Nintendo 64

Check the dumping hardware overview for a list of known preservation hardware.

Dumping Nintendo 64 carts is pretty easy if you have one of the dedicated hardware solutions for it, but they can sometimes be hard to come by, or out of stock, or you have to build them yourself.

Note on Development Cartridges: Because the Retrode, the Sanni Cart Reader and the RetroBlaster 2.0 with standard N64 adapter don't supply enough power, development carts cannot be dumped with them. The 64drive, RetroBlaster 2.0 with N64 Pro adapter can be used. The GameShark ProAction Replay Pro and some old copiers can also be used, but they are unreliable.

1. 64drive + UltraSave
2. Sanni Cart Reader
3. Retrode2 + N64 adapter
4. INLretro
5. RetroBlaster 2.0 + N64 (Pro) adapter
6. GameShark ProAction Replay Pro
7. Old copiers

Assemble the UltraSave unit and insert your 64drive and game cartridge into either slot. Download the dumping software from the 64drive website, follow the Quick Start Guide on the same page, and dump the game.

The Sanni Cart Reader comes with N64 dumping capabilities by default. Follow the Sanni Cart Reader wiki for proper settings, and dumping instructions.

This is a super simple system that works really well, and is affordable and readily available. See our hardware page for shop links.

1. Plug your game into the N64 adapter, and then the adapter into the Retrode2.
2. Make sure the voltage setting is at 3.3V.
3. Connect the Retrode2 to your computer.
4. The Retrode2 should now show up as a regular USB drive, and you can copy the ROM from there for further analysis.

Note that the Retrode does not detect 12 MiB carts correctly, and will overdump them, so for those, make sure to set the dump size manually in the Retrode config, or trim the overdumped ROM to 12 MiB after the fact.

[todo:

• look at this video tutorial
• its sometimes possible to work out the ROM size by examining the overdump. maybe this could even be automated.

]

1. Find the ROM size in kilobytes by looking at the text on the ROM chip and converting it or (may be inaccurate if dump isn't trusted) use the size of the existing dump in No-Intro's DAT-o-MATIC.
2. Insert the cart into the N64 cart slot on the dumper.
3. Connect dumper to a PC running at least Windows 10 (requires a USB-A to USB-B cable; you can get one with the dumper itself)
4. Obtain the inl-retro-progdump software from GitLab (either run

   git clone https://gitlab.com/InfiniteNesLives/INL-retro-progdump

   or just go to the url, download the source as a zip, and extract it wherever)

5. Open PowerShell from the host directory in the repo (path\to\repo\host)
6. Run the following command:

   .\inlretro.exe -s scripts/inlretro2.lua -c N64 -k *romsize* -d *dumpname*

   Paste the size of the rom in kilobytes over *romsize* and the name you want for the created dump over *dumpname*

7. Here's an example of the command I used to dump Lego Racers:

   C:\Emulation\Tools\INL-retro-progdump\host> .\inlretro.exe -s scripts/inlretro2.lua -c N64 -k 16384 -d LegoRacers.z64

Retroblaster 2.0 has the “N64” and “N64 Pro” adaptors. The latter is advertised as being able to dump prototype carts. Make sure to set the dumper to 3V.

Unreliable - not recommended. If you do have to use it, dump the cart multiple times, making sure all the dumps match and clean the contacts in-between each try. Follow the NES World guide. It has been reported that parallel port adapters don't work for this, so you'll need to find an old desktop computer. You may also want to read this article by Nintendo Player.

E.g. v64, v64jr, z64, cd64. Unreliable - not recommended. If you do have to use it, dump the cart multiple times, and clean the cart in-between each try.

todo: add info on cart/box serials (and non-standard carts if relevant)

SSS-TGGR-V
S = System (should always/mostly be “NUS”)
T = Type (N = Normal)
G = Game code (e.g. SM = Super Mario 64)
R = Region (J = Japan, E = USA, P = Europe)
V = Version (starts at 0)

See Gathering and Submitting Dump Info for Nintendo carts