Manufactured by:
Review sample supplied by: KRIKzz
By The Technologist - 17th December 2013
Review Contents & Index:
- Introduction
- Official EverDrive 64 features list
- Packaging and Contents
- Cart Design
- Setting Up & Using - Installation - Hardware
- Homebrew Support
- Conclusion
- Installation – EverDrive 64 Menu
- Transferring ROMs
- Usage - General
- Usage – Nintendo 64 Games & Homebrew
- EverDrive 64 GUI (Menu)
- ROM Compatibility
- Save Type Support
- NES Emulation
One of the most profound names in retro gaming flash cart creation, KRIKzz, has created his latest product: a Nintendo 64 flash cartridge. His device, the EverDrive 64, is another device that is not made in China. This time, it was creatively designed and produced in the Ukraine.
So what is so creative about this device? It is compact, feature filled, and simple to set up and use. The circuit board only has one slot for a full sized SD card and has the CIC chip built in. This, in addition to the PCB (printed circuit board) being clearly labeled on both sides which side faces the front and the back of the console, along with the simple one step drag and drop menu configuration and ROM support makes this device quick to set up and play.
This review will detail how to set up and run the EverDrive 64 flash cart and also go into detail about which ROMs are compatible and how to play NES ROMs on the latest version of its menu software.
EverDrive 64 Features:
- 64Mbyte (512mbit) SDRAM for ROM data (Maximum rom size is 64Mbytes)
- SD, SDHC, and MMC cards are supported
- FAT16 and FAT32 support with unlimited partition size for FAT32
- SD to SDRAM transfer speed is 4.5 - 5 Mbyte/sec
- emulation features
- Gamepak saves support (SRAM, SRAM 128Kbyte, EEPROM 16K, EEPROM 4K, and FlashRAM)
- Region free. Can play PAL ROMs on NTSC systems and vice-versa
- CIC boot emulator. Enough to have CIC6102/7101 for playing all games
- Byte swapped and non-byte swapped ROMs are supported (V64 and Z64 ROM types)
- USB port 800k - 1Mbyte/sec (optional)
The EverDrive 64 ships inside a plain white bubble pak envelope with a pink anti-static bubble pak bag and cardboard sleeve surrounding it.
Inside are the following items:
Cart Design
Let's take a closer look at the EverDrive 64 flash cart.
KRIKzz's EverDrive 64 sample came as a bare PCB with no housing. This will fit inside a standard N64 cartridge housing of the end user's choice.
The SD card slot is on the top "FRONT SIDE" labeled portion of the PCB. This will be too tall to fit inside a cartridge case without modifying the plastic. A dremel or a file will be able to take care of the job.
On the obverse site of the cart, the "BACK SIDE" (which will point toward the rear of the N64 when viewed from the front with the Nintendo 64 Logo and joystick ports), is where the pin headers JT and AS (on the left) are located as well as the mini USB port on the right side when viewed accordingly.
This sample did not ship with a USB port pre-soldered in, so that will be omitted from this review.
Setting Up & Using
Installation - Hardware
First, a SD card is chosen. Then the card is inserted into the SD slot on the FRONT SIDE of the cartridge. The SD card's label will face toward the front of the cartridge. This slot is not spring loaded, so when it is removed it is simply pulled out with minimal effort.
After installing the menu on the SD card, the EverDrive 64 is ready to be plugged into the Nintendo64 deck and the deck to be powered on.
The EverDrive 64 cart does not require nor have a provision for a cartridge to be plugged into it as a dongle for CIC microchip protection. There is a CIC 6102 soldered onto the printed circuit board of the EverDrive 64. Most other solutions still required a separate cartridge in order to bypass security lock out and to allow commercial or homebrew software to run.
Installation – EverDrive 64 Menu
Plug the CompactFlash or MicroSD card into an available USB reader and make sure that the drive appears in the operating system you are using (this part is not operating system dependent as long as you can copy files onto the flash card).
Like most modern day flash carts, which primarily are for handhelds, the menu software installation is drag and drop to the SD card. On KRIKzz's home page are links to his various products. At the bottom of his home page is the link to the EverDrive 64 and when navigated to lists the features and hyperlinks to sections related to this flash cart. Select the "OS Update" hyperlink and within each folder is the corresponding version of the menu software. For this review, Version 1.13 NTSC is used which is OS64.v64. This file is not compressed.
Create a folder in the root of the SD card called ED64. Then download the OS64.v64 file and copy it into that folder on the SD card.
Transferring ROMs
Since this flash cart uses SD cards, ROMs can be dragged and dropped. In this review, we are using a full size SD card adapter to MicroSD. MicroSD, MiniSD, or SD can be used with the EverDrive 64.
This flash cart does not support compressed files, so the ROMs need to be uncompressed prior to copying to the SD card.
Also, in order to run .nes files (emulation mode of the EverDrive 64), the NES emulator needs to be renamed to emu.nes and placed in the same ED64 folder on the SD card where the menu resides. Emulators have been supported since version 1.02 of the menu software. As of this review, we are only aware of the NES emulator for this feature so no other emulators will be tested.
Usage - General
Now it is time to show how to use the EverDrive 64. Plug the EverDrive 64 into the N64 cartridge slot with the side of the PCB labeled "FRONT SIDE" facing toward the controller input ports and Nintendo 64 logo. Now power on the console and the green LED on the right should flash once very quickly and then the red LED next to it will flash several times and then both lights will be off on the device.
For the boot sequence on the TV screen, the OS initialization screen is shown and then system is brought to a listing of the root of the SD card. The subdirectories are displayed first in yellow and the files in the root (if any) are displayed in white on a gradient of dark blue going down to a medium or navy blue toward the bottom of the screen. At the bottom are two lines displaying the page number and save type information as well as the menu (OS) version and firmware version of the EverDrive 64.
The N64's joy pad controls navigation of the entire menu system. A file is selected using the d-pad and the start button loads the ROM into the EverDrive 64's RAM and launches the program. Subdirectories are entered by pressing the A button and the B button is used to go to the previous folder.
ROMs load in a few seconds on this device which is very impressive. Most previous solutions took half a minute to a few minutes to load a game.
Usage - Nintendo 64 Games & Homebrew
All N64 games that loaded and played on the EverDrive 64 ran perfectly. Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Jet Force Gemini needed their patched/cracked variants copied to the SD to run. It was also found that Banjo-Tooie's crack resides within the auto-patching feature of the latest EverDrive 64 menu so the end user is not required to search the internet for it unless using a previous version or custom menu. These games tend to be problematic for copiers in general and coders are constantly working on ways to try to combat the anti-piracy features in these games.
The EverDrive 64 menu allows changing of the save type prior to launching a ROM. This is done by pressing the L/R buttons to cycle through the different cartridge save types.
The majority of homebrew ROMs function fine as well. As usual, some ROMs will not run at all due to being a bad copy of the original homebrew or just a poorly coded ROM.
ROM Compatibility
The ROM only and ROM with SRAM games I tested are:
- 1080 Snowboarding (NTSC/U)PASS
- Asteroids Hyper 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Automobili Lamborghini (NTSC/U)PASS
- Banjo-Kazooie (NTSC/U) (NTSC/U)PASS use V1.0 f1 ROM (Crazy Nation crack). All other ROMs do not work.
- Banjo-Tooie(NTSC/U)PASS No longer needs CIC 6105 lockout chip if using the crack or latest official menu
- Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker (NTSC/U)PASS
- Beetle Adventure Racing!(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Blast Corps(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Body Harvest (NTSC/U)PASS
- Bomberman 64 - The Second Attack!(NTSC/U)PASS
- Bomberman 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Bomberman Hero (NTSC/U)PASS
- Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling(NTSC/U)PASS
- Bust-A-Move 2 - Arcade Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
- Bust-A-Move '99 (NTSC/U)PASS
- California Speed (NTSC/U)PASS
- Carmageddon 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Castlevania - Legacy of Darkness (NTSC/U)PASS
- Castlevania(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Chopper Attack (NTSC/U)PASS
- Clay Fighter - Sculptor's Cut (NTSC/U)PASS
- Clay Fighter 63 40546(NTSC/U)PASS
- Command & Conquer(NTSC/U)PASS
- Conker's Bad Fur Day(NTSC/U)PASS
- Cruis'n Exotica (NTSC/U)PASS
- Cruis'n USA(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Cruis'n World (NTSC/U)PASS
- Destruction Derby 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Diddy Kong Racing (V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Disney's Donald Duck - Goin' Quackers(NTSC/U)PASS
- Disney's Tarzan (NTSC/U)PASS
- Donkey Kong 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Doom 64(V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Doom 64(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Dr. Mario 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Dual Heroes (NTSC/U)PASS
- Duck Dodgers Starring Daffy Duck(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Duke Nukem - ZER0 H0UR (NTSC/U)PASS
- Duke Nukem 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Earthworm Jim 3D(NTSC/U)PASS
- Excitebike 64(Kiosk Demo) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Excitebike 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Extreme-G(NTSC/U)PASS
- Extreme-G XG2 (NTSC/U)PASS
- F-1 Pole Position 64(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
- F-1 World Grand Prix(NTSC/U)PASS
- FIFA - Road to World Cup 98(M7) (NTSC/U)PASS
- FIFA 99 (NTSC/U)PASS
- FIFA Soccer 64(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Fighter Destiny 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Fighter's Destiny (NTSC/U)PASS
- Fighting Force 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Flying Dragon (NTSC/U)PASS
- Forsaken 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Frogger 2(Alpha)(NTSC/U)PASS
- F-ZERO X (NTSC/U)PASS
- Gauntlet Legends (NTSC/U)PASS
- Gex 3 - Deep Cover Gecko(NTSC/U)PASS
- Glover(NTSC/U)PASS
- GoldenEye 7 (NTSC/U)PASS
- GT 64 - Championship Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
- Harvest Moon 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Heiwa Pachinko World 64 (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Hercules - The Legendary Journeys (NTSC/U)PASS
- Hexen(NTSC/U)PASS
- Hey You, Pikachu!(NTSC/U)PASS
- Hot Wheels Turbo Racing(NTSC/U)PASS
- HSV Adventure Racing (A) [f1] (NTSC/U)PASS
- Hybrid Heaven (NTSC/U)PASS
- Iggy's Reckin' Balls(NTSC/U)PASS
- Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine(NTSC/U)PASS
- Indy Racing 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
- Jeopardy!(NTSC/U)PASS
- Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
- Jet Force Gemini (NTSC/U)PASS use the b2 ROM (this is not a bad dump. It is the Dextrose crack for the USA version of the game and changes save type to SRAM for copiers but EverDrive 64 still reports the save type saving as FLASH upon reset.)
- John Romero's Daikatana(NTSC/U)PASS
- Killer Instinct Gold(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards(NTSC/U)PASS
- Knife Edge - Nose Gunner (NTSC/U)PASS
- Legend of Zelda, The - Majora's Mask (NTSC/U)PASS
- Legend of Zelda, The - Ocarina of Time(NTSC/U)PASS
- LEGO Racers (NTSC/U)PASS
- Lode Runner 3-D(NTSC/U)PASS
- Lt. Duck Dodgers (Prototype)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Lylat Wars (PAL) (M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mace - The Dark Age (NTSC/U)PASS
- Magical Tetris Challenge(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Golf (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Kart 64 (J) (V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Kart 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario no Photopie (J)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Party (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Party 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Party 3(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mario Tennis (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mega Man 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mickey's Speedway USA(NTSC/U)PASS
- Micro Machines 64 Turbo(NTSC/U)PASS
- Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1[t2](NTSC/U)PASS
- Milo's Astro Lanes(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mischief Makers (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mission Impossible (NTSC/U)PASS
- Monaco Grand Prix(NTSC/U)PASS
- Monopoly(NTSC/U)PASS
- Monster Truck Madness 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mortal Kombat 4(NTSC/U)PASS
- Mortal Kombat Mythologies - Sub-Zero (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
- MRC - Multi Racing Championship (NTSC/U)PASS
- Ms. Pac-Man - Maze Madness (NTSC/U)PASS
- Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon(NTSC/U)PASS
- Namco Museum 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Namco Museum 64[t1] (NTSC/U)PASS
- Neon Genesis Evangeleon (NTSC/J) PASS Both IPS cracked and unpatched ROMs run fine
- New Tetris, The(NTSC/U)PASS
- NFL Blitz - Special Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
- NFL Blitz (NTSC/U)PASS
- NFL Blitz 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
- NFL Blitz 2001(NTSC/U)PASS
- NHL 99 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Nightmare Creatures (NTSC/U)PASS
- Nuclear Strike 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Ogre Battle 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Paper Mario(NTSC/U)PASS
- Paperboy(NTSC/U)PASS
- Penny Racers (NTSC/U)PASS
- Perfect Dark(V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Pilotwings 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Pokemon Snap (NTSC/U)PASS
- Pokemon Stadium (NTSC/U)PASS
- Pokemon Stadium 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Power Rangers - Lightspeed Rescue (NTSC/U)PASS
- Quake 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Quake II (NTSC/U)PASS
- Rakuga Kids (PAL) [f1](NTSC/U)PASS
- Rally Challenge 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
- Rampage - World Tour(NTSC/U)PASS
- Rampage 2 - Universal Tour (NTSC/U)PASS
- Rayman 2 - The Great Escape(M5)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - Round 2 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Ready 2 Rumble Boxing(NTSC/U)PASS
- Re-Volt(NTSC/U)PASS
- Resident Evil 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Road Rash 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Robotron 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- RR64 - Ridge Racer 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Rush 2 - Extreme Racing USA(NTSC/U)PASS
- S.C.A.R.S.(NTSC/U)PASS
- San Francisco Rush - Extreme Racing(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
- San Francisco Rush 2049(NTSC/U)PASS
- Space Invaders (NTSC/U)PASS
- Space Station Silicon Valley(NTSC/U)PASS
- Spider-Man(NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Fox 64 (J)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Fox 64(V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Soldier - Vanishing Earth (NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Wars - Rogue Squadron(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Wars - Teikoku no Kage (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Wars Episode I - Battle for Naboo(NTSC/U)PASS
- Star Wars Episode I - Racer(NTSC/U)PASS
- StarCraft 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Stunt Racer 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Super Mario 64 - Shindou Edition (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Super Mario 64(NTSC/U)PASS
- Super Smash Bros.(NTSC/U)PASS
- Superman(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Tetrisphere(NTSC/U)PASS
- Tonic Trouble(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Top Gear Overdrive(NTSC/U)PASS
- Top Gear Rally(NTSC/U)PASS
- Top Gear Rally 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Toy Story 2(NTSC/U)PASS
- Transformers - Beast Wars Transmetal (NTSC/U)PASS
- Turok - Dinosaur Hunter(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Turok - Rage Wars(NTSC/U)PASS
- Turok 2 - Seeds of Evil(NTSC/U)PASS
- Turok 3 - Shadow of Oblivion(NTSC/U)PASS
- Vigilante 8 - 2nd Offense (NTSC/U)PASS
- Vigilante 8 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Virtual Chess 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- V-Rally Edition 99(NTSC/U)PASS
- War Gods (NTSC/U)PASS
- Wave Race 64 - Shindou Edition (J) (V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Wave Race 64(V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
- Wetrix(M6)(NTSC/U)PASS
- Wipeout 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
- Worms - Armageddon (NTSC/U)PASS
- Xena Warrior Princess - The Talisman of Fate(NTSC/U)PASS
- Yoshi's Story (NTSC/U)PASS
* Do note that all save types for all of the above games save and function completely fine.
ROMs that had some issues:
This device has a mind blowing 100% compatibility with all commmercially released games that exist. Banjo-Kazooie and Jet Force Gemnini require cracks that have now been out for a while.
Blast Corps, one often forgotten RAREware game, in action.
Conker's Bad Fur Day is shown here testing the capability of the EverDrive 64 being able to play games larger than 256Mbit.
GT64 is a sleeper hit title that has very nice graphics for N64 and is a decent racing simulator.
Mario Golf plays the way it should. Nintendo kept up some really hot titles on this system.
San Francisco Rush plays fine on the Nintendo 64. Originally this game made it to the arcade using 3DFX graphics and then was ported to Nintendo's flagship console.
Smash Bros. was a great title for Nintendo 64. It plays well and is a very fast paced game.
Turok the Dinosaur Hunter was another hot title for Nintendo 64. It plays fine and still is a fun game.
All ROMs above 256Mbit function flawlessly since the EverDrive 64 has 512Mbit(64MBytes) of RAM. This includes: Conker's Bad Fur Day, Ogre Battle 64, Paper Mario, Pokemon Stadium 2, and Resident Evil 2/Biohazard 2.
Save Type Support
All save types are fully supported. When a ROM saves to cart, the EverDrive 64 automatically creates a save folder on the inserted flash card within the same folder as the ROM that is loaded. Each save game will have an extension corresponding to what type of save it is.
Command & Conquer was tested to see if FLASHRAM save type works. Upon selecting a game of flash ram save type, the menu system displays the save data type as FLASHRAM and puts the save data into a "SAVES" subfolder with the file extension ".fla" within the path ED64 where the menu is located. The Command & Conquer ROM is selected, then loaded and, knowing how this game worked on PC, a save was intuitively allowed while within a map at any point of the game. The save in this example is on the first map. This save game has been loaded after previously saving to the EverDrive 64. There was no issue with this save type during this test.
EverDrive 64 GUI (Menu)
When you turn on the N64, a menu loading screen followed by the folder and file list is displayed.
When a ROM is selected, the save type is displayed.
Homebrew Support
Homebrew ROMs also can be played from the EverDrive 64. Each ROM was successfully launched from SD and it did not take much time to figure out which variant of each ROM works. This would take considerably more time on old copiers from the 1990s due to the methods involved with storing and loading the ROM files during that era.
- 1964 Demo by Steb FAIL displays glitched 50hz black and white checker board
- Birthday Demo for Steve by Nep[b1] PASS
- Birthday Demo for Steve by Nep PASS
- Chaos 89 DemoPASS
- Christmas Flame Demo by Halley's Comet SoftwarePASS
- Congratulations Demo for SPLiT by Widget and Immortal[b1] PASS
- Congratulations Demo for SPLiT by Widget and Immortal PASS
- Cube Demo[b1] PASS
- Cube Demo[b2] PASS
- Cube Demo PASS
- Cube Demo by Msftug FAIL TV loses signal and all goes black
- Display List Ate My Mind Demo by Kid StardustPASS
- DKONG Demo PASS
- Explode Demo by NaN PASS
- Fire Demo by Lac PASS
- Fireworks Demo by CrowTRobo PASS
- Fish Demo by NaN PASS
- Fogworld USA Demo by Horizon64[h1C][o1]PASS
- Fogworld USA Demo by Horizon64PASS
- Fractal Zoomer Demo by RedboXPASS
- Friendship Demo by Renderman[b1] PASS
- Friendship Demo by Renderman PASS
- GT Demo[a1] PASS
- GT Demo PASS
- Hard Coded Demo by Silo and Fractal[a1]FAIL black screen and reset not functional
- Hard Coded Demo by Silo and FractalPASS
- Hard Pom '99 Demo by TS_Garp (POM '99) PASS
- Heavy 64 Demo by DestopPASS
- HiRes CFB DemoPASS
- LCARS Demo by WT Riker[b1]PASS
- LCARS Demo by WT RikerPASS
- Light Force First N64 Demo by FractalPASS
- MeeTING Demo by Renderman[b1] PASS
- MeeTING Demo by Renderman PASS
- Mind Present Demo 0 by Widget and Immortal (POM '98)[b1] PASS
- Mind Present Demo 0 by Widget and Immortal (POM '98) PASS
- Mind Present Demo Readme by Widget and Immortal (POM '98) PASS
- Money Creates Taste Demo by Count0 (POM '99)[f1] PASS
- Money Creates Taste Demo by Count0 (POM '99) PASS
- My Angel DemoPASS
- N64 Seminar Demo - CPU by ZoRAXEPASS
- N64 Seminar Demo - RSP by ZoRAXEPASS
- N64 Stars Demo[b1]PASS
- N64 Stars DemoPASS
- NBCG's Kings of Porn DemoPASS
- NBCrew 2 DemoPASS
- NEO Myth N64 Menu Demo V0.1 PASS freezes the console if reset is pressed
- Nintendo On My Mind Demo by Kid Stardust PASS
- Nintro64 Demo by Lem (POM '98)[b1] PASS
- Nintro64 Demo by Lem (POM '98) PASS
- NuFan Demo by Kid Stardust[b1]PASS
- NuFan Demo by Kid StardustPASS
- Pamela Demo PASS
- Pamela Demo - Resized PASS
- Pause Demo by RedboX PASS
- Plasma Demo[a1] PASS
- Plasma Demo PASS
- Pom Part 1 Demo PASS
- Pom Part 2 Demo PASS
- Pom Part 3 Demo PASS
- Pom Part 4 Demo PASS
- Pom Part 5 Demo PASS
- POMbaer Demo by Kid Stardust (POM '99)PASS
- POMolizer Demo by Renderman (POM '99) PASS
- Psychodelic Demo by Ste (POM '98)[b1] PASS
- Psychodelic Demo by Ste (POM '98) PASS
- R.I.P. Jay Demo by Ste[b1]PASS
- R.I.P. Jay Demo by StePASS
- Rotating Demo USA by Rene[a1]PASS
- Rotating Demo USA by RenePASS
- Sample Demo by Florian[b1] PASS
- Sample Demo by Florian PASS
- Shag'a'Delic Demo by Steve and NEP PASS
- Sitero Demo by Renderman PASS
- Spice Girls Rotator Demo by RedboX[a1] PASS
- Spice Girls Rotator Demo by RedboX PASS
- Split! 3D Demo by LemPASS
- Summer64 Demo by Lem[b1] PASS
- Summer64 Demo by Lem PASS
- Super Fighter Demo Halley's Comet Software PASS
- T-Shirt Demo by Neptune and Steve (POM '98)[b1] PASS
- T-Shirt Demo by Neptune and Steve (POM '98) PASS
- Tetris Beta Demo by FusionMan (POM '98)[b1]PASS
- Tetris Beta Demo by FusionMan (POM '98)PASS
- Textlight Demo by Horizon64[b1] PASS
- Textlight Demo by Horizon64 FAIL black screen
- The Corporation XMAS Demo '99 by TS_Garp[b1]PASS
- The Corporation XMAS Demo '99 by TS_GarpPASS
- TheMuscularDemo by megahawksPASS
- Tom Demo PASS
- TopGun Demo by Horizon64 PASS
- TR64 Demo by FIres and Icepir8 PASS
- TRON Demo[a1] PASS
- TRON Demo PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64 (older)[b1] PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64 (older) PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[a1]PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[a1][b1]PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[b1]PASS
- U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64PASS
- Ultra Demo Bootcode by Locke^[h1C]FAIL TV loses signal and black screen
- Ultra Demo Bootcode by Locke^FAIL TV loses signal and black screen
- Ultra Demo by Locke^[a1] PASS
- Ultra Demo by Locke^ PASS
- Vector Demo by Destop (POM '99) PASS
- Wet Dreams Can Beta Demo by Immortal (POM '99)PASS
- Wet Dreams Madeiragames Demo by Immortal (POM '99) PASS
- Wet Dreams Main Demo by Immortal (POM '99) PASS
- XtraLife Dextrose Demo by RedboX[h1C]PASS
- XtraLife Dextrose Demo by RedboXPASS
- Y2K Demo by WT_Riker [b1] PASS
- Y2K Demo by WT_Riker PASS
NES Emulation
The EverDrive 64 supports emulation mode when the emulator of another console is placed within the ED64 folder on the SD card. When an NES ROM is launched, the menu automatically detects the game type and runs it with the emulator program.
Neon64 was developed from 2001 - 2004 and the latest version, 1.2a, can be downloaded from here: http://hcs.freeshell.org/neon64.cgi
Extract the file "neon64bu.rom" into the same folder on the SD card that contains the EverDrive 64 Menu. Rename "neon64bu.rom" to "emu.nes".
To play an NES game, simply select it from the menu's file listing and press the start button the same way as launching an N64 game.
Conclusion
The EverDrive 64 is the last but definitely not the least of KRIKzz's creations. It uses high quality components on a very nicely designed and professionally fabricated printed circuit board. Also it sports the fairest price of all Nintendo 64 solutions available.
Although it has a few shortcomings, such as a few ROMs requiring the patched version to run and a very simplistic GUI, it is over all an excellent piece of hardware. The ROMs that require patches are easily acquired in pre-patched form and the GUI itself is very functional as well as the menu system not requiring any additional set up beyond placing it into the ED64 folder in the root of the SD.
Since Banjo-Tooie has been cracked, this device is supports 100% of all commercial ROMs that exist. This ROM is also problematic on other copiers and required a CIC 6105 chip to play. This review cannot fault the hardware or menu system itself for this shortcoming due to the fact that every copier has the same issue with this ROM.
We at Flash Cart Review Central would recommend the EverDrive 64 for anyone who wants to get the most out of their N64 console. However we would strongly recommend to buy it from a vendor with the pre-cut cartridge housing so that electro static discharge does not occur, to make it very straight forward to plug in to the N64 deck, to give it a cleaner look, and to allow just a slot to insert/remove the SD card from.
I would like to thank KRIKzz for providing the sample for the review.
I would also like to mention that from time to time StoneageGamer.com has special edition packages with printed instruction manual, black cartridge case, beautiful cartridge label, as well as a few other extras from time to time. There are also other sites that sell various packages and generally grey cut cartridge shells. Not to be biased toward anyone, but the author of this review prefers the usual official grey shell for N64 flash carts.
The EverDrive 64 is definitely the best bang for your buck and is one of the best solutions available for the Nintendo 64.
Pros
+ EverDrive 64 can store a maximum of 262,144Mbit of ROM images using a 32GB MicroSDHC card
+ Fits in an original Nintendo 64 cartridge case (with minor modification for the SD card slot)
+ Multi CIC chip compatible and all ROMs operate from an onboard single genuine CIC 6102
+ 64MBytes of high quality Micron RAM onboard
+ Supports all games of the region corresponding to the console (PAL carts ship with CIC 7101)
+ Supports all save types, even FlashRAM save type
+ Stores cartridge based saves directly on the CF/MicroSD card (Automatically creates Saves folder for you in a subfolder where the menu ROM is stored)
+ Supports homebrew ROMs
+ Most games load within a few seconds. Larger ones take several seconds.
+ Drag and drop support directly to SD card
+ No proprietary extra adapters involved
+ Supports multiple ROMs up to the capacity of the SD card
+ Supports sub folders
+ ROMs are stored indefinitely until files are deleted or the SD card is formatted
+ Continued menu, firmware, GUI, and hardware development support
+ High quality printed circuit board and onboard components
+ Does not require any special hardware or software to flash games
+ N64 menu is navigated with the gamepad
+ Uses SD to store ROMs
+ Reset button takes the user back to the N64 menu
+ Easy to use once set up properly and then recommended for the novice user (which would be those who purchased this with a cartridge shell or built one for it since the bare board should not be handled)
+ Most commercial ROMs work (* Some CIC 6105 ROMs require the patched versions still)
+ Most games which required a patch for old copiers work with or without a patch
+ Proudly manufactured in the Ukraine
Cons
- Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Jet Force Gemini require a software crack or they will only display black or black with vertical blue lines
- Lacks a clearly displayed N64 console user interface
- CPLD Logic Core can be updated if the cart has the mini USB port onboard. This sample did not so it would need to be soldered on which is a little bit of extra work and not easy for a novice.
- No built in cheat code program
- SD card slot is not spring loaded (however they are very easy to insert and remove)
External Links:
-Official KRIKzz Website
-Retrogate Store (Sells with precut grey shell)
Where to buy?:
-EverDrive Item Distributors
This review was written for Flash Cart Review Central ONLY. The article and all included photos are property of Flash Cart Review Central
If you see this review on any other site please let me know via reply to this blog.
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