Restoring A 3DO Blaster Card From The Early 90s

May 15, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 12 Comments

Before the modern trifecta of video game giants came to dominate the market around two decades ago, the world was awash in video game consoles. Many of these retro platforms have largely been forgotten outside of the enthusiast communities, and an average gamer today might not have ever heard of brands like ColecoVision or TurboGrafx. Among these unusual, rare, or forgotten systems was the 3DO which wasn’t strictly a console but rather a specification that manufacturers could use to make consoles on their own. But even more unusual was that this standard could be used to build 3DO-compatible expansion cards for PCs as well.

In this video, [The Retro Collective] received one of these boards to add to their museum, but like much retro hardware of this era it wasn’t working exactly like it would have out-of-the-box. After adding it to one of their period-correct 386 machines of the time, they found that it would only work properly with weight applied at one of the corners. This led to the discovery of some disconnected pins on the PCB, and a repair of that and some other issues brought the card back to life again.

The video also discusses the platform itself and shows how it would connect to a PC from that time. The PC would have needed a Sound Blaster card, a CD ROM drive with a particular proprietary interface, and a few other hardware requirements, but with everything up and working the player would have a console that theoretically competed with the original Playstation or Nintendo 64. It also illustrates an alternative path video games might have taken where expansion cards added console compatibility to any modern PC, but unfortunately the 3DO never really caught on.

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Game Cube Hot Tub Animation Brought Into Real World

April 17, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 2 Comments

Unlike the current era where most consumer electronics are black rectangles, or the early 90s where most consumer electronics were black rectangles, we got a brief glimmer of color, light, and hope in the 2000s. Cell phones had all kinds of shapes and sizes, laptops came in bright colors, and even video game consoles got in on the fun. The Nintendo GameCube not only featured its namesake shape but came in several vibrant colors, most famously a bright purple. In fact, its design was such a hit that it continues to inspire artists and console modders alike. An animator named [kidd.gorgeous] recently envisioned a GameCube as a hot tub, and [BigRig Creates] set out to make this animation a reality.

Of course, this won’t be a life-sized hot tub capable of holding a human, but [BigRig Creates] did want it to be a usable, playable Game Cube with all of the features from the animation present in the final version. Since the lid won’t be operational with a hot tub model on the top lest all of the water spill out every time a game is changed, he’s modified it with some modern tools to hold his games inside the console itself. With the case open he’s also added the LED accent lighting featured in the animation as well as added the 3D-printed hot tub to the top. The hot tub is filled with mineral oil for electronics safety, and has a small pump built in to give the appearance of a working hot tub.

The buttons around the outside are functional as well, toggling the various lighting features and hot tub operation. And of course, the console diorama is fully playable, with the staircase railing able to easily detach in order to access the leftmost controller ports. It’s a faithful adaptation of the original animation, and [BigRig Creates] has a few games on queue that are properly themed for the new hot tub addition like Wave Race 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Pool Paradise.

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Fidget Clicker Becomes Miniature Game Console

February 6, 2026 by Zoe Skyforest 2 Comments

Fidget toys are everywhere these days. A particularly popular type simply puts some keyboard switches on a plate to provide a certain type of clicky satisfaction. [wjddnjsdnd] took that concept a step further, building a keychain-sized fidget toy that actually has games on it.

The build is based around six key switches in a 2 x 3 array. The key switches are notable in this case for being magnetic shaft keys. Rather than using a mechanical switch to indicate a keypress, the keycap instead merely moves a magnet which triggers a signal in a hall effect sensor beneath the key. In this case, the build uses A3144 hall effect sensors, which are read by the Arduino Nano running the show. The Nano is also hooked up to a small SSD1306 OLED display over I2c, which it uses for displaying the game state. There’s also a TP4056 module to handle charging the attached 380 mAh lithium-ion battery which powers the pocket-sized device.

The Arduino Nano is not a powerful platform for gaming, but it can handle the basics. The Gamebox Clicker, as it’s called, features a Pong clone, a stairs game, and a recreation of Snake. Think early mobile phone games, and you’d be on the money.

It’s an interesting build, and one that would be a great way to get used to using magnetic key switches as well as small embedded displays. We’ve seen Arduino boards turned into microconsoles many times before, too. If you’d like to sound off about magnetic vs. mechanical key switches, jump into the comments, or otherwise let us know about your best electronic fidget projects on the tipsline. Happy hacking.

Whipping Up A Quick Adapter To Hack The Xbox 360

January 30, 2026 by Zoe Skyforest 2 Comments

[Androxilogin] had a problem. An Xbox 360 Slim had shown up in the post, but failed to give much more than a beep when turned on. Disassembly revealed some missing components, but replacing them failed to breathe life into the beleaguered console. Deeper repair was needed, and that would require a special adapter which [Androxilogin] was able to whip up from scratch.

When it comes to the Corona models of the Xbox 360, it’s often necessary to use something called a “post-fix adapter” to do certain diagnostic and repair tasks. These adapters consist of a bracket which wraps around the CPU, and probes the solder ball for the POST_OUT signal which is otherwise difficult to access on the motherboard itself. Adapters are readily available online, and are usually manufactured as a PCB with a protruding contact to make a connection.

For [Androxilogin], though, time was short. Rather than wait for adapters to ship, it was quicker to whip up a custom piece to do the same job. This was achieved with a 3D print which was able to clamp around the CPU, while snugly holding a piece of tinned 30 AWG wire to poke the critical point beneath the chip. After a couple of attempts to get the sizing just right, [Androxilogin] was able to make the necessary connection which enabled installing Xell Loader on to the machine to bring it back to life.

If you’re eager to make your own post-fix adapter, files are available on Printables, with more details over on Reddit to boot. While the Xbox 360 is starting to suffer some awkward symptoms of age. we nevertheless still see a steady stream of hacks come in for this vintage machine. If you’re tackling your own retro console mods, be sure to notify the tipsline.

Internet-Connected Consoles Are Retro Now, And That Means Problems

December 22, 2025 by Zoe Skyforest 27 Comments

A long time ago, there was a big difference between PC and console gaming. The former often came with headaches. You’d fight with drivers, struggle with crashes, and grow ever more frustrated dealing with CD piracy checks and endless patches and updates. Meanwhile, consoles offered the exact opposite experience—just slam in a cartridge, and go!

That beautiful feature fell away when consoles joined the Internet. Suddenly there were servers to sign in to and updates to download and a whole bunch of hoops to jump through before you even got to play a game. Now, those early generations of Internet-connected consoles are becoming retro, and that’s introduced a whole new set of problems now the infrastructure is dying or dead. Boot up and play? You must be joking!

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Recreating A Homebrew Game System From 1987

October 29, 2025 by Bryan Cockfield 11 Comments

We often take for granted how easy it is to get information in today’s modern, Internet-connected world. Especially around electronics projects, datasheets are generally a few clicks away, as are instructions for building almost anything. Not so in the late 80s where ordering physical catalogs of chips and their datasheets was generally required.

Mastering this landscape took a different skillset and far more determination than today, which is what makes the fact that a Japanese electronics hobbyist built a complete homebrew video game system from scratch in 1987 all the more impressive.[Alex] recently discovered this project and produced a replica of it with a few modern touches.

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What Happened To Running What You Wanted On Your Own Machine?

October 22, 2025 by Zoe Skyforest 138 Comments

When the microcomputer first landed in homes some forty years ago, it came with a simple freedom—you could run whatever software you could get your hands on. Floppy disk from a friend? Pop it in. Shareware demo downloaded from a BBS? Go ahead! Dodgy code you wrote yourself at 2 AM? Absolutely. The computer you bought was yours. It would run whatever you told it to run, and ask no questions.

Today, that freedom is dying. What’s worse, is it’s happening so gradually that most people haven’t noticed we’re already halfway into the coffin.

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