u/Lazy-Plankton3879

Back again after a few days with a more thorough review of the M64.

I saw mixed reviews now that more people have received their M64 and some are comparing it to the release of the Chromatic. I got my Chromatic late in the game so they probably had worked out all the kinks by the time I purchased mine, so I can't speculate on that. I also won't speculate on Influencer opinions and comparisons to the Analogue 3D (performance or otherwise, as I will be purchasing a 3D to do that more in-depth later).

One thing I will agree with, that I've seen, is that this launch wasn't without hiccups for sure. I am sure MR will work things out quickly, but this feels like it was released to get it out to people first and smooth out the wrinkles later. Plenty of systems can stumble at launch and while this is based of existing tech, it isn't an exact N64 clone, so I do expect some issues and features to not be immediately available.

What I didn't like was the Memory Pak not being supported on the "Launch" titles. Buck Bumble desperately needs the save feature. It cannot be easily beat in one sitting for a casual gamer. I have gotten pretty far, took a cheap death and had to start over, more than a few times. That can be frustrating for anyone, I feel. Also the haze and colors for certain games can make them a little more difficult than usual. I feel like shooting for authenticity is fine, but we live in a modern era and I should be able to enable visual enhancements that actually, enhance the visuals. Sniping on Goldeneye alone has caused me to question my sanity many times in the last 24/36 hours (I live in Honolulu and luckily just got rained out so that gave me plenty of time to die repeatedly on The Dam level)

I have no issues with anything else, to be honest. I remember my eyes not always being great when it came to N64 games (Turok specifically) but I would like to not have to rely on my display to make the colors brighter or adjust contrast, etc. because not all displays are created equally. The system should be able to have some QOL features visually, and adjusting resolution just isn't enough in this age, IMHO. Gameplay is fine and really quite like I remember over the years and compares solidly to ROMs I played of the games I couldn't play as a kid/teen.

This is after spending the last 36 hours of consistent gaming so this is a more gaming based review than my last one, which more focused on my day 1 experience and playing for maybe 3 or 4 hours that whole day. I still think this is a great retro system and I enjoy the personality of the M64 (UI, design language ,etc.).

If you want a polished experience, maybe wait a few weeks. I think by then all the issues that me and others have had, will be non-existent and more comparable to purchasing a Chromatic, today.

After a few days of solid gaming, with a comfortable controller and some fun games, I would say my experience is about 8.5/9 out of 10, leaning closer to a 9.

Still a damn fine job ModRetro, damn fine.

I just wanted to leave a quick review from the perspective of a former hardcore gamer. I game maybe 10 hours a week if that, maybe less, so this might be helpful for all the older guys who are thinking of picking this up and reliving those sweet 64-bit glory days

The System itself is absolutely gorgeous. The Chromatic is a beautiful system but they outdid themselves with this one. I'll do a review of the Pro Controller in a few days. I could write a 15 page essay on the design cues alone. The Cartridge backlight is a beautiful aesthetic touch. It accentuates the colored cartridges and adds character to the grey ones. The cartridge eject button is stiff (doesn't feel "squishy") and will launch the game out if you're not ready. This is actually good because it should hold up after years of repeated use, since this is an indicator the springs inside are strong.

Gaming is definitely a changeup...the graphics and colors/lighting take some getting used to since we live in the ultra-HD era, but you will be fine.

I love returning to the difficulty built into the lack of information for games. I played alot of Nintendo games and ports so I knew what to expect from the games as far as gameplay or the tutorials were intuitive. However, Goldeneye and Buck Bumble were genuinely challenging. I had to go to the manual for Buck Bumble and it has JUST enough info to help you but nothing more. If you never experienced N64 games and this is your first foray, do some due diligence like reading the manual or watching a quick play through. Goldeneye is more of getting used to FPS with one analog stick. I used to play Turok (god knows how) pretty effectively but man i felt like a puppy with roller skates playing Goldeneye with the 8BitDo 64 controller. The trident controller would probably be beneficial for any games like this.

Overall, this console is great for anyone looking to get into N64 gaming or any of the oldheads here looking for a strong nostalgia fix. The console design absolutely dumps on analogue's offering (Sorry the N64 is supposed to be quirky not streamlined, in appearance). It replicates OG hardware faithfully, and is a ton of fun for a fair price considering how beautiful the menu, packaging, hardware and everything else included, are.

10/10 ModRetro

*edit for typos/grammar