Shown below is a Nintendo 64 Development Kit known as the “MONEGI SMART PACK”.

This was the last official development kit released for the Nintendo 64. This kit Packed a heavy punch, as it was paired with the well known and sought after “CodeWarrior” software from Metrowerks Inc. The software included a sophisticated Debugger, user friendly Graphical User Interface (IDE) and an Ultra fast compiler to boot.

(Pun Intended…. 😛 )

As seen in the photo description, the MONEGI Smart Pack supported a number of features not present in the original SGI Ultra64 development kits. This included:

• Development of games for the 64DD
• Up to 512mbit size ROMs
• N64 RAM expansion pack support

Now, before we dive into the hardware, here is a short little bit of history on how MONEGI came to be.

The company “Manegi” (not a typo) was established as a joint venture between Nintendo and Hudson as a subsidiary of Nintendo. (The investment ratio was 60% Nintendo and 40% Hudson.) The official Japanese company name was “Manegi Co., Ltd.” and Nintendo decided on “MONEGI” as the English version of the company name. This was derived from the two English words MONEY and GIVE. (Getting your moneys worth I take it. :P)

The company’s primary purpose was to provide support to Nintendo and third party developers working on the porting and development of N64 games. There were also plans in place to provide software tools for special game titles such as (Pocket Monsters, etc.) in which the Nintendo 64 and GameBoy consoles would be interconnected via a special link cable. The company also designed and built an N64 development kit called the “MONEGI SMART PACK” at a purchase price of 400,000 yen. (~$2600 USD). As shown below:

MAKE NOTE:

We have managed to acquire some excellent hi-res shots of the individual components from this kit (which you will see further below). We acquired these from a former collector and from a series of online image galleries showing the hardware on display at the PAX Australia 2019 event.

Unfortunately not many hi-res photos are available of the complete kit in a Full development setup. As a result, we have had to extract very low resolution images from a Japanese User manual in order to demonstrate the setup of the hardware. 🙁 Perhaps in time higher resolution photos will become available, and allow us to update the images used here for your viewing.

So….now back to it!!

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The N64 MONEGI SMART PACK was available in three different versions.

VERSION “A” – This version of the kit used (x2) 256Mbit SRAM development cartridges “EmulatorPack32-N64” which came with the Kit and were built by HUDSON SOFT.

• Cartirdge #1 = 256Mbit SRAM “EmulatorPack32-N64” cartridge
• Cartridge #2 = 256Mbit SRAM “EmulatorPack32-N64” cartridge

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Version B – This version of the kit used the Partner-N64 development Cartridge, allowing developers to re-purpose previously purchased Nintendo hardware. A total of x3 separate cartridges were needed for this version of the kit, using three of the four slots available on the BusBox.

• Cartirdge #1 = 256Mbit SRAM “EmulatorPack32-N64” cartridge
• Cartridge #2 = Special Adapter cartridge called the “Hu2KMC-N64“. (Required for Cart #3)
• Cartridge #3 = Partner-N64 SRAM development cartridge

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Version C – This version of the kit used (x2) dev cartridges, however in this version the “IS-VIEWER64” development cartridge was used as the Debugger. Once again, this was a way developers could re-purpose previously purchased Nintendo development hardware and take advantage of the advanced Codewarrior software features.

• Cartirdge #1 = 256Mbit SRAM “EmulatorPack32-N64” cartridge
• Cartridge #2 = IS-VIEWER64 SRAM development cartridge

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The Entire MONEGI SMART PACK “A” Dev kit comprised of the following hardware:

(x1) ISA interface card called the HuPIOD-N64

(x1) BusBox-N64 (x4 slot N64 cartridge BUS Backplane)

(x2) EmulatorPack32-N64 development cartridges (256mbits each = 512mbits total)

(x1) Flat Ribbon cables to interface the EmulatorPack32-N64 dev cart to the ISA Interface card

(x1) AC Adapter-N64 (Provide DC power to the BusBox-N64 and Dev carts)

(x2) DC power cables (Provides power from the BusBox-N64 to both EmulatorPack32-N64 dev carts

(x1) Modified N64 Console with Debug cable

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As shown in the image above, the Busbox is simply a cartridge bus Backplane. It allows multiple carts to share the cartridge Bus and connect to the N64 & 64DD simultaneously. The workhorse is the “EmulatorPack32-N64” dev carts and the ISA interface card. Notice the two red DC power cables connecting from the Busbox to each of the Emulator dev cartridges. As well, you can see the Modified consoles “Debug” cable connect to an IDC port at the top of the Emulator cartridge.

The Busbox received its DC power from the provided Power pack, and it would connect to a port located on the Top side of the Busbox.

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MONEGI N64 Debug Console

The system also required a Modified N64 Console with a Debug cable interface. This was required in order to route a RESET and INTERRUPT signal from the N64 console CPU, to the dev kit hardware.

As shown above, you can see the debug ribbon cable that is connected to the console, this would connect to an IDC port located at the top of the EmulatorPack32-N64 development cartridge.

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Monegi FlashWriter-N64 cartridge

Shown below is the Monegi FlashWriter-N64 development cartridge. It was apparently used for programming N64 Development Flash cartridges.

Inserting this cartridge into the Busbox, and loading a special software program, developers could program a ROM image directly into the flash memory of an N64 development flash cartridge.

This is essentially performing the same function as the NU64 Flash Gang Writer system.

NU64 Flash Gang Writer

The N64 Smart Pack was quite the Development kit and loved by many developers.

Unfortunately the company MONEGI was disbanded after Nintendo decided to liquidate all it’s assets, and move forward with GameCube. The liquidation procedures were completed in September 2002.

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Metrowerks Inc. Codewarrior Software for N64

CodeWarrior for N64 was developed in a joint effort between the Canadian software company “Metrowerks Inc.” and Nintendo of America.

Nintendo chose to include the Codewarrior IDE and Debugger software packages due to it’s superior compiler and advanced debugging features. The overall kit would support game development for both the N64 & 64DD, and handle up to 512 mbit size Roms. This was a sought after feature by developers, as many competitor dev kits capped out at 256mbit.

Metrowerks Inc. announced the availability of CodeWarrior for Nintendo 64 on March 16, 1999 and would be available for Windows(r) 95/98 and Windows(r) NT operating systems. With the CodeWarrior Integrated Development Environment (IDE), N64 developers would have access to powerful integrated development tools, including a project manager, compiler, IDE, browsers and editors.

The CodeWarrior N64 software included an easy-to-use graphical user interface for quick navigation between and within tools. The intuitive Project Manager software allowed developers to create and manage their projects more efficiently. An advanced proprietary compiler allowed developers to create faster and more efficient code, with faster compile times as compared with other compilers.

CodeWarrior for N64 was also directly compatible with the N64 Software Development Kit (SDK). This eliminated the need for library conversion. The product also supported a variety of other tools, including editors and version control tools.

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Below is an UNBOXING video of this Rare N64 Development Kit.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/KDVVjNi5nMU/

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Codewarrior – System Requirements

Intel® Pentium® or AMD™ K6™-class microprocessors
133MHz system clock or higher
16 MB RAM minimum, 32 MB RAM recommended
CD-ROM drive for installation
80 MB hard disk space
Microsoft Windows 95/98
Kyoto-Micro Computer Partner-64 PC Hardware 

Detailed Features

Direct support for Nintendo 64 SDK, no library conversion needed
Linker dead-strips unused functions and data
Support for FPU register display
Public API for IDE plugin
Support for Microsoft Visual Source Safe 5.0
Graphical class hierarchy browser for C++
Compare two text files, graphically display the differences between the files, and apply changes between files; in addition, compare the contents of two folders recursively. 

Compilers

C compiler is ANSI/ISO C compliant
C++ compiler closely tracks the emerging ANSI/ISO C++ standard
Function-level and inline assembly support for MIPS compiler
Support for exeGCC compiler, linker, and assembly within CodeWarrior IDE 

Debugger

Debugging library for Nintendo 64 applications with support for file I/O redirections to PC
Support for source, assembly or mixed source/assembly
Support for overlays
Stand-alone debugger
Support for conditional breakpoints and expression evaluation
Run control for executing lines of code or assembly instructions at any location 

Project Manager and Build System

Award-winning Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Project Manager with easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI)
Multi-threaded to allow you to work on one project while compiling another
Multiple targets per project - use the same project to build different versions of your code, such as debug and release builds 

Editor and Code Navigation System

Pop-up menus for quick navigation and access to functions and headers in each project
Drag-and-drop editing in IDE for source code
Support for error management directly in the error message window 

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