Analogue 3D Console Begins Shipping, Provides Fresh Take on N64 Glory, Complete with 4K Upscaling

Analogue 3D shipments have finally begun, and Tito of Macho Nacho Productions has already received a review unit. His early peek at this FPGA replica of the Nintendo 64 reveals a device for all those old cartridges in your cupboard. For $250, it will dust them up and project them onto your 4K screen, complete with enhancements that honor the past without changing history.

Preorders began last fall, but delays accumulated like unplayed games on a shelf. Originally scheduled for early this year, then summer, the distribution now begins with early backers receiving their boxes by December 1. Both black and white finishes sold out quickly on Analogue’s website, indicating a high desire for gear that plays your originals flawlessly. Tito opens his shipment to discover a strong inner box containing the console, a power brick that works globally, an HDMI cable with the Analogue stamp, a USB-C charging wire, and two felt pads for cleaning cartridge connections. No controllers are included, but his review device does come with four 8BitDo wireless ones, each in its own sleeve with a quick-start guide.

Size matters here, because the Analogue 3D reduces the original’s footprint while maintaining its shape. Shorter and leaner, it fits on your shelf with a matte black finish that gathers up fingerprints but wipes them away with a towel. Four ports shine with LEDs on the front for both old and new controllers. Insert a cartridge through the top slot, and dust flaps keep things clean within. Around the rear, a full-size SD card sits flush, surrounded by two USB-A ports for updates or charging, HDMI for sharp output, and USB-C for power. On boot, a quiet fan hums to life, drawing air via side vents to keep the FPGA cool throughout extended gameplay. Tito removes the rubber base to peep inside, where he discovers a large heat sink clamped over the Intel Cyclone 10 GX CPU, which has twice the logic of configurations like the MiSTer. Screws and ribbons hold everything together, resulting in a heavier-than-expected structure that stays put on any surface.

When you boot it up, the 3D operating system greets you with a friendly tutorial. First things first, connect the 8bitdo pads. Flip the switch and hold down the button; the console’s LED lights up in rhythm with you, and before you know it, you’ve linked up to four without any problems. Are those the original N64 controllers? Simply put them in and you’re ready to go; no complicated setup required. After a license check and a fast firmware update, you’ll be sent to the home screen, where your installed games are displayed with fancy icons, box art, player counts, and release dates. If you have retail boxes, you’ll note that the preloaded art is gone, so you’ll have to find some scans to fill in the blanks, but the good news is that the system will count all the hours you spend playing your favorite games once you get started. The menus are rather straightforward; simply use the C-buttons to browse, and they are divided into library views and tweak panels that remember all of your game-specific settings. And the wait? Boot times have been extended to 20 seconds, giving you plenty of time to get a drink and relax in before your game begins, looking just the same as before.

Cartridges are where it’s at with this Analogue 3D, and the machine happily accepts any of the 387 N64 titles, regardless of region. Tito whips in Super Mario 64, and before you know it, Mario is prancing around in 4K magnificence, all fuzzy edges melting away. The same is true for Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where Link looks fantastic in full 32-bit color, with none of the dithered haze that plagued older platforms. Of course, dirty contacts may be an issue at times, but the pads included in the box quickly resolve this, making those troublesome skips smooth. And homebrew games like Xeno Crisis are fantastic; the slot easily handles both new code and old classics. There is one problem, though: if you have one of those flash carts like the Everdrive, the console will blank out. That’s by design, of course, but it does mean that if your entire collection is on SD backups, you won’t be able to access it through this console… at least not yet.

But don’t worry, there are updates on the way, including deblur, which removes the N64’s built-in softener and leaves crisp, clear lines on maps and in menus. Then there’s anti-aliasing, which does an excellent job of smoothing down those sharp edges in high contrast scenes, such as the blades of grass in Mario’s backyard. And if you want to go all out vintage, you can use some of the filters; BVM gives you a wonderful old-style scanline appearance, while CRT softens the edges with a warm glow. You can scale up or down to find the right fit for your television, or stretch it out to fill the frame without distorting the image. And variable refresh rates eliminate stutters in frame-heavy situations, while HDR boosts the colors, making even games like Perfect Dark appear like a million bucks, with gorgeously illuminated corridors and no overcooked shadows.