Nintendo 64 Controller - Controller Pak

Controller Pak

The Controller Pak was Nintendo's external memory card, similar to those used on the PlayStation and other CD-ROM consoles. While the N64's cartridge-based games could store battery-backed memory much like their predecessors in the NES and SNES, the Controller Pak allowed savegame data, for games that supported it, to be stored separately from the cartridge, for instance allowing savegames to be used with a different copy of the game, or to store data that would not fit on a cartridge's battery-backed memory (such as Mario Kart 64's "ghost" files). Whereas other console developers opted to plug the memory card directly into the console, Nintendo chose to allow the card to be plugged into the controller and thus to be transported as one unit, envisioning scenarios in which players would want to bring their own controller and memory card to play with other N64 owners.