The peripheral did not go on sale, but it would serve as an accessory to provide additional features and functions to the games.
Nintendo 64, Nintendo's first three-dimensional home console, featured numerous accessories and peripherals to improve the gaming experience or achieve graphic enhancements, higher frame rate … just like the Expansion Pak did with its RAM addition. However, one of those peripherals never saw the light, the Secret Screen, whose prototype has emerged in a surprising way showing how it would have been.
A fan for the preservation of the video game and everything related to the retro, Shane Battye, has been responsible for sharing through his personal Twitter account the image that we can see in the news, which serves as a response to a thread initiated by the Battle itself where it explains where Secret Screen comes from and the origins of the prototype.
Nintendo's goal with the device was similar to SEGA's with Dreamcast VMU by incorporating an LCD screen with additional information. The original design, which is the responsibility of Dane Galden, could be seen for the first time in a report published in the Electronic Gaming Monthly. Interestingly, Galden wanted to materialize this Secret Screen to be able to configure some games in a personalized way in, for example, the action of some buttons, which would prevent the rest of the players from getting to know the function of the commands if they looked sideways. Hence the name of the peripheral, product of the traps between Galden and his brother when playing.
The prototype appeared in an eBay listing in January of 2018 but was taken down (presumably sold via an outside offer). The eBay description included additional information from the developer. pic.twitter.com/ZzCcJ4gvyz
– Shane Battye 🎮 (@shanebattye) January 13, 2020
The commercial objective of the product was none other than to sell itself as the Expansion Pak or the Rumble Pak did in their day, but they did not manage to see it more than in some games, especially those of sports cut, and the idea simply remained in that . When Battye started looking for a unit for sale, he found an auction on eBay back in 2018, but that auction was no longer available overnight.
Curiosities of Nintendo 64: command of Ultra 64, beta of its great titles …
Last September a preliminary version of the command that Nintendo 64 was going to have came to light when it was still known under the previous nomenclature, Ultra 64. In other curiosities related to the console, we recommend reading this article where the Super Metroid director explains why a Metroid 64 never came into existence. Also, this other article showing the beta versions of two of the great titles in the console catalog: Super Mario 64 and Super Mario RPG.
Regarding the rumored and desired Nintendo 64 Mini (following the success of NES Mini and SNES Mini), Nintendo has repeatedly stated that, although it does not rule out that possibility, it is not in its plans to launch it, at least at the date of November 2018, which was when these comments were given.
