Turn an Old NES Cartridge Into a Modern Gaming System

Inspired by howchoo’s recent Pi Cart project, Snazzy Labs has managed to transform an old NES cartridge into a modern-day game console that lets you play classic titles in 4K resolution for less than $30.

Nintend0 is releasing their NES Classic Edition console this week. It’s really exciting to see the Japanese gaming giant excited about their old games again, but the $6o mini console only offers 30 games and is in short supply due to limited quantities and high demand. We suggest an alternative — one that is half the price and half the size — but can hold thousands of games from over three decades of consoles.

To accomplish this, Snazzy Labs used a Raspberry Pi Zero running the RetroPie emulator, along with a USB hub, a mini HDMI to HDMI cable, a USB OTG cable, a micro USB extension, and an NES screwdriver.

While this particular build doesn’t use an original NES controller (it instaed uses an iBuffalo USB gamepad), there are plenty of NES-style USB controllers around.

Ready to take your favorite childhood games to the next level? Check out Snazzy Labs’ entire tutorial here.