This “Gamegirl” 3D printed Gameboy replica by Adafruit features some seriously upgraded hardware to mark the original’s 25th anniversary. The Raspberry Pi processor allows it to run Gameboy, or even MAME ROMs, and the color touchscreen allows for much better graphics than the original’s grayscale display. Adding to these significant upgrades, the built-in rechargeable battery is a welcome addition. Those that had these devices likely remember buying battery after battery to keep playing Tetris or SolarStriker.
The case is 3D printed, and aside from the varied colors, it could be mistaken for an original Gameboy; at least it appears that way from the video. Aside from the printed parts, the gamepad buttons are recycled from a Super Nintendo controller, so there is some disassembly and cutting involved. Quite a few more components are also needed from Adafruit, but the instructions seem to lay everything out nicely.
If “merely” playing ROMs isn’t good enough for you, this very hackable set of hardware could function as a platform for many other unique programming projects. It will be interesting to see if any interesting modications come out of this build. I’d personally like to see the other two top SNES buttons used for a more versatile control scheme. On the other hand, that would lower the “replica factor,” so maybe that’s missing the point!
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