ModRetro M64 Nintendo 64 Compatible Console Launches Overseas in July 2026
The ModRetro M64 offers a hardware-level FPGA reproduction of the Nintendo 64, bypassing emulation latency and legal gray areas, and represents a commercial push by Palmer Luckey's retro-hardware company into the 64-bit era.
Reporting from 1 sources: 4Gamer.net.
ModRetro, led by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, will release the ModRetro M64, a Nintendo 64 compatible console using an AMD FPGA, overseas on July 28, 2026. The console plays original cartridges without dumping, and the company states no copyright or patent issues exist. A live demo was shown at AMD's COMPUTEX 2026 booth.
The ModRetro M64, a Nintendo 64 compatible console built by Palmer Luckey's ModRetro, will go on sale overseas on July 28, 2026. A live demonstration was held at AMD's COMPUTEX 2026 demo room, and the console is also featured on AMD's official blog. The base set, which includes one gamepad modeled after the original Nintendo 64 controller, costs about $230 (roughly 37,000 yen before tax). An additional gamepad sells for about $90 (around 14,500 yen before tax). The official website supports Japanese, and the console appears purchasable from Japan, though no formal announcement has been made for the Japanese market.
The console uses AMD's Artix UltraScale+ FPGA to reproduce the original Nintendo 64 processor at the hardware level. Users insert original cartridges directly into the slot and can start playing immediately, with no need to dump cartridge data. ModRetro states there are no legal issues: the console does not use any protected game programs or BIOS, and patents related to the Nintendo 64's internal architecture have expired. The company, originally an online forum Luckey launched in 2009, incorporated in the U.S. in 2023 and has been working on FPGA-based retro console reproductions since then.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.