: Bert




    Originally posted by: Quaze




    Originally posted by: Bert

     

    Originally posted by: Quaze



    This is awesome, and unfortunately becoming more and more necessary to combat piracy. For a long time I thought the N64 was "safe", but obviously the floodgates are now open.



    nothing is safe! at least once prices reach the point where bootlegging becomes "worth it"



    darn shame really. I'm not really keeping up with N64, are fakes starting to become a big issue?

     



    Yep. Starting to get to the point where you need to look very closely when purchasing any of the "good" games for the system, even common ones. Goldeneye and Mario Kart repros are a dime a dozen these days. Sculptor's Cut has already gone way off the repro deep end.

     







    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?







    Guarantee you some dicks already offloaded them on Ebay/Amazon


  • Originally posted by: Bert

     
    Originally posted by: bunnyboy

     
    Originally posted by: Bert



    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?

    When chinese guys ignore quality and build them for $5, selling for only $30 is still a massive profit.  



    Wow. I never realized fakes were so cheap to produce.

     



    Realllllly cheap. Think "mass-produced in a bootleg merchandise factory in China"-level cheap, in both price and quality. You wouldn't think that the relatively sheap price of these games would be worth the trouble to bootleg, but when you sell hundreds of copies the profits add up quickly.

     
  • Originally posted by: Quaze

     
    Originally posted by: Bert

     
    Originally posted by: bunnyboy

     
    Originally posted by: Bert



    figured as much for sculptors. Mario Kart and Goldeneye are pretty surprising though. I know they're popular but they're only worth like 30 maybe?

    When chinese guys ignore quality and build them for $5, selling for only $30 is still a massive profit.  



    Wow. I never realized fakes were so cheap to produce.

     



    Realllllly cheap. Think "mass-produced in a bootleg merchandise factory in China"-level cheap, in both price and quality. You wouldn't think that the relatively sheap price of these games would be worth the trouble to bootleg, but when you sell hundreds of copies the profits add up quickly.

     



    The quality of Chinese N64 bootlegs can be surprisingly good. Some do look and feel like crap, but others appear completely authentic to the untrained eye. One thing that seems to be different about them, though, is that they tend to be just a little a bit bigger than authentic carts. It isn't something you notice visually, but it becomes apparent when you place the cartridges in your console. They fit in the slot, but it's a pretty tight fit.

     
  • Thank you! This will make the copy of worms Armageddon I'm about to post on eBay be a much smoother sale hopefully
  • Bumping this for the people who might have missed it. Ebay has been getting even more swarmed with this counterfeit garbage....
  • Thanks for bumping this!
  • How good is the quality of the knockoffs now anyway? It was a year or two ago when aliexpress had $70 N64 knockoffs of stuff like Worms. Bomberman 2nd Attack, and Clayfighter up there.
  • You guys rock!! Thank you so much to everyone who made this list happen.
  • Originally posted by: VmprHntrD



    How good is the quality of the knockoffs now anyway? It was a year or two ago when aliexpress had $70 N64 knockoffs of stuff like Worms. Bomberman 2nd Attack, and Clayfighter up there.



    The boards themselves are pretty good quality and seem to run well (though some LoZ: Master Quest repros had some save issues I remember). The cart shells are cheaper material and a bit bigger than the standard shells so they're a much tighter squeeze to fit in the cartridge slot. The labels are pretty bad too.

     
  • Originally posted by: Rocky

     
    Originally posted by: VmprHntrD



    How good is the quality of the knockoffs now anyway? It was a year or two ago when aliexpress had $70 N64 knockoffs of stuff like Worms. Bomberman 2nd Attack, and Clayfighter up there.



    The boards themselves are pretty good quality and seem to run well (though some LoZ: Master Quest repros had some save issues I remember). The cart shells are cheaper material and a bit bigger than the standard shells so they're a much tighter squeeze to fit in the cartridge slot. The labels are pretty bad too.

     

    Thanks, so basically it's sort of a hit and miss thing, but the shells are like a 1/16th of an inch fatter so it's a bit of a squeeze, and labels the mileage varies on the maker like anything.  A good board though goes a long way so that's something at least.  I'd be pretty pleased if someone made one out of some Japanese stuff that never got put into english outside of unofficial translations.  Evangelion would be huge, also Wonder Project J would be most excellent.  I have an adapter for mine because I have Bangaioh and Sin & Punishment and stopped at that.



     
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