I love Techno and N64

The I love Techno Value Pak is one of the most unique Nintendo 64 Box Variations ever. It was only released in Belgium for one specific occasion. But why was it made and what is so special about it?

The first thing that catches the eye is the sheer size of it. To put it straight: It is massive! Here you can see it aligned with the already huge USA Atomic Purple Edition, an Asian console and an European one.

Furthermore, it is made out of thick, strong cardboard and is one of the only EU consoles that open from the top. Oh and in case you didnt know. It has a window!

So Why did it exist?

Well in the early days back in 1997 before Club Nintendo saw the light of day every region had a different department responsible for promotion and marketing. Later Club Nintendo took over this role region wide in USA, Japan and Europe (Australia also?). The department in Belgium was called Expert World Club and also handled some promotions in the Netherlands. You can see their logo on the back of the box.

So far for the background but now to the exiting stuff. Since 1995 there is a reoccurring festival in Belgium called I love Techno It is actually still held annually to this day. (Next event is on 16.12.17 - Buy Tickets here) In 1999 Nintendo (Expert World Club) and the organizers of the festival must have made a deal to use this console as a promotion for the festival but surely also use the festival as a promotion for the N64 console in Belgium.

According to our research the festival in 1999 was held in a location that could fit a maximum of 5000 people. Not all of them were Belgian and surely not everyone bought an N64 to go there. So as far as we can judge this is one of the rarest N64 Variations out there.

Interesting Fact is that most I love Techno Value Paks we find today are in terrible condition or incomplete. Most of them have massive tears and dents. This could be a hint that people could actually obtain them locally and took them to the party (festival tents), where they got wrecked. Finding one in good condition is almost impossible. It is also imaginable that you could mail order them before the festival also. Keep in mind there was no internet, so selling them in stores or at the event actually made a lot of sense.

So lets get to the content and here things become a little odd. In the picture of the manual you can see what is inside along with a lot of ads for other games.

- Nintendo 64 Console (It actually came in a separate Dutch/French retail N64 box)

- 1 Controller (It has been confirmed that there was a second boxed controller in every pack

- 2 games: Super Mario 64 and F1 World Grand Prix

- The actual entry ticket for the festival

- A I love Techno T-Shirt

- A CD of I love Techno 7 from 1999

Ours is missing almost everything but the console and the manual. Therefore, the console is brand new. No Games, no extra controller, no nothing.

Now for the weird part

You think this content is strange for an N64 console? Well it gets even stranger. You did not even get everything mentioned above in the box. The reason is quite simple the CD is a compilation of the festival traditionally mixed by a famous DJ (probably one that attended) during the event. So you had to go to a special CD sales stand on the last day of the festival to pick it up. Or send in a form that is referred to as voucher that was on the manual. Yes that right, cut out the manual and fill in the voucher and send it in to Expert World Club to receive your CD. It even says on the manual that people that bought the pack after the 1^st of May 1999 have to send it in to obtain the CD, so some may have been sold afterwards. Here is a look at the voucher.

Now the best part. The address was not enough! You had to fill out a survey about current Nintendo 64 titles and rank them from 1-5 stars. That was Nintendos strategy back in the day to figure out how popular games were in Belgium. This was most likely their part f the gain in this deal, additional to the console promo itself. It almost seems laughable but that is how it was done.

To this day we were never able to spot a single I love Techno 7 CD so we have to assume it was never released and none of these manual voucher surveys were ever replied to. Heck maybe not even a 100 of these got sold who knows.

So this was the story of the I love Techno Value Pak I hope you enjoyed it