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Devon's Ultimate N64 Page


As I'm a big fan of the N64, I've decided to document all of the travelling knowledge as I built my own systems. In other words, it's an ultimate-to-me page, but maybe someone will find it helpful as well because a lot of this tends to be all over the place.



Software

Just with those four projects alone, it expands the N64's capability far beyond its original library. Someone might say "well what's the point", for me it's convenient because now I can just keep ONE console and have it do everything (GB, GBC, NES, SNES, N64...).



Hardware Options

Old Solutions (Not Recommended)

  • RetroTINK 2X-Pro
    • https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/retrotink-2x-pro
      • Second best option if you don't want an HDMI option, make sure you use a genuine Nintendo S-Video cable. 3rd party ones appear to have artifacts no matter how 'high quality' they tout themselves, as it appears to be a design flaw and not a quality flaw.

I don't actually recommend the EON Super 64, it's way less flexible than just using S-Video in combination with the 2X-Pro or RetroScaler (which can also be used for other consoles). Plus, if you're going to actually pay for such an overpriced dongle, you're already basically paying for a Retro Gem UPscaler Kit. And finally, the EON Super 64 modifies the luminosity slightly which will be less desired by those who want perfect colour/contrast accuracy. Just stay away from it unless you're rich & lazy I guess :p



Mods


RetroScaler Extreme Green Controversy

Some have complained that the RetroScaler Extreme Green isn't the same as the N64 controller Extreme Green; assuming that the product should look like an actual green. It's a little bit more complicated than that, as the azo dye used for Extreme Green is actually at its heart, a yellow. Other products besides Nintendo's Extreme Green series use this famous dye as well, including translucent brilliant "yellow" lego pieces and even Sunlight dish soap. It would appear to be a partial iridescent, so depending on how much of the dye you look through or depending on what the dye stacks behind, it will dramatically change the perception of its look going between yellow and green. You can perform this test by placing anything that's black behind the "Extreme Green" and it will immediately take on a green-like colour. Meanwhile, if you were to hollow it out completely and under the right lighting conditions, it then reverts back to looking yellow. It doesn't help that digital cameras will often fail to accurately capture this colour as it doesn't have a consistent state.

This Reddit user has posted the comparison between the Gameboy Light "Clear Yellow" (left) and Gameboy Pocket "Extreme Green" (right), the Gameboy Light is actually a much more deep yellow and doesn't have quite the same properties, sometimes people mistaken it as an Extreme Green variety:

Unfortunately even that photo it's hard to do an exact science on both colours as they still look different in person to that.

All of the boxes, you can see the "Clear Yellow" disclosure on the Gameboy Light:

To illustrate this, a picture from Reddit user classiclow we see that the Extreme Green N64 controller and pocket look virtually the same from this side-by-side but that they're also a green hue. Then, you look at Reddit user Return_Lonley's picture and we see that the N64 Extreme Green controllers now look much closer to yellow and also mimic the same yellow from the RetroScaler shells.

And then if you compare that with the actual prototype Extreme Green N64, you'll see that it too looks closer to yellow but also very pale (differences include that Nintendo kept the grey dust filter and the two circular pads are actually clear and not Extreme Green either as in the reproduction units):

Of course that paleness is again just due to the variation of lighting and cameras. It's easy to see how people get the wrong idea about the pigment when virtually every photo it looks different!

The verdict: Extreme Green is actually a yellow that sometimes looks green and no pictures or cameras ever do the colour justice. RetroScaler actually analyzed and mimicked this properly which is why I immediately bought a shell as soon as I discovered it (perhaps using the same azo dye, I'm not a chemist nor work in industrial plastics so I don't know the working industry name for what Nintendo calls "Extreme Green"), and the Clear Yellow Gameboy Light has nothing to do with Extreme Green as is sometimes conflated.

PS: you'll want to buy a clear white shell in conjunction with the Extreme Green one if you want to build a prototype-accurate Extreme Green N64, so that you can add the clear feet instead of Extreme Green ones. If you're also expecting this to look more green and less yellow-neon, then you're better off buying a jungle green unit.


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