M64 price: ModRetro's Nintendo 64 console emulator is cheaper than Analogue 3D
M64 will cost $199.99, the same price as the original N64. ModRetro founder Palmer Luckey says 'Inflation isn't nostalgic,' and rival Analogue 3D prices its retro console at $250
🎮 The long-awaited M64 N64 emulator console from ModRetro has a price
💰 Early bird pricing is $199.99, revealed ModRetro founder Palmer Luckey
📆 “No peeking until Christmas,” says a video teaser showing an N64-style console and cartridge in gift wrapping
🆚 The $250 Analogue 3D, the M64’s chief N64 emulation rival, will finally ship in August, after numerous delays
Back in 1996, my parents bought me a Nintendo 64 for Christmas, and I loved it. Within that first year, I got to play Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, GoldenEye 007, and so much more. The original N64 console retailed for $199.99.
As a throwback to that classic era, almost 30 years later, ModRetro founder Palmer Luckey is launching the long-awaited M64, an N64 retro console, for $199.99. That’s actually quite a steal considering inflation would put the price at nearly $500. As an adult, I can afford this one.
The most authentic way to play N64 games
Luckey called the M64 “the best and most authentic way to play your favorite N64 games, bar none” on X and followed up by saying, “This is real gameplay on real hardware using our real core,” tagging AMD in the post.
This news comes hot on the heels of the permanent restock of ModRetro’s viral Chromatic handheld that plays pixel-perfect Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (check out our ModRetro Chromatic review to see why we loved it). On X, Luckey posted a video that teases the M64, showing someone sitting on a sofa with a trident-shaped N64 controller in hand, playing Mario Kart 64 on a CRT TV.
To the right of the TV is a wrapped gift, accompanied by a note that reads, “No peeking until Christmas!” As the video progresses, the gift is unwrapped, but it cuts away before we can see what’s underneath, and segues to the M64 logo.
We don’t get to see the M64 console in full, but it’s real and it’s coming, according to Luckey.
“This is real gameplay on real hardware using our real core. The most efficient and accurate reimplementation of the original by far,” Luckey said on X. “We show off the final design and launch preorders for hardware, new titles, and re-released classics pending final legal checks.”
Early bird $199 price matches the original N64 price
There’s another teaser video that reveals the price along with icons for an N64 controller, console, and cartridge at the bottom. The price rolls back from $299.99 to $249.99 to $199.99 with the footnote that says this is “early bird pricing.”
$199.99 matches the original Nintendo 64 price back in 1996, although this is the early bird pricing. It could be more if you wait (the price starts at $299.99 in the video before it rolls back to $199.99). Fun fact: Nintendo initially planned to launch the N64 at $249.99, but dropped the price to $199.99 just before its launch.
The colors, Duke. The colors!
It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw multiple M64 colors, with the video's phrasing suggesting, “Black and White is Boring,” followed by a prompt to join the M64 waitlist. Chromatic, the Game Boy throwback from ModRetro, comes in eight colors, including the new Cloud color. But this information hasn’t been confirmed yet. That’s just me reading between the 240p scan lines.
Beyond this cryptic teaser video, we don't know anything about the M64 in terms of hardware, features, or even what the console itself looks like. The “No peeking until Christmas!” notice may signify that the console could be ready for release this holiday season, although that is just a guess.
What to expect from the M64 console
Palmer Luckey had previously teased the M64 in March this year in a previous X post with the silhouette of an N64 controller, and all had gone quiet until tonight’s price reveal.
In a reply to one of my posts about 4K upscaling (which rival Analogue 3D can do), Luckey said, “Upscale is the wrong word for what we are doing IMO, but yes. Lots of colors.”
He answered the other questions I posed about…
The non-early-bird price
“Too early to lock in the long-term price.”)
N64 controller compatibility
Natively compatible with OG controllers, but we have an incredible M64 controller that is a huge step up and still authentic
And, this response from Palmer Luckey, I assume, is to my “Should I cancel my Analogue 3D pre-order?” question.
This is the best there is.
Or, it could just be a random statement hyping the M64 console. Sure.
It has been speculated that the M64 is likely to be an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) system relying on hardware-based emulation rather than software. The system also may feature a metal shell with open-source firmware. The formula worked so well for ModRetro with the Chromatic, so it makes sense to stick with it. There is also the hope for native HDMI support, so folks don't have to go to external adapters.
What about Analogue 3D?
The competing Analogue 3D console had previously been delayed to June 2025, and it appears that the delay has been further extended. A subsequent announcement on their website cites "sudden tariff changes" at the start of July, which will push back shipments to late August.
That console promises 4K output for N64 games, as well as working with original cartridges, and supports wired and Bluetooth controllers. That's priced at $249.99 for the console, a pre-installed 16GB SD card, HDMI and USB cables, and a power supply.
If you'd rather play N64 titles on an existing console rather than a dedicated one, then Nintendo, of course, brought N64 games to its Switch Online + Expansion Pack service in October 2021, and has recently added “mature' N64 games,” including Perfect Dark and Turok Dinosaur Hunter, to the service.
Matt Swider is the Editor-in-Chief of The Shortcut, the #1 consumer tech publication on Substack. Matt, a trusted technology expert with over 25 years of journalism experience and the former US Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar, can be found on social media through X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.