Broken Test Cart, Broken Heart



   The N64 Test Cart is quite interesting and tends to set itself apart from test carts for all other Nintendo systems. While other systems had to new revisions placed on new boards and sent out, Nintendo was able to bypass that issue with the N64. Since the cartridge has a j-tag port on the top, Nintendo basically was able to plug it in and rewrite the system revision onto the existing cart. I’m aware of one instance of this happening, so if you’d like to learn more about that (as well as some other interesting tidbits), click here.

   Amazingly, I haven’t seen an auction for one in at least two years and two popped up in the same day. One already ended with a BIN, and I would most certainly classify this under the ‘What the?!’ category of auctions as it sold for $900–I’ve never seen a cart go for over $300 open auction. The other cartridge for sale is listed as a Non-Working N64 Test Cart, so you might be able to purchase it for a possible cheap fix or you might end up with one expensive paperweight. I think this might have been in my possession at one point, I’ll have to do some digging and see!

   I’m with the notion that the N64 will likely never be as collectable as the NES or SNES due to the fact that the PS1 took the spotlight in that era, but I do know there are some dedicated collectors out there. I guess time will tell if that $900 sale was a fluke or just the tip of the iceberg.

-Nintendo 64 Binoculars
–World of Nintendo Globe Store Display
–3DO Demo Binder: I’ve noticed 2 of these for sale in the past year and I don’t remember seeing mention of a 3DO Storage Manager demo.

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