Looking at the DD

If you've followed Nintendo for the past two years, you know that delays often plague its N64 releases. At this time last year, gamers had their fingers crossed that Zelda 64 would be out before the end of 1997 and hoped that the 64 Disk Drive (64DD) would come and finally put to rest the idea that the N64 would always be cartridge-based. It's soon going to be 1998 and there's no 64DD under the world's N64 systems.

Now, with the cartridge Zelda 64 not hitting US shelves until mid-1998, the DD seems further away than ever. After delaying the Japanese launch of the 64DD to March 1998, it became apparent that, at least for the time being, cartridges would have to satisfy gamers hungry for N64 games. But with Sony boasting in Final Fantasy VII ads that "if this game were available on cartridge, it'd retail for around US$1,200," the 64DD could be the kind of thing Nintendo needs to give developers the space to make bigger games for less money.

With 64 megabytes of space, there's enough room to put a game equal to eight Mario 64's on one DD disk. Or four Banjo-Kazooies. The extra space will give developers more freedom to give games more levels, graphics, and sound. Nintendo's chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi has confirmed that the drive will have a modem port so that new levels, characters, and stats can be downloaded over the phone, at least in Japan.

However, even with all of its advantages, there's still one hurdle that cannot be overcome easily - the 64DD is an "add-on." Add-ons to video game systems have not done well in the past, splitting the N64 market into two categories: gamers who have the upgrade and those who don't.

"The problem that Nintendo is going to face is the same problem that's faced every hardware manufacturer since Sega's CD drive hit the streets: It's extra," says Shiny Entertainment's David Perry. "Nobody ever wants to pay extra, and by releasing Zelda on cart, Nintendo may be shooting itself in the foot, because Mother 3 isn't going to get Americans rushing out to spend another $200 on a peripheral - especially when all the great games are available as a cart, right now, and for no extra charge."

Originally supposed to be a DD release, Zelda 64 is on a cartridge half the size of the proposed 64DD format. Does this mean that in the near future carts could get as big as a DD? If it is possible to get 512 megabits on a cartridge (and the Neo-Geo proved that big carts are possible, if pricey), then releasing the 64DD offers little advantage in terms of increasing the amount of storage space available to N64 developers. Instead, the DD would have to rely on the selling point of cheaper manufacturing costs, modem capability, and writability to keep it viable.

"Modem capability is much overrated, as Sega found to their own cost with the Saturn NetLink. Having said that, if anyone can pull it off, it's the big N, but it's asking consumers to pay a premium for something they really don't, and probably won't ever, need," says Perry.

The biggest advantage, in the eyes of third parties anyway, would be the decreased cost of producing a cartridge versus a DD disk. A 64-megabyte DD would be cheaper than producing a cartridge half that size. That would be more than enough to persuade game companies to jump on the DD bandwagon, but getting consumers to buy into it would have to mean strong software support from the beginning. Judging from the almost full year it has taken third-party companies to get good N64 software to market, the chances that third parties would be able to support the DD quickly with quality software is low. The 64DD is much more important to Nintendo in Japan than it currently is in the US, with Mother 3 and the latest Pocket Monster incarnation scheduled among the first DD titles to launch with the system.

"Personally, I think the 64DD will not be that good," says Colin Gordon, of third-party Nintendo 64 developer Boss Game Studios. "We are already considering 128-megabit cartridges, so Nintendo will be looking at even bigger carts. Unless DD disks are really inexpensive, and can be manufactured here in the US, then the disadvantages will outweigh the advantages."

Nintendo hasn't given any information on the peripheral since last spring. At last year's Shoshinkai (now known as Nintendo Space World) in Japan, the system was little more than a mock-up.

The DD will be officially unveiled at this year's Nintendo World show. But since the standard cartridge configuration has already taken hold of the American market, there's a chance that a DD release will only split Nintendo's previous N64 success. Developers and gamers remain skeptical about the system, but if Nintendo plays its cards right, it could be the first to launch a successful add-on.