Press F Ultra (Fairchild Channel F emulator)

Press F Ultra is a Fairchild Channel F emulator for the Nintendo 64 by Celerizer (Keith Bourdon). The first version was released on 23 June 2024, but last updated on 03 December 2024.

You can get the ROM and BIOS files from the download page by using the password firstcartridge.

To get it to work on a Flash cart, create a folder called press-f in the root directory and place the BIOS binaries in there (find them on the download page) along any Fairchild ROMS (.chf) files. To get it working on Ares emulator, place the binaries in the roms folder and then run the ROM.

About Press F Ultra

The Fairchild Channel F was the first home video game console to use a microprocessor (the Fairchild F8) and introduced programmable game cartridges in 1976. Its graphics were basic, with a black-and-yellow color palette, and its sound was limited to a single channel. Despite its innovation, the console’s impact was modest. However the Channel F set critical precedents for the future of home gaming consoles.

Press F Ultra is an emulator that lets you play any Channel F ROM right on your Nintendo 64. I tried a whole bunch and they all loaded fine, but some of them don’t seem to read any input from the controller.

Controls

The Channel F has a very unique control scheme in that the game settings are determined by the four buttons on the console and the two included controllers have a joystick that can also be pulled, pushed and twisted left and right. Here’s the mapping to the N64 controller:

• Console buttons 1, 2, 3, 4: A, B, Z, Start
• Joystick tilt: D-pad
• Joystick twist left/right: C-left, C-right
• Joystick push up/down: C-up, C-down

Review and conclusion

The Fairchild Channel F is remembered as one of the most innovative consoles of the era because of its introduction of swappable cartridges and all-purpose controllers. It has however been left in the dark due to being outshone by the more powerful Atari VCS so it had a limited run and didn’t receive as much love as it deserves.

The Press F Ultra emulator works like a charm for what it is. Most games work very well, and its only detriment is that there are no instructions so what you see on screen can be quite confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing (like me, most of the time).

Unfortunately these games have not aged very well as they are extremely basic and barely more complex than a Pong machine. In fact, they remind me a bit of games made for the Chip 8 emulator.

Press F Ultra itself is truly a testament to the Nintendo 64 and how it can run all kinds of older systems, even one as ancient and dissimilar as the classic Channel F.