This innovative Raspberry Pi hack sees a NES console with a keyboard tucked into the cartridge slot.
The original Nintendo Entertainment System console is a firm favourite for Raspberry Pi hackers.
We've seen consoles with the Raspberry Pi placed in the cartridge, the cartridge using NFC chips to load games, and even screens built into the cartridge.
But this is the first time we've seen a keyboard hacked onto the cartridge itself. And if you think about it, that makes a lot of sense.
Building a Raspberry Pi NES with a keyboard cartridge
On the outside, the Raspberry Pi Nintendo Case / NES Cartridge Keyboard project looks just like a regular NES.
On the inside, it's been hacked to contain a Raspberry Pi 3 running Retropie. It uses the original controller to play games.
So far, this is cool but nothing particularly unique. What is clever is when you pop out the cartridge. Here you'll find a Bluetooth keyboard embedded into the rear of the cart.
This is genuinely practical. With Retropie running, you often need access to a keyboard to setup and play games properly.
In the Raspberry Pi Nintendo Case / NES Cartridge Keyboard project the keyboard is part of the case, tucked away when not need and pops out when required.
It's a work in progress, and the keyboard currently needs charging separately. But the next stage in the build is to charge the wireless keyboard when it's slotted inside the NES.
The list of parts is low, and we don't think it'll be a particularly difficult build to emulate. Here are the parts used:
- Retropie
- Raspberry Pi 3
- NES to USB Adapter
- NES/SNES to USB PCB Adapter
- HDMI cable (Flat)
- USB Female Type A Port
- Apple USB Power Adapter
We'd be interested to see if anybody else has tried a similar project. Let us know how you get on.
