Passport Plus III

Description

The N64 Passport is an adapter cartridge developed and released by EMS for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was designed to bypass the system’s regional lockout, a restriction that prevents games from one region—such as Europe (PAL), North America (NTSC-U), or Japan (NTSC-J)—from being played on systems from another region. For example, without modification, a European (PAL) game cannot be run on a North American or Japanese console.

The N64 Passport works by sitting between the Nintendo 64 system and the game cartridge. To function properly, it requires two cartridges to be inserted: a “boot” cartridge from the same region as the system is plugged into a rear slot, and the imported game cartridge—from a different region—is inserted into the top slot. The boot cartridge is used to authenticate the game with the console, effectively tricking the system into accepting the foreign game.

Over time, EMS released three different versions of the N64 Passport, with the final and most advanced being the N64 Passport Plus III. The “Plus” versions of the Passport include an Action Replay feature, which allows players to input and use custom cheat codes, adding an extra layer of functionality beyond region unlocking.

While the device is capable of allowing many PAL-region games to run on NTSC systems (and vice versa), it is not a perfect solution. Some games feature additional region protection mechanisms that go beyond the standard lockout chip. These titles display messages such as “Sorry, this Game Pak is not intended for use on this system” or similar. Despite these limitations, the N64 Passport was a powerful tool for accessing import titles from different regions.