View source for DexDrive

{{Short description|Personal computer peripheral}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox computer hardware
| name        = DexDrive
| image       = dexdrive.jpg
| caption     = DexDrive for PlayStation
| invent-date = {{Start date and age|1996}}
| invent-name = [[InterAct]]
| conn1       = [[Motherboard]]
| conn2       = [[I/O card]]
| via1_1      = [[serial port]]
| via2_1      = [[serial port]]
}}

'''DexDrive''' is a discontinued line of [[home video game console]] [[memory card]] readers released in 1998, allowing [[saved game]] data transfer to a [[personal computer]]. It was made by now-defunct [[GameShark#Brand history|InterAct]] for use with [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] and [[Nintendo 64]] memory cards.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilcott|first=Aaron|date=2014-05-07|title=Everything and More About the DexDrive|url=http://micro-64.com/features/dexdrive.shtml|access-date=2022-01-25|website=Micro-64}}</ref> The company hosted a curated website to facilitate online sharing of saved game data.

==Overview==
[[File:Dexplorer screenshot.jpg|thumb|DexPlorer 1.0]]
The DexDrive is a personal computer peripheral to exchange [[saved game]] data from the memory cards of [[video game console]]s. The two DexDrive models are for either PlayStation or Nintendo 64 memory cards, and each model retailed in 1998 for {{US$|39.95|1998|about=yes|round=-1}}. That was about the cost of two memory cards, each with capacity far less than a [[floppy disk]], so a PC's hard drive is much more cost effective for mass storage. As PC files, game data can be shared over the [[Internet]] or be used with [[video game console emulator|console emulators]].

The DexDrive connects to the PC via serial port and the DexPlorer driver application for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]. 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.<ref name="CMDexDrive"/>

==Reception==
[[File:N64dexdrive.jpg|thumb|DexDrive for Nintendo 64]]
''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."<ref name="CMDexDrive">{{cite magazine | magazine=Core Magazine | title=DexDrive | first=Jason | last=D'Aprile | url=http://www.coremagazine.com/features/2.php3 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991018180814/http://www.coremagazine.com/features/2.php3 | archive-date=October 18, 1999 | access-date=September 25, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[MaxDrive]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061108051128/http://www.neillcorlett.com/dexter/ Download user-created Dexter software]
* [http://moberg-dybdal.dk/psxge/ Download PSX Game Save Editor an all-in-one tool for Game Saves] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224101013/http://moberg-dybdal.dk/psxge/ |date=2020-12-24 }}
* [http://www.treiberupdate.de/treiber-download/download-160455-treiber-SpeedLink-SV388DexDriveN64.html N64 Drivers from a German site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224735/http://www.treiberupdate.de/treiber-download/download-160455-treiber-SpeedLink-SV388DexDriveN64.html |date=2016-03-03 }} Windows XP or lower

{{Nintendo 64}}
{{PlayStation (console)}}

[[Category:Nintendo 64 accessories]]
[[Category:PlayStation (console) accessories]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1997]]