NES PC Gaming Mod

[buddman]

Hey everyone. I've always been a reader of the Anandtech articles, but never really visited the forums. Thought I'd register to post a project I've recently completed - a NES PC.

I've actually posted this around a bit at a few other forums, but figured why not post it here as well? Now this isn't a new idea - many people have already done NES PC mods in the past. But I wanted to try and make one for a single purpose - play NES games. I've always been a fan of Nintendo because of the NES, and it's been a joy to be able to build this box and finish this project. To share it with others, I decided to film my progress (3 videos below).

The NES I used as the case was non-working, and the NES case was repainted because it was so beat up. Here are some pics of the finished build:

To get a better idea of the box, and the project as a whole, here are youtube videos that documented the progress. The part 1 video's quality is very bad and was filmed with an old Olympus Stylus 760 camera, and it had very little production/editing done to it. But don't let that throw you off - part 2 and part 3 more than make up for that. They were shot with a better camera, and I spent some time producing those:

NES PC Build Project - Part 1
NES PC Build Project - Part 2
NES PC Build Project - Part 3

Let me know what you think!

 

[Ichinisan]

My NES is connected to the 52" HDTV...and I still play it.

The PS3 only gets used for movies (seriously).

It looks nice. I really don't like the idea of sacrificing a working NES, or even one that just needs a replacement cart connector.

 

[buddman]

Well this one wouldn't even power on with a working power adapter, so wasn't sure what the deal with it was. So yeah, it definately didn't work. So instead of getting rid of the case, decided to mod it.

 

[punjabiplaya]

toss it in the case mod thread
good work!

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=159088

 

[eldorado99]

Thats pretty freakin sweet.

 

[buddman]

toss it in the case mod thread
good work!

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=159088

Thanks, didn't even know it existed.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Wow...i just watched the 3rd video..that is legit...

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I skipped straight to the last video. This is just awesome man, great work. I really enjoyed your personal history with NES.

Did you write the arcade frontend yourself? Any plans to release the source code? I would love to check it out.

 

[buddman]

The front-end is a community driven effort, but I don't have any part in its actual development - I mainly just support the project and those who need help in the forums. Check out hyperspin-fe.com to see it.

There are many other front-ends out there, but this is probably my favorite Windows-based one.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Pretty damn awesome. Any options on wireless controllers?

 

[zinfamous]

awesome.

geek status ++++

:beer:

 

[mesthead21]

epic man, that build looks super clean. I like the back story as well

 

[dfuze]

Damn, all the good stuff is blocked here at work, marked for later when I get home.

 

[Praetor]

That is awesome!

 

[meltdown75]

that's really sweet. i love stuff like this! great job man.

 

[buddman]

Pretty damn awesome. Any options on wireless controllers?

I could put in wireless controllers, but to me that ruins the retro look. So I just stay with any regular Nintendo controller - I prefer the NES MAX.

 

[rivan]

Dude, that's badass. Great work, and I'm right there with you on the nostalgia for the NES.

:thumbsup:

Watching the vids, I see you ran the SATA cable in through the cart - I wonder if you could have adapted the cart connector to handle the SATa connection/power. Certainly enough pins available, but I'm clueless if the size/composition of the connection would present any issues.

 

[Eli]

That's awesome.

 

[dpodblood]

Cool mod. Welcome to the forums.

 

[ockky]

You get the "This is the greatest thing i've seen all week" award. Bravo good sir, bravo

mind is blown

i'm gonna go sit on the toilet and cry the morning away in my unworthiness

 

[buddman]

Dude, that's badass. Great work, and I'm right there with you on the nostalgia for the NES.

:thumbsup:

Watching the vids, I see you ran the SATA cable in through the cart - I wonder if you could have adapted the cart connector to handle the SATa connection/power. Certainly enough pins available, but I'm clueless if the size/composition of the connection would present any issues.

Hrm, that's an interesting idea. But that would mean making some SATA to NES cart pin adapter...which I wouldn't even know where to begin on how to do that. I'm sure it's not impossible though.

Thanks all for the kudos. BTW, I just found out that it's going to be the NES's 25th year anniversary on Monday, Oct 18th. I had no clue until today. Lucky timing. Man do I feel old now...haha.

 

[TheVrolok]

That's really impressive work. I'm very tempted to do something similar. I might be checking ebay soon. Awesome stuff.

 

[buddman]

That's really impressive work. I'm very tempted to do something similar. I might be checking ebay soon. Awesome stuff.

I think Ebay was one of my best friends during this project. Had to get some miscellaneous things that you just don't find in regular hardware stores.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

The front-end is a community driven effort, but I don't have any part in its actual development - I mainly just support the project and those who need help in the forums. Check out hyperspin-fe.com to see it.

There are many other front-ends out there, but this is probably my favorite Windows-based one.

Hyperspin looks hte best. Mala is what I use in part due to populatiry but mostly because it is easy to get setup and going.

For what it is worth, I built an arcade cabinet and this is the build thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105534.0

nearly finished:

 

[buddman]

Hyperspin looks hte best. Mala is what I use in part due to populatiry but mostly because it is easy to get setup and going.

For what it is worth, I built an arcade cabinet and this is the build thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105534.0

nearly finished:

Very nice. I've always wanted to build a full arcade unit. Someday....maybe.