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Nintendo Entertainment System Gaming PC Rig
buddman
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So...first off, if this doesn't belong in the forums, please move/remove as necessary, and my apologies.
To begin, I've been a long time reader of Penny Arcade, so thought I'd hit the forums for the first time to share a gaming project I recently completed - a NES PC gaming rig.
I basically modded a non-working NES (and by non-working, meaning it wouldn't even power on) into a NES PC gaming box to do one thing - play NES games. I documented the build progress in three videos. Now I need to point out that part 1 is very crappy - I filmed it with an Olympus Stylus 760 and didn't do any editing on the video itself. So don't let that one throw you off. Parts 2 and 3 are MUCH better in quality and production values. So anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think!
NES PC Build Project - Part 1
NES PC Build Project - Part 2
NES PC Build Project - Part 3
To begin, I've been a long time reader of Penny Arcade, so thought I'd hit the forums for the first time to share a gaming project I recently completed - a NES PC gaming rig.
I basically modded a non-working NES (and by non-working, meaning it wouldn't even power on) into a NES PC gaming box to do one thing - play NES games. I documented the build progress in three videos. Now I need to point out that part 1 is very crappy - I filmed it with an Olympus Stylus 760 and didn't do any editing on the video itself. So don't let that one throw you off. Parts 2 and 3 are MUCH better in quality and production values. So anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think!
NES PC Build Project - Part 1
NES PC Build Project - Part 2
NES PC Build Project - Part 3
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Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Also: that is pretty awesome.
Edit: 25th would make sense. God, I'm old :P
This is the most fantastic thing I have seen all week, barring the miner rescue
Super duper thumbs up
You are super rad
EDIT: this is a HELL of a way to make a first impression my friend
the best way, one might say
There's a HDD inside it.
It's a really nice mod.
Keep it up, good sir
The video explains it, but it's basically a SSD, 40GB, inside the cartridge. I appreciate all the kudos everyone.
So it's the 25th anniversary of the NES? Seesh, I feel even older.
still great (aside from the window at the top imo) but still...
I am curious, how did you get the controllers to work on USB ports? I thought USB had 4 wires, 5V, GND, +Data, and -Data. Doesn't the NES controller have more pins? I assumed it was some sort of serial interface like everything back then. Did you do use sort of serial-USB converter inside the box? I'd imagine that might be easiest, although I figure you'd need something in Windows to know how to handle it.
Also, how did you get Windows to be so unobtrusive? It was pretty slick and fast. Having it run the program on startup makes sense, but without seeing the Windows desktop?
How awesome?
So awesome.
halkun and slash frequent other places, and there's so much forum crossover between here and Something Awful that if the rule was "no posting awesome shit unless it's here exclusively" we'd never get to see awesome shit
There're various converted pads and kits out there. I think Thinkgeek even sells 'em.
Fantastic.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
The controller ports weren't too hard to do. I got a USB kit from retrousb.com. The kits are normally used to convert the controllers to a USB controller, but I decided to use it for the actual controller ports instead. This is good for two reasons - 1. It maintains the retro look by allowing normal/un-altered NES controllers, and 2. The ports themselves are the USB devices, which is why I can swap controllers and never have to worry about losing a button config. Any NES controller will work except for the Zap gun (the blue and purple wires on the controller port are not used, which are used for the Zapper). The only difficult part for me by modding the controller ports was that I had to learn to solder, and I had never done it before this project. I actually ended up destroying one chip while trying to learn, hehe.
To hide all the Windows stuff, I did a lot of dll editing, and I also shelled the front-end (so explorer.exe is never run - also why Windows loads so quickly). There are a lot of online guides on how to do this stuff. Look up basebrd.dll, authui.dll, and I think winlogon.exe.mui. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
I've seen other NES case PCs before, but the amount of work you've put into both the hardware and software definitely sets yours apart.
Setting up Hyperspin takes a long time, but the community is very helpful. Check out the forums for the various mods/downloads they have for it. Someone is about to release a cartridge based wheel image set for the NES, so I'll probably end up updating to that if/when it's completed.
Very nice!
My ability to construct is much to weak to be able to do something like that, yet I want to attempt it anyway because I would die a happy man if I could have that awesomeness.
I knew little to nothing when I started this project, and I would qualify my build skills as pretty weak - I wasn't even sure how to make the intro video for the box. It's amazing what you can do with Windows Live Movie Maker.
Two: You could've spared yourself the repaint by applying Retr0bright gel. Maybe if you do a SNES one, eh?
Holy crap this is amazing!
Internet, you never fail to surprise and amaze me.
So many people have told me about this. I wish I would have known about it, because painting/wetsanding the NES was probably the hardest part for me. It took me quite a few tries before I got it right.
Its a trick! Yes! say yes!
A very wise man once told me: "If somebody asks you if you're a god you say yes."
This has got to be one of the best NES mods I have seen in a while.
This pc mod was good too
That would be fun at first and then get real old. I do have a bass guitar that uses active pickups, though, so I locked it in order to conserve battery when it's left plugged in. You literally need to turn the lock before the bass will amplify.
Lol...yes, yes I am.
Doe....Ray....Egon!