The Nintendo 64, one of the most beloved consoles, is rebuilt into a tiny console that is smaller than the original controller.
The record for the smallest Nintendo 64 in the world has just been broken. The Nintendo 64 is frequently modified, either in games or on the console itself. And a niche community has been working on creating portable Nintendo 64 mods over the years, competing to make them smaller and smaller with each iteration. A modder may have just perfected the mod with his creation, making a mod for Nintendo 64 that is smaller than the original controller.
The physical modding community in games is very talented, from creating portable versions of home consoles to transforming Nintendo GameCubes into powerful PCs. A specific group worked to make the Nintendo 64 portable as small as possible. The most recent was made in 2015. But GmanModz seems to have broken that record with a 23.3% smaller console.
In a recent video, GmanModz explains all the details of how he built the smallest Nintendo 64 laptop in the world. He gives tons of incredible information, including how he uses computer technology to plan his approach, how he uses a 3D printer for some parts, but how he basically does most of the work in the “old fashioned” way by taking apart a Nintendo 64 and rebuilding it on a portable console. He also explains a lot of interesting details and specifications, including the fact that he made strategic decisions like choosing the tiny Joycon controllers to save minimal space, or that the R and Z buttons are both side buttons at the top.
GmanModz also shows how JoyCon analogues work by playing Turok, and how it can work better than the traditional Nintendo 64 controller. Games like Perfect Dark (which is finally coming back) were fun in the Nintendo 64 era, but maybe they were a little late thanks to limited control, so playing these games with a more modern controller set up is an interesting idea.
Another nice aspect of the video is simply watching all the video games being played. The Nintendo 64 had great games, and the idea of being able to play them on the go seems fantastic to many. This may be part of the reason why the Nintendo Switch is so successful, since Nintendo on the move is a great selling point.
The real functionality of the Nintendo 64 mini console leaves some space to be desired, but that’s not the point. The console’s battery life is just over an hour, and GmanModz says it’s not exactly comfortable to play. GmanModz has also created a much more functional Nintendo 64 laptop that he calls “really good”, designed with the GameBoy Advance SP in mind. The goal here with the super small Nintendo 64 really was just to create a fun project and break the record, and that’s exactly what GmanModz did.
