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Hacking Classic Video Game Systems

Posted by Zonk on from the lazy-weekend-activities dept.

ThinSkin writes "ExtremeTech has been running a series of articles on hacking your old video game systems. The madness began when they tore open an old Super Nintendo and fashioned it into a portable gaming rig. Now, more recently, they've hacked a PSOne screen, which they will use for another type of portable gaming system."

8 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Upgrading old systems by ZephyrXero · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is eerie.... my buddy was just telling me not two minutes ago about how he had been planning on modding an old NES with new PC parts. It would be the ultimate emulator machine.

    Also strange...I just noticed that old NES is not much smaller than the Xbox...but no one ever complained about its size ;)

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    1. Re:Upgrading old systems by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 4, Interesting

      PC parts in a NES? What about NES Parts in a PC?

    2. Re:Upgrading old systems by ZephyrXero · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not taking weight into account... Put an Xbox and an NES next to each other and tell me that again...lol.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    3. Re:Upgrading old systems by MyDixieWrecked · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Do you mean something like this?

      I've actually begun a project like this, too. I've got 3 NESs that I just dug up and have taken one apart to start. I began writing a front/backend to a sweet-ass multi-emulator program in Python/GTK.

      My current plan is to fashion the front ports into USB ports, have the box run a highly customized install of Gentoo, and use the nice mini-itx Pentium4 board they now have available. I say "plan" since I don't know if I'll be able to do certain things and time/money constraints may change certain things. A 2.4ghz box may be overkill for such a project, but I have fears that the
      1ghz VIA board may not have enough graphics power.

      I also plan on having the machine act as a video player (and connect over NFS or similar technology to my server) as well as play CDs and DVDs in addition to GB/GBA/GBC/DS/NES/SNES/MAME/Genesis/Sega/GameGear/ TG16/etc/etc/etc emulators.

      --



      ...spike
      Ewwwwww, coconut...
  2. I've done something similar by BlastM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hacked an N64 down to it's bare essentials, and put it in my PC.

    It's powered by the PC's power supply and the video and audio cables are run through my digital TV tuner card so I can play it in all it's deinterlaced glory using tvtime, although it can be plugged into a large TV or a projector and a loud stereo.

    It's great at LAN parties. Nobody can resist the attraction of a GoldenEye deathmatch. >:D

  3. Good Site for the Topic by telstar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you're into hacking old machines into something new and portable, check out this site.

  4. *Sigh* I love and hate reading these stories. by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's so awesome how this guy does it, and usually gives enough info to do the rewiring on your own. The hard part (for me, at least) is making the damn cases. I wouldn't know where to start, or how to use the tools, or what... It's depressing, too. I'd love to play Suikoden or 7th Saga on a plane...

    1. Re:*Sigh* I love and hate reading these stories. by Filmwatcher888 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's easy to play old SNES games on a plane. Get yourself a Gamepark GP32. It looks like a GBA, but has tons of freeware apps and emulators. I picked mine up on Ebay, dirt cheap.