How the N64 Rumble Pak changed everything
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 тра 2024
- A deep dive into the Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak - an addon device that added force feedback vibration to the player. in 1997 this was the very first rumble device introduced into video games. In today's episode we look closely at the Rumble Pak and even build a homebrew application to test its features. Please Enjoy!
Sources/Credits:
► Evan Amos - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_...
► LibDragon N64 SDK - libdragon.dev/
► StarFox Commercial - • Nintendo Power's Starf...
► N64 Homebrew Rumble App - coming soon
TimeStamps:
00:00 - 01:17 - Introduction
01:18 - 02:57 - How the Rumble Works
02:58 - 04:43 - Teardown and technical deep dive
04:44 - 08:30 - My Homebrew N64 Rumble Program
08:31 - 10:35 - Conclusion
10:36 - 10:55 - Outtro
TimeStamps:
Social Media Links :
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► Threads : threads.net/ModernVintageGamer
► Facebook : / modernvintagegamer
► IG : / modernvintagegamer
► BandCamp : modernvintagegamer.bandcamp.com/
#N64 #RumblePak - Ігри
4:40 The sight of MVG trying to catch a motor was hilarious...
I'm pretty sure he left it on purpose because it made him smile too :)
That's actually a "mohda"!😅
"I'M FREE!" - The rumble motor, probably
What? In what way was that funny...
@@AboveEmAllProduction Because it's silly.
One thing about the "no battery rumble mod" is that it's been well documented as being able to cause the n64 to overdraw the 3.3v line if a game activates more than 2 of them at a time, which is one reason that most display kiosks with the modded rumble pak installed would only have 2 controllers... And speaking of kiosks, yeah, the no battery rumble mod was official for display kiosks so that store owners wouldn't need to swap batteries
There was also at least one third party version that omitted the batteries from the start. My cousins had this cool black one with a blinking red LED when the motor ran. I think it was called Tremor Pak but it looked nothing like the Tremor Pak in this video, it had about the same form factor as the 1st party Pak.
I imagine it had the same drawback you mention of the no-battery mod.
I have a third party pack that takes no batteries. If it's installed when I turn on the console with the Killer Instinct Gold cartridge, I just get a black screen. It doesn't happen for other games I've tried. I always figured it had something to do with specific games and power requirements.
@@nthgthsounds like the Force Pack/Force Pack+ , except those do need batteries.
@@SPOONman4000 Yes that's it!! I see on an image search there's definitely a battery compartment. I misremembered.
I must've known someone else with a black Naki "Advance Rocker Pak," (did more searching) and mixed the two up up. That second one is battery-less
As a kid; when Naomi in MGS1 used the dual shock vibrate to massage your wrist after the torture sequence; genuinely thought that was the most immersive shit ever.
I still kind of do.
and it still is
I think the place your controller on the floor was just not if not more intense @Snaaake_Beater
@@dragio23234 That part was great too. Basically MGS1 is just amazing.
MGS was one of the best examples of innovative use of DualShock.
The other game I liked was Medievil where you can feel every step of sir Daniel with soft - almost haptick - feedback.
Don't forget psycho mantis moving your controller by setting it down on a table (dualshock rumble motors moved the controller)
Putting in that rumble pack felt good , the weight of it. Your controller felt powerful.
Kinda like adding an ammo clip
Felt cool as a kid
Rare at one point thought along the same lines and experimented with having the player unload and reload the Rumble Pak to reload in Goldeneye, but Nintendo vetoed it.
@@jamesprumos7775In paper the idea is pretty cool, but in practice it would wear out the control port way to fast and probably get many people angry at control been damage. Probably why it was vetoed.
As for the weight, I agreed. Playing a game without the weight of it on the control just threw me off after enjoying the weight and getting used to it.
Loved having a fully-loaded Dreamcast controller 😂
@@jamesprumos7775 Haha yea I remember hearing about that.
I swear to god, I always left the rumble pak on, even in games that didn't use it at all, because the overall weight balance felt better for me.
The summer of 1997 was all about the rumble pack and Star Fox 64 for me. Really can’t overstate how big of a deal it felt at the time!
No. No it wasnt.
@@vegeta6555it really was, Vegetable man.
Right there with ya. I thought the rumble pak was awesome
Rumble means you just lost your damn wings.
Lol I specifically remember getting Star Fox in the summer heat as well. My dad just surprised me with the game one day, I imagine the free rumble pak influenced his choice 😀 I remember slowly finding the routes to get the hard mode top routes. That game was very difficult but so rewarding to finally complete. I even eventually got medals on all levels!
Rumble is fun for a lot of obvious reasons, but I always like the little non-obvious applications developers come up with. The way Hudson's party games give you a little jolt when it's your turn, or the way Mario Golf gives you a buzz when your ball successfully goes through a ring in Ring Shot mode, is genuinely a nice bit of extra feedback.
One of my favorite clever bits of rumble is in Getter Love, a dating-sim/party game hybrid also made by Hudson. When you confess your feelings to one of the girls, the Rumble Pak starts thumping, emulating those times in real life when you're so nervous you can feel your heart beat. It's such a cute little bit of verisimilitude.
when your boyfriend just taught you a new word and you simply must use it in a youtube comment
The stone of agony in OoT
I was in a mom and pop game game shop when I played Star Fox 64 for the first time. I was blown away with the visuals, but I was even more surprised when the controller shook violently when I accidentally flew into a structure. It was a feature I needed in a controller ever since.
this thing disturbated a whole generation of geeky geek
@@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii'disturbated'
Is that a mashup of disturbed and masturbated? I don't even 🤣
To this day, the N64 rumble was the most violent and loud yet lol. I loved it.
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 The PS2 controller is a close second imo, some games made that thing take off lol
Dual Shock on PS1 Metal Gear Solid is what changed everything the most for me. Phyco Mantis saying" Put your controller on the floor and watch me move it with my mind". Core gaming memory.
Haven't played that game yet, but I'm really surprised at the clever stuff that game pulled off. A different time for sure
That came afterwards for me. Very cool as well though.
He could also read the memory card if you had one inserted.
@@halfbakedproductions7887 and only commented on Konami games. In my case I had a Castlevania SOTN save on there. :)
Press the action button, Snake.
Oh god that Tremor Pak was a real "Hey bro, here's your controller" type accessory. It didn't fit snug in the N64 controller port and rattled around so bad. 😆
Third party authenticity
Is this going to be a trilogy? You covered the Expansion Pak, then the Rumble Pak, I wonder if there's anything interesting to say about the Transfer Pak.
Great video, the homebrew experiment was cool.
The transfer pak, which helped enable a GB/GBC emulator on the N64, used for the sole purpose of playing Pokémon games. 5 games out of the entire library. What wasted potential.
It also leaves the N64 in a weird gap between the SNES and GameCube - each of which had commercially supported GB and GBA emulators respectively.
@@ShadowEl It's somewhat important in Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. Tennis actually had some content locked behind the Transfer Pak, making it impossible to unlock everything on Virtual Console. They fixed this in the NSO release by unlocking everything from the start.
@@Stormkyleis I forgot about those. I was exaggerating a bit when saying it was ONLY used for Pokemon Stadium, just lamenting that Nintendo (or Intelligent Systems) made a GBC emulator for the N64 and Nintendo ended up locking it to five or six freaking GB/C games.
I'm annoyed with how they flubbed transfer pak connectivity on Switch Online. Especially with N64 being on the "expansion pass" tier and GB/C on the base tier. They could have released Mario Golf/Tennis and the Pokemon games on the GB/C app, then used the N64 versions of Golf/Tennis and the Pokemon Stadium games as an incentive to buy the expansion pass and link them up for rewards.
Instead Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2 are nerfed to a novelty. Glad they worked around it for Mario Golf and Tennis.
Probably quite a bit, as if you modify the headers of other GB games to be a Pokémon game, those with Super Game Boy borders do show up (Wario Land 2 and Donkey Kong 94 come to mind)
As for why an Ultra Game Boy never existed (Commercially at least), my guess is that the N64 wasn't powerful enough to emulate a whole GB (A few games it could handle, but not the hundreds the GB library had at the time) and the hardware of the N64 was far too different compared to the SNES. (IIRC, the CPU for the SNES and GB were both descendants of the 6502 so that's why the former could more easily read code from the latter)
The GameCube and GBA were developed at around the same time, so the design teams could swap notes on how to get one to communicate with each other.
TL;DR: Why no Gameboy on the N64? The hardware for the N64 was too different to run natively and wasn't powerful enough to fully emulate 1 to 1 with the whole library at full speed and sound.
@@Toonrick12 This isn't correct. Pokemon red/blue ran fine on the Stadium emulator at full speed - actually, you could unlock 2x and 3x speed emulator modes by playing through the Stadium content, and there was a gameshark code for Stadium that disabled the ROM check and let other games run. My personal belief is that Nintendo didn't release a full-fat GB player because they were getting ready to transition to the GBA.
That VHS of StarFox 64 got me so hyped for the game as a kid. We had never seen 4 player space battles against each other ON A CONSOLE before, with a new device that made you “feel the game”. It was a brilliant marketing move that must’ve cost a lot to ship all of those VHS tapes. I must have mine somewhere still.
“THIS is the Rumble Pack” I still say all the time when I find my OG Rumble Pack in my garage. It’s too bad emulation won’t let it work in an N64 controller on PC most of the time though.
That VHS stands out as quite funny to look back at because it was an instance when Nintendo basically condoned showing Mario being tortured by electrocution and physical abuse. LOL
That's the one bummer I've had with emulating all my games. I miss having rumble in my controller. The cheapo Android one I use doesn't even have the motors, never mind that no emulator I know of incorporates the functionality.
My friend got the VHS and we watched it like 30 times in the first week. The rumble pack changed the game.
@@scikoolaid 90s edgy marketing between the giants was incredible
You actually CAN use an original N64 controller with an original rumble pack via USB on an emulator, get a Raphnet adapter. They're a bit pricey, but it works exactly as advertised. In fact, it's even compatible with memory and transfer packs.
The first controller with vibration was actually the Japanese Dual Analog SCPH-1150, which was presented a few days before the Rumble Pak.
Yes at least in Japan. The rumble pak was the first of its kind commercially available in America
@@treechenhoThat and it was more popular because it was included with Star Fox 64. I must stress how important it was to bundle the pak with the game. I doubt the pak would of been as successful if they were sold separately. (I assume the pak was, but you get my point)
Microsoft also had the Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro Joystick on PC in 1997.
I wonder why Sony removed rumble from any other version of the Dual Analog except the japanese version only to introduce it back with the dualshock 1? Almost seems like they didnt think this would be successful until they have seen Starfox and then they changed their mind again.
I also found out from the video that Rumble Pack has only onle motor.
DualShock has two for lower (more heavy) and higher (lighter and subltle) frequencies.
Starfox 64 train level with the rumble pak was rad as a kid!
No! Hit the brakes!
I felt so nice to drive on the tracks and feel your tank go over the ties.
I'll lure these guys to the front.
@@StraightOuttaJarhois I'm convinced the Landmaster was only implemented for things like that (because really, what do you do in those stages that the Arwing couldn't?). Not a bad thing...I love its design and the stages it's used in.
I remember getting a dual shock controller for my PS1 and playing Gran Turismo was just a different beast with it. You could feel the difference going round a corner with and without grip, and braking was heavy or not. Then in 2013 when the new Xbox One controller had haptic feedback on the triggers, for the first time I was able to play games like Forza with the ABS and Traction Control off, because you could *feel* through the triggers when you lost grip.
I realised the other day how much I rely on it when playing Rocket League. My Xbox one controller disconnected from my PC, and it was mid match, I got it reconnected but the rumble didn't work, and I was so lost, because it rumbles harder when you're boosting, but that's also a no look feel indicator for if you've run out etc.
Rumble is just awesome!
It was so cool playing Starfox64 this way back then. Some of those explosions really rumbled!
I think I remember it getting to the point where I thought it was a little much.
Helpful tip: The Tremor Pak uses two AA batteries it can corrupt saves even with the switches flipped right way, if just one of those batteries are low on juice.
I still remember the day my friend, who lived a few houses away, and I both picked up Star Fox 64 on launch day. We had watched the Nintendo Power promo VHS probably 20x before release. Fantastic game even without the introduction of the rumble pak.
Amazing video. As someone that follows, Techmoan, LGR, Technology Connections, Tech Tangents, and the typical people you always see mentioned in these comment sections, I love how much detail and solid pacing you maintain through all of your "Here's Why/How" videos. Always less than 20 minutes as well. I did not own a 64, but as a PS1 owner, I remember the day my brother came home with a 2-Disc copy of Gran Turismo 2, and this awesome looking PS1 controller that had these weird joysticks at the bottom... I didn't get it at the time, but my jaw HIT THE FLOOR with enough force to break teeth, when I accelerated with the right stick, broke traction, and felt the motors kick on... The fact that the left or right side would rumble independently depending on which side of the car you hit... You couldn't convince me driving games were going to get better than that, when I was 8. It's cool to examine all these features and innovations 20 and 30 years after, it takes you away for a second to those better days.
I can remember going into my local Walmart Electronics and watching that Star Fox Rumble Pak promotional video. It really sold me on the N64. I just had to own one at that point. 😊
I remember being blown away with the rumble pack in Star Fox 64, because it was the first time feeling haptic feedback in console gaming! And then the DualShock controller in PlayStation set the standard for built in rumble controllers!
My favourite rumble pak feature is that in Goldeneye, if you have two rumble paks and enable the game's dual analog controls, both controllers will vibrate at the same time.
If you have FOUR, and go into 2 player mode with both players set to use dual analog, it works just as well there. Super cool.
Weird, I've tried this before and it wasn't the case
MVG casually writes code to homebrew the rumble pak. I'd expect nothing less.
If you've ever beaten the first level's boss, the one to the right after saving Falco, then you have experienced the sheer power of the rumble pak.
You'll never defeat Androosssss!!
Fanboy much
Jesus christ
I bought a third party rumble pak and followed a guide online to mod it so it was powered by the console and didn't need batteries. It worked incredibly well!
Star Fox 64 felt like such a leap forward for me when it came out. I was used to 2D side-scrollers with hard-edged little controllers, or point-and-click stuff on the PC. Then N64's ergonomic controls, analog stick, & rumble pack combined with the amazing graphics, sound design, and gameplay of Star Fox 64 just blew me away. Felt like I was holding the future. I still boot it up and play it on a regular basis today.
At one point we had a version of the rumble pack (I think it was 3rd-party) that had a second expansion port for whatever else you wanted to plug in. Obviously the idea was you could use normal memory cards with it, but I sometimes plugged another rumble pack into that just to feel like I had an ultra-pro custom controller.
I remember getting this promotional VHS. What a surprise that was to find in the mail after school.
12 year old me remembers seeing the Star Fox 64 commercial on TV which hyped me up to no end. I cut a lot of lawns and saved up to buy myself a N64 with Star Fox 64. I was blown away when I booted up the game for the first time.
fun fact: the Rumble Pak released on the same day in Japan as the Playstation Dual Analog controller, which also had rumble, but only in Japan
Is the Dualshock 1 just a renamed Dual Analog w/ rumble and released internationally?
@@nthgth nope.
aside from the shape difference of handles and sticks,
these 2 controllers are actually not fully inter-compatible with eachother. a lot of games do no support rumble on the Dual Analog controller for example. many western releases will not detect the rumble motors in it at all... some will, even some PS2 games will detect it, but most western games will not, and even many japanese dualshock compatible games will not detect the dual analog rumble motor.
and the DualShock doesn't have the flight stick mode the DualAnalog controller has, which means some games will have completely different controls when using the Dualshock, or don't even support the DualShock but do support the Dual Analog controller.
the entire concept of 2 analog stick Layout was originally supposed to simply make the controller fully compatible with games that supports the Sony Analog Joystick, which was a flight stick with 2 joysticks and
that's why the Dual Analog (and by extension the Dualshock) had 2 sticks in the first place.
so yeah. they aren't completely the same controller in terms of features. if a game has a "Analog Joystick Compatible" icon on the back it is compatible with the Dual Analog controller's flight stick mode (green light), but it's not compatible with the DualShock unless it also has an "Analog Controller Compatible" icon.
its amazing how powerful the rumble pack still is to this day it actually supriced me a bit the first time I used it.
I love the fact that you not only provide some history, but you really dig into the tech and explain how it works as well. That’s what really sets your channel apart from everyone else in my opinion!
I remember getting StarFox64 and just being amazed at how the controller shook as I was blasting away at things. It really was a game changer. Nintendo really has pioneered so much for the gaming industry and helped advance technology. This is why we need all the companies to stick around. It provides motivation for innovation.
This style of video, where you dive into the hardware and write some code, is awesome! I would love to see you write other examples that take advantage of other consoles quirks!
Your recent videos have been killing it, bro. Please keep making this type of content!
Vibration on mobile gaming today is essential, pointing hidden poison damage and confirming sniper hits
and lets jump the smartphone out of your hands^^
@@Buchstabenkrahn never happened... until now, of course
Mobile gaming isn’t gaming
@@BahhBahhBrownSheep good luck with that
man i love anything you make that is n64 related - literally makes my day. thank you brother! keep up the good work
Rumble pak was great. I preferred the "Tremor Pak" variant more. I often think about how this gave us feedback that we take for granted today. Thanks for the memories.
Great video! I grew up playing the ATARI 2600 in the 80s, so when I purchased an N64 package in 1998 that included a rumble pack I was absolutely floored. The 64-bit graphics were amazing and the haptic feedback was mind blowing. For the younger generation that grew up with this stuff, it's hard to really appreciate how much of a game-changer this really was.
You remain at the top of the class when it comes to production and quality content even after all these years. Thank you.
MVG always coming through with a unique and insightful take. Keep it up my man!
I'll never forget star fox with that rumble pack and that goldeneye pistol. Such a game changer
It's incredible that how a simple add on has created so much of a gaming experience for the N64's controller. I find more incredible that people can even program their own rumble pack of their own.
Modern Vintage Gamer in the morning, I love it. 😌
This, sir, was a very enjoyable video. It took me back to the mid 90's and my love for the Nintendo 64. Not only that, but you drilled down to the literal mechanics that is the rumble technology. I don't know what else to say.
Super informative as always MVG
love this video, really informative to various levels of understanding. Even if you dont understand the tech fully, its still fun to see.
The additional extra such as github page and little project make this much more interesting too! gets those creative juices flowing and makes me want to go mess around
I wouldn't mind seeing a video about PS1 development tools for coding homebrew. I know it can be googled but a video about what's good and trash from a knowledgeable bloke like yourself is always helpful
I remember back in the day, renting Star Fox 64 from Blockbuster. I was excitedly trying to tell my sister how awesome it would be with a rumble pak, and then I saved up to get one. When I finally got to show it off, she was strangely unimpressed, but I was over the moon. ^_^
Fun fact - You can solder a small wire from the + battery terminal to a 3.3V trace on the packs pcb to run it without batteries, have been using mine this way since I got mine in like 1997 with 0 problems
I think rumble, when used well, can be surprisingly effective. For instance, in GTA IV, when riding the metro, the controller vibration is really reminiscent of travelling on a train. It shouldn't be, as it only vibrates your hands, but it is..
Loving the deep dive - thanks MVG 🎉
You are my favorite, man! This is such a cool video!
That hardware hack to power the rumble pack directly from the controller seems like the kind of thing Nintendo would've done, if it was safe to do so. I don't think they added a battery compartment because it just wasn't big enough yet.
My guess is that either 1) the N64 doesn't have the margin on that power rail to supply the rumble pak(s) adequately; 2) the impedance of a controller cord is high enough to potentially cause data integrity issues when the motor is drawing current; 3) someone at Nintendo was married to someone at Duracell, and they were helping each other out.
Point is, it might "work", but if it didn't ship that way, there's probably a good reason for it.
I love the videos where you get out the code! If I may make a suggestion, if you have time and would be willing, could you make a companion channel where you talk more about code, or how to work on novel implementations. You made a wonderful GB dev video and I've been wanting more. These videos could be a bit less polished (for time sake) but since you are specifically big in the homebrew community, I'd enjoy your expertise, as well as your opinion on what to show off. Thanks for sharing this! It is a fantastic video and a great trip down memory lane.
I wish we saw more of this sort of thing in video gaming. Any sort of feedback you can send the player adds to the immersion and fun.
I remember being really torn on what game I wanted for my birthday in August 1997. I wanted GoldenEye so bad, but StarFox 64 came with the rumblepak, which I wanted to use with GoldenEye. I chose to invest in StarFox 64, and wait for Christmas for GoldenEye. Extremely glad I made that choice, as GoldenEye without rumble was a lesser experience. I played StarFox 64 to DEATH, getting all the medals and unlocking sunglasses for Fox. Incredible game, and was an excellent holdover until GoldenEye. 😊
Ah yes, I owned one of these back then. While you did truly feel it's power in Star Fox 64, I also liked it for the Legend of Zelda games. The feedback it gave when you struck your sword on a wall, or a bomb detonation. Subtle but great
the demo you made is awesome
You rock MVG, love your content. Thanks for sharing.
Great video dimitri!
I'm old enough to remember getting a Rumble Pak and Tremor Pak brand new from Electronics Boutique. Now I own a Moza R21 with insane levels of force and haptic feedback along with chassis-mounted bass shakers that provide haptic feedback based on what a racing sim tells it. Even my pedals can provide ABS feedback. To think it all started from the humble little Rumble Pak!
These videos are pure gold.
If you were a kid in 1997, you’d know how revolutionary this was. It worked great with Star Fox but when Goldeneye came out… It was next level immersion! Unfortunately that was back with Nintendo was on the cutting edge.
Awesome video as always
This video just filled me with a sense of dread. I suspect I never took the batteries out of my rumble pack and it’s been stored in a box in the shed for probably a good ten years now. 🤦♂️
Awesome video. Love to learn new things!
8:57 I have been trying to remember what this thing was called for a long time. I used to have one back in the day. Need to look for one again. Thanks for showing it.
just another MVG video to start my day a lot better
Oh damn! I forgot about the TremorPak until I saw it on the video! That's what we used to have when I was young. It was so cool to have both the memory card and rumble together!
Motion...it did feel awesome that time
Awesome Vid!
Thank You very much for Your Work! Greetings from Germany
Awesome homebrew, now I can test my old paks easily. Gamers today will never understand the struggle of deciding between an N64 memory expansion or rumble pak.
I got Star Fox 64, the Prima Guide book and a rumble pack for my 7th birthday. Sleepovers at my house were amazing.
Great Video MVG. This rumble pack was such a COOL and affordable feature. Being able to plug this thing into your controller let your imagination run wild with what other accessories they were gonna have to add on. I am old school, like MVG, and I remember MANY years of gaming without rumble packs or controller feedback. With the amount of controller failures and poor battery life nowadays, I kind of miss the days of basic and affordable controllers. However, the Dreamcast controller will always be the coolest.
I had a 3rd party Rumble pack that didn't need batteries. It didn't vibrate as intensly as my buddy's official Rumble Pack, but it was a worthwhile trade-off.
They don't actually need batteries, they can run off the consoles power if you mod them but if all 4 vibrate at the same time it crashes the n64.
@@talibong9518 That is why they ran off of batteries. If they didn't run off battery and drew power directly from the N64 console itself Nintendo knew from an electric engineering standpoint that in the event all four rumble paks were to go off all at once it ends up drawing too much power away from the N64 console internals itself to keep the game running and the game crashes due to the loss of power.
We've had discussions in the discord before about the pronunciation of ares before, and I don't think "ah-rez" came up before. 🙂Ultimately this multi-emu was started by Near, and like a lot of libraries/UIs they created, most of the names came from a series they really loved - Lunar (Eternal Blue, Silver Star, ...) with ares being one of the characters from this series. So it is pronounced exactly how this characters name was pronounced in the game.
Also, shoutouts to Rasky, who is not only one of the main contributors to libdragon, but also one of the main contributors to improving N64 emulation in ares. Amazing work being done by them.
Beautiful. The Good 'ol days. Love all your N64 content.
I still have that VHS tape featuring the rumble pack.
“It lets players FEEL the game!”
“Look at your little plumber boy NOW!”
“What are you doing?!? NOOOOO!!!!”
Yeah, I watched that tape many times.
I had that vhs as a child and for whatever reason i would watch it now and again. Don't know why but it was friggen awesome!
Big Box Lylat Wars with the rumble pack. I still remember getting it for Xmas, and my Dad let me and my brother (and him) play it early. He told my Mum it was to test it and make sure everything worked ok so we weren’t disappointed on Xmas morning 😂
With the rumble pack, I saw ads for things like a full vibrating vest that reacted to deeper sounds... you had to route the game's sound through it. My dad joked about "force feedback" saying he could just stand behind me holding a baseball bat and smack me with it each time I got hit in a game.
I believe the Aura Interactor (Virtual Realty Game Wear) came out before the Rumble Pak. It was a vest you wore that vibrated while playing SNES & Genesis games.
Based on audio feedback rather than rumble/feedback motors
I have one of those, it uses a base transducer connected to a power amp to vibrate. I rewired mine to use a higher powered amp with a graphic equaliser to give it more thumping range. It could actually really hurt you if you whacked the base up too high. Feeding rave music through it for a few hours really messed up your chest and rib area. Was fun though....
I remember playing Star Fox 64 with the rumble pack. The amount of adrenaline I felt through the vibrations made me love the 64 even more.
I actually ordered the vhs tape that talked about this feature back in the mid 90s. Got it in the mail and everything. Having rumble in a game was mind blowing at the time!
Love coming back to this old tech, I've never broken one down and I'm surprised by it's simplicity.
Yes... the hardware mod to draw its own power was huge.
I remember that Star Fox 64 VHS tape. It was pretty hilarious for the time. I'm pretty sure I still have it with all the other promotional Nintendo VHS tapes they put out.
I remember the train level in Starfox. The boss at the end, it just kept exploding and the pad kept shaking! It was brilliant.
Rubble paks made exciting. Engaging content as always MVG 👍
The rumble pack on the N64 shook so freaking hard. after a session of Starfox your hands were vibrating when you were done
Starfox 64 and the rumble pak were such a big deal that I recall getting a VHS in the mail that specifically advertised the game & peripheral!
That intro hit me with massive nostalgia. Reminded that A Fox in Space ep 2 parodied that skit now.
I remember getting star fox 64 and experiencing that explosion at the end of the first boss fight, and was just blown away. I was like 14, so I had quite a bit of gaming experience. One of those gaming moments that’ll stick with me forever
Turok 2 Desert Eagle rumble was one of the most awesome and immersive things I ever experienced on the N64 when I got my pack.
Same for DD44 Dostovei from Goldeneye!
My first experience with rumble was with the ps1 and i thought that it was so cool, the slight vibration in Crash 3 when you're using that vehicle thingy, the stronger vibration when you attacked with it, but my favorite example of it is in the first Driver, there was a desert track in the game, and when you were driving in the dirt the controller would rumble, and it would stop as soon as i got into the road, it really made me feel like i was driving through rough terrain and just got into a much smoother road.
Great episode! Would very much like to see the rumble example code!
The level with the train in Star Fox is still some of the strongest rumble ever in a game.
I remember playing Starfox, and there was this boss that would turn into a giant walker. I could feel it stomping around in the level. I thought it was so cool back then.
I liked it for the shooting games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark (also RE2). Shooting the gun with the center stick and feeling a small recoil rumble added sooooooo much to the overall experience.
Awesome video!
More than anything, I love haptic feedback as immersion in games, especially for things like knowing if something large is approaching, or a ringing phone, or even just getting hit real hard.
I love the Switch’s HD Rumble as well, except there’s a REALLY bad habit of devs only using the right Joy-Con’s motor, which makes the most awful buzzy racket in a plastic shell, and winds up often being louder than anything in the games.
impressed, waiting for homebrew