As someone who is increasingly getting into retro gaming, I’m always looking for ways to integrate those old consoles into my modern gaming ecosystem. This is why I was thrilled when I was offered the chance to review the Mayflash N64 Adapter. Mayflash themselves got in contact with me to see if I would like to review some of their products.
The Mayflash N64 Adapter plugs into the back of those consoles and it will output a HDMI signal. It’s pretty easy to use, just plug in and play. The box does specifically say it’s for the N64 but it’s also usable with either an SNES or Gamecube. It also notes that the device is a converter and not an upscaler. A pretty important definition.
Such a promising start
I initially tried it with Sim City on the SNES. It seemed to transmit a pretty flawless image. The same thing happened when I plugged in my Super Game Boy to try Super Mario Land 2. Felt really nostalgic whilst playing that game as it was my first introduction to Mario! With anticipation, I plugged it into my Nintendo 64. Sadly, this is where the device fell over somewhat. There was a slight kind of wavering jitteriness to the image. Overall, I tried the majority of my available cartridges, and each one was affected. This strangeness was more noticeable in specific games, with some just having a blank screen. Not good at all! Pokemon Snap and Jet Force Gemini were two such examples of this.
Not entirely sure why this was a thing. I don’t know if it was my console specifically. I only have one Nintendo 64 but I’ve never had any problem with it before. Out of the box, this experience was pretty bad, especially as the box specifically mentioned the N64. After that, I tried the Nintendo GameCube and I’m very happy to report that I had no problems whatsoever. Metro Prime seemed to come through perfectly, and it was pretty dang awesome to play it.
N64 HDMI – final verdict
Would I recommend the Mayflash N64 Adapter? Yes and no. Or rather, yes, but with an asterisk. If you want a cheap and easy way of interfacing your old consoles with modern TVs then, yeah I would recommend it. If you wanna use this product specifically with your Nintendo 64? Probably not. I’m not really technically minded enough to figure out why it was going wrong but from a basic user standpoint, it wasn’t a great experience. It did work fine with my SNES and the GameCube though. It’s something that I would have bought myself even if it hadn’t been sent over for free. I will be using far past what I’ve used it for this review. Just proceed with caution!
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