When ModRetro announced the M64 and showed us the available colours, I felt my inner 90s kid punch the air with excitement. Translucent shells in exciting colours that made the console look more like a toy than a serious console made for the perfect nostalgia-inducing recipe, with cool new features like a cartridge eject button, cartridge art lights, WiFi updating, and much more.
But one question remained - what would happen with the controller?
I'd already covered the fact that Analogue had shipped the 3D without a controller, meaning that you couldn't open the box and start playing with the console straight away. ModRetro have made it clear that they would like to ship the console with a controller just like the original N64 back in the 90s, and while the metal-backed, wireless Trident controller looks as though it might be an optional add-on, we now know that they have teamed up with our friends at Hyperkin to provide an official third-party, wired controller that connects up to the console just like back in the good-old-days of couch-co-op gaming.
The Captain looks, for all intents and purposes, like a faithful recreation of the original N64 remote in terms of button and stick placement. And the great news is that each controller perfectly matches its corresponding M64 colour. You can see all of the components that make it work through the translucent shell, just like with the M64. Hyperkin have even included their logo in the same space and style as the original Nintendo branding.
The controller has a 10-foot cable, which means you won't be sitting on the floor to play like back in the '90s and complaining that your back isn't what it used to be. Plus, the rear extension port supports your original rumble paks and memory paks, giving you that traditional N64 experience with new hardware.
The Captain is being showcased alongside the M64 at PAX East from tomorrow, with the event running from March 26th-29th. So, if you're in Boston and fancy heading down to the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center, then definitely get some hands-on time with Hyperkin's newest release!
