Super Pixel Bros Now With Manufactured PCB And Rewritten Software

[Retro Brad] has come a long way with his 8×8 gaming device which he calls Super Pixel Bros. The newest rendition has a fab house PCB and freshly rewritten code. The game is still played on an 8×8 LED matrix, but it looks like he’s sourced a version with square pixels, which is a nice touch since he was inspired by the block-based Super Mario games. Also new in this version is the character LCD screen which displays score, level, and life information. But it’s not just the shiny new hardware that’s different, he’s rewritten the software in Swordfish Basic to run on the PIC 18F4550. The new code allowed him to tweak how levels are loaded and stored. He’s even written a level editor and has finished 20 levels thus far.

The demo after the break does a great job of showing off the hardware and the game play. He’s added a lot, including enemies, the ability to shoot fire, and of course the common moves of jumping and breaking blocks is all there. He mentioned that the fab house he used is selling boards for around $5 and he’s looking into the possibility of getting a kit service up and running.

His progress since we last checked in on the project is quite impressive.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sEUDSz9XuY&w=470]

18 thoughts on “Super Pixel Bros Now With Manufactured PCB And Rewritten Software

  1. Thanks for the comments everyone.

    I am still working with iteadstudio to see if they will take this on and sell it all together as a kit. They are China based and offer very good prices for what they sell.

    If you wanted to source the parts yourself, the best bet is ebay but you will normally have to buy in bulk to get good discounts.

    As for the LED Matrix, just search ebay for RGB LED MATRIX and make sure it is a worldwide search and select lowest price first. The cheapest I have seen them is about $10. Any 8×8 RGB Matrix will do because they all have the same pinout.

    The round LED’s are cheaper than the square though.

    1. You could sell kits yourself if you had a bit of spare time. Might be the best way to make money on it considering it is a fairly niche product, even as a finished unit. Selling as kits adds to that. At least you wouldn’t have to spend time in fabrication.

    2. The RGB matrix will be either common-anode or common-cathode – you won’t be able to use one in place of the other.

      Great project! I dream of the day when RGB matrices only cost a couple of dollars and I can cover a wall.

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