The Nintendo 64 (NUS-001, 1996) uses a 12-pin proprietary Multi Out connector as its sole AV output, identical in form and pinout to the connector used on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System — a fact confirmed by the official Nintendo 64 Development Systems Installation Guide. The NUS-001 outputs composite video and S-Video natively; RGB signal traces are present on the motherboard but the required output components were not fitted, so RGB is unavailable without hardware modification. On NTSC consoles pin 3 carries composite sync (CSYNC), whereas PAL N64 consoles do not carry +12 V on pin 3 (unlike PAL SNES and GameCube). The standard included cable provides stereo composite audio/video; an optional S-VHS Cable (Part No. 22425) was available for higher-quality S-Video output.
12 pin SNES A/V male special connector at the SNES
12 pin SNES A/V female special connector at the video cable
| Pin | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | n/c | Not connected |
| 2 | n/c | Not connected |
| 3 | n/c | Not connected |
| 4 | n/c | Not connected |
| 5 | GND | Ground |
| 6 | GND | Ground |
| 7 | Y | S-Video Y |
| 8 | C | S-Video C |
| 9 | CVBS | Composite Video |
| 10 | +5V | +5 VDC |
| 11 | L+R | Left+Right Audio (Mono) |
| 12 | L-R | Left-Right Audio (Used to calculate Stereo) |
Notes
The Multi Out connector on the N64 is physically and electrically interchangeable with SNES Multi Out cables. The console outputs composite video and S-Video on all retail units; RGB output requires third-party hardware modification as Nintendo did not populate the required PCB components. On NTSC N64 consoles pin 3 carries CSYNC; PAL N64 consoles carry no signal on pin 3 (this differs from PAL SNES and GameCube which use pin 3 for +12 V SCART switching). The video encoder chip varies by board revision: early revisions use a separate VDC-NUS and ENC-NUS; later revisions consolidate encoding into a single DENC-NUS, AVDC-NUS, or MAV-NUS chip.
Signals
- n/c — Not connected (pins 1–4 carry no signal on standard retail N64; RGB traces are present on PCB but components were not fitted)
- GND — Ground reference (pins 5 and 6)
- Y — S-Video luma signal (pin 7)
- C — S-Video chroma signal (pin 8)
- CVBS — Composite video (pin 9), 1 Vpp into 75 Ω
- +5V — +5 VDC supply on pin 10
- L+R — Combined left and right audio (mono sum) on pin 11
- L-R — Difference signal used to derive stereo separation on pin 12