Boutique retro gaming company Analogue has announced that its latest console, the Analogue 3D, will finally ship in the first quarter of 2025 – and we have the first images of the final console. Pre-orders will go live soon.
While retro revivals and specialty boxes are becoming more common and popular, Analogue remains one of the gold standards in the field. The way I always explain it to people is this: while many other brands of emulation-focused retro products are comparable to something like a record player you might buy from Best Buy in the US or Argos in the UK, analog is the deeper, nerdier option. Sticking with the vinyl comparison, buying an analog machine is like shelling out money for an expensive vintage record player and equally expensive speakers; it’s not for everyone, but for those looking for the purest experience, it’s is one of the best choices.
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Analogue has previously released systems based on the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Turbografx and PC Engine, as well as state-of-the-art handheld devices that can play the entire Game Boy library from original to advanced versions. Now it’s the N64’s turn, and a full year after the machine’s release, Analogue 3D is ready for its debut.
Fans have been waiting for this moment for some time – Analogue has developed the following products. For the uninitiated, there are two things that make Analogue’s hardware unique.
The first is from a gameplay perspective. In software emulation, applications are programmed to simulate the environment and systems of the console for which the game is designed. This is commonly used in many ten-pence Android or Raspberry Pi based emulators, as well as many more expensive options such as Polymega. Even services like Nintendo Switch Online and Retro Collection use software-based emulation – but the problem is that software emulations almost always contain small inaccuracies. The N64 was a console particularly famous for its emulation issues.
FPGA stands for “Field Programmable Gate Array”. It’s more complex, but the benefit is: instead of using software To pass off as original hardware, the circuits are carefully configured to exactly replicate the conditions of the chips and circuit boards that each original machine had. FPGAs aren’t Analogue’s “thing” — there are several companies using the theme to create consoles — but Analogue was one of the technology’s early advocates, using it in every retro revival.
Analogue 3D is powered by a 220k LE Altera Cyclone 10GX, which the company says is the most powerful processor it has ever used. After four years of development, Analogue claims to be 100% compatible with every game in the N64 library in every release region. There’s a good chance flash carts will come into play as well.
The second advantage the Analogue has over the competition, if I could weigh in on this news blast, is the build quality. These are gorgeous machines, beautifully engineered; if relatively cheap and versatile retro handhelds from China are enjoyable and well-functioning city cars, these things are gorgeous sporting displays. I mean, just look at it
Analogue 3D also packs some nice practicality into this lovely frame. It can accommodate original N64 carts from any region, can accept 4 original N64 controllers, and is ultimately compatible with all the various accessories that can plug into these controllers. The back of the machine has two USB ports, a USB-C power port, an HDMI output, and an SD card slot. The card slot is only for updating firmware and the like – the machine is designed to be used with real carts, not side-loaded ROMs; everything is legal and above board.
In addition to simply playing games, Analogue 3D also features different display modes – meaning it can be played using a variety of high-end filters designed to faithfully reproduce the original look of N64 games on a CRT monitor. These earlier games generally looked better, and were undoubtedly designed for the natural ambiguity of the era they came from – so Analogue has the systems in place to replicate this. We all know about the crappy Vaseline filters in analog, but if these filters are anything like the ones on the Analogue Pocket, they should be an impressive improvement over these filters.
Settings such as these, as well as save states, are managed through Analogue’s proprietary operating system, which in a new form is called “3D OS.” It has N64-specific features and is once again considered the most advanced product yet – although sadly it doesn’t support openFPGA, meaning there’s no custom fan-made software product, unlike Pocket.
All of this sells for $250 without the controller. If you need a compatible controller, Analogue is once again teaming up with 8BitDo to offer N64-themed inputs for $40 — but if Mario Party’s palm-busting spin mini-game isn’t burned out yet, you can use all of your original N64 controllers now Got the stick out.
Regardless, it all looks pretty exciting and pretty good. The exact count of packages will be revealed in the first quarter of 2025 (when the machines are shipped). Pre-orders will open next week on October 21st at 8am PT. As always, the machine will be sold exclusively through the Analogue website.
