NEO N64 Myth Cart

NEO N64 Myth Cart with NEO2 Lite 512M inserted

The NEO N64 Myth Cart is a development and game backup device made by the Neoflash Team and used in conjunction with the Nintendo 64.

History

First announced in May 2006^[1] the NEO N64 Myth Cart was released on December 30, 2009^[2] at a price of $199.00.^[3] It is the first backup device to be released for the Nintendo 64 since it was discontinued by Nintendo in 2001/2002, and is marketed towards retro gamers.

The NEO N64 Myth Cart is the first Nintendo 64 backup device to use USB, earlier devices such as the Doctor V64 or CD64 use CD’s/parallel port, or the Z64 used Zip disks. The NEO N64 Myth Cart incorporates a standard USB Mini-B connector on the top used to connect the cartridge to a PC using a Standard-A to Mini-B USB cable, and files are transferred using the ‘NEO2 Ultra Menu’ program.

The included NEO2 Lite 512M cartridge, and optional NEO2-SD cartridge

Rear of the NEO N64 Myth Cart showing the cartridge slot for inserting a boot cartridge. The top edge of the cartridge shows the ROM selection switch and the Mini-B USB port used for connection to a PC

Homebrew files and ROM images are stored in flash memory on the included NEO2 cartridge, these were originally designed for use as an independent Game Boy Advance backup device for use in the Nintendo DS Lite. NEO2 cartridges are available in six different sizes/configurations, allowing users to upgrade the NEO N64 Myth Cart’s storage capacity. Different NEO2 configurations include:-

• NEO2 Lite 256M - 256Mbit (32MB) flash memory
• NEO2 Lite 512M - 512Mbit (64MB) flash memory (included as standard)
• NEO2 Lite 1024M - 1024Mbit (128MB) flash memory
• NEO2-SD: includes a SD card slot, 128Mbit PSRAM and 256Mbit flash memory (Later models include 512Mbit of flash memory)
• NEO2-TF: includes a microSD card slot, 128Mbit PSRAM and 256Mbit flash memory
• NEO2-PRO: includes a SD card slot, 256Mbit PSRAM and 1024Mbit flash memory

The NEO N64 Myth Cart includes a 512Mbit (64MB) NEO2 cartridge as standard, which allows it to store one 512Mbit ROM, or two 256Mbit or smaller ROM’s. The cartridge also includes a small switch located on the top which allows a user to swap between two different stored ROM files, although the N64 console must be turned off before this switch can be used.

As with most N64 backup devices the NEO N64 Myth Cart features a cartridge slot on the rear where an original N64 game can be inserted in order to act as a boot cartridge to bypass the security lockout chip used in the Nintendo 64 console. However, older N64 backup devices would often require the user to insert a boot cartridge which had a matching security chip to the ROM being loaded, the NEO N64 Myth Cart avoids this problem by including a built-in hardware "universal boot emulator" which allows it to use any original game as a boot cartridge, regardless of the security chip type.

Menu

The NEO N64 Myth Cart has 16Mbit (2MB) of built-in flash memory where a menu system can be stored, although no menu system is supplied with the NEO N64 Myth Cart. It is left up to homebrew programmers/developers to design a menu system. A menu has since been made^[4] with the included ability to use sd cards for game storage. The largest PSRAM available on a neo2 is 256Mbits which means any rom over 32 MB will not run from the sd card. Saving to the sd properly requires an upgrade to the firmware on the actual cartridge.

Specification

• Support the N64 rom size up to 512M
• Support all save type perfectly included the flash save, not need the same save type N64 game cart to work together
• Support 100% N64 games perfectly
• Download games from PC to NEO2 cart directly via USB port
• Upload/overwrite game save to PC via USB directly
• Multi-CIC support, can use any N64 cart to boot Neo Myth on N64 console
• Support Multi games, can download 2 games at the same time and swap the game via switch
• Can select the N64 menu run from Neo2 game cart or N64 inner menu flash (under developing still)
• Upgradeable CPLD logic core through the NDP upgrade kit

See also

• Doctor V64
• CD64 (Nintendo)
• Z64

References

1. ^ Dr.neo (2006-05-05). "Topic: The 10th. NEO Project for N64 USB Dev Kit". http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,2217.0.html. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
2. ^ Dr.neo (2009-12-30). "Topic: the NEO N64 Myth cart SPEC v2 ,in stock now!". http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,5889.0.html. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
3. ^ ic2005.com (2009-12-30). "Product Listing: NEO N64 Myth flash cart + 512M". http://www.ic2005.com/shop/product.php?productid=115&cat=1&page=1. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
4. ^ http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,6338.0.html

External links

• Official website