Beyond the forest of wiring, this actually doesn’t look as difficult as some of the crazier custom jobs we’ve seen, and odds are most folks have an old and unused console lying around somewhere. Might be a good place to start for the modding newbie. Success would be so very sweet, and if you fail… well, maybe you can just put it all back together and blow in it or something.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Modder Trstn18 created his SNEGENES P handheld with the parts from an authentic “mini” SNES, and a Gen-X clone machine. The whole thing is set into a custom see-through case so you can see all the electronic goodness inside. While I wouldn’t necessarily call a system that’s 8.6-inches wide, 5.4-inches tall and 1-inch thick “handheld”, it’s still a pretty great mod job.

The SNEGENES P is powered by six 2600mAh batteries, which let it play for somewhere around 5 to 7 hours on a single charge. There’s also composite video and stereo audio outputs, which let Trstn play his favorite games on a TV. And yes, Virginia, it can play actual cartridges from these retro systems – unfortunately, the rear of the SNEGENES is a bit of a hot mess:

Here’s a brief video clip showing off the SNEGENES P in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now why the video clip is backwards, I have no idea. Maybe it’s because “snegenes” sounds like a backwards chant you’d hear in a subliminal message on a Beatles record. Just hold your computer up to a mirror and you can watch it properly.

[via Ben Heck Forums]

Created by stained glass artist Radiant Art, this stained glass super ’shroom was created as an homage to the classic 8-bit Super Mario Bros. series. Instead of being made from pixels, it’s made from colorful glass. The piece was created from over 80 individual pieces of glass and comes in a 15-inch square zinc frame – I’m pretty sure there was no zinc in the Mushroom Kingdom. All I remember is gold coins. So much for accuracy. Feh.

So if you’re looking for some art to complement your other Mario decor, you can find the super mushroom stained glass window over on Radiant Art’s Etsy shop for $175 (USD). While you’re over there, be sure to say hello to Pac-Man.

This latest NES hack/mod comes to us from Joe over at ProtoDojo. While rummaging through his uncle’s garage, Joe came upon his old Nintendo system. And like any good modder, he decided to see what he could make out of the gear instead of just tossing it or selling it.

Not surprisingly, his first instinct was to turn the controller into a flash drive. But this struck him as too obvious, so he decided to program the controller/flash drive in such a way that it would require the famous Konami Code be input before a computer recognizes it.

Man, I’m not doing the “Retro GamerDrive” any justice, so stop listening to me prattle on about Joe’s project and learn about it from the man himself:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

On an unrelated note, anyone who didn’t appreciate my ALIAS reference can’t be friends with me. Just sayin’.

[via Kotaku]

Inspired by an earlier NESp (Ninendo Entertainment System portable) mod by darkeru, modder airz managed to put a completely playable game system, including a 2.8-inch LCD screen and original NES controller buttons into an old Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridge. The broken off cartridge connector board at the bottom is nice touch, too.

Now, you may ask how he fit an entire NES inside a cartridge – the answer is simple – airz’ NESp isn’t a real Nintendo console. It’s actually one of those cheap Chinese PMPs that happens to be able to emulate NES games. But that doesn’t make it any less cool in my book. The way I figure it, that just means that he doesn’t need to carry around a bunch of other cartridges to play games. It can also play Game Boy and Game Boy Color games as an added bonus. And movies, MP3s and even receives FM radio to boot. Airz even preserved the portable’s video-out port so he can play games on a television too.

Here’s a vid clip of the Airz’ NESp in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

From the looks of the video, though, it sounds like someone needs to increase the framerate skip on their NES emulator. Mario seems to be playing just a wee bit faster than the original.

[via Ben Heck Forums]

While there aren’t many details about the heritage of this mod, what we can see from the picture is that the little droid is loaded up with a Dreamcast, an Xbox, an N64, an Atari 2600, a SEGA Saturn, an NES, an SNES and a PlayStation. It’s also got a projector and sound system built-in for good measure.

Though R2-D2 may have been designed as a utility droid, I think he’s finally found his real purpose – gaming droid.

[via Hack N Mod]

The mysteriously named SP2 handheld can play games from the original NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy Color, Neo Geo and yes, the Game Boy Advance. Just load your favorite ROMs (no where ever would you have gotten those from?) onto a MicroSD card, stick ‘em into the slot, and you’re all set to play all your retro classics on the SP2’s 2.4-inch LCD screen. It also claims to come with “hundred games built in”, for what that’s worth.

As an added bonus, the SP2 can play music in MP3 or WMA formats, as well as videos in RM/RMV and AVI formats. There’s also a built in voice recorder and microphone (which I’d love to see hacked to control gameplay at some point). In addition to the silver version pictured above, it’s available in both black and gold case designs, in case you’re into that sort of thing.

Of course those of you with a keen powers of observation will notice this emulator’s relative dearth of buttons. While you should be fine playing all those NES and Game Boy games, you might have trouble with SNES and Neo Geo games because those consoles had 4 buttons on the face of their controllers. That said, there are a couple of hidden shoulder buttons, but I’m not sure that will help.

Still, if you want to give one a whirl, you can grab the SP2 over on DealExtreme for $65.90(USD) each. Me, I’ll stick to playing with my Dingoo.

The dog measures 18″ wide by 16″ tall and is made from recycled pixels wood and a glossy coat of paint. It’s available over on pixelparty’s Etsy shop for $400 bucks, which is just slightly less than what would cost you to buy a real dog. But at least this one only poops pixels.

[via Sprite Stitch]

Not to be outdone by the classic Atari Video Music synth, Pete Edwards of Casper Electronics put together this highly modded Nintendo Entertainment System capable of cranking out a wide variety of hypnotic and just plain weird video patterns.

By adding a patch bay and connecting them to various locations on the video processing chips, the images on screen can be modified by interconnecting the patch points or by feeding in external signals.

Here’s a video of the circuit bent NES being controlled by signals from Pete’s modular synth:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can also achieve similar effects from your NES by smashing it with a hammer while plugged in – for at least 10 seconds. Check out the complete worklog here.

[via Make:]

Or, if you prefer to go super classic, the NES controller case may be more your thing:

Patola’s felting shop on Etsy has the cases up for sale for $27 and $25 (USD), respectively, and I’ve got to say that I think that’s a good price. I see a lot of handmade cases, and these look really neat and well made, with lots of attention to detail. Plus I’m a sucker for shiny red buttons. I’m a simple girl.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Okay, so this is a completely different shade of gold, with copper thrown in, but it’s more about the connotation of gold and Zelda. Work with me here.

Nice, subtle contrast of colors… but doesn’t it seem like something’s missing? Doesn’t the console seem naked? There’s no logo! The buttons are as bare as can be, too! To me, that almost changes the look more than the color does. I’m lost without those splashes of red.

But I do like the console, particularly for the aforementioned connotation, and perhaps best of all, this is almost a stealth console. You could hide it right in your living room, drop a vase on top of it, and no one would notice a thing… until you started throwing down on some octoroks, that is.

The guys over at 8-Bit Memory take retro NES carts and retrofit them with USB hard drives that you can use with any modern PC or Mac.

I think I’d load up all of my favorite 8-bit emulators and games onto the drive so I could take them anywhere I go. As an added bonus, you won’t have to blow on the edge of this cartridge to get your games to load.

The basic model ($119.99 USD) comes with a 250GB hard drive, but 8-Bit Memory will make custom drives with capacities of 320GB, 400GB, 500GB or 750GB for an extra charge. And they’ll be happy to dig up your favorite NES game to build a custom enclosure just for you. Head on over to 8-Bit Memory’s Etsy shop to get your hands on one.

You know, looking at this, the opening of Super Mario Bros., it occurs to me that I couldn’t possibly guess how many times I have played through this moment of the game. I think the motions are probably so ingrained in my fingers that I could do it with my eyes closed. But is that a testament to the game, or to the NES’s amazing gamepad?

I like the blue on the Mario bag, but it has to lose out to the controller that lives on in my heart. But whatever your tastes, from Donkey Kong to Pac-Man, you can find it in the 16-BIT Etsy shop.

Though I can’t say for sure, I’d be willing to bet that’s the groom’s cake (but there isn’t another cake in the pictures available, so maybe not!), but the little Mario and Peach on the tag–that’s adorable. A nice nod to happy couples everywhere… even those who are sometimes made of pixels.

There was another Nintendo tag, too… on the bride’s garter! See, there’s a little controller.

I’m guessing that’s meant to symbolize all the groom’s favorite things in one place. Well played, Mr. Shackelford.

[via GoNintendo]

That’s what synth hacker Denkitribe did when he rewired an old Famicom/NES Power Glove to control an Arduino-based controller circuit. The Arduino translates finger movements into MIDI CC messages, which in turn control a digital synthesizer. Want to hear what it sounds like? Then check out this video clip…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The initial prototype still uses the old-school ultrasonic microphone sensors from the original Power Glove, but Denkitribe plans on eventually upgrading the glove to use modern accelerometer technology. But once he does that, I doubt he’ll be able to play any more Super Glove Ball or Bad Street Brawler anymore. Oh, the things we do in the name of hacking.

Handcrafted by Mindy Y. (aka “enemyairship”), the 7-foot square, 8-bit Racoon Mario rug is made from 386 individual “granny square” pixels. It took Mindy about 120 hours to put the whole thing together, and she even ended up using a color-coded Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to plan out the design. How geeky indeed!

Mindy also created the accompanying Question Mark Block ottoman, a 15-inch cube stitched from vinyl fabric, yet not stocked with any coins, or 1-up mushrooms. What’s the deal? When I put my feet up on this thing, I expect some power-ups dammit!

If you’re interested in having your own custom video game decor, Mindy does take commission orders for pretty much anything on her Flickr page. You can head over to her Etsy shop and drop her a note if you’ve got something you’re looking for. Me? I desperately need a Duck Hunt dog bed.

Or a cardboard power cord. Or a cardboard RCA jack. Or a cardboard TV. Or a cardboard player. Or a cardboard house. Or a cardboard world. How inconsiderate.

[via Forever Geek]

One look at that thing and it all came flooding back. I probably shouldn’t own one of these, or else I might space out and reminisce every time I give out or receive a business card. Not that I’ve ever done either. But if you think you can withstand the torrent of the blocky and pixelated past, you can pre-order one now at Geek Stuff 4 U for ￥2,900 (approx. $30 USD). It’ll start shipping and assaulting the minds of 80s-born gamers this October.

[via Boing Boing]

Pixel art is a funny thing: it’s both simple and complicated. Artist and Sprite Stitch forum poster Brit.knee reports that, in order to create these paintings, she found beadcraft images or old screenshots and blew them up so that she could count the pixels required to make each picture. After that, it’s a matter of creating a grid on the canvas and “sketching” the piece out that way.

Me, I always like the little details in work like this, and here it’s the hearts on Link’s “screen” that bring a smile to my face. I can picture that screen immediately to the right from the starting point in The Legend of Zelda, and my first encounter with the Octoroks. Good times.

[via Sprite Stitch forums]

But unlike any emulator I have ever heard of, OpenEmu treats these video game systems as plugins. Not only that, you can play with several ROMs at the same time, as shown in the picture above. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of awesome that is OpenEmu.

The window on the left is where you insert, activate and connect plugins. If you’re a fan of DAWs, think of Reason; OpenEmu’s kinda like that. If you’ve never used Reason, you’re missing out on a lot. And watch this video to get an idea of how OpenEmu works (and so to a small extent, Reason as well):

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I know right? WTF and FTW mashed into one. It’s kinda like a retro and trippy LittleBigPlanet, where you can fiddle around with what you’re given and create something else entirely. You can synchronize music with the effects and make a video out of a NES game in real time with just a press of a button. No meddling with video software needed.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you’re not into multimedia and you just wanna fiddle with games, OpenEmu can help you with that too.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Who knows what else you can do with this thing? I mean we certainly didn’t expect what 2 girls can do with just 1 cup. Check out Peter Kirn’s article at Create Digital Motion for more details on OpenEmu, vade and Dan Winckler’s Vimeo accounts for more vids, or just wing it, download the emulator, and mess games up right frakkin now! *ahem* currently Mac only.

[via Retro Thing]