The joke was when the Nintendo 64 first hit the road about a quarter of a century ago, referring to the excessive cost of the cartridge, not the technology on the 64-board. Whatever the truth may be, it is now something to rest on [Konrad Beckmann] With him Nintendo 64 Flash Cart powered by Raspberry Pi Pico (Nitter link).
The schematic is surprisingly simple, with Pico software doing everything necessary for the interface to hold both the N64 and an SD card. The tricky work is done by the RP2040 firmware, which can be found in the “Development” section of the project’s GitHub repository with hardware details. And although the first version was a Raspberry Pi Pico with lots of jumper wires, the more polished version focuses on a custom PCB and bare RP2040 chip.
Perhaps the N64 didn’t get the attention it deserved year after year, it was overshadowed by competitors like the original PlayStation, but it’s a project that reminds us that Nintendo’s 90s flagship is still alive. Speaking of which, if you’ve been to Team Sony the day before but still want to use your Pi Pico, check out this DIY PlayStation memory card that we’ve covered recently.