Hyperkin Floats the Idea of a Cart-Slotted N64 Portable

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Hyperkin Floats the Idea of a Cart-Slotted N64 Portable

https://retrohandhelds.gg/hyperkin-floats-the-idea-of-a-cart-slotted-n64-portable/

Picture this: You’re on the subway, N64 controller in hand, popping in your dusty Ocarina of Time cart—no ROMs, no flash drives, just pure, unadulterated nostalgia. Hyperkin’s quietly daydreaming about making it real.

They’re not announcing it—not yet—but when a fan asked if a portable N64 was possible, the reply? “Potentially in the future.” Translation: We’re thinking about it… while we fix our Genesis handheld that’s glitching like a corrupted save file.

Here’s the catch: It wouldn’t be some FPGA-powered luxury device like Analogue’s $1,000 marvel. Nope—Hyperkin would go the Retron GX route: dump the cart into memory, then emulate it. That means screen tearing, frame drops, and maybe Link floating through walls… but hey, you’d be playing your actual cartridges. No PC, no downloads—just you, your childhood, and a tiny screen.

The kicker? Hyperkin already makes N64-style controllers. They know the hardware. But if they can’t fix visual artifacts on the Genesis handheld—something far easier to emulate—they’re in for a very rough ride with the N64’s wonky 3D rendering.

Still… if they pull it off? That’d be the most charmingly chaotic handheld of 2027. Just don’t blame them if your Mario Kart race ends with a wobbly banana peel… and no sound.