I spent a month with the ModRetro M64 — and I think there’s no better way to play your classic Nintendo 64 games

The ModRetro M64 and Pro controller next to each other on a wooden surface.

This hands-on preview is based on a pre-production M64 unit. Hardware and software are not final.

Let’s start with a confession: I grew up in the 90s playing games on a PS1. Pretty much all of my experiences with the Nintendo 64 were at a friend’s house, watching them bound across the vast and awe-inspiring fields of Hyrule in Ocarina of Time, learning my first painful lesson about the dangers of the blue shell in Mario Kart 64, or starting my love of competitive FPSs with GoldenEye.