I’m still very curious what consumer segment ends up picking this up. It’s $250, and I would assume you can just get an actually N64 for like $30, no?
A quick search on EBay shows some results for $100. That’s also relying on the console to be in decent shape besides being heavily used, and you have to deal with getting a video adapter, which is like $20 for a cheap one or $100 for one with fancy features that makes it look nicer.
$250 for a brand new product supporting modern features like HDMI, USB, and Bluetooth sounds reasonable. It’s got a built-in video filter system like the fancier adapters, and if it’s anything like their previous products,
it will have support for mimicking other consoles of similar compute power (the original PlayStation 1 potentially?)I checked and their website says it won’t support this feature. However, it does mention it has support for the Expansion Pack, which is another ~$70 although it’s only needed for a handful of games.Their previous products have sold quite well, so there’s that.
I got a used, working N64 maybe 11 years ago, and I had to pay $40. Maybe you can get it for less, but I sincerely doubt it. The decent, working ones only tend to become more rare with time, and what was $40 11 years ago…certainly…isn’t the same as $40 today. 🙄🙄🙄🙄
My friend went to a nerd convention & IIRC there were people selling “reconditioned” N64s for $130, more for exotic & limited edition colors. While expensive I think this is actually the way to go, because the nerds take them apart & give them a great cleaning, to where they’re basically like new! My friend bought one for his kids.
Then for a little more money, there’s new tech in this one. Crazy upscaling, modern connections, fixes to old problems in the original console. I have such fond memories of the N64, but I also remember sometimes when it was trying to render some very intense Super Smash Bros scenes it would struggle & lag out for a while. This should be fixed. 10x the resolution, but in keeping with the spirit of N64! And with the original N64, you have to find, buy hokey low-storage memory cards & such. This one has a microSD expansion port & modern 8BitDo Bluetooth controllers, ALL the bells & whistles.
…so… this appeals to millennials who want to experience their childhood on crack, just the best of what is old rendered & reimagined on snappy modern tech by people who care so much about retro gaming. To get together with their friends. To share with their children. Idk I think it has more than a little appeal, to the right person!
The lag of some games will be reproduced faithfully on this, intentionally. It’s functionally an n64 clone that can upscale.
Depends but a nice condition N64 with the cables and expansion pak is probably about $100 without a controller. If you plan on connecting it to a modern TV, you need a decent scaler that can do Svideo/composite, so another $60 for the RAD2X. You even can complicate it more by throwing in cheaper RGB mods if you have a compatible system but that adds probably around $60 if you can’t do it yourself.
Their price point is very competitive, especially considering its plug and play.
