If you're someone who likes to play your digital library of N64 games on real hardware, the go-to solution in the past has been to invest in an N64 flash cart, with the most popular options on the market arguably being the Everdrive X5 or the Everdrive X7.
These solutions, however, typically cost over $100 and can therefore fall outside of many people's budgets, leaving the door open for an alternative to come along and offer a cheaper, more affordable choice. That's where the Summercart 64 comes in.
Released last year, the Summercart 64 has been generating a lot of positive attention from those within the retro community, including most recently, Modern Vintage Gamer who covered the cart on his channel earlier this week. It is a new open-source flash cart that is currently available from the Phenom Mod Store where it is officially priced at $99 but has been making waves online thanks to a group of sellers listing the device for as little as $50 devices on the retail website AliExpress.
Obviously, it should be noted that the quality of these will likely vary depending on who you buy from, with the YouTuber AKFamilyHome reporting elsewhere that one of the two AliExpress clones they purchased seemed to be made out of a cheaper plastic mold, had a tighter fit on the N64, and had no holes on the back for the hardware button. Others, however, have reported having little issues with these cheaper carts, leaving it up to you whether you want to take the risk to try to take advantage of the cheaper price point.
According to Modern Vintage Gamer, the Summercart 64 includes a ton of the same features you've come to expect from the more expensive Everdrive devices, with some new options thrown in for good measure.
For instance, not only can it load some of the larger ROM files much faster than the Everdrive X5, but it also includes support for 64DD emulation, being the first N64 flash cart to load 64DD disk files directly rather than cartridge hacks of existing games (per the 64DD researcher LuigiBlood). In addition to this, it also includes automatic save backup during gameplay and lists the ability to behave like a stock Game Pak with direct mode. Contrary to what Modern Vintage Gamer claims in his video, it also seems like Game Shark support is implemented, but currently lacks a UI element to access it.