N64 mini pix leaked

[Gamer Guy]

discuss....

real or fake? thoughts on games? (rare and nintendo are still on rough terms)

[Matt_B]

Given some of the highly sophisticated fakes we saw in the run up to the Switch launch, I'd be inclined to wait until Nintendo make it official.

In terms of games, I'd think that you could take the list of 21 that appeared on the Virtual Console for the Wii U as a starting point. There were a few others unique to the VC on the Wii that might be worked in there as well, although I'd expect the total number not to exceed that of the SNES Classic. Rare's input would obviously be great, as they've got around half a dozen games that I'd expect to be in most people's top 20s, but Microsoft would needed to be persuaded that the project wouldn't be against their strategic interests; that's still perhaps a bit of a tough ask even for a retro console that they've got no direct competitor to.

[The Laird]

are and nintendo are still on rough terms

You could say that, given they are owned by Microsoft, one of Nintendo's biggest rivals

[Matt_B]

Nintendo Life weren't very impressed by it and came up with a lot of good reasons why it's probably a fake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W3uwLIHZ98&t=436s

That said, even they think that there's probably one in the works; these pictures are just very unlikely to be the real deal.

[gunbladelad]

Sadly, it won't be complete without Goldeneye & Perfect Dark in my opinion - but I'm sure everyone remembers the problems that were raised with the various attempts to bring Goldeneye out on the various virtual console style shops. There would need to be all-new agreements put into place as I'm sure it's a different games publisher now that has the James Bond rights, not to mention Eon, MGM, Nintendo, Rareware, Microsoft - and whoever else is involved in the franchise.

[outdated_gamer]

Wonder how the emulation will be like, the original N64 graphics look and run horrible nowadays.

I'd say some HD upscale to 1080p or even 4K with some optional HD textures would be at hand, as would fps caps at 30/60 fps.

As for games, yeah, no Rareware will be a blow, but they could still include DK64 and DKR as they're Nintendo's properties.

I think Mario 64, Zelda (likely both, Ocarina and Majora), Kirby 64, Wave Race 64, F-Zero X and maybe Turok are a given though.

[kiwimike]

Interesting....though I tend not to believe anything nowadays, until it is black and white official.

That said, the N64 mini is a tough one- most would be devastated if Rare games were not included, and it's hard to see how they could be. There's some great games on N64, and assuming Rare games are off the table, the immediate ones that come to mind are Super Mario 64, a few Marios like Tennis/Golf/Kart/Party, the top Zeldas, the hat trick of Racers 1080/Waverace/Excitebike, F Zero, Pilot wings...Perhaps Tetrisphere....

[Matt_B]

I wouldn't be too worried about the emulation. Nintendo have already shown they can get good quality N64 emulators running on the Wii and Wii U and, with neither machine having a particular strong CPU, it seems a given that they could offer something comparable running on a cheap ARM SoC.

I don't think 1080p/4K output would be strictly necessary. Most games only run at 320x240 or thereabouts and even when they do offer high-resolution modes it's generally still a fair bit less than 480i so scaling to above 720p doesn't really seem necessary, at least for an affordably priced device. Adding high resolution textures would be a nice idea, but that's potentially a lot of work especially if it's to be done in-house. There are community-made ones already, of course, but they're not Nintendo's property, are of variable quality, and not necessarily going to work out of the box with Nintendo's emulator.

[ALK]

Well, they've had an extra year to work on it by skipping this year for releasing a Mini (Much too late to announce anything for the upcoming holidays now) and since they put some good effort in the NES+SNES Minis emulation as well as the Switch's NES Emulation, I'd like to think they'll put the effort in the N64 as well.

[silvergunner]

Having previously owned a import N64. If this does ever see the light of day I hope it runs in 60hz. The 50hz none RGB euro console was shocking.

[Matt_B]

Having previously owned a import N64. If this does ever see the light of day I hope it runs in 60hz. The 50hz none RGB euro console was shocking.

Going by the NES and SNES Classics, I'd think it a given that it'll output at 60Hz via HDMI with scaling to at least 720p.

[silvergunner]

Having previously owned a import N64. If this does ever see the light of day I hope it runs in 60hz. The 50hz none RGB euro console was shocking.

Going by the NES and SNES Classics, I'd think it a given that it'll output at 60Hz via HDMI with scaling to at least 720p.

Let’s hope so. I would certainly be interested if they could get a nice balance of games on it. Time will tell.

[pratty]

Sadly, it won't be complete without Goldeneye & Perfect Dark in my opinion.

Would they even play that well? Goldeneye is pretty rough to play these days, or is that just down to the original hardware?

[paranoid marvin]

Be very surprised if it's genuine. Mini GB for next year, then N64 year after that. Nintendo don't need to pay a third party publisher that they have no affiliation with to put any of their games on it. Half a dozen Rare titles (probably Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Blast Corps, Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force and Donkey Kong) and a dozen or so Nintendo titles (probably Mario 64, Mario Kart, Zelda and Majora, Mario Tennis, Super Smash Brothers, Star Fox, Wave Race, Pilotwings, Yoshis Story, Excitebike, Kirby, 1080 degrees and F Zero) will be more than enough to see it fly off the shelves, probably at a slighty inflated price of maybe £100.

What will be interesting is if they make it online multi-player - this really needs to happen .

[outdated_gamer]

Sadly, it won't be complete without Goldeneye & Perfect Dark in my opinion.

Would they even play that well? Goldeneye is pretty rough to play these days, or is that just down to the original hardware?

Perfect Dark got a "HD remaster" on Xbox 360 (also included in Rare Collection for XBO) and it looked and ran significantly better than the N64 original so this would be a "yes" (GoldenEye remaster was also in the works but was scrapped due to licensing issues).

It has to be said that while N64 was technically the strongest 5th gen console, it also had some serious hardware and software design shortcommings which I believe was SGI's decisions to make it cost-effective.

N64's "bigger brother" a.k.a. a SGI workstation didn't have nearly as many limitations but it also costed a fortune.

Nintendo don't need to pay a third party publisher that they have no affiliation with to put any of their games on it. Half a dozen Rare titles (probably Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Blast Corps, Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force and Donkey Kong) and a dozen or so Nintendo titles (probably Mario 64, Mario Kart, Zelda and Majora, Mario Tennis, Super Smash Brothers, Star Fox, Wave Race, Pilotwings, Yoshis Story, Excitebike, Kirby, 1080 degrees and F Zero) will be more than enough to see it fly off the shelves, probably at a slighty inflated price of maybe £100.

Rare is owned my Microsoft so Rare owned IPs are Microsoft owned IPs, meaning Perfect Dark, Banjo, Jet Force, Killer Instinct and Blast Corps won't make an appearance on it unless Nintendo would make a deal with MS.

The only Rare developed games on the N64 which are owned by Nintendo are Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing since they are using Nintendo's properties.