NeoStation beta, Epic Games PC emulation, and a recomp bonanza

👻 Hello and welcome to the first edition of The Memory Core sent (slightly late) from Ghost! I hope it wasn’t lost in the transition to a new platform.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I set everything up correctly, and the website is still a work in progress as I (manually) migrate old newsletters for posterity.

But the emulation news doesn't stop flowing, so the show must go on. To give things a little more context this week, I'm highlighting three main stories, with a few extra links at the end.

This week was a pretty interesting one for news, with some really exciting updates and releases right around the corner. Read to the end for an unexpected N64 release.

(Note: The view in browser button is now at the top)

NeoStation enters beta

NeoStation has quickly become my new favorite emulation frontend, and it hit a major milestone this week. The app is now officially in beta, with a Google Play Store listing coming very soon (if it isn't already available when you read this).

This is more than a simple version bump, as NeoStation Beta brings a complete UI overhaul.

There's a new carousel view with large new artwork (which the dev confirmed is pulled from artists on DeviantArt), and themes, including an OLED theme with absolute blacks and a pink Valentine theme that immediately won me over. Developer Miguel Soto ran through his design decisions in a new blog post.

The update also improves ROM scanning on all platforms and adds support for Android apps/games. In other words, this can now serve as a home launcher on a retro gaming handheld, and there's even a toggle in settings to make that happen.

As before, it also has (optional) support for RetroAchievements and a unique cloud saving feature called NeoSync. Check out the full patch notes to learn more and download the latest version. I promise you won't regret it.

GameNative adds Epic Games Store support

I've had my eye on this for a while, but the GameNative team has finally released a test build that includes support for Epic Games.

As someone who has hundreds of free games (and 2 paid ones!) on the platform, this is incredible news. The first test implementation is a bit of a hassle, but it does work. Just give it a few minutes to load your library if you have as many games as I do.

This comes on the heels of the last major GameNative release, which added alpha support for GoG. I knew these things were coming early in 2026, but I didn't think they'd both be ready before February!

In fairness, you should probably wait until Epic Games support gets a little more time in the oven before trying it yourself. Multiplayer games don't work, and there are some issues with Epic's DRM.

If you want to try it now, head over to the GameNative Discord. The test build can be found in the Epic Games support post.

The recomps keep coming

Last weekend, a new recompilation of Banjo-Kazooie dropped from none other than Mr. Wiseguy himself.

This is the developer behind the N64: Recompiled tool, which statically recompiles N64 games. The process is much faster than decompilation, which requires manually testing line by line to ensure the compiled output matches the original, but optimizing recomps still takes months of work.

Check out the excellent (and appropriately goofy) Banjo: Recompiled trailer for a preview, but suffice it to say this will likely be the best way to enjoy the game going forward. Here's a quick list of added features and changes:

• Widescreen (and ultrawide) support
• High framerates
• Dual analog controls (no more C buttons for camera controls)
• Optional Note saving when exiting and re-entering levels

Like Wiseguy's previous Majora's Mask recomp, it also has full mod support. There are already 15 mods available to download, including two of Mark Kurko's content mods and an HD texture pack.

A small update for the project dropped this morning, which you can grab on GitHub. Note that you'll need a North American ROM file to pull copyrighted assets.

But that's not the only recomp news this week, with a promising new project called PS2Recomp designed for, well, PS2 recomps.

It's still very much a work in progress, and it's very possible that nothing truly comes of it, but it could be huge for PS2 game preservation. The good news is that the added attention has helped it build some momentum, and there's now a Discord server for anyone who wants to help out.

Handheld highlights

🪦 This week AYN announced that the Odin 2 has been discontinued. For many, this was the handheld that changed everything, but the company appears to be shifting focus to the Odin 3 and Thor. [Discord]

💸 As part of the same announcement, AYN also kicked off a major sale on the Odin 2 Portal. The biggest discount is for the Base version (8+128GB), which went down to $249. That's a crazy good deal, so good that it immediately sold out. You can still get a small discount on the Pro and Max versions, though. [AYN]

📱 This morning, AYANEO announced that its upcoming smartphone, the Pocket PLAY, will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9300. That's a very solid chipset with even more raw power than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but it will likely suffer from a lack of driver support, like all Mali GPUs. [X]

FPGA focus

📰 Retro Remake founder Taki Udon sat down for an interview with Read Only Memo, and he dives deep into the rollercoaster development cycle for the Super Station One. [Read Only Memo]

🎮 Analogue just pushed a firmware update to the Analogue 3D with gameplay time tracking, progressive mode, support for the NSO N64 controller, and more. Check out the patch notes for more. [Website]

🎨 ModRetro sent out an email with an update on the M64, which is "soon moving into mass production." It also shows some new colorways, as well as the PCB. Review units should also go out soon, so be on the lookout for some real-world testing. [X]

(Note: I have to point out that ModRetro founder Palmer Luckey has made some pretty questionable statements in the wake of two civilians being killed by ICE agents in Minnesota, piled on top of a mountain of other controversial viewpoints. Please consider this before pre-ordering any products from the company.)

The Emulator Report

🌴 Nintendo Switch emulator Eden dropped update 0.1.0 this week, with improved performance in Metroid Prime 4 and Luigi's Mansion 3, among other things. There are also new UI elements to tweak settings in game on Android, although some users are reporting mixed results. [GitHub]

💮 The 3DS emulator Azahar, which is based on the now-defunct Citra, has restored support for .3ds files in a small update this week. This was previously removed as an "act of project philosophy" to distance the emulator from piracy (and Citra), but all it did was create confusion and push users toward dubious forks. [GitHub]

🕹️ It's the end of the month, which means it's time for another MAME update. As usual, it brings compatibility with a variety of new arcade games, so check out the full dev post to learn more. [Website]

Retro archives

🎸 The latest N64 game is here, and it's not from ModRetro. Instead, it's the latest EP from a Scottish heavy metal band called Party Cannon. The cart includes four studio tracks and some bonus content to "Load up your N64 and have an IQ lowering blast from the past." Unfortunately, only 100 copies were made, and they sold out immediately. [Website]

🆕 Pokémon Luminous Land, a fan game built using Pokémon Essentials, has you exploring a new Fabio region with 112 Fakemon, including new legendaries. Since it's not a ROM hack, it's only available on PC, but check out the trailer to learn more. [Trailer] [Download]