One of the problems with new technology is knowing what to do with the equipment it replaces.

That's a particular problem for games console owners who up-grade. Until recently, moving to a new machine meant finding a home for your old one or simply accepting that you'd never play your old favourites again.

Sony has stolen something of a march over its rivals by making the PlayStation 2 largely backwards compatible. It can play almost all its predecessor's back catalogue.

Sega ditched the idea of making Dreamcast backwards compatible with the Saturn because an emulator proved too difficult.

Nintendo elected not to make the N64 able to run its old software, but that hasn't stopped a wily Asian company coming up with an alternative.

The Tristar 64 is the world's only NES and SNES emulator for the N64. With one of these babies fitted to your console the massive Nintendo back catalogue is all yours for the playing.

The manufacturer, Ultimate Video Gaming Accessories, reckons the machine is 98 per cent compatible with all those Super Nintendo games gathering dust in the loft. There are a few exceptions due to esoteric "lock out" chips (like the never released in Europe title, Super Mario RPG) used in some carts but all the big games play perfectly.

The gizmo fits on top of the 64 and has three cart slots - one each for the NES, SNES and N64 games. Out of the box it can play European, Japanese and American software - there's even a built-in cheat cartridge function for more than 700 titles. Flash memory allows for new codes to be added and saved.

Future updates may also include a Game Boy slot transforming one platform (the N64) into a machine capable of emulating every major Nintendo home console.

Ultimate Video Gaming Accessories is hard at work developing several other emulation goodies. There's already an adapter for playing Game Boy titles on the N64 and PlayStation, although it doesn't support sound.

Sadly this cartridge also allows pirates to use their PlayStations to run copied games - so its legality is somewhat dubious.

There's another drawback, too.

As of writing I could find no European distributor of the Tristar64 which is a huge shame because the devices retails for a little over £50 in America and, at that price, is sure to find an audience in this country.

You could always trying ordering one from UVGA's website, just point your browser at www.Tristar64.com, but I can't vouch for the results.

The Tristar64 is one of many nifty gadgets made in the Far East that never gets released over here. Just like the N64 CD drive - the Doctor V64 - and the NES adapter for the Super Nintendo, they are considered too "risky" because they don't appeal to the mainstream. In the Doctor V64's case, however, the fact that it can be used to run pirated Nintendo CD ROMs , its legendary circuit board soldering problems and the non CE certified power adapter are more likely reasons for a no show.

Still the Tristar seems to perform a much more useful function and, hopefully, one enterprising importer will find it worth taking a chance.

Gadget Man's Geek Speak: emulation - the process of making one machine (usually a PC) act like another (usually an ageing games console) and thereby allowing it to run old software (almost certainly games).

What's the biggest toy likely to be this Christmas? Well it could be little green men. A new pocket money toy from Time4Toys called Martian Brainz is expected to make a big impact on Santa's wanted list this Yuletide.

Cocooned in a blanket of cyber gel, these crazy space tourists come in a pod the size of a large egg. Their brainz can be removed for closer inspection by curious little boys.