Scott Malsin was headed home after work last week when he got into car that had an N64 in it. He then shared a picture of his journey on Reddit to make everyone else jealous.
His Juno driver was a apparently a big fan of 3D Mario. Big enough, at least, to go through all the effort of setting up a retro console gaming experience in his car to distract his passengers from rush hour traffic. And the Nintendo Switch still doesn’t have a virtual console, so hooking up an entire N64 to a display inside car remains one of the few ways to actually play Mario 64 while driving around.
“I took the picture Wednesday night in a Juno (not uber) ride from office heading home,” Malsin said over email. “From Midtown East Manhattan out to my apartment in Long Island City, so it was only about a 10-15 minute drive. I’m not sure what powered the N64 or the TV, only that he had 2 games (Mario 64 and Mortal Kombat). He also insisted on raising the volume so that I could ‘get the full experience.’”
Another impromptu gaming station spotted in Lyft ride
The driver might have followed steps like these to get everything running. Basically you mount the relevant hardware and then plug it into a power converter that’s tapped into the car battery.
Yes, you can always mod the monitors embedded in newer cars to display games, but there’s no replacement for the feel and mystique of the original hardware. Plus, it’s less dangerous when the gaming is for passengers only.
Other drivers have gotten similar ideas, with a Lyft passenger posting a picture of a Windows tablet with an NES emulator and an 8bitdo controller. It’s definitely better than the tiny TVs blasting ads at you found in some taxis. Malsin called the contraption an Uber N64, but in actuality he discovered it in the back seat of a Juno driver’s ride.
A New York-based ridesharing service, Juno was originally branded as the labour-friendly transportation startup, but after it was recently sold to new owners drivers have found it a less conscientious partner, even banding together to file a law suit against the also-ran.
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