What Is a Rumble Pack for the Nintindo 64?

Rumble Pack

• The Nintendo 64 Rumble Pack accessory plugs into the back of the game controller and is the first-ever home video game controller accessory to provide video-game-related physical feedback. Based on the onscreen action, the Rumble Pack produces varying degrees of vibrations, enhancing the player's experience.

Evolution

• With the development of the GameCube console, Nintendo retained the Rumble Pack feature, but built it into the GameCube's controller. This move prevented gamers from needing to purchase the feature as an accessory, but when it malfunctioned or broke, an entirely new controller was needed to get the device rumbling again. When it released the Wii game console in 2006, Nintendo revolutionized the way players interact with video games by designing a motion-based controller that also features the basic elements of the Rumble Pack technology.

Specifications

• The Nintendo 64 game console came with 4MB of RAM, upgradeable to 36MB, and displays more than 16 million colors at 640 by 480 pixels of resolution. The console's 94 MHz 64-bit R4300i RISC main processor operated using 64 data paths and was supplemented by a secondary 63 MHz 64-bit RISC coprocessor that controlled the unit's graphics. Eventually, Nintendo Rumble Packs were sold in packages that included a memory card that provided the machine with expanded memory through the Rumble Pack's connection.

N64 History

• Known initially as "Project Reality," Nintendo and its partner, Silicon Graphics, began work on the Nintendo 64 console in 1993. As a 64-bit system, the N64 was expected to outsell and outperform its competitors, which were only producing 32-bit systems at the time. By 1994, the console's working title was changed to Ultra 64 and Nintendo announced it would be using 100-megabit cartridges for its games instead of compact discs, which its competitors had already started using. Nintendo defended this move by pointing out that CD-based games required longer loading times than cartridge-based games and that CDs were less practical. Many software developers turned away from the project, leaving Nintendo as the sole licensee for its N64 games. By the console's release in 1996, its name changed to its current designation and eventually sold more than 30 million units worldwide.