Suppose you were to ask video game lovers about their favorite console of all time. Many will probably talk about the Nintendo 64, which captivated entire generations at its release. The truth is that since then, we have seen the arrival of a good number of emulators to computers, and one of the best, without any doubt, is the protagonist of this review: Mupen64.

Mupen64 is then an emulator of the Nintendo 64 console that we can use on our PC, and that has some features that users will surely appreciate, such as the massive compatibility with the primary games of this machine. And to that, we must add that it is one of the emulators that offers us the most significant number of settings and configuration options to customize the user experience.

In this sense, we have to point out that Mupen64 stands out for the vast amount of extensions that developers, even outside the firm, have created to adapt to this platform and allow us to enjoy it to the fullest. Thanks to these additional contents, we can configure all kinds of external devices, such as keyboards, sound cards, etc., so that our user experience is the best possible.

Thanks to its full Glide64 compatibility, Mupen64 can offer the same feeling as the Nintendo console since it can reproduce graphics and effects in a very authentic way. And as we said before, the best is that this positive quality is seen with a considerable amount of games, which is why you won't have to discard some to focus on a few others.

However, we didn't want to leave it unmentioned either because you need to consider it: Mupen64 consumes a lot of system resources. That is to say, its spectacular user experience is closely related to the demand it has on our computer, which means that if we run it on a somewhat old PC, at times, we may notice that the computer slows down too much.

On the other hand, the possibilities that open up if we use this emulator are many since we will have the chance to play both in a window and in full screen, which is almost indispensable in some games. We will also have other alternatives in configuration, such as adding up to four different controllers to the computer to use a gamepad or play with the keyboard whenever you want.

What Nintendo 64 games can I enjoy thanks to Mupen64? Most of the main games that were part of the entertainment associated with this company, such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, or FIFA 64. As you can see, some of the all-time classics can easily reach your computer thanks to this service, so if you are eager to meet them again, you should try it.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that Mupen64 is not one of those video game console emulators that integrate the ROMs in the download, which means, in other words, that you will have to add the games yourself to enjoy it. And we stress this point because we know that some users don't want to have anything to do with emulation platforms that require us to do this work on our own.

As far as the Mupen64 user interface is concerned, we have to point out that we liked it, considering that it passes without problems in terms of aesthetics and functionality and how intuitive it is. Is it especially nice? No, but since most of the time, we won't be looking at it per see, but at the video games it runs, that becomes a minor issue.

Well, then, Mupen64 has some positive features, such as the playback quality of the leading Nintendo 64 games it offers and the absolute compatibility with most of them. Likewise, its varied configuration and customization options make it an ideal alternative for those users who want to control all aspects of their entertainment session.

What we liked least about Mupen64 is that it doesn't come with built-in games, so we'll have to take the trouble downloading them ourselves if we want to have some fun, which can be a bit frustrating. Besides, it would be best if you considered that some games, due to their graphic needs, require specific configurations of your CPU and video card, among other components.

In summary, Mupen64 is a good emulator of Nintendo 64, and if you can handle not having the games integrated and downloading them yourself, we are sure you will find a lot of positive aspects in this platform. That is to say, it's probably not the emulator we can recommend to a beginner user but to someone who has already tried other similar emulators and is looking for better graphics quality.