Top Story: New portable N64 supports split-screen

06.04.2011
This afternoon's Top Story is good news for retro and home-made gadget enthusiasts: it's a portable N64 with multiplayer compatibility.

Console modding enthusiast has been working on portable N64 systems for a while now. But YouTube user StrikeaBeat, aka 46-year old David Jackson, has expanded on Bacteria's design by adding an extra controller port, allowing gamers to play titles such as GoldenEye and Mario Kart the way they were intended -- multiplayer.

The portable devices are made by gutting an N64 and then putting the innards into a plastic casing, along with one of the 5-inch LCD screens that were originally made to work with the PSone. Along with the console's intestines, the casing also fits the internal workings of an N64 controller, Rumble Pack and Expansion Pack. This means it's fully compatible with anything the N64's back catalog might throw at it.

Jackson's variant, the D64, incorporates an extra controller port which dangles from the bottom of the system. This allows an additional N64 controller to be attached to the device, allowing for split screen multiplayer action.

While cool, it's perhaps questionable how useful this is, given that player 2 will have to look over Player 1's shoulder while they hold the screen in front of them. Also, split screen on a 5-inch display doesn't leave much screen real estate for each player. But practicality be damned -- it's a portable N64!

If you're brave enough to defile an N64 and want to try and build your own portable system, Bacteria has produced a on the subject. Failing that, he's more than happy to sell you your own custom unit over at .