Palmer Luckey launches M64 — it's the best retro game system ever made

Call up the old crew because split-screen is back in high definition.

This time, however, it comes transparent, glow-in-the-dark, and wireless.

'A system so awesome it may blow your mind.'

Most news in video games these days is about woke injections, the loss of physical media, or another studio collapsing after telling gamers they should be happy with recycled titles about obese and progressive protagonists.

Eliminate all of that when opening the M64 box, which is likely the most retro-looking packaging you've seen since 1994. Imagine the best experience with a throwback system you could imagine: This is it.

With this ModRetro hardware, every little thing received special attention: the connecting light around the controller ports, the menu screens, even the eject button.

In fact, let's start there.

Eject with power

The M64 is not just inspired by a translucent Nintendo 64 that kids (and adults) have clamored over in nostalgia pages for the last five years; it's a monumental improvement in almost every way.

N64 games are known for their bulky cartridges that gamers often had to cram into the system and subsequently pry out with a crowbar. Not anymore. The M64 comes with a handy eject button that doesn't just release the game; you can get some serious air with this thing. It's probably the first thing you will show the boys.

RELATED: 'You are killing ownership': PlayStation goes digital-only as disc-loving gamers rage

M64. Andrew Chapados/Blaze Media

The system is illuminated with an LED light in front of the cartridge so you can see what you are playing when in the dark, a recurring theme for this unit. Each controller port (there are four) has a ring light around it when active.

On the back: power source, HDMI port, two USB-C ports, and a microSD slot.

Readers will also notice two buttons on top: the white power button and the red knob. The knob is also a button which brings up the system menu where users tinker with all its many settings.

Days of wireless past

The M64 can be updated through microSD or wirelessly, why? Firmware updates are common with retro consoles for upscaling fixes, bugs, and in this case, menu and calibration data.

The menus are delightfully 8-bit, giving the user options to play in full HD, use scan lines, and more. There are reportedly plans to adapt the M64 to work on CRT TVs in the future as well.

One menu is for connecting controllers; plug in an original N64, an updated remake, or the M64 Pro Controller.

The new piece of hardware came in its own box, with an original game (more on that below), and "a system so awesome it may blow your mind" written on it.

There are many ways to use this controller: the wired option uses a unique USB-C attachment with a traditional N64 cord that plugs in just like an older controller.

Wirelessly, users will need to pair with the console, indicated by a fancy LED ring light circling around the desired port when connecting. This can be done with a traditional battery pack that snaps into the rear of the controller or with a modern, rechargeable battery. All come in the box.

RELATED: Back to the future? Palmer Luckey's Chromatic does nostalgia right

M64 controller. Andrew Chapados/Blaze Media

Physically, it's significantly heavier than an N64 controller. The M64 Pro Controller feels like superior alloys made from a Terminator. It was cool to the touch, which sent an exhilarating jolt up the spine.

The start button lights up, keeping with the theme. It vibrates to let you know rumbling is native. The crisp buttons give the old clicking sound while the Z and shoulder buttons have a nice crease to rest your fingers on.

Everyone had a blister on their thumb at some point in their gaming career with the N64 controller, and everyone had that weird friend who used the palm of their hand too.

A padded, rubberized joystick avoids this with the M64 controller, which also adds grip for those tight, cardinal-direction turns on Super Mario 64.

You play to win the game

The M64's native game is Xibalba 64, which will launch with Turbo Fusion, Xeno Crisis, and Buck Bumble. Think Doom/Duke Nukem/Quake controls and graphics, but it's smoother and creepier.

Each level starts with a disturbing yet cleverly written Mayan poem, before you jump in and fight indigenous South American creatures which eventually morph into robots that look like refrigerators.

The game is more clever than 64-bit first-person shooters of the past because of the modern tech that went into it. The game feels like it could have been released at the time, just better, which is how the system feels overall — luxurious old tech.

M64 with Xibalba 64. Andrew Chapados/Blaze Media

Other games we tested were Killer Instinct Gold, Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros, Bust-A-Move 2, and Mario Party 2. None of these games caused any issues framerate-wise, nor crashed or underperformed in any way.

Everything scaled fine onto our huge, 60-inch television while a friend maniacally laughed his way to a 6-star, 173-coin victory as Donkey Kong on Mario Party 2.

ModRetro has a game compatibility list that shows just 16 games having issues at the time of this writing. This has been cut down significantly since we last checked, showing that they are actively working on cutting down issues.

Verdict

Having played several different retro remakes before, such as Hyperkin's, it is expected that retro gamers sort of have to get used to crashes and bugs, but not with the M64. There were honestly zero issues during hours and hours of gaming.

It's an impressive machine, more impressive than what the company did with the Chromatic.

This is on top of the fact that it is an awesome excuse to round up the crew to rescue Elvis on Perfect Dark, fall off cliffs on Mario 64, and sweat playing Smash Bros.

One takeaway a fellow gamer had while playing some of the old games was, "Why do games today suck?"

"Why do these games scratch the itch" about as well as their 2026 counterparts, he further bemoaned.

While we may not be able to trust the major developers to bring the past to us in a responsible way, we certainly can for ModRetro.

The entire system gets a 9.4/10 — there were no glaring flaws or issues. The greatest struggle or hiccup during the entire process was connecting the wireless controller. It was plugged in, and in order to connect it wirelessly it seemingly needed to be turned off and then turned back on. That was it.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!