News Nintendo 64 gets a 4K VRR-enabled revival in the form of the Analogue 3D — an emulation-less new FGPA console that can play every N64 game ever made

[Admin]

Analogue of Analogue Pocket fame released another FGPA-based emulation-free game console, now based on the Nintendo 64.

Nintendo 64 gets a 4K VRR-enabled revival in the form of the Analogue 3D — an emulation-less new FGPA console that can play every N64 game ever made : Read more

 

[Giroro]

FPGA is a Field Programmable Gate Array.

 

[thestryker]

I think the scaler is what makes a product like this. It seems like a great device for those who want a more true retro experience using cartridges.

 

[Sluggotg]

I own most of Analogue's products. The thing that really impresses is the HDMI output with zero lag. Using FPGA allows that to happen. With basically 100% compatibility we can play all the original carts.

Analogue has made FPGA based retro consoles for: The NES, The SNES, The Genesis, The Turbo Graphics and their "Pocket" hand held system supports most of the handhelds from back in the day. (They have adapters for the various handhelds).

Yes, I will preorder a few next Monday.

 

[g-unit1111]

Man, Nintendo needs to license this ASAP. I'd love to be able to play some of the games in my collection that aren't on Switch again.

 

[gustopher238]

Analogue's marketing is extremely misleading. The Analogue3D is absolutely not "emulation-free". The only way it would not be emulation is if they were using an original N64 chipset.

FPGA emulation is still emulation. This misconception crops up all the time with the MiSTer project as well. Most of MiSTer's cores are direct ports of MAME and other software emulators. The best FPGA cores are simply "cycle-accurate", something that countless software emulators also achieve with far greater timing precision. Zero FPGA cores are "transistor-accurate". Ironically, there are "transistor-accurate" software emulators that are far more accurate than any FPGA emulator ever will be, such as GateBoy and MetalNES.

There are advantages to running emulators on FPGA, like reduced latency! But FPGA emulators are not inherently accurate, any more than software emulators are inherently inaccurate.

The amount of misinformation online about this stuff is astonishing, and Analogue's deceptive marketing is only making it worse. FPGA emulation has tons of benefits! Tout those legitimate benefits instead of making stuff up!