Amiibo Emulator Becomes Pocket 2.4 GHz Spectrum Analyzer

December 11, 2025 by Matt Varian 11 Comments

As technology marches on, gear that once required expensive lab equipment is now showing up in devices you can buy for less than a nice dinner. A case in point: those tiny displays originally sold as Nintendo amiibo emulators. Thanks to [ATC1441], one of these pocket-sized gadgets has been transformed into 2.4 GHz spectrum analyzer.

These emulators are built around the Nordic nRF52832 SoC, the same chip found in tons of low-power Bluetooth devices, and most versions come with either a small LCD or OLED screen plus a coin cell or rechargeable LiPo. Because they all share the same core silicon, [ATC1441]’s hack works across a wide range of models. Don’t expect lab-grade performance; the analyzer only covers the range the Bluetooth chip inside supports. But that’s exactly where Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and a dozen other protocols fight for bandwidth, so it’s perfect for spotting crowded channels and picking the least congested one.

Flashing the custom firmware is dead simple: put the device into DFU mode, drag over the .zip file, and you’re done. All the files, instructions, and source are up on [ATC1441]’s PixlAnlyzer GitHub repo. Check out some of the other amiibo hacks we’ve featured as well.

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Exploring TapTo NFC Integration On The MiSTer

September 15, 2024 by Dave Rowntree 14 Comments

[Ken] from the YouTube channel What’s Ken Making is back with another MiSTer video detailing the TapTo project and its integration into MiSTer. MiSTer, as some may recall, is a set of FPGA images and a supporting ecosystem for the Terasic DE10-Nano FPGA board, which hosts the very capable Altera Cyclone V FPGA.

The concept behind TapTo is to use NFC cards, stickers, and other such objects to launch games and particular key sequences. This allows an NFC card to be programmed with the required FPGA core and game image. The TapTo service runs on the MiSTer, waiting for NFC events and launching the appropriate actions when it reads a card. [Ken] demonstrates many such usage scenarios, from launching games quickly and easily with a physical ‘game card’ to adding arcade credits and even activating cheat codes.

As [Ken] points out, this opens some exciting possibilities concerning physical interactivity and would be a real bonus for people less able-bodied to access these gaming systems. It was fun to see how the Nintendo Amiibo figures and some neat integration projects like the dummy floppy disk drive could be used.

TapTo is a software project primarily for the MiSTer system, but ports are underway for Windows, the MiSTex, and there’s a working Commodore 64 game loader using the TeensyROM, which supports TapTo. For more information, check out the TapTo project GitHub page.

We’ve covered the MiSTer a few times before, but boy, do we have a lot of NFC hacks. Here’s an NFC ring and a DIY NFC tag, just for starters.

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