5 Console Expansion Slots That Barely Did Anything

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comSeptember 14, 2025

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5 Console Expansion Slots That Barely Did Anything

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Consoles manufacturers often have many plans for their equipment on the road, sometimes years in the life cycle of the platform. This is why, when you bought a console for the first time, you may have noticed owner ports that do not have an obvious or explained goal.

If an accessory that uses this port ends up getting out, then the mystery is resolved, but there have been more than a few consoles over the years that display physical ports that have been used for nothing – although you still have to pay them!

5

The Nintendo 64 extension port

Flip on a Nintendo 64, and you will find a large plastic cover hiding which looks like a large slit. It was intended for a complementary magnetic disc module called the 64DD, which only released in Japan and quickly flopped.

So, although there is in fact a device released for this in Japan, everywhere else in the world, the owners of N64 wondered what this lower expansion port was used for.

Curiously, it was not even the first attempt by Nintendo of disc in addition to the carts. Familic’s disk system for Nintendo’s 80 -bit 8 -bit system was in fact a decent success in Japan. Magnetic discs are much cheaper than carts, and they have more storage space. You can even go to a store and have new games written on your records when you have finished it. However, a disk solution for NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in the United States has never taken place.

4

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive EXT-PORT

Original console of Sega Genesis on a white background.

Most of the time, these unused ports are only present on the first models of a console, that is why you could look at your retro console and think: “Where is this port they are talking about?”

It is therefore with the alleged Port Ext on the Sega Genesis. Not only was it found only on Genesis I, it seems that it is not even on all Genesis I systems. It is a 9 -pin port which seems to be a kind of serial port and, according to some fans of Reddit, it is essentially a port of controller with a female socket instead of a man. Again, there were exclusive accessories in Japan such as the Mega MoDem.

In the rest of the world, it is an unused port that a small percentage of the first consoles of Genesis A. Unfortunately, I could not find a photo of the Ext port with a license that allows me to publish it here, but there is a guide of the AV MOD which clearly shows you what it looks like.

3

PlayStation 2 expansion bay

The PS2 expansion bay is visible at the back of the console.

I had a little embossing if it were necessary to include this on the list, because the expansion bay on the original; PlayStation 2 “phat” consoles are not technically unused and had accessories that you could buy outside Japan.

The original PS2 with the adjusted hard drive network and adapter.

The fact is that this bay had a very limited level of functionality. You can install an official upgrade of the hard drive and the network adapter, which was a requirement for Final Fantasy XIthe only version of North American PS2 which must Have the hard drive upgrade to work. Since it is an MMORPG and is based on updates and online fixes.

However, beyond, there was a tiny handle of games that could enjoy the hard drive, like sports games that could save reruns, or games like Episode 1 Xenosaga, which can apparently install certain files on the reader to improve loading times compared to reading purely out of the disk. At least, that’s what the Wikipedia article says, but I can’t find another source that confirms it.

Anyway, this port of expansion had so much potential, but ended up being used for little or nothing. The latest PS2 Slim models completely abandoned the bay, but included an ethernet connection for online game in the package. So, clearly nobody argued with the hard drive.

Ironically, today’s modders can use this bay to install game disk images and play them using personalized firmware, which makes PS2 PS2 consoles quite sought after on the retro market.

2

Gamecube series ports (which have not been nowhere)

A GameCube Blue Nintendo on an orange background.

The gamecube does not have one, but two serial ports on its underwear, plus a “Hi speed” port. Nintendo had ambitions for large -band adapters, modems and even development equipment, but apart from the game player and some niche peripherals, these ports were fundamentally decorative.

A screenshot of the lower port of the gamecube of the console manual.

As later GameCube revisions were dispatched, some of the ports were literally deleted.

1

The mysterious mysterious port of PlayStation Vita

The mystery port above the open and visible PS Vita.

In fact, I noticed this one immediately on my launch of Vita Oled (which I still use to date) and from the start, there was practically no information. Sony never explained what it was for, but we hypothesized that it was for everything, from video to debugging equipment. Sony finally admitted that it was reserved for “future accessories”, but no accessory of this type had come. Later, the Vita models completely dropped it, cementing it as one of the most useless ports in the history of the pocket computer.

Modders Vita did not understand it either, it seems, and I would really like to know, since time and efforts have gone there, and the PSP before had a lot of interesting peripherals. The fact is that the Vita already had almost everything you could think of, so it would be really interesting to know what more could have been stuffed in the last real Sony stove.