The Nintendo 64DD (64 Disk Drive) is a peripheral for the Nintendo 64 that clips underneath the console and adds a drive for proprietary magnetic disks holding 64 MB, and rewritable. Announced as early as 1995 as the machine's flagship expansion, it was finally released in December 1999, in Japan only.
Its distribution model was as ambitious as its schedule was disastrous: the 64DD was sold with a subscription to the Randnet online service, offering downloadable content, e-mail and web browsing. Four years of delays, the imminent arrival of the next generation and a high price killed the project. The service closed in February 2001 and the peripheral sold only a few tens of thousands of units.
Just nine titles were released on the format, almost all of them creation-oriented: both Mario Artist volumes, SimCity 64, Doshin the Giant and its expansion, and the F-Zero X Expansion Kit, which adds tracks and a course editor to the cartridge game. Several projects designed for the 64DD were moved back to cartridge, among them The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Animal Forest.
| Manufacturer | Nintendo |
| Year | 1999 (Japan only) |
| Type | Console (Nintendo 64 peripheral) |
| Media | Proprietary 64 MB magnetic disk |
| Controller | Mandatory |
| Mouse | Optional |
Both cores are available on every board:
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libretro parallel_n64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Libretro mupen64plus_next | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
parallel_n64 is the default emulator and the only one of the two supporting CRT output. mupen64plus_next comes second: it is the core that exposes RetroArch's subsystems mechanism, which is required to mount a disk together with its host cartridge. Netplay, softpatching and RetroAchievements are available with neither.
The code declares low compatibility for both cores. 64DD emulation is still experimental: expect games that refuse to boot or that stop partway through.
A 64DD game never starts on its own: it needs the host console and, depending on the title, a cartridge inserted alongside the disk. The full procedure is described in the Nintendo 64DD guide.
The 64DD BIOS is mandatory: without it, no disk will boot.
| File name | Description | MD5 | Emulators concerned |
|---|---|---|---|
Mupen64plus/IPL.n64 |
Nintendo 64DD IPL, obtained by renaming 64DD_IPL.bin (mandatory) |
8d3d9f294b6e174bc7b1d2fd1c727530 | parallel_n64, mupen64plus_next |
Place the BIOS like this:
/recalbox/share/bios/Mupen64plus/
└── IPL.n64
The file usually circulates under the name
64DD_IPL.bin: rename it toIPL.n64, otherwise it will not be found. The BIOS checker will confirm that yours is the right one.
Put your games in:
/recalbox/share/roms/64dd/
Supported extensions per emulator:
| Emulator | Extensions |
|---|---|
| parallel_n64 | .bin .ndd .zip .7z |
| mupen64plus_next | .bin .n64 .ndd .v64 .z64 |
64DD disks use the .ndd extension. Since most of them need a host cartridge, also place the matching .n64, .v64 or .z64 files in this folder: they are only read by mupen64plus_next.
No game ships with Recalbox for this system: the folder is empty on first boot.