NES Mini-Computer Dream Arcade

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer

2008-05-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins
Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

I decided to stuff a computer into the case of an original Nintendo (NES). I've never built a computer before, and never messed around with custom cases. I've installed RAM and new hard drives, but that's about it. I've never dremeled, soldered or any of that, so this should be an adventure. Lots of people have done this before me, so there were a lot of resources for me to learn how to do it. Here are some of the cooler ones:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1638952,00.asp

http://www.podmodding.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2937

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Nintendo-NES-PC/

I'm going to detail all of my steps here to show how I did it.

The dream: I'd like this thing to work as an emulator to play NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis and Arcade games. I'd also like it to work as a dvd player, and music player through itunes. It's going to sit in my den connected to my TV and surround sound stereo, but I'd also like to be able to take it to friend's houses, so it will need standard TV and audio connections.

The reason I'm able to fit a whole computer into a NES is becuase of Mini-ITX mainboards. They're fully functioning computer mother-boards in a smaller form. Because they're so small, people have been making some really cool custom cases with them, like this guy who put one into a toy Millennium Falcon. I found a place called Logic Supply that has a great selection of them and I picked one out.

...click any picture for a bigger view

I decided to use a VIA EPIA EX15000G. It's 1.5 GHz and can support 1 Gb of RAM. But most importantly it has tons of audio and video output options as you can see from the pic. I have my choice of high quality video outputs: DVI, YPbPr and S-video, as well as a good old component video that can go straight into anyone's tv. Audio choices are S/PDIF via coaxial or optical (which is very high quality) or standard component left and right channels. This mainboard is more expensive than other options, but I'm hopeful that the 1.5 GHz processor should be able to handle N64 games well. And the different A/V ouput options will allow me to have a high quality setup at home as well as easy options for connecting this thing when I go to other people's houses. With optical audio and S-video at home, it can be a quality dvd player that will do surround sound (it actually supports 8 channel HD audio). And when I go to someone elses house, I can always count on the component connections straight to the tv.

The plan is to buy an old NES, gut it and put this board, a hard drive, dvd player, and wireless-g adapter all in the NES case. I've also got to mount everything so that it will be stable when bringing it to people's houses. I want to do as little damage to the original case as possible. I'm going to try to make all the connections, inputs and outputs go where the original NES had its connections.

This is the NES I bought on EBAY. It has yellowed a little bit. I scrubbed it with fantastic which helped, but it still looks yellowish. It's ok because I'm planning on using this one as a practice case. Since this is my first time, I'm know I'm going to mess some stuff up. I'll toy with this one, then buy a nicer box to make the final comp.

I took out all the screws and cracked her open.

I took all the pieces out fairly easily. This little connector gave me problems, but I removed it using pliers.

Here is the case with all the guts removed, except for the power/reset buttons. The bottom half of the case has lots of plastic things for mounting parts and connecting it to the top half of the case. I've got to get rid of most of these to clear room for the computer parts I'm going to add. All I need is the four things in the corners to screw the case together, and some little bits that mount the power/reset button.

The Dremel!

The other people who have done projects like this all mentioned using a dremel to get rid of the plastic. I took a nice trip to home depot to see what these things were. I ended up buying the cheapest one they had, model #300, which cost about $50. Here it is.

The dremel instructions told me that I could use the fiberglass reinforced cut-off wheel to cut plastic. It took me a while to figure out how to attach it to the dremel. I figured out that one of the bits has a screw on the end. If you unscrew it, you can put the wheel on the bit, and screw it in.

Here is my first attempt at dremeling. My first impressions: I think my dentist used one of these friggin things when I got a cavity filled. It smells and sounds just like a dentist drill. It's relatively easy to use. I figured out a system of cutting the the piece of plastic off, leaving a stump about a millimeter or two high.

I then carefully used the wheel to kind of sand down the stump until it was even with the base. There was a lot of hot plastic flying around. I'm glad I was wearing my glasses. I cut everything out in about an hour. I quickly learned to wear a mask to stop from inhaling bits of plastic. I may need to go in and clean it up a little bit more. I might try one of the sanding attachments, or perhaps the damn chainsaw sharpening attachment that came with my kit. There isn't any noticeable marking on the cut-off wheel, so I thought I may be able to return the dremel to home depot when I'm all done. But now I think it's useful enough to keep around. I actually just used it to make these sweet devo hats me and some friends wore at bay to breakers in SF.

Part 2: Components

How's this for a possible wallpaper for the system?

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 2: Components

2008-05-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins
Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

Here is a list of all the parts I purchased for the project, and where I got them.

Nintendo Entertainment System with controllers on Ebay

VIA EPIA EX15000G Mini-ITX Mainboard w/ 1 Gb RAM and Pico PSU power supply + 2 USB header pins, power switch, reset switch and LED to show when system is powered on:
http://www.logicsupply.com/

A modern version of the nintendo power/reset switch that will take up less space in the box here:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ISW-4/PUSH-SWITCH-ASSEMBLY/-/1.html

1.5' optical S/PDIF (Toscam) cable
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?Partnumber=180-945&FTR=180-945&CFID=23785824&CFTOKEN=77080327

Optical S/PDIF (Toscam) Extension Coupler
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?Partnumber=180-966&FTR=180-966&CFID=23785824&CFTOKEN=77080327

Headphone 1/8 - panel F to M

RCA VIDEO / SPDIF - panel F to M

S-VIDEO - panel F to M

Seagate 120GB Laptop/Notebook SATA 2.5" Hard Drive
Best Buy

USB NES RetroPort (converts original NES controller to USB gamepad)
http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?productID=116

PSX+N64 USB converter (converts 2 Nintendo 64 controllers and 1 Playstation controller into USB)
Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-64-N64-Playstation-2-PS2-USB-Cable-PC-Adapter_W0QQitemZ130186809484QQcmdZViewItem

Linksys Compact Wireless G USB Adapter from Best Buy
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1134691790190&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=9019039789B04

Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/pc_gaming/gamepads/devices/287&cl=us,en

Part 3: Modifications to the Case

This classic clip of voices saying "Sega" might make a good startup sound:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/137/13751.html

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 3: Modifications to the Case

2008-05-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins
Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

I used an ice-pick-like attachment to my screw driver to grind down a seam in this black plastic cover thing. I ground it down enough to where the front was no longer connected to the back.

I then pried the front piece loose. (This pic is actually the back of the NES, which has the same black cover. I removed it on the practice case, but decided not to on the final version. I forgot to take a pic of the me prying off the front)

I totally separated the piece from the case. I can now use this piece as a cover to this little section of the box. Stealing this design (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1638952,00.asp), I'm going to add USB ports here, then hide them under the cover.

I found a tiny little hinge at a hobby/model shop.

I drilled 2 holes in the case, and then widened them with this stone attachment. I made the holes just big enough to fit a USB port.

Another modification I had to make was to the controller port. The original port isn't a full rectangle. The top right corner has a fancy angle to it.The NES to USB adapter is a full rounded rectangle, so I used the dremel to make the controller hole bigger.

Original hole on the right...the one I modified on the left.

NES to USB controller adapter fits well in the expanded hole.

This is a picture of the original power and reset buttons. I replaced them with a more modern version. I've seen from other people's projects that it is possible to use these buttons to work with the computer. It requires soldering which I will likely F up, but I'm going to try to do it. I want to use the power button to turn the thing on and off, and the reset button to open the dvd drive. The original power button stays in when you press it, which is no good for a computer power switch. It's easy to change it to not stick in by removing a little pin. In the picture above you can see a little metal bit on the power button (on the left) that's not on the reset button. Following instructions from other sites, I removed that piece with pliers, but the power button still stuck in. There's a little pin that sits under that metal piece that has to be removed. I fashioned a hook out of a paper clip and yoinked that little pin out of there. Now the power button does not stay depressed, it works just like the reset button. As you can see, I do my best work in boxers (also with random 20 doller bills laying around).

Part 4: Adding Components

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 4: Adding Components

2008-05-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins

Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

This is the mainboard I'm using. On the side that's facing you can see all the inputs and outputs. The board is meant to be put in a case where these ports all stick out the back so they can be accessible. Some people building NES computers have cut a chunk out of the back of the NES to allow access to the inputs and outputs. My goal was to keep the case as intact as possible, and extend the ports to the part of the case where there were originally connectors (audio, video, power, that channel 3-4 switch...). In order to do that I'm going to connect 1 ft extension cords to each of the ports I want to use. I'll have the extension cords lead to the 5 original holes in the NES case + the 2 USB holes I drilled.

This is what I mean. On the lower part of the box, I have a 1 ft component video cable that I've connected to the mainboard and led to the NES port marked "Video" . The laptop hard drive is under that pink foam. The silvery/white cable on the very bottom over the q-tip is the SATA cable that will connect the HD to the mainboard.

Extension cables plugged into the ports on the left side of the main board.

Under the mainboard I placed the hard drive (wrapped in electric tape), and ran the extension cables to the original NES port-holes on the right side and back of the case (on top of the hard drive). The NES controller to USB adapter sit in the original controller ports that I expanded. I will put the USB wireless adapter and the wireless gamepad receiver under the mainboard in the back-left of the case.

This is the power switch for the mainboard. It is a simple push-button with a cord that plugs into the mainboard. Because I want to use the NES switch, I cut off the switch part, exposing two wires, black and red. I need to connect these wires to the NES power switch.

I used a soldering iron to connect the wire to the switch. Soldering is kind of like welding. You use the iron to heat up a metal that melts at a low temperature (used to be lead, now something safer). You then rub the melted metal on the wire and what you want to connect it to, and when the mettle cools and solidifies it holds the two together.

I soldered the wires to the NES power switch. The NES switch that I bought has the 2 buttons (power and reset), and place to put an LED, but it didn't come with its own LED. I bought a red LED with the wires to connect it to the mainboard, along with a reset switch that looks just like the power switch I just cut. The red LED will show when the machine is powered on. For the reset button, I employed the same technique as the power button. I cut off the switch, exposed the wires, then soldered them to the NES reset switch. The red power LED that I bought wasn't bright enough for me, so I cut it from the wires that connected it to the mainboard. I used pliers to remove the 20+ year old LED from the original power switch that the NES came with. I soldered the original, brighter, LED to the cable. I then stuck the LED into the slot next to the NES power switch.

The power button, reset button, and LED all soldered to wires connected to the mainboard. On the left is the coil of metal that is used to solder. When I touched the iron to the metal it melted onto the iron. I then used the iron to rub the melted metal all over the wires I wanted to connect. I did some serious coating, and everything looks pretty well connected.

Part 5: Software

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 5: Software

2008-05-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins

Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 5: Finished!

The computer runs Windows XP, with the following programs:

GameEx - Front end to run all the emulators
http://www.gameex.net/
This is an amazing, amazing program that is crazy customizable. It has the ability to remove signs of Windows and load straight to its menu which looks awesome. It has a series of menus where you select what system you want to play, and what game. It supports video previews of games, has an audio player, and dvd player. The GameEx website has some great resources, including snapshots of games, video previews of games, themes and a great forum for helping you get setup. It's awesome.

Here is a video of GameEx in action. This isn't my system, just a demo the programmer posted.

Emulators:
MAME32 (Arcade)
Fusion (Sega Genesis)
Project64 (N64)
Nestopia (NES)
SNES9x (SNES)
http://www.emulator-zone.com/

Xpadder
Allows you to map keyboard keys or mouse controls to game controllers. It allows me to use my wireless gamepad as a mouse, and to enter keystrokes used in different emulators. (MAME especially requires you to hit certain keys to emulate adding quarters, or hitting the player 1 or 2 start buttons). With Xpadder, I can use the system without a keyboard. For instance, I have mapped a button on my keypad to the number "1" key on the keyboard (actually I hold one button and then press another). That's the key that MAME recognizes as hitting the "player 1" button on an arcade machine. I can press the button on my keypad to start the game. By setting up Xpadder to map all the keys I need to use in games I can run the system without a keyboard.
http://xpadder.com/

Click-N-Type
http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/
A nice on-screen keyboard. Since I don't have a keyboard connected to the computer, if I ever have to type anything, I can use the gamepad as a mouse to peck letters on the on-screen keyboard. This is helpful when tweaking settings, or entering a URL in firefox.

Speedfan
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Some people who read this blog told me I should be worried more about heat. Apparently, it can be a serious problem. It turns out that Hard Drives and CPUs have a built in temperature sensor. Speedfan is a program that accesses this sensor and tells you how hot your machine is getting. It can then control fans, ring alarms, or shut down your system in response

Windvd
http://apps.corel.com/lp/ivi/index.html
I wasn't able to get a dvd player to fit in the case, but I can rip DVDs to the hard drive, or connect an external dvd drive via USB. I use WinDVD to view the movies. I set up WinDVD like an emulator in GameEx. I can navigate to a menu of movies and select one. GameEx then loads WinDVD which plays the movie. When I close WinDVD, the screen goes back to the GameEx menu. GameEx has it's own native DVD player, but I couldn't get it to play movies in surround-sound. WinDVD supports the SPDIF optical out, and I can use it to watch movies in surround sound.

FireFox, iTunes and whatever the hell else I want:
Apart from emulating games, this is a fully functional computer with respectable horsepower. Because it's hooked up to my TV and stereo its useful for watching videos, playing movies, etc. The other day I went to the NBC website in firefox and watched an episode of 30 rock that looked pretty good.

Part 6: Finished!

My Dream Arcade NES Mini-Computer - Part 6: Finished!

2008-04-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Part 1: It Begins

Part 2: Components
Part 3: Modifications to the Case
Part 4: Adding Components
Part 5: Software
Part 6: Finished!

I used Krazy Glue to glue the connectors to the port holes. Here is a coaxial video out, and a stereo audio out in the place where the original coaxial video out and mono audio out were on the original NES.

Power, S-video and SPDIF optical connector in the back. I had to widen the hole for the SPDIF connector. The idea is that I can have high-quality outputs (S-video looks great, and the SPDIF optical can do dolby surround sound), as well as simple audio and video out. At my place I'll use the high quality connections, but if I take it to someone else's house, I know I'll be able to get it to work because everyone can handle component video and audio (with a headphone to component audio cable)

The finished product. (I took the pictures outside for the extra light, I'm not an extreme outdoor gamer.)

The hidden USB ports revealed under the hinged cover.

Conclusion:
The heat sink on the board is too high to include a dvd player. There just isn't enough room, which is too bad. I have an external dvd drive that I can attach to the USB port, but I would have loved to be able to put a dvd where the game cartridge used to go. I can rip dvds to the hard drive and watch them also.

The computer runs very well. It loads up relatively quickly and performance is good for all emulators except Nintendo 64. N64 games generally run well, but every so often they lag. I can play bond goldeneye 1 player, but it can't handle 2 player. And tragically, it can't run NBA hangtime at all, I have to play the sega genesis version of it.

These performance and size issues make me think that I might have been better off with a different mainboard. There are other boards that aren't so tall, and have better graphics capabilities. However, I was told that some of the more powerful boards would have issues with overheating in a small space like the NES case. Also, I couldn't find a small board, with good graphics and the choices for a/v output.

I didn't do such a professional job mounting the components. The board itself isn't screwed into anything. It's a pretty tight fit and the cables that are all jammed in there keep the mainboard pretty immobile. I used electric tape to hold most things in place.

~~It gets pretty warm after about an hour's worth of use. After a few hours it's kind of hot. I'm not really sure if I should worry about that...so I won't.~~
Some who have checked out this blog were concerned that I didn't do anything to control heat, which apperantly can really damage a computer. I used a program called speedfan to monitor the computer's temperature, and learned that it was too hot. It was running at 52C after 1.5 hours...anything over 50C is bad. I bought a tiny little fan (aprx 2"X2"X.5") from radio shack, and put it in the only place in the case where it would fit. It's not near any main vents, but it is blowing directly on the mainboard. It made a big impact. Now the computer stays at a cool 43C-44C no matter how long I run it. Kind of amazing that such a tiny fan makes such a difference. And that without it my baby might have melted away while I casually played bubble bobble. Thanks for the tip.

I'm glad I used another NES case as a Guinea pig. It was nice to be able to practice dremeling and gluing, before working on the final thing.

Custom projects like this are pretty difficult. It was a pain to search for the right parts. When something goes wrong, there are so many different possible explanations, it's hard to figure out how to fix it. For instance I couldn't get windows to load for a period of time, it told me that a file was corrupt. I tried reinstalling windows with no luck. I formatted the hard drive. No luck. Eventually it turned out that the SATA cable that connects the hard drive to the mainboard was bent, and was no longer reliable. A pretty simple problem to fix by replacing the cable, but a beeatch to diagnose. There were a few times when I came close to giving up.

I won't make this again. It was time consuming, and I no longer have the time (because I'm playing frogger or Qbert or Echo the Dolphin or possibly working). If you want one, you gotta do it yourself.

It's pretty F-ing badass to be able to play all these awesome games, blast music, watch movies in surround sound...all on a friggin NES.

Proof that it works:
Here it is in Action!!!

Donkey Kong played with the wireless logitech game pad:

Super Mario Bothers played on an original NES controller (Check the one handed skills):

Super Mario 64 played with an original N64 controller connected to the USB adapter.

Using the wireless gamepad as a mouse to navigate around Windows XP.

Tecmo Super Bowl is a classic NES football game. It has the teams and rosters from the 1990 NFL season. I was able to find hacked versions of the game that update the rosters. There are hacks for every year's roster starting from the 60s going until the current season. Being a falcon fan, I downloaded the 1998 (the year we went to the superbowl) and the 2005 (made it to the NFC championship game) versions. Jamal Anderson is unstoppable in the 98 version, and good old Michael Vick is a bad man in the 2005 one. Here's a clip of me running Vick wild, breaking ankles and taking it to the house. Being able to play Tecmo Super Bowl on a NES machine with a Michael Vick falcons team is pretty much the epitome of the updated take on classic badassness that I set out to do with this project. The dream came true.