I never thought I would own one of these, since they're pretty rare. This is the US version with 2 gold controllers, and it is much rarer than the Japanese one. They are crazy expensive on eBay and the only way I would get one is if I got extremely lucky and some ignorant soul wanted to get rid of their's for cheap. And that is exactly what happened!
It's pretty remarkable that I was able to find this because over here where I live, Nintendo is pretty much non-existent. All Nintendo products here are brought back by people travelling abroad. There are also some stores that import games and consoles and mark up the prices by A LOT. So the probability of finding a gold N64 here is much less than finding one in the US. And to find one for cheap is like finding a needle in a haystack.
The day the ad showed up on OLX (local version of Craigslist), my eyes almost popped out of my head. The guy was selling the console, 2 gold controllers, all necessary cables and 6 games for the equivalent of $55 including shipping! Most unfortunately he didn't have the original box but this was more than I could hope for. The games were Zelda Ocarina of Time (grey cart), Mario Tennis, Star Fox 64, Super Mario 64, Glover, and Star Wars Episode I Racer.
I've already sold the games and made back more than what I paid so I pretty much got the whole thing for free!
A small downside was that the console and controllers were a little dirty and the dust wasn't coming off no matter how hard I cleaned it. It looked like the controllers had absorbed the dust and there was also what appeared to be a permanent coffee stain around the buttons for one of them!
Some pics of the dirty controllers:
Around the same time, GBAtemp member @KhaderWelaye had listed the same set with box in the trading forum. So I contacted him by PM and he gave me great advice on how to go about cleaning it and restoring it back to mint condition. The most useful tip was to use Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser to get rid of scuffs and stains. But in India it's not available so I did some research and figured out it's nothing more than a melamine sponge. And that was available on eBay for really cheap. So KhaderWelaye, you have my heartfelt gratitude. Thank you so much for all your help!
Once I had all the cleaning materials, I stripped down the controllers and console and threw all the plastic parts into hot soapy water. After a good cleaning and drying, the remaining stubborn stains came off with the melamine sponge. KhaderWelaye had assured me that this process would not strip off the gold paint as long as I was gentle.
Here is a pic of the stripped down controller:
Once I put everything back together it was all shiny and almost mint condition. I couldn't be happier! Here are some pics of my precious:
It's pretty remarkable that I was able to find this because over here where I live, Nintendo is pretty much non-existent. All Nintendo products here are brought back by people travelling abroad. There are also some stores that import games and consoles and mark up the prices by A LOT. So the probability of finding a gold N64 here is much less than finding one in the US. And to find one for cheap is like finding a needle in a haystack.
The day the ad showed up on OLX (local version of Craigslist), my eyes almost popped out of my head. The guy was selling the console, 2 gold controllers, all necessary cables and 6 games for the equivalent of $55 including shipping! Most unfortunately he didn't have the original box but this was more than I could hope for. The games were Zelda Ocarina of Time (grey cart), Mario Tennis, Star Fox 64, Super Mario 64, Glover, and Star Wars Episode I Racer.
I've already sold the games and made back more than what I paid so I pretty much got the whole thing for free!
A small downside was that the console and controllers were a little dirty and the dust wasn't coming off no matter how hard I cleaned it. It looked like the controllers had absorbed the dust and there was also what appeared to be a permanent coffee stain around the buttons for one of them!
Some pics of the dirty controllers:
Around the same time, GBAtemp member @KhaderWelaye had listed the same set with box in the trading forum. So I contacted him by PM and he gave me great advice on how to go about cleaning it and restoring it back to mint condition. The most useful tip was to use Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser to get rid of scuffs and stains. But in India it's not available so I did some research and figured out it's nothing more than a melamine sponge. And that was available on eBay for really cheap. So KhaderWelaye, you have my heartfelt gratitude. Thank you so much for all your help!
Once I had all the cleaning materials, I stripped down the controllers and console and threw all the plastic parts into hot soapy water. After a good cleaning and drying, the remaining stubborn stains came off with the melamine sponge. KhaderWelaye had assured me that this process would not strip off the gold paint as long as I was gentle.
Here is a pic of the stripped down controller:
Once I put everything back together it was all shiny and almost mint condition. I couldn't be happier! Here are some pics of my precious:
