N64 clone console incoming!
- Thread starter SubCog
- Start date
Meteor_of_War
New member
In my experience Hyperkin's clone consoles are junk. Usually cheaply priced though when comparing to the higher end clones like the AVS from retroUSB and Analogue's stuff. So I guess there's certainly a place in the market for entry level products.
I wouldn't bother with it personally, but I will at least be keeping an eye on it. I don't currently have a way to play my N64 games in HD.
I wouldn't bother with it personally, but I will at least be keeping an eye on it. I don't currently have a way to play my N64 games in HD.
SubCog
Radeon 8500 64mb
Even if it's junk, at least we're seeing some movement in the n64 space. Somebody will come around with a good n64 option eventually!
Pr3tty F1y
Active member
You can see that it's currently junk. No framebuffer emulation (i.e., the 'TV' screen above the tunnel entrance in Mario Kart 64 is supposed to be what you're currently seeing on screen and it's just displaying garbage).
I do not have high hopes for this. Quite frankly, I believe it will suck.
There really aren't any 'great' N64 emulators even at this point. They're all deficient in some manner or, even if they are more accurate, they're super slow (MAME and CEN64 come to mind).
I do not have high hopes for this. Quite frankly, I believe it will suck.
There really aren't any 'great' N64 emulators even at this point. They're all deficient in some manner or, even if they are more accurate, they're super slow (MAME and CEN64 come to mind).
Meteor_of_War
New member
Oh absolutely. There's tons of decent options available for NES and SNES now, so N64 is next.
The only quality option at the moment is paying up for a real one that's modded with the Ultra HDMI upgrade kit. I'm not a big enough N64 fan to get one though. But i do love my NES top loader with the Hi-def NES mod.
SubCog
Radeon 8500 64mb
Oh absolutely. There's tons of decent options available for NES and SNES now, so N64 is next.
The only quality option at the moment is paying up for a real one that's modded with the Ultra HDMI upgrade kit. I'm not a big enough N64 fan to get one though. But i do love my NES top loader with the Hi-def NES mod.
Gamecube, Wii, and even WiiU seem to be on stronger emulation paths than n64. The n64 scene has been dead for years.
The only thing interesting happening in the n64 space lately is cheat codes: cheat codes that add 60fps, widescreen, etc. are pretty amazing.
Meteor_of_War
New member
Yeah I guess its news to me that N64 emulators aren't that great. I don't really play many N64 games at all, emulation or otherwise. I think PJ64 is the one I have installed and from what I remember it hasn't been all that impressive. Most notably I always seem to have audio issues every time I'd tried to use it.
SubCog
Radeon 8500 64mb
I understand that Project64's compatibility is very good the last several years, but I haven't sat down and really set it up properly in that time. It's definitely less polished than alot of other popular emulators out there.
One problem with the n64 emulation scene is that there's really only about a dozen n64 games that really drive any interest, and most of those have had good compatibility for many years now. So there's just not very much interest in the community in getting involved in helping with development. Also, the Project64 devs refused to open-source the project for several years during the peak years of interest, and by the time they finally did open source it, I think most opensource devs were more interested in contributing to PS2 emulation. I think this was a colossal mistake on the part of the Project64 devs, that has permanently stagnated the n64 scene. Of course there were other n64 emulators, but Project64 was lightyears ahead in terms of compatibility, so it sucked up the lion's share of attention.
Another big part of the problem is just that n64 games were often optimized in janky ways, where devs compensated for system slow-down through artificially speeding up or slowing down gameplay, thus emulating them properly still leads to a sub-par experience. The only way to solve for that is to painstakingly go in and modify the game code, which the community has been doing with reasonable success. I imagine that in a few years you'll be able to "acquire" a set of modded roms that include stable timings, 60fps gameplay, widescreen, and other niceties that will really help the experience. Pair that with good emulation, and it'll be a whole new world for the n64 scene.
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SubCog
Radeon 8500 64mb
Yeah, it'll be interesting someday to see these things packaged up, where you'll have the games running in widescreen HD 60fps glory with texture packs all baked in... at that point they're not really n64 games anymore but something that transcends the platform entirely.
Similarly, I've been seeing videos of PS1 emulation running with PGXP, where they correct the affine texture scaling & wobbly vector calculations, making PS1 games so they look solid (no jello-wobbling). Add texture filtering & widescreen patches (which people are already doing), and once again you end up with something transcendent.
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Elysian
SCAATSJW
That's one thing I like about remakes, even when looking at stuff like Super Mario All Stars. I love playing more or less faithful old games on newer hardware, with all the bells and whistles.
SubCog
Radeon 8500 64mb
Yup. And the n64/ps1 generation desperately needs the bells and whistles!