ED64 PLUS

I was surfing the net several weeks ago, sometime during the first week of December 2012, and stumbled across an Nintendo 64 back-up cart called ED64 Plus.  I became curious as to what the features the back-up cart had compared to the other manufacturer's such as Neo Flash and the Everdrive.

Directly from the ED64 Plus website, www.ed64plus.com , the features are as follow,

+ ED64Plus can support a maximum of 512Mbit(64MBytes) ROM images
+ Support SD, SDHC, MMC card with FAT, FAT16, FAT32 format (maximum 32GB)
+ Multi CIC chip compatible (note.1)
+ Supports all games of the region corresponding to the console
+ Region free (will play a PAL ROM on a NTSC system, and vice-versa)
+ Supports all save types, even FlashRAM save type
+ Stores cartridge based saves directly on the CF/MicroSD card (note.2)
+ Supports homebrew ROMs
+ Most games load within a few seconds. Larger ones take several seconds.
+ Drag and drop support directly to SDCard
+ No proprietary extra adapters involved
+ Supports multiple ROMs up to the capacity of the SDCard
+ Supports sub folders
+ ROMs are stored indefinitely until files are deleted or the SDCard is formatted
+ Continued menu, firmware, GUI, and hardware development support
+ 64MBytes of high quality Micron RAM onboard
+ High quality 4 layers printed circuit board and SMD components
+ Does not require any special hardware or software to flash games
+ N64 menu is navigated with the gamepad
+ Uses SDCard to store ROMs
+ Reset button takes the user back to the ED64Plus menu
+ Easy to use once set up properly and then recommended for the novice user
+ Most commercial ROMs backup work (* Some CIC6105 ROMs backup require the patched versions still)
+ Most games which required a patch for old copiers work with or without a patch
+ Support byte swapped ROM images

Note.1

The ED64Plus cart require a commercial N64 game cartridge with CIC6102 to be plugged into it as a dongle for the CIC microchip protection check. However, there are only one CIC6102 cartridge need.

Note.2

The ED64Plus launch a ROM with corresponding save type automatically. All save types are fully supported. However, the ED64Plus menu allows changing of the save type prior to launching a ROM. This is done by pressing the L/R buttons to cycle through the different cartridge save types. When game is playing, press Reset button will take the user back to the ED64Plus menu, and the ED64Plus automatically creates a save file on the inserted SDCard within the /ED64P/SAVE folder. Each save game will have an extension corresponding to what type of save it is.

Reading through the features of the ED64 Plus, it seems like a good choice for a back-up cart to purchase.  So I went to Google and searched what the price range that it went for.  Going from www.tototek.com to www.ebay.com and other online international retailers, it went for around $100.  It wasn't a bad price.

Now that I knew how much it cost, it was time to compare it to the other N64 back-up carts.  I already knew that the Neo Flash carts would be the costliest of the three back-up carts, going for $200 from the online retailer, www.ic2005.com.  So it was likely that I would never purchase a Neo Flash cart due to the high cost of the item.  It also seemed inconvenient for Neo Flash to use their own proprietary media drive from the Nintendo Gameboy Advance back-up cart that the Neo team have made.  These two negative points made a permanent impression that they are not worth the money to spend on.

The second cartridge to be compared was the Everdrive 64.  The Everdrive 64 is more affordable and convenient than the Neo Flash 64 as it ran on a standard SD memory card, which can be purchased cheap and freely from any electronic store anywhere, and it's competitively priced at $115-$130 for a bare chip or $175 for a deluxe version, which includes a memory card, a choice of the cartridge color, a cartridge case, a driver cd and a manual.  Comparing the overall value of the Neo Flash to the Everdrive 64 Deluxe, you can clearly see that the Everdrive 64 carried a bigger value as you're getting all these extras, the choice of the cartridge color, a cartridge case, manual and memory card, at a price that is cheaper than the Neo Flash.

While comparing the Everdrive 64 to the ED64 Plus, both are practically identical to each other except for one condition.  The Everdrive 64 has a soldered cic6102 chip installed while the ED64 Plus requires a bypass cartridge.  I believe there is no real advantage of one or the other except in terms of physical esthetics.  The Everdrive 64 looks like a regular cartridge and has a pleasing and sophisticated look, while the ED64 Plus will look like a tower, which makes it look cheap.

During my comparison of the Everdrive 64, I've found out that the ED64 Plus is a generic clone that was manufactured in China.  Many people would disregard the ED64 Plus as it is likely inferior to the original.  However, I am an optimist and looked forward in what the ED64 Plus has to offer.

Knowing that the ED64 Plus was a clone, I went back to Google and searched once more if it was possible to obtain a cart at a cheaper price.  All seems lost and dismal as site after site the cartridge was listed for sale at $100.  Eventually I gave up and stumbled across a website called www.aliexpress.com .  I searched through and found a seller that had the ED64 Plus at a very cheap price of $67.20.  I figured you can't go wrong buying a clone Everdrive 64 at that price.  So I went and purchased it for less than $70, which included shipping at $2.01 for 5-10 days as opposed to the free shipping for 15-25.  I received the package a week before Christmas and tinkered with the back-up.

My overall impression of the ED64 Plus is that it isn't bad.  I ran several games [Resident Evil 2, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, Smash Brothers] with Castlevania Legacy of Darkness as my bypass and most of the games that ran through seems to work fine.  There are a few things to note here about the games.  The roms that I downloaded I didn't check to see if they were good or bad or rather they were patched to bypass the security lockout.  One example is the game Cruis'n'USA, while the game does work, it is in black and white.  Another example is the game Jet Force Gemini.  The game loads and runs alright, however, the player cannot shoot or run.  The loading time for Resident Evil 2 was probably 10-15 seconds, a guess since I did not scientifically timed it.  Most of the load times for a game wasn't that long.  The last thing to note is that this was operated on a NTSC US Nintendo 64 console.  I do not know if it works on a Pal console or not.

For $70 I would say that it isn't a bad buy.  Most of the games that I manage to run through seems to work.  The ones that don't seem to work, I already own.  If you're looking for a cheap alternative to the other two back-up cartridges, you can go with an ED64 Plus.  Other wise, stay off Neo Flash and buy the Everdrive 64 Deluxe.

Here is where you can obtain it at Aliexpress,
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-ED64PLUS-ED64plus-Game-Save-Device/400495_684561967.html

nintendo's "quality" removed from seal

 Nintendo's seal of quality approval was a trademark Nintendo have used during the company's startup with the NES.  A lot of people went nuts and people complained when nintendo decided to remove the word "quality" from their seal.  It's understanding why people would be upset because there is no longer quality in the product since the word has been removed.  However, I believe there is more to the reasoning as to why Nintendo removed the word "quality" from their seal.

With the NES, America was in a video game crash.  Consumers didn't have any faith from video game makers since most of the games being released by them were seen as mediocre or simply just bad.  Everyone talks about the Atari 2600 ET game as a prime example and it holds true to it's value.  Because of this situation, Nintendo had to create a system of enforcement to gain the confidence of the consumer and to watch the development process of the game makers.  This was the reason why Nintendo created the seal.  The seal meant that consumers can have confidence in the product as the company has reviewed the game for quality consistancies with their approval standard.

However, fast forward to the 5th generation of Nintendo home consoles with the Wii, Nintendo decides to remove the word "quality" from their seal.  Does it make a difference?!  NO!

It no longer makes a difference because the environment has changed.  The gaming world is no longer in a crash and Nintendo no longer has to watch over the third party companies.  So who watches over the third party developers?!  Quality will be determined by the third party themselves.  Every company that makes a game will be under their own demise for creating games that are below to consumers expectations. Even Nintendo makes bad games and they lose big.

So what made Nintendo follow this direction after so many console releases?!  The other console companies.

If you look at the other console companies, Sony and Microsoft, Sega is not included because they are no longer a console maker, they do not provide any form of quality assurance for their games.  If you look at the library size of the playstation 2 and xbox, they both have a substantial amount of games and none of the console companies provide "quality".  Not only did the other console company not provided any "quality", the third party companies were taking full responsibility for making bad games.  If capcom made a bad game, capcom didn't blame Sony nor the consumers of the playstation 2 system.  So if Sony and Microsoft didn't have "quality" in their seal and third party companies were understandable for their action, you follow suit, which explains why "quality" is removed from Nintendo's seal.

In the end, what does this mean?  A lot of complaints!  But to who?

A lot of people will tell you that there are a lot of garbage games on the wii.  Who is to blame for that?!  Many would say Nintendo as they are the one who is responsible for quality that is being released on their console.  However, the reality is that the third party developers are the ones who are responsible.  A good example is Okami made by Capcom.  The game was a big flop on the playstation 2 and was remade for the wii, which had little results.  The difference is that the wii had a harsher complaint than the playstation 2.  Capcom would blame Nintendo consumers as they were labeled "casual", which meant incompetent gamers.  But how can a company make such claims to similar consumers on a previous console as the playstation 2?!