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Hailrazer's Kamikaze 64 is the most polished portable N64 yet (video)
Money talks, and, in the world of custom hardware, occasionally yields some amazing results. Such is the case with Hailrazer's latest handheld console mod, the Kamikaze 64. It's a portable version of Nintendo's decidedly wired Nintendo 64 that someone commissioned him to build, probably after seeing his impressive NCube portable GameCube. This one is equally comprehensive, and while it doesn't compete against either of the supposed world's smallest portable N64s, it does offer the full suite of controls, plus input for a second controller, video output, and even includes the controller's I/O port on the back. (That means it's Controller Pak compatible, and its future owner can take his or her all-time greatest Mario Kart 64 ghost replays on the road.) No word on how much the mystery commissioner paid for this one, but we're thinking they got a good deal. [Thanks, Jonathan]
Wii VC's Mario Kart 64 to remain ghostless
Nintendo has no plans to address players' inability to save time trial ghost data in the just released Wii Virtual Console port of Mario Kart 64 (the original game required a Controller Pak to record the data). "Due to unavoidable technical reasons unfortunately it is not possible to save ghost data," claims a Nintendo statement sent to Pro-G. Shoppers are apparently advised of the missing feature before purchasing the title from Wii Shop Channel.Unavoidable? Maybe, but we suspect Nintendo's just being lazy. Since no N64 game required any of the 'Pak' controller add-ons (including Rumble) to play (some required a Controller Pak to save), developers of VC's N64 emulator and its games aren't bothering to re-code scripts to circumvent commands meant for the Paks. Surely ghost data could be saved to Wii's flash drive; after all, the original Controller Pak contained a mere 256 KB of memory. If a more important Pak issue, for a more important N64 VC game arises, trust us, "unavoidable" will become "we're working on it."
