The Nintendo 64 came about in an
exciting time in video games--the 32 and 64-bit era. Thanks to graphics technology and computer hardware advancing at a steady rate, the early to mid 90's marked the
first occasion that real-time, 3D graphics technology was available at
playable framerates and affordable prices. When the Nintendo 64 initially
launched in 1996, it was already beaten to the market by other consoles
utilizing one variation or another of this new hardware--notably including
Sony's PlayStation, which came about as a result of a botched partnership between
the two companies. Despite being beaten to the punch by new rival Sony and old rival Sega with the Sega Saturn, Nintendo did have the
promise of new titles in their already beloved franchises and the
fruits of their collaborations with 3D hardware giant Silicon Graphics to help
them catch up. "Whatever you thought about video games before, set it aside, try it,
it's a whole new experience." Nintendo also made it clear that they planned on
expanding their new console's abilities in the future through hardware
accessories, one of which emerged from the troubled development of the Nintendo
64 Disk Drive. But we won't be discussing the Disk Drive today. Instead, we'll be
taking a look at the accessory born because of it: the Expansion Pak. Planning to use of a specialized magnetic disk with more storage space with the Disk Drive, Nintendo obviously intended for
developers to craft more advanced games. But to accomplish this would require a
boost on the hardware level. Fortunately Nintendo planned for this in
advance, with a memory expansion slot placed right on top of the console
for easy access by the consumer. However, this slot went unused for a few years
after launch, being occupied instead by a little device called the Jumper Pak.
Foregoing some of the more technical details, this device functions as
something of a placeholder allowing the console to boot without the planned
accessory installed. A sticker is placed on top of the Jumper Pak to discourage
tampering by the consumer before the accessory intended for the expansion
slot was released. After all, the system will refuse to boot if a Jumper Pak or
the planned accessory is not present. The lack of a proper warning might lead to
more than a few confused tech support calls. I have to imagine at least one or two Jumper Paks were removed prematurely despite the warning. The development of
the Disk Drive hit multiple snags, with the expected release date being pushed
back from 1997, to 1998, to 1999, where it finally saw a release in Japan. While the
Disk Drive was facing development difficulties, Nintendo decided to go
ahead and release an accessory plan to launch
alongside it, the Expansion Pak, early, in 1998. This device contains an extra four
megabytes of RAM. Since the system comes pre-installed with four
megabytes already, the Expansion Pak doubles the RAM available to the system,
resulting in a total of 8 megabytes of RAM. While this may not seem like much by the standards of today's hardware, the Expansion Pak's RAM boost was nothing
to sneeze at. Many Nintendo 64 games were able to make use of the extra RAM, usually through a resolution or framerate boost.
However, three games required the Expansion Pak to function, with two
refusing to start up without it and the other only offering a small portion of
the game if the Expansion Pak isn't installed. These are Rare's Donkey Kong 64, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Rare's Perfect Dark. Let's take a quick
look at each of these and see what the additional RAM supplied by the Expansion Pak did for them. Let's start with what is arguably the most unusual case
amongst three: Perfect Dark. Released in 2000, Perfect Dark was the spiritual
successor to Rare's smash-hit first person shooter GoldenEye 007, a game that I grew up with and absolutely adore; shedding the
James Bond license but retaining the fantastic gameplay folks loved about the
previous game. Unlike Majora's Mask and Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark does boot
with a Jumper Pak installed--Majora and DK 64 throw up an error screen instead.
While Perfect Dark is technically playable without the Expansion Pak, only
the multiplayer is available. The player is effectively locked out of the
single player campaign without it. The multiplayer is a lot of fun and was no
doubt the reason many people purchased Perfect Dark, given GoldenEye's
reputation for its excellent multiplayer mode. Those wanting to experience the
single-player will need an Expansion Pak to get it up and running. the
multiplayer does have bots for those wanting to play alone, but a large chunk
of the game is missing without the single player missions available. Once an
Expansion Pak has been installed the game will happily boot with all features
intact. When compared to GoldenEye, Perfect Dark features some immediately
noticeable improvements, including different types of AI, graphical
improvements, especially in lighting, and a wider array of levels, many with wildly
different themes. The game's cyberpunk setting really helps the game shine in
this department. There are city skylines filled with flying cars, futuristic
buildings full of lights with lens flare effects applied, and strange alien
environments for the player to explore. The game also features cinematic
cutscenes that are fully voice acted, a rarity in Nintendo 64 games.
"No signs of conflict, no spent ammo cases or bullet holes." "But there ought to be a rear guard at
least. It makes no sense." Perfect Dark was a game that pushed the aging Nintendo 64 to its limits. However, the single player campaign isn't
the only benefit of having an Expansion Pak installed. Perfect dark also
features a high resolution mode, boosting the resolution from 240 to 480i. This
does come at a cost, though. The framerate is notably much choppier while in high
resolution mode. Take a look at the difference in framerate between high-res
and low-res in this area of the game's first mission. While this is a more extreme example, the
overall framerate definitely feels more sluggish in high-res with major dips
being a common occurrence. The visuals do look nicer with high-res enabled, but
personally I prefer the more stable frame rate of the low resolution mode.
Regardless, the option is always a welcome one, showing off a common
benefit of using the Expansion Pak. Next up we have 2000's The Legend of Zelda:
Majora's Mask, the long awaited direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Majora's Mask tells a darker tale in the land of Termina, shortly after the events
of Ocarina of Time have taken place. As previously mentioned, Majora's Mask will
not boot without an Expansion Pak. The improvements of Majora's Mask will be
apparent to anyone who played Ocarina of Time. The game contains many graphical
improvements, though mostly an increased variety of textures. The creative design
of these textures give the game an art style that is similar but more stylized
than Ocarina of Time. The game also features some interesting effects during
cutscenes that weren't seen in Ocarina, contributing further to the game's
nightmarish atmosphere. Majora's Mask, being built upon the same engine as
Ocarina of Time, does include many reused assets, such as character models being
repurposed as new, albeit similar characters. However this reuse of assets
is cleverly integrated into the story through the game setting of Termina
being some sort of parallel dimension to Ocarina Time's Hyrule. The benefit of the
Expansion Pak in Majora's Mask isn't quite as obvious as in Perfect Dark, but
they're certainly there, working behind the scenes to further immerse players and a
tale unlike any Zelda game before it. Finally, we have 1999's Donkey Kong 64,
another game by Rare. This 3D platformer features Donkey Kong and the rest of the
DK crew, including a few characters never seen before this title, on another
journey to put a stop to King K. Rool's plans. This game was set apart from the
others by a persistent rumor regarding the reason behind the game's Expansion Pak requirement. According to the rumor, the development team encountered a
gamebreaking glitch during the development of the game that was solved with the installation of an Expansion Pak, resulting in Rare requiring the
Expansion Pak for the game to boot. This rumor was contested by former Rare
employee Mark Stevenson, Art Director for Donkey Kong 64, in a 2019 interview with
Nintendo Life for an article on the history of Donkey Kong 64. In the article,
Stevenson was quoted as stating, "This one's a myth. The decision to use the
Expansion Pak happened a long time before the game shipped. In fact, we were
called in by management and told that we were going to use the Expansion Pak and
that we needed to find ways to do stuff in the game that justified its use and
made it a selling point. I think the bug story somehow got amalgamated into the Expansion Pak use and became urban myth." The game did feature improvements due to the use of the Expansion Pak, such as a more consistent frame rate. The changes
weren't as drastic as those in later games, such as Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark, but arguably did justify the Expansion Pak requirement. Notably, the
game did come bundled with the Expansion Pak when purchased new, saving customers
the trouble of purchasing the Expansion Pak separately upon learning that the
game required it. Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark did not include the
Expansion Pak, requiring it to be purchased separately. This accessory did
a lot to squeeze a little extra power out of the N64 during its final years,
contributing to some of the console's best titles. If you have fond memories of
playing these three games or others that utilize the Expansion Pak, please share
your stories in the comments. I would love to hear about your experiences. But, that's
all for now. As always, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you next time.
