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00:00Intended to prevent a game cartridge from being inserted, or for that matter, removed from an NES console.
00:07Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're dipping into the weirder side of Nintendo to find some accessories nobody needed and
00:12most people didn't even hear about.
00:14These are 20 Nintendo peripherals you didn't know exist. Let's have a look.
00:18Before we continue, we publish content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get
00:24notified of our latest videos.
00:27GBA Solar Sensor
00:28I just wanted to make a video talking about my experience trying to get this thing to work and also
00:35what happened when I got it to work.
00:36Only Hideo Kojima could look at a handheld game and decide the missing feature was the actual sun.
00:42Released in 2003, Boktai The Sun Is In Your Hand came with a solar sensor built right into the GBA
00:48cartridge, meaning players had to physically head outside to charge their weapon to fight vampires.
00:53It sounds completely ridiculous, but that was also the genius of it.
00:56The real world became part of the game itself and suddenly sitting indoors all day was bad strategy.
01:01I really wish I had experienced this as a kid running around outside by the Gameboy instead of now when
01:07I mostly need sunlight because my body is pale and dying.
01:10They don't mention anything in the description that this thing would have a game in it.
01:15NES Lockout Safe Care Homework First
01:18It's called the Homework First Video Game Lock and it appears to be a collaboration with Master Lock.
01:25Before everything became a menu option, companies sometimes solved problems with actual chunks of plastic and metal.
01:31Region locking, for example, could literally mean making cartridges a different shape.
01:35Parental controls were even funnier.
01:37The Homework First was basically a tiny security device for the NES, clamping over the console and blocking access to
01:44the cartridge slot with a combination lock.
01:46No passwords, no screen time settings, just physically imprisoning the Nintendo until homework was done.
01:52It is wonderfully direct, although probably far more expensive than simply telling your kid to stop playing.
01:57There was also one major flaw.
01:58If the game was already inside, congratulations, you'd only lock them into playing one forever.
02:03Please don't be Battletoads.
02:05Please don't be- Ah, goddammit, it's Battletoads.
02:06Mrs. Lockpicking Lawyer to change it for me. You'll have to take my word on that.
02:11The Cyber Bike
02:11I think I've found the creme de la creme of weird things for the Wii, and that is an exercise
02:18bike.
02:19Waving your arms is not enough exercise. Enter Cyber Bike, a full-size exercise bike with Wii controls built directly
02:26into it.
02:26Instead of staring at a wall while pedaling nowhere, you could ride through a virtual park and pretend your living
02:32room had suddenly become scenic.
02:33As ideas go, it was actually pretty clever, and probably more motivating than watching the little calorie counter slowly crawl
02:39upwards.
02:40The problem was the price.
02:42You're basically buying an exercise bike and a gaming peripheral at the same time,
02:47when a normal bike could get you outside, move you around for real, and somehow cost less.
02:51Oh, it's not white and made of plastic? Not worth it.
02:54Only in the game that's included, but at least it was a cool little addition they had in.
02:58Gamecube Microphone
02:59I don't want to use a controller, I just want to use my voice to control the Gamecube.
03:04God, if there was a way for me to do that, I'd be so happy.
03:09By the time Mario Party 6 rolled around, Nintendo apparently decided the series needed one important upgrade.
03:15Yelling.
03:15The Gamecube Microphone was a very cheap looking plastic accessory bundled around Mario Party 6 and later used with Mario
03:22Party 7,
03:22giving certain minigames voice controls instead of regular button presses.
03:26A handful of other games supported it too, including Odama and Karaoke Revolution Party,
03:31but let's be honest, it was just for screaming nonsense during Mario Party.
03:34Commands like BIGGER and STOP turned an already chaotic multiplayer game into something even louder and more annoying.
03:40It felt flimsy, looked like a toy, and somehow that made the whole thing even funnier.
03:44I don't know if I'm crazy, but I never heard of it, and it was smack bang in my childhood,
03:49so I feel like I should have.
03:50This thing was so underused that most people forget it exists, and that's exactly what it is.
03:56An accessory that was built to be forgotten.
03:58Nintendo Switch Neck Stand.
04:00And now this is the Tech 1 Universal Adjustable Neck Mount.
04:04I thought I'd already crossed the line when I bought a tablet arm to hold my Switch above the bed,
04:08so I could play with detached Joy-Cons.
04:10Then, I saw this thing and immediately felt normal again.
04:13Sold in Japan, this bizarre neck-mounted holder wraps around your shoulders and props the console directly in front of
04:19your face,
04:20leaving your hands free for the controller.
04:22In theory, it's all about comfort. In practice, you look like a bellend.
04:25I can understand wanting to avoid holding a Switch for hours, but there has to be a limit, people.
04:30We can't become this. I simply won't allow it. If you wear this in public, move cities.
04:35And connecting to the two, I can have myself a little race.
04:39Playing some Moto Rush GT.
04:41And if you can catch any of this here, I'm just gonna...
04:45UDRAW Tablet.
04:46The UDRAW Game Tablet for the Nintendo Wii.
04:49The name UDRAW makes this sound like something Nintendo dreamed up for the Wii U,
04:53but nope, this weird little tablet actually belonged to the original Wii.
04:56It launched with UDRAW Studio, basically a simple digital art program that turns your TV into a giant sketch pad.
05:02That was already a strange sell, considering the Wii Remote could handle basic drawing on its own,
05:07but the tablet did work reasonably well. A few games were actually built around it.
05:12The problem was the library. Titles like SpongeBob Squigglepants and Dude's Big Adventure hardly became classics,
05:19and they also sound like porn parodies.
05:21Even noted the UDRAW Tablet as one of the reasons the company went under, one of the biggest mistakes they've
05:26ever made.
05:27Nintendo Switch Labo.
05:35Nintendo has a long history of creating accessories that make you wonder whether you are seeing the future,
05:40or something built during craft class.
05:43Nintendo Labo, or Laboo, landed firmly in the craft class category.
05:48Instead of fancy electronics, the kits were mostly sheets of cardboard that you folded into things like a piano,
05:53a fishing rod, or a steering wheel, then paired with the Switch to control different games.
05:58The idea was undeniably creative, especially for kids who enjoyed actually building the controller before using it.
06:04Still, spending real money on cardboard always felt slightly strange.
06:08One spilled drink, excited younger sibling, or badly placed foot could turn your expensive gaming accessory into recycling in an
06:16instant.
06:23Satellaview
06:27Long before downloading games became normal, Nintendo was firing them at the SNES from space.
06:33Japan's Satellaview accessory connected to satellite broadcasts, letting players receive games, news, competitions, and other online-ish features at scheduled
06:42times.
06:43Some releases were modified versions of existing games, while others were completely exclusive, including several The Legend of Zelda adventures.
06:50Certain broadcasts even featured live voice acting, meaning you had to play while the program was actually airing.
06:56It was incredibly ambitious for 1995, but also hilariously inconvenient.
07:01You needed extra hardware, special memory cards, and a willingness to organize your evening around Nintendo's television schedule.
07:08Satellaview lasted until 1999, proving satellite gaming was impressive, but the internet was considerably less annoying.
07:19Ness Satellite
07:21Alright, so here's an interesting product.
07:24This is the NES Satellite.
07:27Don't confuse this with the previous entry, because this isn't about satellite viewing, it's about wireless gaming.
07:32Wireless gaming on the NES sounds impossible, but the NES Satellite used an infrared receiver connected to the console and
07:38a separate battery-powered box that could take four wired controllers.
07:41So, technically, the controllers themselves were not wireless at all. You were just moving a pile of cables further from
07:48the television.
07:48It also needed a clear line of sight to work, which becomes slightly awkward when four people are sitting between
07:53the two parts.
07:54Still, it did double as a four-player adapter and gave everyone extra room.
07:59Nintendo replaced it with the simpler wired four-score a year later, but the satellite was an impressively early attempt
08:05at cutting the cord.
08:06But, you know, this is still a pretty neat product. If you can find this for under ten bucks and,
08:12you know, you want to play four-player games on the NES.
08:15Wii Vitality Sensor
08:17When you insert your finger, the Wii Vitality Sensor first recognizes your pulse.
08:23E3 usually brings new games, flashy trailers, and the occasional console reveal.
08:27In 2009, Nintendo instead unveiled something that looked like it had escaped from a doctor's office.
08:31The Wii Vitality Sensor clipped onto your finger and was designed to read your pulse, supposedly opening the door to
08:37games that react to stress, relaxation, or changes in heart rate.
08:41The strange part was that Nintendo never really showed what players were meant to do with it.
08:46No proper game demonstrations ever arrived, so everyone was left guessing.
08:50Maybe horror games could detect panic, or relaxing software could help calm you down.
08:54We never found out, because after years of silence, Nintendo officially cancelled the device in 2013.
09:00More and more software developed, which can be played regardless of skill or difficulty level.
09:05Super Nintendo Super Scope
09:07Super NES Nintendo Scope 6, which followed in the package when you bought the Super Scope.
09:13So let's put it in here, turn the power on, and turn the old TV on.
09:18And here we go, here it is.
09:20Nothing about the Super Scope was subtle.
09:23Nintendo followed up the sleek little NES Zapper by handing SNES owners what looked like a plastic rocket launcher, and
09:30it never reached the same heights.
09:31You rested the thing on your shoulder, peed through its scope, and aimed at the screen like you were defending
09:35the living room from an air raid.
09:37It certainly made the light gun games feel more dramatic, but it was also huge, and awkward, and not exactly
09:43something you could casually leave on the coffee table.
09:45Support was limited as well, with games like Battle Clash and Yoshi's Safari being among the few that used it
09:51properly.
09:52Shoot the stars.
09:57Wii Sports 8-in-1 Accessories
10:05Chances are you know one or two of these, but most folks didn't realise just how many were made.
10:10The Wii Remote already asked players to pretend they were swinging a tennis racket, throwing a frisbee, or smashing a
10:15ping pong ball.
10:16CTA Digital apparently decided Imagination was doing too much work.
10:19Their solution was to sell plastic shells shaped like the actual sports equipment, letting you slot the Wii Remote inside
10:25and make everything much bigger for no real reason.
10:28There were tennis rackets, frisbees, table tennis paddles, and plenty of other chunky attachments ready to fill a cupboard.
10:34Sure, they made the motions look slightly more convincing, but they also added weight, clutter, and the constant risk of
10:39accidentally launching fake sporting equipment into your grandma's head.
10:43Look at my new game, Nan. Oops, call an ambulance.
10:45Next, the golf club, of course. I have to do this. Oh, god.
10:5264DD.
10:53And that is the 64DD, or the 64 Disk Drive, or the 64 Dynamic Drive, yes.
11:00Near the end of the N64's life, Nintendo started getting dangerously close to Sega's level of hardware add-ons.
11:07The Nintendo 64DD attached underneath the console and used special magnetic disks that offered more storage, writable data, and features
11:14like a real-time clock that games could react to.
11:16On paper, that opened the door to some genuinely interesting ideas. In reality, it was a bulky extra box arriving
11:22during an era when CDs were already taking over, and it wasn't exactly cheap.
11:26Only a small number of games even supported it, and the whole thing remained exclusive to Japan.
11:31Instead of extending the N64's life, the 64DD arrived too late to have a lasting impact.
11:37...to do without spending an arm and a leg for it. And these were kind of in between, so you
11:41had the 64 cartridge that would read very, very fast, right? Very rarely would you even notice a load time
11:46with a cartridge. It was pretty much instant.
11:48NES Advantage.
11:49The NES Advantage is an arcade-style joystick controller made by ASCIIWare and released in 1987.
11:54Some gaming accessories become completely useless with age. Others somehow circle back around and become cool again.
12:01This chunky arcade-style NES controller definitely falls into the second group.
12:05Back when arcades were everywhere, having a giant joystick setup at home probably felt a little excessive.
12:11Now, with retro arcade machines fashionable again, it actually has a certain charm.
12:15I still wouldn't want to drag this thing out for every NES game, especially anything that needs quick, precise movement.
12:21But, for fighting games, arcade-style titles, or classics like Donkey Kong, it makes a lot more sense.
12:26It is bulky, dramatic, and completely unnecessary. Kind of like me.
12:30NES Advantage can be used with any game, but as I'm sure a lot of you are aware, the primary
12:35genre this controller was made for is shooters.
12:37Family Basic Coding Software.
12:39Alright, so here's my Family Basic system, all set up on the Famicom, plugged into my Sanyo monitor here.
12:45Now, the Sanyo monitor doesn't have any speakers, so we're not going to hear any sound during all of this.
12:49Before Nintendo was teaching people how to make games with friendly tutorials, it tried something much stranger with Family Basic.
12:56Released only in Japan, this Famicom package came with a full keyboard and software designed to teach basic programming skills.
13:03Woo, fun.
13:04Players could mess around with premade codes, sprites, music, and other assets to build simple programs of their own.
13:10It sounds impressive now, but at the time, it was hardly the easiest sell.
13:13Most kids probably wanted Mario, not homework disguised as a cartridge.
13:17The whole setup was also fairly complicated, bulky, and never made it outside Japan.
13:22As a result, Family Basic became one of those Nintendo experiments that is fascinating to read about, and slightly less
13:28exciting to actually use.
13:29The opening screen is all in Japanese, so I will read it out, and then put subtitles at the bottom
13:35of the screen, in case you guys are curious what it's actually saying on there.
13:39So, let's go ahead and get started.
13:41SNES mouse.
13:42Wow.
13:43Hey, what's up?
13:43This is Kevin from CGR Undertow, and we've got another amazing Super Nintendo accessory to check out today.
13:51This is the only peripheral on the list that I actually owned, and apparently nobody else heard of it.
13:56A mouse on the SNES sounds completely out of place, especially when the standard controller didn't even have an analogue
14:02stick.
14:02Yet, Nintendo made one anyway, and if you played Mario Paint, it was basically essential, unless you wanted your masterpiece
14:08to look like it had been drawn during an earthquake.
14:10The SNES mouse had that unmistakable early 90s computer look, but very few games were actually built around it, so
14:16it quietly faded into obscurity.
14:18What is surprising is how many titles supported it in some way.
14:22Doom, Jurassic Park, and even Wolfenstein 3D could make use of it.
14:27It was never a major part of the SNES experience, but it was far more versatile than most people remember.
14:32But yeah, it's a pretty standard mouse. It hooks up to your Super Nintendo just like a controller would.
14:41Nintendo E-Reader
14:42Logo there, it was a quite bulky attachment that would go into your Game Boy Advance.
14:50The Nintendo E-Reader was basically Amiibo before Amiibo learned how to look cool.
14:54Instead of tapping a little figure onto your console, you plugged this chunky reader into the Game Boy Advance
14:59and swiped special cards through it like you were paying for groceries.
15:02Those cards could unlock items, levels, or bonuses in games such as Animal Crossing and Super Mario Advance 4.
15:08Some even contained entire NES games themselves, including Donkey Kong and Excitebike, which was pretty wild for a piece of
15:15cardboard.
15:15The idea was clever, but the whole process was also awkward and very early 2000s.
15:20No, actually. It seems that when you start a NES game, it seems to get saved in the Game Boy
15:26Advance's internal memory.
15:27NES Laser Scope.
15:29Personally though, I can't imagine wearing this anywhere you go, but this little piece right here does detach.
15:35Nothing says quiet, immersive gaming, quite like strapping a giant plastic headset to your face and yelling at the telly.
15:41The Konami Laser Scope was designed as an alternative to the NES Zapper, letting players aim simply by turning their
15:47head towards enemies on screen.
15:49That sounds futuristic until you actually picture someone jerking their neck around the room like a confused security camera.
15:54Shooting was even better, because instead of pressing a trigger, you had to shout FIRE into the microphone.
16:00So while the idea promised hands-free convenience, it mostly replaced one small light gun with a bulky helmet,
16:06and an annoying kid screaming FIRE every other second after you've just finished a 10 hour shift.
16:14Fire! Fire! Fire!
16:18See, I missed that first shot because it just wasn't even right.
16:20N64 Video Capture Series.
16:23Mario Artist Paint Studio comes with a mouse which plugs into controller port 2.
16:27Mario Artist Talent Studio comes with a cartridge that allows you to plug in an AV source.
16:32The N64 is often remembered as the console that could not quite do as much as the PlayStation,
16:36which makes its stranger accessories even more surprising.
16:39One of the weirdest was the N64 video capture setup, designed to work with the 64DD and Mario Artist.
16:46With the right equipment, players could record video footage, bring it into the software,
16:50and then edit or manipulate it directly on the console.
16:52It was basically Nintendo trying to turn the N64 into a tiny home video studio.
16:57Look out for the next device which lets you stream straight to Twitch from your N64.
17:02Well, as soon as Twitch is invented.
17:04Naturally.
17:04If you make a mistake, you still have UndoDog to take care of it.
17:08You can now zoom in several steps if you really want to get down to the nitty gritty and I
17:12find this quite helpful.
17:13PokeWalker Pedometer.
17:14PokeWalker.
17:15It's a device made for Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
17:18Long before Pokemon Go had people wandering around parks staring at their phones,
17:22Nintendo had already found a way to turn walking into Pokemon progress.
17:25The PokeWalker came bundled with Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver
17:30and looked like a tiny Tamagotchi strapped to your pocket.
17:33You could transfer a Pokemon onto it, then earn experience and other rewards simply by taking steps in the room.
17:38in the real world.
17:38It was a clever little incentive to actually move around,
17:42which was probably useful for anyone spending six hour sessions grinding battles indoors.
17:46Support was obviously limited to those games, so it never became a massive platform.
17:51Still, the basic idea of mixing Pokemon with real world exercise definitely didn't disappear.
17:55Blue Marcus 4.
17:56But anyway, this is a great cartridge.
17:58It's not real for HeartGold and SoulSilver.
18:00There's a connect button right here.
18:01It's so hard to see though.
18:02Connect to PokeWalker.
18:03That's gotta be the right button.
18:04I mean, what else would it be?
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