I recently (June 2001) decided to
bite the bullet and buy myself a Nintendo
64, and being the insane person I am, I wasn't gonna just settle for
50Hz gaming like those around me, so I set about finding the information I needed to play all those well known N64 games at 60Hz. "Just buy
Japanese games and a Japanese machine" you cry. OK, that's what I ended up doing, but sometimes I see UK games dotted around the second hand shops for reasonable prices, and I find it hard to resist. :) Anyway, this information was dotted all over, and I thought it would be a help to other gamers on E2 if I colated it here.
Nintendo64 Import Basics
There are two territories of N64 lockout chip. US and Japanese games work on US and Japanese systems, but the cartridges are a different shape, so you have to remove the plastic tabs inside the cartridge slot to be able to insert them. There's an FAQ explaining how to do this at http://www.gamefaqs.com/. You need a security bit (game bit) though. Failing that, you can use a bridge adapter. European and Australian games work on European and Australian systems. Based on recent discussions on Australian imports, I believe that they also use the same shape of cartridge.
The frame rate (50 or 60 Hz) and colour system is determined by the game being played. Ie, the Nintendo64 uses a software speed switch. So you must have a TV capable of handling the apropriate colour system if you want to play imports (tho why anyone would want to import PAL games is beyond me. :) US and Japanese systems can be modified to output RGB over the AV port. Instructions at http://www.gamesx.com/. Because many people in Europe own TVs that can't handle the NTSC colour system, the RGB output was disabled on the European Nintendo64, to make it more difficult for people to play imports. (The video chip on European systems outputs only composite and S-video.) So if you require RGB, get a Japanese or American N64.
To play games from outside your territory, you require an adapter that can fool the N64's lockout system into thinking you are playing a game local to your territory. As with the SNES, these adapters went through a number of revisions, with more elabourate protection systems being thought up by Nintendo and co, and in turn being defeated by the adapter manufacturers. This game of cat and mouse has aparently ended, and the adapter that seems to work with everything is the EMS Passport Plus V3. (Although it would appear that Paper Mario is the exception) This works much like the SNES universal adapters, with the foreign game going in the top, and the native game attatching to the back. However, newer games also require the inputting of a boot code. Different groups of games have different boot codes. There are only about 8 sets of boot codes in all. Most of these are included on the cartridge, but those that aren't can be found on the web easily enough. (Good list at http://www.burn.com.au/products/n64/profiles/uuco.html)
Propz to that nice person on uk.games.video.misc, Elitendo, Burn, Game Station X, and N64 Magazine for providing all this useful information that I am shamelessly ripping off. If this w/u is in the wrong place, please tell me before you get nuke happy.