EDIT 08/08: It seems this shells might be made from Bitfunx. And while the shells aren’t cloned, they seemed to have cloned other case sellers box and logo, to trick you into thinking you’re buying the higher end product. Gross. I’ll follow-up with a livestream when it arrives, but not I feel dirty for buying it…
I’ve recently seen a bunch of Nintendo 64 clear plastic replacement shells pop up for sale on Aliexpress for around $50 shipped. I’ve reached out to a few stores and people on twitter to ask for more information, but have not gotten a response. Maybe these are perfect replacements for the originals, or maybe they’re low-quality junk not worth buying? Heck, are they even real?; Aliexpress only lists a few sold on each store. I just purchased one and will follow up when it arrives, but this certainly does seem promising…
Here’s the listing I purchased from: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804365417454.html
Update – It looks like they’re shipping from the US on eBay as well: https://ebay.us/SQxMUp
Here’s some more: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20220726062106&SearchText=nintendo+64+shell
I think it’s worth noting that these listings popped up before the Trogg Tech Kickstarter listing went live and pictures with no explanation have been floating around Twitter since before that. I’m only mentioning that to say this does not, in any way, seem like a “clone” scenario. Considering Trogg Tech’s estimated release date of March 2023, I’m assuming they don’t have the molding tools finalized, which completely rules out the possibility of some plastic manufacturer stealing it and making their own shells.
One other thing worth pointing out, is the pictures look awfully close to the same shown in the Intec Gaming Warrior 64 kickstarter. I’ll be honest, I hope the team took our advice and stuck to what they’re good at: Making shells. I thought both the Warrior 64 and GBA case they made were excellent – It was just the video circuits that were garbage. The team was obviously good at Kickstarters and could easily get this funded (heck, I’d help!), so there would be no reason for them to just dump stock on Aliexpress. So, probably not them…but maybe it’s the same contract manufacturer? Either way, I couldn’t help but make the comparison 🙂
I’ll post a livestream when it arrives…
