Akihabara Buys: The Rarest Games For Nintendo's Failed 64DD

TOKYO -- Here are two of the most obscure slash notorious games that Nintendo ever made in Japan.

In 1999, towards the end of the Nintendo 64's lifecycle, Nintendo released the long-awaited 64DD add-on. Having promised for years that this disk drive would change the way we play games via the rewriteable magnetic disk media, Nintendo instead snuck the thing out with only a few titles, and only in Japan. I'm not quite sure why it didn't just cancel the device altogether, but at any rate, it's one of the more interesting pieces of Nintendo obscurity for those of us who were poring over videogame magazines, reading about the purported wonders of the 64DD, back in the day.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to buy the 64DD and its launch games for about $250, and did so. The 64DD was mostly sold through an online service called Randnet, and users bought the hardware alongside the complete set of games: Four creativity apps in the Mario Artist series, Sim City 64, an expansion disk for F-Zero X, the Randnet online disk, and Doshin the Giant (later ported to the GameCube).

These seven discs are relatively easy to find in Tokyo -- for instance, there's currently a complete set at Akihabara's Super Potato store for about $475. But if you want a complete 64DD collection, you've got to spend just a bit more. That's because, improbably enough, two more games did sneak out into stores in 2000: a golf game called Japan Pro Golf Tour 64 and an expansion pack for Doshin called Kyojin no Doshin Kaihou Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishuugou, and as near as I can figure that translates to Doshin the Giant: Emancipation Front Great Meeting of the Little Peeing Children. Wikipedia has a description:

In the game, a child is told to go to sleep and is pulled out of bed and through the window, into a world of dreams. In this dream world, Doshin is now imprisoned and you can "Tinkle" 2D hearts on people and even the giant himself. The main objective of the game is to watch the 17 mini black and white movies collectively titled "More Than Giant" that were specially animated for this game. You must repeatedly go back and forth between the two disks to verify that monuments were built in game 1, and to complete tasks that the "Queen Companions" request of you.

Yep, that sounds about right. The golf game is a bit more straightforward, I imagine. I mean, it probably has nothing to do with peeing.

Anyway, the punch line here is that I didn't think I'd ever buy these games, but then I found a copy of Happy Pee Adventure at Mandarake in Akihabara, and because it was missing a couple tiny pieces of ephemera that came with the game originally, it was about $70 cheaper than a 100% perfect copy. So I bit the bullet and bought it.

And then, well, when I saw a copy of Pro Golf Tour at Mandarake Galaxy the next day... I mean, it was $210... and the exchange rate is really terrible these days... but think about it, imagine having a complete 64DD game collection! I won't say it was an easy decision. I went in and out of the store a couple times. I thought about other crazy things I could buy with the same money: Space Invaders for Virtual Boy. That golden Punch-Out!! cartridge. Nothing could shake the nagging feeling that I should still buy it while the buyin' was good. So I did.

I think I now owe it to myself to hook up my 64DD and actually play these games, once I'm back in the States. Please look forward to it (bow).

Photo: Chris Kohler/Wired.com