Ben Heck is well known on the web for his electronics projects, console modifications, and high-profile repairs, such as the one he performed on the Nintendo PlayStation. However, last February he faced his personal Moby Dick: the portable Nintendo 64. After encountering several technical difficulties, Heck was forced to pause the project, recruit help from colleagues, and regroup. Almost seven months later, Heck had his revenge.
An Engineering Masterpiece and a True Nightmare
Some video game consoles are very tolerant when it comes to modifications. Replacing shells, moving connectors, expanding original specifications, miniaturizing... these aren't simple projects, but they usually reach a successful conclusion. Now, if there is one console that breaks all that without mercy, it's the Nintendo 64. The system has been classified as an engineering masterpiece, a true nightmare, and both things at once. Ben Heck knows this very well, and he tried to postpone until the last moment one of the most frequent requests from his audience: a portable Nintendo 64.
The Long Road to a Handheld N64
His new adventure began in February, and it didn't go very well. Every time he tried to modify the socket for the Expansion Pak, his consoles were knocked out. Added to this were serious temperature problems, because all the Nintendo 64 chips require heatsinks. The project was put on pause, and his followers expressed different levels of disappointment through YouTube. Heck used that time to continue with other projects and get more information from friends and colleagues with experience in modding the Nintendo 64. After fixing the Game Pak issues (impedance and RDRAM memory termination), and creating a heatsink based on an aluminum block, he managed to continue with the rest.
The final result is definitely satisfactory, thanks to the intervention of design software, laser cuts, and 3D printers. But if someone like Ben Heck, with access to all those resources, had difficulties finishing this mod, I think it's best to stick with emulators and preserve the original hardware as is. If we know the Japanese giant, the Nintendo 64 Classic is just around the corner...
