I got a free Nintendo 64 today

[Ziggy]

Open that little cover between the power and reset buttons. Do you see red plastic? Or a red sticker?

[noiseredux]

No red, standard jumper Pak. Also it looks like part of the reason the case is cracked up is because previous owner took out the plastic thing around the cart slot, I'm guessing to play imports.

[Nemoide]

I got a free N64 myself last year! It was barely working, but I managed to restore it and it came with the memory expansion and a good collection of games. I feel like I haven't played it enough to REALLY judge it though.

One thing you might want are these N64 analog-stick replacement gears. The analog stick has a tendency to die and if you want to use an original controller, you'll probably need to replace the gears. There's also a "Gamecube style stick replacement" floating around out there, but I've mostly heard that they're not-so-good. Or you could just get one of the recent controllers!

[PartridgeSenpai]

One thing you might want are these N64 analog-stick replacement gears. The analog stick has a tendency to die and if you want to use an original controller, you'll probably need to replace the gears. There's also a "Gamecube style stick replacement" floating around out there, but I've mostly heard that they're not-so-good. Or you could just get one of the recent controllers!

I've used one of those "Gamecube-style stick replacements" for all the N64 games I've beaten this year, and I would say they're far from perfect, but they're fine. If you don't want to pull apart your joystick to repair it really legit, they're a more than good enough replacement that doesn't just immediately fall apart. I'd say the biggest internal issue they have is that going VERY slowly (like tip-toeing in Banjo-Kazooie) has an annoyingly small activation area. Outside of that, it works fine for everything I've used it for.

[Melek-Ric]

The Tribute64 Controller looks like a solid buy as well. That and the Brawler would have been great back in the day, even though I was content with the stock controller at the time.

[noiseredux]

Turok 2 arrived in the mail over the weekend, and to my joy and shock, this N64 works just fine. It is so cosmetically damaged, and who knows how long it's been sitting in a basement unloved. And yet, it just fired up with no problem. I'm pleased.

[Ziggy]

You didn't even have to clean the cart or the cart slot? Wow.

Well, congrats on the free N64! What are you planning on doing with it? Gonna dive into the library? Go the flash cart route?

[noiseredux]

You didn't even have to clean the cart or the cart slot? Wow.

I know! I was shocked. Booted up on first attempt. I did nothing to it. The memory card said it was "damaged," but allowed me to repair it successfully and that was it. It just worked as beat up and dirty as it was. Nintendo clearly knows how to make hardware that lasts. Reminds me of the half-melted Game Boy I saw at the Nintendo Store in NYC that was still running Tetris.

Well, congrats on the free N64! What are you planning on doing with it? Gonna dive into the library? Go the flash cart route?

I'm not really one for flash carts. But yeah, now that I own a working N64, I'll start exploring the library a bit more. At least for games that aren't available cheaper on other platforms or Virtual Console.

[Blu]

Yeah definitely worth exploring the library, given that you said the region lock was removed. Get on that Sin & Punishment!

[JoeAwesome]

Lots of games are still enjoyable today, despite detractors of the graphics not holding up.