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Play Classic Games on the Mini OLED Retro Handheld

This portable gaming device is made with a prominent Nintendo Switch-style grip and a minimum of parts.

Jeremy Cook
5 years agoGaming

The “Mini OLED Retro Handheld” by electrical engineering student Alex Zidros may not play the latest games — or anything in color for that matter — but does give you a gaming system with a proud grip structure reminiscent of the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con. He has no idea why he made this, but does "love video games and building things.” This seems like as good a reason as any.

The little device is based on an Adafruit Feather 328P, which features the same ATmega328P MCU as the Arduino Uno/Nano, but adds in a handy LiPo connector, as well as a tiny prototyping perfboard area. This makes it perfect as a handheld, as a LiPo and OLED display can be arranged on top of it without much more components-wise. The battery simply plugs in and a couple buttons are added to the "perf-area," while the Feather’s Micro USB port is exposed on the left side for programming and charging.

The build is in fact heavily inspired by the Switch — though much cheaper — and the 3D-printed structure is even derived from this design. With the body and grips printed out, it’s pretty much just a matter of hooking up GND, VCC, SCL, and SDA to the 128x64 pixel OLED, along with the perfboard buttons and another pair on the shoulders.

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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