Hardware Sega Genesis VGM Player

While it’s obvious that modern video games are superior to those of older consoles technically speaking, there’s still something very entertaining about how these games were designed in order to overcome graphical limitations. Along with this, sounds were necessarily restricted by processor speed and memory, leading to distinct, but very catchy theme music.

In order to play back these tunes, hacker Aidan Lawrence created his own VGM (video game music) player, based on the Yamaha YM2612 and TI SN76289 chips used in the Sega Genesis and Master System, respectively. His build features an ESP8266 module for control along with a few shift shift registers, and four breadboards that house the system’s components. Finally, another small auxiliary breadboard with buttons and an Arduino Nano is employed as a user interface.

Be sure to see this amazing creation in the video below, and check out Lawrence’s GitHub page for its schematics and code. You can also find some of the earlier prototypes on his YouTube channel here.