Nintendo 64

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

Warning: UltraSave + 64drive may produce bad dumps of NUS-8F16FB-02 development boards.

If you need help, please come chat with us on the VGPC or No-Intro discord servers.

Important Notes

• Unopened games should have their ROM and save data dumped before attempting to play them. This avoids inadvertent modification of the data and helps preserve any possible rewritable data in its unused/“factory” state. This is especially important for types of cart that store the ROM on rewritable media, or games that come with special save data pre-installed. But it is not necessarily possible to know in advance, hence why its advisable to dump first. Note in your submission whether the physical media was sealed and include a photo of the cart/packaging in its sealed state, if possible.
• You should clean the physical media's electrical contacts before trying to dump it, then dump it, clean it again and dump it a second time, checking if both dumps match using a file comparison tool or calculating the SHA256 of each file and comparing those values. This helps ensure that dirt on the contacts is not causing interference, and that dirt was fully removed during the cleaning process.

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 a standard “N64 Adapter” and a “N64 Adapter Pro.” The latter is needed to dump prototype carts, whereas the former can be used for standard carts.

1. Make sure the '3V' setting is selected on the device (not the '5V' setting)
2. Connect the appropriate adapter to the Retroblaster
3. Insert the cartridge or PCB into the adapter
4. Open the RetroBlaster software (available on the RetroBlaster github)
5. Navigate to the 'N64' tab, and click “Dump ROM.” Choose the location and filename for your ROM
6. A progress bar will indicate the status of the dump, and information will be displayed on the 'status' log when the dump is complete
7. You can also dump the SRAM or EEPROM from this same tab, by clicking the appropriate button

Unreliable - not recommended. Produces corrupted dumps for some/all prototype carts. 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.

Unscrew the back of the cartridge with a 3.5mm “game bit” or line screw driver, carefully separating the bottom half of the cart's shell. Then, remove the phillips screws on the metal shielding to expose the PCB.

Once the cart has been opened, you can decode the letters/numbers stamped on the main chip.

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)

Once you've dumped your games, it's time to generate and submit metadata to a preservation project for validating and cataloging. See the dump submission instructions for more information.