Nintendo Expansion Pak for Nintendo 64

Summary

The Expansion Pak is a memory extension for the Nintendo 64 console that Nintendo launched in November 1998. It doubles the memory of the game console from 4 MiB RAM to 8 MiB RAM, which brings new possibilities for games. For the memory expansion, the console offers its own expansion port, in which a Jumper Pak is inserted by default, a terminator for the RAM bus without which the console is incapacitated. The Jumper Pak is removed for the Expansion Pak.

Games usually use the memory extension for higher resolution textures and higher frame rate. Some games simply don’t work without the Expansion Pak, like the game Donkey Kong 64, the first game sold together in a bundle with the expansion. Other games already work, but show better resolution and frame rate with memory expansion. While at the beginning the games managed well with 4 MiB soon it turned out that the memory expansion became a mandatory extension and without the extra 4 MiB the games lost quality. Nintendo would have been able to expand the internal memory without any additional costs, because the external memory runs a little slower than the internal memory. But so Nintendo earned twice, once at the console (199 USD at the beginning), then again 29.95 USD for 4 MiB.