At 10:52 AM on October 21, 2024, I pulled over during my FedEx route and pulled out my phone. I still had three minutes before the five-minute alarm went off to let me know it was time to get into gear, but like anything I do with a hard “one chance only” time frame, I had been watching the clock for almost an hour anyway. Having planned my day around the 11:00 drop, I made sure to stay put in one of the few places in rural Lyndeborough, NH (pronounced “lye-den-bo-row” for no apparent reason) that wasn’t a complete dead zone for cell reception.
I hate that we have to do this all the damn time. Even as someone who abstains from the majority of it, and usually gets burned the few times I actually attempt to grab these limited drop items that spoil any hobby or interest in this hustler-culture, scalper-tainted hellscape of the 2020s, even the times you manage to grab something you really want, it leaves a bad taste anyway. Or digs a hole in your gut that even the eventual product can’t fill once it gets to you. That’s why it’s so prevalent, I guess. Not because people can inherently profit off of it, both as manufacturers and scalpers, but because we always need one more thing to fill in the rest of the hole we keep digging.
Holy shit, sorry about that. That’s a little too cynical for this portfolio. Anyway, I got my order in. Under five minutes, in and out, with visions of 4K CRT filters dancing in my head, I carried on with my day boasting a decent supplement of pep in the face of what was objectively a terrible job. Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, I still haven’t made any content about or involving the Analogue 3D console, outside of my review of the 8BitDo controller, which was essentially released to get the damn things out of the warehouse of a company that had no involvement in the actual production or lack thereof for the Analogue 3D.
Today is November 17, 2025 and tomorrow. Tomorrow. Is the day that shipping begins. As chronicled in the r/AnalogueInc subreddit for 14 months, this wait has been agonizing, not just for the lack of delivery, but the lack of, well, everything. Communication? Minimal. Previews? Nonexistent. Consolation? Laughable. Even with the slack I would dare to cut the Analogue company over backbreaking tariffs and other economic uncertainty, this has been an objectively horrible consumer experience. But all I have left, assuming the shipping announcement is finally true, is to wonder and decide what I’m actually going to play and test and record once it’s in my hands. And while the answers may be obvious: Mario! Zelda! Banjo! Goldeneye! The all-encompassing vision of this website naturally begs for much more than that. So here’s my fantasy of everything you don’t assume you’ll be able to see people playing day one that I really do want to see get that glow-up that we’ve all been promised and why.
Resident Evil 2 – Okay, so not a hidden gem by any stretch. Not underappreciated or unexpected. But a huge title I actually really wanted to replay recently, put on hold for very crucial and hardware-related issues. I don’t remember if this was as much of an issue on the TV I used on my last playthrough, but the way that my particular setup behaves on RE2 makes it rather difficult to get through. The camera cuts between RE2’s fixed angles provide an extremely brief drop in signal strength, which is something that pops up at various points across the N64 library, often between menus and cutscenes. But in Resident Evil, they take place right in the middle of gameplay and much more frequently. Coupled with a multi-part chain that includes the system, converter, HDMI switcher, and finally TV, this introduces a brief loss of signal and delay in regaining it that, while miniscule and ignorable in 99% of the library, is far too much of an issue to play this game with in the exact same setup. Add in that cutscenes, while present in this version, are rather heavily compressed, and that the static backgrounds that define the series have typically lost a lot of definition, and I think RE2, already a masterpiece as originally delivered on the console, will get a noticeable boost upon getting a good upscale and improved definition all around.
Graphically similar titles I want to see: Nightmare Creatures, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Doom 64 – Infamously dark, even on original hardware and CRT displays, the modern remaster by Nightdive Studios already does the work to balance out graphical issues and brightness complaints, so we’ve already been shown that this game’s complaints can be rectified. But what about that original ROM? What does this premium-branded aftermarket console offer in terms of fixing that off my cartridge, in my living room? This will certainly be a test, and hopefully we’ll get a look at those beautiful sprites in all their proper glory.
Graphically similar titles I want to see: Hexen, Duke Nukem 64, Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
Command and Conquer – Opting for this particular RTS title due to its 3D graphical approach and it being the first of the genre to release on the system. While it won’t make the controls any easier to grapple with, getting the clearest view of the battlefield will make a big difference in this version of the game and whether or not it’s worth the attempt to play on a console without an absurdly expensive and rare mouse controller.
Graphically similar titles I want to see: Starcraft 64, Nuclear Strike 64
World Driver Championship – The real test of just how good this console can look. Alongside Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, World Driver Championship is my go-to reference point for the graphical capabilities of the N64, particularly in all of the areas it’s already at its strongest. Strong 3D models and an excellent sense of speed, coupled with a photo mode that proves that Boss Studios knew just how impressive their game looked this time around. I’m looking forward to just how high that ceiling might be, even if I’ll still be terrible at the actual game.
Graphically similar titles I want to see: Ridge Racer 64, Star Wars Episode I Racer
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter – An extremely early title coated in dense distance fog, but able to produce lush and dense jungle settings in addition to a wide variety of beautifully designed enemies and weaponry. With no help whatsoever from the Expansion Pak, Turok has always impressed, and its spectacular diversity of settings and items will surely offer plenty of eye candy when at its most well-defined.
Graphically similar titles I want to see: Perfect Dark, Quake II, Rayman 2: The Great Escape
