Exactly one year after the announcement – in keeping with Analogue’s tradition of making big announcements on October 16 – comes news about the price, pre-order and shipping dates for the Analogue 3D, the boutique clone console maker’s Nintendo 64-flavored variant. First, the bad news: While last year’s announcement promised a 2024 release date, fans of Analogue’s products won’t be surprised to hear that it’s landed in the first quarter of 2025. The good news: pre-orders open next week, on October 21 at 8am. PDT, for the reasonable amount of $249.99. That’s the same price as the excellent, but niche, Analogue Duo.
The big reveal, of course, is the design of the console, which is certainly reminiscent of the curves of the Nintendo 64, but not the fun colors. The Analogue 3D is currently available in the usual white and black variants. But less visible is what’s inside, including “the most powerful FPGA Analogue has ever used in a product,” an Altera Cyclone 10GX with 220k logic elements. For those of you keeping track, that’s twice as many logic elements as the MiSTer’s trusty Cyclone V. It has four controller ports on the front of the console for wired controllers, while also supporting both Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) for wireless controllers.
That includes the new (and not included) 8BitDo 64 controller, a “wireless Bluetooth recreation of the original N64 controller with a modern form factor.” That means no weird triple grip, and no separate analog stick. With a Hall Effect sensor in the 8BitDo 64, the N64’s analog drift should not be a problem at all. The $39.99 controller supports D input and S input modes, meaning it not only supports analog 3D, but also the Nintendo Switch, Windows PCs, and Android devices.
Supporting a whole range of controllers is basically everything if you want to create the ultimate Nintendo 64. Analogue claims 100% compatibility with the entire N64 catalog and, based on their track record, they have some credibility in this claim. With much of that catalog supporting local multiplayer, Analogue calls N64 “arguably the best multiplayer gaming system of all time” and says multiplayer is “the heart of the experience.” (Ed. note: for a good N64 multiplayer experience, make sure at least one player has a controller with a broken analog stick).
There’s just as much we don’t know about analog 3D. For example, it comes with “an evolution” of its much-discussed analog operating system, simply called 3DOS. “It’s packed with N64-specific features,” the press release says, also noting that it runs at 4K resolution. However, the single image shared did not reveal what these N64-specific features might be. What the fine print at the bottom of the announcement does say is that “Analogue 3D does not support OpenFPGA,” meaning Analogue 3D won’t inherit the Pocket’s ability to run dozens of additional gaming consoles and arcade cores. 😔
And on that 4K tip, Analogue promises custom CRT filters using the purpose-built 4K upscaler. I know what you’re thinking: CRT filters, really? Who cares! But this is perhaps the most interesting part of the package for me. Anyone who has experienced Analogue’s filters on the Pocket’s high-resolution screen knows how effective that extra resolution can be in simulating the unique properties of a familiar screen.
Analogue says these filters are designed to “capture the warmth, depth and texture” of a CRT, including the “soft glow of phosphor” and of course scan lines and shadow masks. If you’re familiar with what the extremely impressive Retrotink 4K can do with a 240p signal with all that extra resolution, then you’ve probably noticed it already. Especially when you consider the relatively high $750 price of the Retrotink 4K.
And while some people like their retro pixels to be pin-sharp on a 4K screen, only a truly sick person would want to see the N64’s clunky polygons without the (intended!) softening of a CRT. It’s not just about nostalgia, but about faithfully recreating how the technology of a games console and the assets of an individual game were both designed with the expectation of what kind of technology existed on the other side of the analog output. We’ll see how close Analogue gets when the Analogue 3D ships early next year.
