DexDrive

DexDrive is a line of home video game console memory card readers released in 1998, allowing data transfer to a PC for backups and online sharing. It was made by now-defunct InterAct for use with PlayStation and Nintendo 64 memory cards.[1] The company hosted a curated website to facilitate online sharing of saved game data.

DexDrive
DexDrive for PlayStation
Date invented1996 (1996)
Invented byInterAct
Connects toMotherboard via:

I/O card via:

Overview
DexDrive for Nintendo 64
DexPlorer 1.0

The DexDrive allows a personal computer to perform backups and online sharing of saved game data from video game consoles. Its capacity is only 128 KB, far less than even a floppy disk. It retailed for US$39.95 (equivalent to about $70 in 2022) so for the cost of two memory cards, it transfers saved game files between the memory cards and the PC. As PC files, game data can be shared over the Internet or be used with console emulators.

DexDrive connects to the PC via serial port and the DexPlorer Windows driver application. Interact developed a way to use the Game Shark to share save data for Nintendo 64 games that use cartridge-based storage instead of memory cards. A USB version was reportedly in development.[2]

Reception

Core Magazine said the serial port is slow but hardware and software installation is simple. DexChange.net was curated by Interact employees who supply files for games that users have not, and new games were covered quickly, yielding "more saves available that you could ever want". The magazine summarized: "All in all, the DexDrive is a splendid idea, and worth its $39.95 retail price (which is, as Interact points out, the cost of a typical multi-page memory card). The DexDrive may wind up being one of the most novel gaming peripherals since the Analog controller."[2]

See also

References
  1. Wilcott, Aaron (2014-05-07). "Everything and More About the DexDrive". Micro-64. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  2. D'Aprile, Jason. "DexDrive". Core Magazine. Archived from the original on October 18, 1999. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
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