EmuDevz Is Literally A Software Game

October 16, 2025 by Tyler August 6 Comments

The idea of gamifying all the things might have died down now that the current hype is shoving AI into all the things — but you’ve probably never seen it quite like EmuDevz, a game in which you develop an 8-bit emulator by [Rodrigo Alfonso].

There’s a lot of learning you’ll have to do along the way, about programming and how retro systems work, including diving into 6502 assembly code. Why 6502? Well, the emulator you’re working on (it’s partially-written at the start of the game; you need only debug and finish the job) is for a fantasy system called the NEEES “an antique game console released in 1983”. It’s the NEEES and not NES for two reasons. One, Nintendo has lawyers and they really, really know how to use them. Two, by creating a fantasy console that is not-quite-a-Famicom, the goalposts for EmuDevz can be moved a bit closer in.

Continue reading “EmuDevz Is Literally A Software Game” →

The Nintendo Famicom Reimagined As A 2003-era Family Computer

September 3, 2025 by Maya Posch 4 Comments

If there’s one certainty in life, it is that Nintendo Famicom and similar NES clone consoles are quite literally everywhere. What’s less expected is that they were used for a half-serious attempt at making an educational family computer in the early 2000s. This is however what [Nicole Branagan] tripped over at the online Goodwill store, in the form of a European market Famiclone that was still in its original box. Naturally this demanded an up-close investigation and teardown.

The system itself comes in the form of a keyboard that seems to have been used for a range of similar devices based on cut-outs for what looks like some kind of alarm clock on the top left side and a patched over hatch on the rear. Inside are the typical epoxied-over chips, but based on some scattered hints it likely uses a V.R. Technology’s VTxx-series Famiclone. The manufacturer or further products by them will sadly remain unknown for now.

While there’s a cartridge slot that uses the provided 48-in-1 cartridge – with RAM-banked 32 kB of SRAM for Family BASIC – its compatibility with Famicom software is somewhat spotty due to the remapped keys and no ability to save, but you can use it to play the usual array of Famicom/NES games as with the typical cartridge-slot equipped Famiclone. Whether the provided custom software really elevates this Famiclone that much is debatable, but it sure is a fascinating entry.

Family Bass Is Musical NES Magic

January 21, 2025 by Lewin Day 6 Comments

The Family BASIC keyboard was a peripheral that was built for programming on the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicom. As [Linus Åkesson] demonstrates, though, it can do so much more. Meet the Family Bass.

The core of the project is a special adapter which [Linus] created to work with the Family BASIC keyboard. Traditionally, the keyboard plugs into the Famicom’s expansion port, but [Linus] wanted to hook it up to the controller port on a Nintendo Entertainment System instead. Getting them to talk was achieved with an ATtiny85 which could cycle through the 72-key matrix in the keyboard and spit out a serial stream of data the controller port could understand.

On the NES end, the console is set up to run custom code from [Linus] that lets him play the internal sound chip’s triangle wave with the keyboard. He demonstrates this ably in a video where he performs a song called Platform Hopping along with some of his other retro computer instruments.

We’ve seen [Linus] build some other great instruments in the past too, which are both creative and nostalgic. Video after the break.

Continue reading “Family Bass Is Musical NES Magic” →

Running UNIX On A Nintendo Entertainment System

February 11, 2024 by Maya Posch 19 Comments

Who wouldn’t want to run a UNIX-like operating system on their NES or Famicom? Although there’s arguably no practical reason for doing so, [decrazyo] has cobbled together a working port of Little Unix (LUnix), which was originally written for the Commodore 64 and 128 by [Daniel Dallmann]. The impetus for this project was initially curiosity, but when [decrazyo] saw that someone had already written a UNIX-like OS for the 6502 processor, it seemed apparent that the NES was too similar to the C64 to not port it.

Much of this is relatively straightforward, as the 6502 MPU in the C64 is nearly identical to the Ricoh 2A03 in the NES, with the latter missing the binary-coded decimal support, which is not a crucial feature. The only significant roadblock was the lack of RAM in the NES. The console has a mere 2 KB of RAM and 2 KB of VRAM, which made it look anemic even next to the C64. Here, a Japan-only accessory came to the rescue: the Famicom Disk System (FDS), which is a proprietary floppy disk-based system that slots into the bottom of the Famicom and was used for games as well as storing saves back in the day.

By using a Famicom with FDS, it was possible to gain an additional 32 kB provided by the FDS, making the userspace utilities available in the shell. The fruits of this labor work well enough that he could also pop it up on an EverDrive cartridge that supports FDS ROMs and boot it up on an unmodified NES. Whether this is cooler than the NES-OS, which we covered previously, is up for debate.

Incidentally, [Maciej Witkowiak] seems to have resumed development on LUnix, with a new release in 2023, so maybe UNIX-on-6502 may see a revival after a few decades of little happening.

Continue reading “Running UNIX On A Nintendo Entertainment System” →

Famicom-Inspired NES TV Looks Rad In Red

October 6, 2023 by Kristina Panos 1 Comment

Take it from us, insomnia is no joke. But the wee hours can have a great effect on creativity, and if you’ve got a project in mind, doing that is way better than just sitting around, zoning out to infomercials and wishing for sleep. Over recent nights, [insomniacfactory] has been working on a Sharp C1 Famicon-inspired NES TV, and the result is simply fabulous.

The Sharp C1 Famicom was CRT television with a Famicom (precursor to the NES) built in. It allegedly had better picture quality than either a Famicom or NES with a separate television, and this was because it had direct internal display connection. The picture quality was so good that video game magazines at the time used it for screenshots.

Starting with a couple of TVs and a plan, [insomniacfactory] got to work, using the guts from a newer donor TV and a 1985 NES main board with the region-free mod and the RF module removed.

[insomniacfactory] also added also added a wiring harness and a side loader connector from a broken Game Genie to the NES main board. After some careful Dremeling out of the 1981 AKAI TV, they had room for the clone console’s cartridge slot and controller plugs.

This project took a lot of careful and fiddly work, especially since the boards are all bracketed in place and easy to remove. But it totally looks like it was worth it, and now [insomniacfactory] can retro game all night for a while before starting the next insomnia-driven project.

Are you in the mood for more iconic NES? Take a guided tour.

Hackaday Prize 2022: An Eastern Bloc NES Clone

July 31, 2022 by Bryan Cockfield 8 Comments

If Nintendo is known for anything outside of their characters and admittedly top-notch video games, it’s being merciless to fans when it comes to using their intellectual property. They take legal action against people just for showing non-Nintendo hardware emulating games of theirs, and have even attempted to shut down the competitive scene for games like Super Smash Bros. To get away from the prying eyes of the Nintendo legal team extreme measures need to be taken — like building your Nintendo console clone behind the Iron Curtain.

[Marek Więcek] grew up in just such a place, so the only way to play Famicom (a.k.a NES) games was to use a clone system like this one circulating in the Eastern Bloc at the time called the Pegasus which could get the job done with some tinkering. [Marek] recently came across CPU and GPU chips from this clone console and got to work building his own. Using perf board and wire he was able to test the chips and confirm they functioned properly, but had a problem with the video memory that took him a while to track down and fix.

After that, he has essentially a fully-functional Famicom that can play any cartridge around. While we hope that living in Eastern Europe still puts him far enough away to avoid getting hassled by Nintendo, we can never be too sure. Unless, of course, you use this device which lets you emulate SNES games legally.

Continue reading “Hackaday Prize 2022: An Eastern Bloc NES Clone” →

FPGA Emulates NES Cart; Prototype So Cyberpunk

April 13, 2017 by Bryan Cockfield 25 Comments

By now, most of us have had some experience getting ROMs from classic video games to run on new hardware. Whether that’s just on a personal computer with the keyboard as a controller, or if it’s a more refined RetrioPie in a custom-built cabinet, it has become relatively mainstream. What isn’t mainstream, however, is building custom hardware that can run classic video games on the original console (translated). The finished project looks amazing, but the prototype blows us away with it’s beauty and complexity.

[phanick]’s project is a cartridge that is able to run games on the Polish Famicon clone called the Pegasus. The games are stored on an SD card but rather than run in an emulator, an FPGA loads the ROMs and presents the data through the normal edge-connector in the cartridge slot of the console. The game is played from the retro hardware itself. It takes a few seconds to load in each ROM, but after that the Pegasus can’t tell any difference between this and an original cartridge.

The original prototype shown here was built back in 2012. Since then it’s been through a few iterations that have reduced the size. PCBs were designed and built in-house, and the latest revision also includes a 3D-printed case that is closer to the size of the original Famicon cartridges.

Even if you don’t have an interest in classic video games or emulation, the video below is worth checking out. (Be sure to turn on the subtitles if you don’t speak Polish.) [phanick] has put in a huge amount of time getting all of the details exactly right, and the level of polish shows in the final product. In fact, we’ve featured him before for building his own Famicom clone.

Continue reading “FPGA Emulates NES Cart; Prototype So Cyberpunk” →