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How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

phoboslab.org

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Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#171

Post by yellowapple »

boricj wrote: post #3

I'm tinkering with a PlayStation homebrew (voxel space renderer) and development for fifth generation consoles has never been easier. Modern toolchains, programming languages, dev cartridges and libraries from the community makes all the difference. Outside of some niceties like ICE (gotta write that GDB stub for target hardware at some point), it's not that different from what you'd experience with modern embedded w…

I've been on-and-off writing a Zig library for writing N64 games and it's indeed pretty wild how getting working code was as simple as telling the compiler to use LLVM's MIPS III target.

Of course, getting working code that actually does anything useful is a much different story (it's taking multiple days just to write the wrappers for RDP commands, for example; lots of cross-referencing between N64Brew wiki pages v. official SGI docs v. libdragon source code v. Peter Lemon's assembly code to figure out what all the different bitpacked fields really mean and how to best represent them), but it still feels magical that I can just use an ordinary toolchain and not some ancient proprietary monstrosity.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#172

Post by qup »

spankibalt wrote: post #165
munk-a wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am nuanced enough to appreciate that these qualities are present in the products being produced and still not buy from this producer because of their industry ties. Hopefully someone without such ridiculously unpalatable PR is able to copycat their design and sell a competitor - and hopefully the lead they've laid sets the standard for easily replaceable parts for the market (though, I'd mention that retro gaming h…

> I am nuanced enough to appreciate that these qualities are present in the products being produced and still not buy from this producer because of their industry ties. ModRetro produces one thing I do have an interest in. A partly aluminium-cast version of the, to me, most ergonomic gamepad made so far: the classic trimaran-style N64 controller. But that marriage ain't gonna happen. And that goes for every other (fu…

Controller was terrible, if only for lack of two thumb sticks. Going back to GoldenEye, my second favorite game of all time... It's miserable.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#174

Post by yellowapple »

RankingMember wrote: post #159
lordfrito wrote: post #150

Wow the ModRetro units are really polished... Look great with more than a nod to the original system designs. Anyone know what Nintendo's stance is on the companies making these kind of "brand inspired" retro products?

> Anyone know what Nintendo's stance is on the companies making these kind of "brand inspired" retro products? Undoubtedly their legal team is at work 24/7 finding every angle at which to unleash legal hell upon it.

Companies have been building and selling clones of Nintendo consoles for many years now. I suspect if Nintendo had a legal angle against this they would've exercised it a long time ago.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#175

Post by qup »

dosisking wrote: post #161
zuzululu wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> And ? Are you upset that Google/Microsoft/Oracle sells their tech to the military? Yes > Xbox controller is used on nuclear subs too. I have never played an Xbox, nor do I have any interest in doing so. There is nothing interesting about the Xbox.

You're saying things about yourself, not the Xbox or MS.

There is something interesting about the Xbox, as evidenced by its sales record.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#176

Post by edent »

fourside wrote: post #169
dabluecaboose wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing a run-of-the-mill defense contractor to a serial rapist and murderer is certainly up there in the most unhinged justifications that I've seen on HN.

I don’t think the parent comment was trying to equate the two, but rather pushing the argument to its logical extreme to test show that the reasoning doesn’t hold consistently across cases. Whether they made a convincing argument is separate.

I literally was trying to equate the two.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#178

Post by phoboslab »

kridsdale1 wrote: post #136
Mizza wrote: post #64

Libdragon has been improved massively in the past year or so, there are now simple demo games that show capabilities far beyond the original N64 games (bump mapping textures, HDR, seamless loading of massive overworld maps, etc.) Really talented core team, fun to give them a follow. Demos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP8g2ngHftY

I recall seeing a demo of an N64 driving an Oculus Rift.

That[1] was James Lambert, who was also responsible for Portal 64[2] and is now developing a completely new N64 game. His Youtube channel is worth a follow.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha3fDU-1wHk

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkSHzR-P7M

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#179

Post by lurk2 »

eltondegeneres wrote: post #87

[flagged]

I saw a video from the ModRetro YouTube channel a few days ago and thought it was AI because it only had 10,000 subscribers. They’ve been at it since March of 2024 and have less than 400,000 views spread across 54 videos. Strong attention economy recession indicator that even a memeified billionaire can’t get organic attention on a platform like that.

Re: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026

#180

Post by roboror »

lordfrito wrote: post #150

Wow the ModRetro units are really polished... Look great with more than a nod to the original system designs. Anyone know what Nintendo's stance is on the companies making these kind of "brand inspired" retro products?

Really? I think the ModRetro M64 is hideous compared to Analogue's 3D (their version of the N64)
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