The new Ben Heck?

[Rory]

Though an anonymous source i have been notified of an extremly ambitous and talented individual. He has great plans for the n64 console he found unintentionally and plans to buy a few more some kickass ideas including :-

-- Portable n64 with a gameboy style interface
-- A completeely custom n64 that will resemble the orignal console
-- and a secret project  which will be a completely revamped "super" n64 console

I will post updates as and if i receive them so watch this space ....

[IndyChav]

Sounds interesting, cant wait to see what he comes up with

[seikene]

Agreed, never saw much modding with the N64, well except of course for overclocking it

[IndyChav]

yeah overclocking and portables (which were HUGE, so not really portable) were the only mods i've ever seen to it but i think it has some great potential in every aspect. All we need is someone to show us the light, maybe this guy is 

[bacteria]

There are a number of N64 hacks and mods on the BenHeck forum, from the very basic like changing the LED's, changing the case, slapping a screen on the back of an otherwise unmodded N64; to overclocking the processor (making some games too fast, like Goldeneye), hacking controllers; to making N64p systems with built in self-contained screen and controller; either battery and/or mains operated. Most of the time people claim to be making a new system, "super" or whatever, but mostly they are false or bogus claims or never get off the drawing board - sometimes however someone makes a great system, the L64 is an example of one.

It is a bit early to claim the poster concerned is "an extremely ambition and talented individual", when the project(s) are not off the ground yet yet alone completed - just words not action at the moment. It isn't difficult to make an N64p anyway, you only need to follow the guide I made on the subject and you will know how to open the system, relocate the cart slot, wire up the audio and video, power it, and ideas for case making. I made the fully illustrated guide for that purpose. Other posts on BenHeck also show hacking an original controller (I used a third party one) and using a Ti card (which I am using on my current project BTW).

I made a combined N64 and GBA system a while back, to be unique, (Nintendo 64 Advance I called it) and made a full guide and tutorial about it (in the "stickies" of the N64 forum on www.BenHeck.com, it has had c. 38,000 reads to date). In the next weeks I will be making a new one, very slim version (probably the slimmest made on BenHeck), and an ambitious idea of rewiring the Expansion Pack; it seems to take about 1-3 months to complete a project, on and off.

[IndyChav]

after reading Rory's post i went onto the Benheck forums and I didnt see that many "super" consoles, I did see a lot of portables. Including your N64 advance (v.nice)

But ambitious would imply he wants to do something, aka he has great ideas, talented, hes able to do things. So regardless of the fact i dont know who this is I think it is a bit early  to be publically broadcasting he cant do it. Give him a chance eh?

[bacteria]

Indychav, firstly welcome to the BenHeck forum, read your two posts in the N64 section. Nice to have another member from the UK there!

There are a small number of awesome looking systems on BenHeck, especially those using vacuum formed cases (I don't have access to this, so I make my cases the hard way), however many just use the original N64 case itself (frankencases) which although convenient, and saves time, sometimes look nice, and can be bulky.

I am all for giving people a chance, after all people on BenHeck were skeptical of me when I started as a noob, until I started a full project and started to post lots of progress pics when they realised I was for real. I also give people as much advice and assistance as I can in the forum as I like to help others with their hobby too.

The problem however on BenHeck is that over the last months there have been at least 3 if not more new posters who make all sorts of claims about what they can do, which end up being false, even to the point of posting a photo of their "awesome" idea they just designed but was actually a stolen pic from someone else's work over a year ago, which didn't get made anyway. These people come and go, usually trying to stur up bad feeling on the way out, which is sad, it goes against the spirit of the forum. There are sometimes people who post lots of spammy posts (no pics) on their topic claiming to be making a portable but in fact aren't: one person made this claim and kept people hanging on for months and it turned out all he actually did was to get someone to vacuum form a case for him and he then just made a nice looking case front, which may or may not have accommodated the system guts anyway (it was a bit too small); after he posted some clues on other postings I confronted him about these clues on his thread, he ended up admitting the truth and people then realised it was fake and the thread died. It is annoying also when a bold claim is made on forums about "The new BenHeck" or "BenHeck watch out" or other similar things; Benjamin Heckendorn is a very talented modder indeed and we all respect him on (his) forum, it would take someone with a lot of proven skill in this area to be his equal, let alone exceed his work. It is like an unknown actor claiming he is the new "Dustin Hoffman" or "Jack Nickolson" or whatever.

Hence, I wasn't saying he can't do it, that would be wrong, I was reacting to the hype as a reaction to "here we go again". In fact, I will encourage his work and provide any advice or assistance I can with his project if needed.