In North America, it was first made available bundled with Metroid Prime Pinball, but was later sold through other promotions or as a stand-alone purchase from Nintendo's online store.
It is the first Nintendo DS accessory to have utilized the slot. The Rumble Pak for the Nintendo DS is an official DS Option Pak shaped like a Game Boy Advance cartridge and is designed to be inserted in the system's Game Boy Advance game slot (SLOT-2). Rumble Pak for the Nintendo DS and a third party, smaller version for the Nintendo DS Lite by eWin More recently, in TWGNews's "Top 10 Controller Innovations" article, the Rumble Pak is listed as #8, saying "the Rumble Pak added a whole new level of immersion to the fifth generation of video games". He said that it is bulky and heavy when attached to the Nintendo 64 controller, but that "the trade-off was actually worth it". IGN's Levi Buchanan wrote an 11th birthday article on the Nintendo 64's Rumble Pak, describing how its influence led to rumble being "an industry standard within a single generation". At their 1997 Editors' Choice Awards, they named it "Best Peripheral".
While Kraig Kujawa and John Ricciardi commented that its usage in games thus far had been as a gimmick rather than an enhancement to the actual gameplay, Kelly Rickards and Sushi-X lauded its usage in games such as GoldenEye 007 and Star Fox 64, and all four of them praised the low retail price of the unit, saying that at worst gamers risk little by purchasing it. The Pak's only drawback is that it slips into your analog stick's memory cartridge port and doesn't offer a through port." The magazine's "review crew" later reviewed the standalone release of the Rumble Pak, giving it an 8.5 out of 10. Electronic Gaming Monthly commented, "Sure, a vibrating joystick may sound lame - even a little naughty - but trust us: it's cool. Reception Ītomic Dawg's review of the Rumble Pak in GamePro described it as "cute, gimmicky - and actually kind of fun." When reviewing Star Fox 64, IGN praised the Rumble Pak, stating that it "adds an unusual burst of arcade ecstasy to the game".
Retrolink n64 controller rumble plus#
The Nyko Hyper Pak Plus contains internal memory and allows the user to adjust the amount of feedback between "hard" and "too hard".
The TremorPak Plus allows a memory card to be inserted simultaneously, eliminating the need to switch between two accessories. Some draw power from the controller instead of batteries, but the lower power makes them less effective. Several third party versions of the Rumble Pak, such as the Tremor Pak, followed. Wave Race 64 and Super Mario 64 were re-released in Japan in July 1997 with Rumble Pak support. Rumble Pak support soon became a standard for N64 games. The Rumble Pak was introduced bundled with the game Star Fox 64 (known as Lylat Wars in the PAL region) and made available as a separate purchase two months later. Originally named "Jolting Pak", it was announced as what IGN called "the biggest surprise" of the 1996 Shoshinkai show. The Rumble Pak is estimated to provide 50-60 hours of continuous rumbling before the batteries must be replaced. Nintendo remedied the situation in later games by offering developers the inclusion of special screens for hot swapping.
Retrolink n64 controller rumble software#
This does not significantly affect games that feature on-cartridge save functions, but is a drawback with games that require the Controller Pak to save, as software by default was not designed to support hot swapping Paks, although some games support saving to a Controller Pak in a second controller. It requires two AAA batteries and is inserted into the controller's memory cartridge slot, which prevents simultaneous use of the Controller Pak. The original Rumble Pak, designed for the Nintendo 64 controller, was released in April 1997 in Japan, July 1997 in North America, and October 1997 in Europe.