Portable NES in a GameGear
Inspired by Ladyada’s infamous GameGrrl, I recently became determined to make my own portable NES out of the MegaJoy (one of those knockoff Nintendo systems that can be found in malls) and the recently discontinued HIP Gear Screen pad. However, for my project I wanted to do something slightly different. I wanted to give mine a more unique feel, so when I recently found my old Sega GameGear I instantly knew that it was destined for this project.
The Plan: Completely gut the GameGear and use it as casing for… the MegaGear - 76,000 NES games in 1.
The Parts:
The MegaJoyIII
Hip Gear Screen Pad
Sega GameGear case
The Tools:
Soldering Iron
Multimeter
Wire Cutters
Electrical Tape
Assorted Screwdrivers
and its always good to have a rotary tool - for any necessary cutting.
Step One: Take everything apart. Pictured above is the HIP Gear controller, where my screen came from. Some of these components can be discarded, but carefully study the circuitry before cutting any wires. The circuit board located on top in the picture is the controller for the LCD screen, so be carefull not to damage it. Follow these same methods for the MegaJoy; disassemble the casing, study the circuitry, and salvage the needed components.
Step Two: I then began to solder the two components together. I connected the LCD (pictured on the left) to the MegaJoy processor and controller (pictured on the right). For the correct pin-out connections I followed Ladyada’s expert notes. The first thing I did was to test both the MegaJoy and the LCD together. I powered them with a 9V battery and crossed my fingers for some screen output.
Pictured above you can see the list of games on the screen, meaning that both the LCD and MegaJoy worked together. At this point, I released a HUGE sigh of relief, and continued to piece my gaming system together.
Step Three: Since my screen and processor work together, I then began to focus on connecting the controller. I took the original controller from the MegaJoy and cut it in half to fit the GameGear case. Once I had the pieces sized proportionally, I began the daunting task of soldering all the connections from the controller chip (cleverly disguised as a black glob of epoxy) to the MegaJoy processor as seen above. Again, if you wish to know the correct pin-outs, check Ladyada’s brilliant site.
Step Four: Once all of my components were connected together I placed it all inside the GameGear case and began screwing stuff down. Pictured above is what the inside of my MegaGear looked like. Notice the high class electrical tape that was used to temporarily hold the button panels in place. When everything has been screwed/taped in place, I tested the circuits again, and placed the other half of the GameGear case on.
Finally, I connected the 9V back up and the MegaGear was good to go. I now have a 76,000 game console system, or as I commonly refer to it, my portable Contra player.Ø
Those mega joys have a cart connector for famicom games right? Did you make a cart slot on the back of the game gear casing for famicom carts, or did you discard it?
I didn’t discard it - its still there, just not being used right now. Maybe in the future I can fix it up better.
That screen looks hideous. You should have kept the lcd from the game gear and use that instead. Good hack though.
you could just get a gba and a flash rom. but this is geekier.
Actually George, the screen from the gamegear was way too low res. I guess I could have made it work though, had I not broke it in the dissassembly process
And eric, I thought about that but I preferred the hardware method as it was actually cheaper than buying a GBA computer connector cable.
Even if you didn’t break the Game Gear LCD you can’t use it because it doesn’t accept a composite signal. The Game Gear LCD is garbage anyway. Try putting a piece of black paper inside to frame the LCD in the case if the looks bother you.
Actually, I like the look of the screen now and how you can see the circuitry behind it. gives it a real ‘homebrew’ kinda feel.
could you try using the screen from the original GBA it is wide screen and it looks cooler. I know it doesn’t accept composite so you can build a chroma converter which decodes composite into RGB which the Gamegear also uses. you a;so could use the USB pinout from the side pin1=+or- (not sure) 2=+or- (not sure) 3=info (for sure). Google for “portendo” for chroma converter, the guy used a Gamegear screen. L@@K
I wonder if you stuffed the PS2 controller back together, would it work?
I don’t know much about the GBA screen except that I still use my GBA and wouldn’t want to destroy the expensive screen.
But if you had a busted GBA laying around then I’d say go for it. If you make any progress out of it, be sure to let us see!
Also i checked out that “portendo” : http://tripoint.org/kevtris/Projects/portendo/
It looks pretty cool but it also looks like a LOT more work than just buying a HIPGear controller and ripping off the screen. the screen is really clear and accepts the composite signal so its a great piece for lots of different projects.
I think it looks great! I don’t even think that “chroma decoder” would even fit inside the case! What’s the point of making an NES portable if you got crap hanging out of it?
I’m building an NES portable with the Hip Gear screen too, but I plan on making a custom case out of a 6×3x2 Radio Shack Project Box and it’s a real pain, but hopefully it’s worth it.
awesome man! good luck
Actually, the GBA screen won’t accept a composite signal either. You would need a videoinput cart from Lik-Sang to get that type of signal into a GBA.
Kevin Horton got his NOAC portable working with the chroma decoder board, true. However, the board was only necessary to create the RGB signals the Nomad screen handles. But the nomad screen is not TFT, so it blurs a lot and makes anything above Atari 2600 or NES unbearable to play.
The Hip Gear, Intec screenapd, and PSone screens are the best to use for portable handheld systems.
Or you can just get a gp2x and a SD card, download some emulators, and have every NES, SNES, SMS and Genesis system in a handheld system.
Your a freak, that is so cool….
WOW, certainly amazing this hack. I was looking for a long time for a gg hack, since mine seems to be not working well anymore. Just for letting the gaming aside, can it be possible just to make software for the gg? like a wifi locator or something like that? since it can run roms, could it run j2me, or some tiny C software? how could that be? Maybe im going too high on this, but i was just wondering…
interesting idea Zeus. I don’t know much about the gamegear hardware. I just used it for its good looks
That would be really cool though - implementing new uses with old components.
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Actually, I’m a member of the benheck.com forums, and if you’ve heard of ladyada’s stuff, you probably heard of ours too. it is known to our forums that there is a special adapter that you can get that allows NES play on Famicom units, you can get it simply by smashing open an old Gyromite cart…
[…] Did you know that Limor Fried (aka Ladyada) had a blog? I just found this out today and am very excited about it. I have been following her projects for well over a year now and have really been inspired by some of her designs (see Portable NES in a GameGear). It looks like she is just getting started but already has some cool stuff up. Look at this guy’s awesome business card that she found: […]
If this can be done, then I’m curious to know if you can replace the old, blurry Game Gear screen with something MUCH better like the new GBA SP screen…can it be done?
I whant to know how to get a hp lcd pic printer megajoy cuz the megajoy lcd screen was busted in shiping and i hav a lcd from a hp pic printer i think the lcd controler has bios if u have
any info on the pin outs for the controler plz e-mail me DEATH131331@yahoo.com
cool I just dont nowhere to get the hip gear screen
“SWEET”
nice “portable NES”: apple :
:apple:
Nice.. I was just thinking about SEGA game gear the other day. I was looking at buying a nintendo DS or PSP for myself and my boy. And remembered being 15 and haivng a game gear. Man… LOL Gotta love technology and how times change. Smaller i sbetter
Very cool. Now I wish I would have kept mine, even if just to tinker with.
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another cool hack
keep them up
happy christmas
look up jep’s place on amazon .com
Very cool. Now I i have to find a cheap game gear on ebay lol
thanks for the tutorial
verry informative thanks
i agree this is a cool idea
i use to love the game gear great idea, i agree with most about keeping the game gear screen but hi at least you made it work i’d of got fed up after about 10 mins. again another great post!
where do you get the controller thingy
what happens if the 9volt battery dies
how do you replace it
p.s awesome portable
do you need a working game gear
What kind of screen did u use? Where did you buy it?
This is freakin sweet! Keep em comin dude
yeh keep em comin there cool
sorry double post
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Very cool trick! Reminds me of when I was a kid and dismantled my games…of course, I didn’t know what I was doing and trashed ‘em! lol
Nice trick thanks!
Pretty amazing. Gotta love nes.
Methinks ive messed uo my soldering :S.
Time to check ebay for a new one lol. Thanks for the guide however
Haha this is awesome!