Monopoly for N64 - Game Freezing

[HarveyHouston]

My friend and I have a second-hand Nintendo 64, with the Expansion Pak installed. Most games work on it, but Monopoly seems to have an issue as after a long game, and while building houses, the game suddenly freezes. This has happened to us twice, and I would like to know if there's an issue with the N64 or the Game Pak.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I hope it's not the N64. I got it complete as a Christmas gift.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Okay, so I took the cartridge apart, but it seems clean as a whistle. No corrosion, no dust, nothing that should interfere with the game itself. The N64 I have was tested and cleaned before I got it, and as I've already mentioned, several games I've played on it worked completely.

I'm wondering if this is a programming issue, or if I just managed to get a bad copy of the game; one that has been defected since it was originally sold at retail. If anyone else has experienced this problem with this title, I'd love to hear your findings on the matter.

 

[spinal_cord]

Is it a legit 1st party expansion pak, or a cheap knock-off? I remember back in the 90's I had a cheap off-brand pak and occasionally some games just didn't like it. However with an official one, everything was fine.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Is it a legit 1st party expansion pak, or a cheap knock-off?

Had to edit because I misunderstood. It's legit; I compared it to pictures on Wikipedia just to be sure. It also has the Nintendo logo on it.

It looks like this:

 

[M7L7NK7]

The problem is you're playing monopoly.

For real though, I swear I've heard this problem before

 

[HarveyHouston]

I swear I've heard this problem before

Do you know where? Have you or someone else played Monopoly for N64 and run across this issue?

 

[KiiWii]

If the game doesn’t require the expansion pak, try playing with just a jumper pak.

It sounds like possibly bad memory anyway. Perhaps it’s heating up over long games and that is the cause?

Try any other pak you can and test.

 

[HarveyHouston]

If the game doesn’t require the expansion pak, try playing with just a jumper pak.

It sounds like possibly bad memory anyway. Perhaps it’s heating up over long games and that is the cause?

I can try to obtain the Jumper Pak and test it, but I've played other titles for longer periods than I've played Monopoly, including Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, without any issues whatsoever, so I'm fairly certain that it's not the Expansion Pak.

 

[KiiWii]

I can try to obtain the Jumper Pak and test it, but I've played other titles for longer periods than I've played Monopoly, including Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, without any issues whatsoever, so I'm fairly certain that it's not the Expansion Pak.

don’t forget space station Silicon Valley has a bug when the exp pak is used. Perhaps monopoly runs into a similar bug after use.

it’s worth a try.

could just be bad coding in the game though...

 

[HarveyHouston]

I think I figured it out. Anyone else who has this game may want to try this to see if it also freezes.

When every hotel and house in the bank has been bought, the game then freezes. Remedy? Don't buy the last house. Leave it in the bank to the very end. That really stinks, but at least I found out the problem.

Well, one of them, anyway. There was a point in the game where I went to see my assets, and all the on-screen icons were stacked on each other and I could not control anything but pausing the game. I fortunately had saved prior to this, so I just quit, reloaded the save, and tried again. It worked the second time. Go figure.

My recommendation? Save often. Any games lost from screw-ups can usually be recovered this way.