Gamer Uses Raspberry Pi Zero to Cram Entire Game Console into Old Xbox Controller

Not many things can be had for five bucks nowadays, much less a full-on single board computer. That notion was recently destroyed last month when Raspberry Pi released their ultra-small model Zero, which sports a single-core 1GHz ARM-11 CPU, Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU, and 512Mb of RAM.

While the board has only been out for about a week, Makers have adapted it and used it in a host of projects, including gaming, which is what one DIYer did with his by turning it into a gaming emulator.

Terence Eden designed his portable emulation console using the original massive Xbox controller along with the Raspberry Pi Zero, essentially making it a gaming console that acts as the controller.

Since the Zero nestles between the controller’s two triggers, a little modding needed to be done to the inside — specifically, cutting away some of the plastic as well as removing its memory card holder (which was no longer needed).

To wire up the controller to the Zero, Eden stripped the controller’s USB cable and spliced it into an OTG USB cable, which easily connects to the board’s micro USB port. The Zero also sports an HDMI port that easily connects to almost any of today’s displays, making the emulator a pocket-sized portable console.

In order to play games, Eden chose the pre-built image RetroPie from petRock to get the emulator up and running.

With a few clicks of a button, Eden was up and running and playing the original Doom. Not bad for an SBC that costs as much as a fast food combo meal, considering you probably already have a controller and a few spare cables lying around your home!