Uncovered US Nintendo 64DD Unit is a mystery in a mystery

The Nintendo 64DD, an expansion drive for the Nintendo 64 has always been somewhat mysterious. The drive, which was only released in Japan was high on ideas – low on execution and Nintendo killed it before it could leave Japan

But it was close to an international release.

An American 64DD unit has been discovered by Youtuber Jason Lindsey, also known as Metal Jesus Rocks. At first Jason thought this might be a developer unit, but it actually appears to be a unit eventually destined for retail. The blue developer disk in it doesn’t load on it and neither does Japanese 64DD games – it’s region locked.

In a new video Jason reveals he has contacted ex-Nintendo staff who worked on the drive at the time and even they are surprised by the units existence. At the moment there’s not much they can do with it and no way (yet) to read the disk. It’s possible there’s some undiscovered or unseen beta Nintendo 64DD game on it or even nothing.

Hopefully we can eventually find out what’s on the disk! What an amazing retro find.