Nintendo 64 cartridge dumping cost me all of $8 for a 25pin printer cable. Admittedly: I already had an N64, GameShark v3.2, and old computer running XP with a printer cable port on the motherboard - but if you’re already a collector/packrat for games, you likely have most of this stuff in your collection already. After that: the software was straightforward on Windows XP, and each rip only took 6-15min. The trickiest part really was just standard GameShark game swapping - something most of us haven’t done in about twenty years.

Make sure it’s v3.2! Anything before doesn’t have the printer port. Anything after, they disabled the port (N64 wasn’t making enough money to justify it)

Requirements

There are only four basic components needed:

* Nintendo 64

* GameShark v3.2

* Windows 95/98/ME/XP computer with printer port on motherboard

* Male-to-female DB25 printer cable (the standard old printer cables)

GameSharks seem to cost around $20 on Ebay, so as long as you have the system and an old computer handy, you should be good.

Please note: if you do NOT have an old computer, modern PCI boards might not work, nor DB25 to USB. That’s less tested territory from what I know. If you only have newer components, and are lacking every single one of the above, it might be cheaper to get the $80 modern combo of a Retrode and N64 adapter from DragonBox in Europe. They just had a fresh stock of N64 adapters last week, but it looks like they already ran out again. Just put your name on the email list, and you’ll be able to dump N64, SNES, Genesis, Megadrive, and Super Famicom games all from modern OSes over USB.

My collection outweighs my budget though, so GameShark approach for me.

Ripping



Paul’s Code is the definitive guide on N64 dumping with GameSharks - please go read that for the best instruction set, but skip all WinROM64 requirements! Those byte changes flip between Z64 and V64 filetypes, but are emulator specific (and in my tests, Mupen64Plus runs both in the default bin filetype anyways).

Each dump only took 6-15min, compared to Paul’s estimated 15-90. That might be due to XP instead of 95/98 as he recommends, but I had 100% success on every cartridge I tried.



Corrupt text seems to mean it’s working…

GameShark Issues

The biggest problem was actually just getting the GameShark to recognize the game, as I forgot - GameSharks do some mode switching to accommodate the expected cartridge, so you can only boot the device with an accepted cartridge in it (most work, but SM64 is a good example) and then “Key Codes” to change what cartridge type is expected (Yoshi’s Island, F-Zero, and more require this).

Be careful to only set the key codes to a cartridge you own. There are ways to reset the device I believe, but it’s not a hassle you want to deal with. Then after hitting yes, you’ll power down, swap cartridges, and reboot the N64. Otherwise, the GameShark simply won’t turn on.

Blast Corps, like most games, is on GameShark’s default list.

Pin Cleaning Issues

If it never even turns on, you likely have dirt buildup on your cartridge pins. I finally bought some rubbing alcohol and a big box of q-tips recently (probably $4 total) and boy does that make a difference. Games like Blast Corps here covered in “Used” stickers and other gunk are not inclined to have clean pins - and I learned over in Ike’s Guide to NES Maintenance two very important things:

1. Blowing on cartridges is a short term fix with long term consequences, your wet breath increases pin conductivity, but the bacteria sticks on the pins and builds up resistance over time.

2. Just scrubbing the pins with q-tips soaked in rubbing alcohol will pick up that gunk, and it materializes on the q-tip as black dirt. When the black dirt stops appearing, the dirt is all cleaned off.

This brought new life to tons of my cartridges, and it’s especially a problem since conductivity is needed both in the game to gameshark, and gameshark to N64. Be sure to try cleaning all pins front and back if nothing turns on.

And after all that, so long as your keycodes are right, you should be successfully ripping games with Game Software Code Creator!

Proof that it’s ripping - the GameShark’s looping circle anim.

Game Software Code Creator at work…

Final Notes

I tried half a dozen games or so, and with cleaning and the right key codes, they all seemed to just work, which is great. After the issues with NES dumps and unique chips, I worried for similar issues with the N64 - but if that is the case, GameShark handles it in the key code mode switching.

This all took me less than an evening to get up and running, old computer problems aside, so for the price of a printer cable? Totally worth it, and highly recommended as a means to get some fair use backups of N64 games.