"Taki Udon" Unveils a Custom MiSTer-Compatible FPGA Emulation Board Priced at Just $99

Pseudonymous console emulation YouTuber "Taki Udon" has launched an alternative to the Terasic DE10-Nano FPGA development board for acting as a MiSTer host, promising to deliver the same or better performance at a lower cost with the MiSTer Pi — which is not, despite its name, related to the Raspberry Pi range of single-board computers.

"I never liked that MiSTer was tied to a platform that was out of reach for many people," Udon claims in an interview with Chris Person of Aftermath. "For a few years, I wanted to do something with FPGA, but there was never a good opportunity. Late last year, I started having discussions about whether or not it would be possible to create a successor platform for developers to migrate to with more performance at a lower price."

The MiSTer project was launched by Alexey Melnikov in June 2017, initially as a fork of the earlier MiST that sought to emulate the hardware of an Atari ST or Commodore Amiga microcomputer on an FPGA. MiSTer's initial contribution: doing away with the need for a custom PCB in favor of running the gateware on an off-the-shelf Terasic DE10-Nano FPGA development board, albeit with some custom add-ons including external SDRAM and a USB hub.

Now, MiSTer supports a wide range of targets for emulation and has been extended by third parties to include MIDI connectivity, ITX/ATX/AT-compatible mounting systems, an external Roland MT-32 emulator, and more — but the majority of the work is still focused on the Terasic DE10-Nano, despite its rising cost and frequent unavailability. This is where Udon's creation comes in, reversing MiSTer's move to an off-the-shelf development board and going back to a custom PCB once more — albeit one designed to be more affordable than the off-the-shelf alternative.

The MiSTer Pi is based around an Altera Cyclone V FPGA with 1GB of on-board DDR memory, and includes an HDMI video output. USB Type-C power, Ethernet, and a single USB Type-A host port. Its expansion headers play host, in the most basic bundle, to an active cooling "fan IO board," while — like the Terasic DE10-Nano versions — other add-ons are available including a 128MB SDRAM board, a USB hub, and an analog video and digital output board, all of which are based on or inspired by existing open-source designs.

Demand for the devices has been strong, with two initial production batches selling out in minutes — hardly surprising, given the low cost: the base pack, which bundles the MiSTer Pi with the fan board, is priced at just $99, with a $115 bundle adding the 128MB RAM module and a $160 "Mega Pack" including the USB hub and audio/video board.

More information is available on the Retro Remake website; Udon's full interview has been published on Aftermath.