Neo Myth N64 Cart Review (Flash Cart for Nintendo 64)

Heres a new product just released by Neoflash and for fans of N64 a Dream product.

A Little about the reviewer

Ive been an emulation and homebrew fan for as many years as i can remember (since around 1996 i think) but nothing i repeat nothing is better than playing on the real hardware.

Back in the Megadrive(genesis) and Snes days i owned a Super Wild Card and a Super Double Pro fighter, both cost about 300 pounds and ill admit that it was a great way to play games that i would never have been able to afford or because of stupid region lockouts.

So the day when Neoflash announced they were working on a Flash Cart for the Nintendo 64 called NEO Myth 64, i wanted one so badly, the chance to relive the best of the N64 and to play games ive never played was too much of a thrill to behold.

Now i must point out that being a webmaster of a homebrew site makes me no expert, im just as clueless as most newcomers, i like websites and i like posting news, i like to know that if i need a certain release i should be able to find it on my sites (hopefully :P).

First off Heres some screens of the N64 Flash Cart in and out its Packaging:

Front Side View in Packaging

http://i49.tinypic.com/16h5fzc.jpg

Back Side view in Packaging

http://i49.tinypic.com/25q3tjp.jpg

The NEO N64 Myth cart

http://i47.tinypic.com/iclclz.jpg

Neo 2 Flash Cart - Which Holds SD Cards up to 8GB

http://i45.tinypic.com/2cwljd2.jpg

The Neo n64 Myth Cart and the neo 2 Cart split apart

http://i50.tinypic.com/2r54x1w.jpg

The USB Lead

http://i45.tinypic.com/k0kgpg.jpg

You also get a Mini CD with a load of Drivers on for all Neo Products.

Specs of the N64 Flash Cart

Heres what Neoflash claim it does:

* Support the N64 rom size up to 512M
* Support all save type perfectly included the flash save, not need the same save type N64 game cart to work together
* Support 100% N64 games perfectly
* Download games from PC to NEO2 cart directly via USB port
* Upload/overwrite game save to PC via USB directly
* Multi-CIC support, can use any N64 cart to boot Neo Myth on N64 console
* Support Multi games, can download 2 games at the same time and swap the game via switch
* Can select the N64 menu run from Neo2 game cart or N64 inner menu flash (under developing still)
* Upgradeable! Support upgrade the N64 Myth cart CPLD logic core through the NDP upgrade kit

Getting Started

The N64 Flash Cart did come with a Mini CD of drivers but sadly there was no actual drivers for the N64 Flash Cart, so first off you need to head on over to Neoflash Forum to download the latest version of the software, once youve downloaded it (15MB) then click on to install to the directory it wants to, pretty straightforward for anyone.

Clicking on the Neo 2 Ultra Menu Icon (look on your desktop or in new programs) will lead you onto a screen that looks like this:

http://i50.tinypic.com/2rfdhko.gif

Now get your Neo Myth N64 Flash Cart and making sure that the cart that says 512M is inserted (or the Neo 2 Card with an SD Card inserted), connect the USB Lead to the Cart and Plugit into your Laptop or PC.

It Should have no problems and automatically find drivers installed when you installed the software above, i had no problems using Windows Vista but with Windows XP Pro SP3 it wouldnt load the drivers properly, i did post a thread at Neoflash and was given instructions on how to fix this. (Try a different USB Lead it may be that)

Adding Roms etc

Ok carrying on from the screenshot above if everything went ok youll be able to start the juicy part, first off i did a quick format of the card, it took around 30 seconds to do, so no real biggy.

Next on the list was to Add Roms to the Cart (Homebrew Roms and Emulators can be found at links Below)

Adding Roms is as easy as clicking the add rom button and going to whereever your roms are, for some strange reason the cart/software at the moment only holds 2 roms but i would think that will change in later versions of the firmware/software.

Once you have added the roms you require then click on N64 Burn, depending on how big your roms are will depend on how long it takes to copy to the cart, give it a few minutes, it also verifies each burn.

Now one thing to take into consideration is that if you have a USA N64, you will need a USA game plugged into the back of the N64 Myth Cart, If you have a Pal N64 youll need a Pal game plugged in.

I have both a USA and UK(Pal) N64 and thankfully the Power supplys/TV Leads are universal so im able to swap at pleasure.

Heres a pic of the Cart plugged into the N64

http://i45.tinypic.com/2n00dqh.jpg

Now for Homebrew roms you dont need anything else to boot them but say you want to boot one of the games that requires the Expansion Pack

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

Games that need the Expansion Pack are the likes of Donkey Kong 64 and Zelda--The Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark, it also ups the resolution on many other games too.

Onto the Gaming

Ok youve Burnt your games onto the Flash cart and you have the Flash Cart installed in the N64 with the correct region game in the back, now its time to turn on:

http://i48.tinypic.com/o8rwuu.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/j64bqf.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/23h0k5s.jpg

It loads automatically into the game as you can see, if you did burn 2 games theres a little lever on the top of cart that you push over if you want the other rom to load at the start before you turn the console on.

Games ive Tested So Far

Donkey Kong 64 - Perfect
Star Wars Battle for Naboo - Perfect
Diddy Kong Racing - Perfect
GoldenEye 007 - Perfect
Perfect Dark - Perfect
PilotWings 64 - Perfect
Killer Instinct - Perfect
Star Wars Episode I - Racer - Perfect
Stunt Racer 64 - Perfect
Yoshi's Story - Perfect

Over at Neoflash theres a more complete list of whats working and save issues etc.

Conclusion

Today was one of them times when i was took back to the reasons i truly love the homebrew/Emulation scene. The Flash Cart seems easy to use, The adding of roms to the cart is as easy as they come so a big plus factor there, its a shame at this moment in time it only supports 2 roms, hopefully thats one thing that will be updated soon.

Having no drivers and documentation on the CD will make it a little hard for newbies but i would think that most people that are going to buy this are the hardcore N64 fans of old.

On the whole the roms it plays is great and if you have the expansion pack you can play just about every single N64 Game released and all homebrew and emulators too.

The price for the Flash Cart is $199 so it will put a lot of people off but to retro collectors/major emulation fans it will be very worth it, if you owned one of the back up systems for the N64 this will be much more preferable as theirs no moving parts to break. Yes for that price you can buy a heck of a lot of the games but theres some genuine gems that are very hard to trace these days and the homebrew factor makes it worth it for me.

My advice is to those who are tempted is go for it, the flash cart does what you really want it to and thats play Nintendo 64, a big thumbs up for Neoflash on this retro cart.

I suppose like everything it depends how big a fan you are and what finances you have to spend on gadgets, for me it does what i want it to and its also seen the re-emergence of a Homebrew scene for the N64, we have already seen releases of ScummVM for the N64 and theres also Snes, Nes, MSX, Master System/Game gear and Gameboy Emulators for the N64.

Links of Interest

Ic2005.com - Official Sellers of the NEO Myth 64 N64 flash cart and Neoflash Products.
Neoflash Forum for all discussion regarding the flash cart.
N64 Development forum at Neoflash.
N64 Homebrew News and Emulation Site at DCEmu.
Homebrew N64 Games at N64 Scener.
Homebrew N64 Demos at N64 Scener.
Icequake n64 Site

N64 emulators are far from perfect but playing roms on the original console is certainly not worth $200 for me, i do occasionally dig out my old consoles but i just like the extra options emulators give you.

bad emulators?.. what's wrong with projekt64?

Nintendo 64 emulators don't need very high specifications osgeld, so you are obviously doing something wrong. I use the n64 emulator 1964 and it runs most games at full speed with very little glitches, and guess what? My laptop is only a 1.6ghz single core with 512mb of RAM. I get the same speeds with project64 however I am more accustomed to 1964. On the topic of plugins I'm afraid that's something we all have to get used to, and once you get used to the plugin based systems they aren't all that bad.

Does anyone know of something similar for the Genesis/Megadrive? All the flashcarts I see for that platform still use parallel cables!

I'm sticking to my Doctor for now... Though I do like the idea of playing from one cartridge, instead of a CD+RW. But I don't play my N64 enough, well the past four months anyway.

Maybe now, there will be some decent ROM hacks that don't require to play via emulation. :cool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by osgeld

yes becuase I am a complete idiot and can not install a windows program, THANK YOU FOR CLEARING THAT UP

I dont care about your old crappy laptop, its probally running "almost full speed" at 640x480 too

and your already talking about having to use 2 emulators, and frankly the plugin system is retarded, and no I dont have to get used to it, everone else dropped the retarded notion of plugins back in the 90's (except for firefox)

haha I don't expect you to care about crappy laptop, I know it is crap but I mainly use it for the internet so who cares? I have my PS3 for gaming. I am just proving to you n64 emulators don't require high specs. Infact you only need a pentium 3 to run N64 games at full speed equivalent of the original console (30fps), a basic graphics card that supports 3dfx (at least 8mb of video memory) and 128mb of RAM. Full speed can be achieved in higher resolutions than 640x480 with my current specs. I have been involved in the emulation scene for quite some time and only going by actual experiences here. Btw you sound bitter, you on your rags?

PS: I didn't say I HAVE to use 2 emulators I said I have used both but PREFER 1964 and it supports all the games I am interested in. Oh and I don't mind the plugin system it's really not that complex.

If they lower to 100 dollars I might buy it, on Christmas eve i went to a Salvation Army thrift store and bought 20 N64 games for 15 dollars,not to mention once I bought a N64 version of Rayman 2 for 1,50 at another thrift store. If this was 1999 or 2000, hell yeah I would buy it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gusmento01

If they lower to 100 dollars

Not likely, due to the demand and the fact Nintendo probably wont let the product survive on the open market... They will soon become like the Doctor, sought after and cost considerably more... $200 is a clear bargain.

If it runs the "The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time MASTER QUEST DEBUG" Rom i would actually be willing to buy it.