N64 hardware emulator portable
I plan to consolidate this all into a guide soon. I used a custom PIF breakout PCB to facilitate the relocation. The trim features the PIF relocation which makes the board a good deal smaller. This is an easier process as it is more repeatable rather then printing the buttons and painting them. The buttons were also printed on the Form2, then casted, and molded in dyed resin. The battery management, system regulators, audio amp, and controller are all combined in one 2layer PCB.
The PCB now uses a real N64 controller IC with an FRAM chip for saving games. I’ve had the Form2 for about 2 years now but haven’t really used it much until now.
N64 hardware emulator portable series#
After sanding it up to 1,000 grit, I painted it with Tamiya TS series clear paint. The case is made by printing it in clear resin on a Form2 3D printer. Author Gunnar Turnquist Posted on JanuLeave a comment on World’s Smallest N64 Portable N64 SP version 2!
N64 hardware emulator portable portable#
Oh yeah and the best part is that since I didn’t have any more N64 motherboards on hand to use, I ripped an N64 motherboard out of a broken Millsdj portable someone sent me and trimmed it again (the holder for the previous record). The final volume is 270,863.87 millimeters cubed! Sacrifices had to be made to fit it in such a small enclosure. Pressing the right stick click changes the left stick between analog and dpad mode. Pressing the left stick click is the N64 L button. Using a 1st party N64 controller and 2 microcontrollers for interfacing the Joycon joysticks. Using a cartridge emulator like the 64drive/ed64 would not help to make it smaller because the cartridge slot has smaller volume than increasing the thickness of the device with the new pcb.
The motherboard could still be trimmed smaller however it would require rewiring many more sub-circuits and no space is gained as the limiting factor here is the cartridge and the 3.5″ screen. Then I desoldered the RAM expansion slot and resoldered it at 90 degrees to make it as thin as possible. I trimmed off the cartridge connector and rewired the signals back to the RCP/CPU. I cut it even smaller as close as possible to the required components. The trim I used is based on the Advanced N64 trim from the new Advanced N64 Trimming guide on Bitbuilt. I’m proud to finally hold the record after all these years! Each new record pushed the N64 motherboard to its limit of trimming advancements and case layout imagination. The record to build the world’s smallest N64 portable gripped my imagination since I was a young teenager just getting into portablizing. Get yourself a reliable memory pak that will keep its saves for generations! Author Gunnar Turnquist Posted on JanuFebru6 Comments on N64 Memory Pak from scratch World’s Smallest N64 Portable I think this has turned out to be a good product that is needed in the market flooded with over priced FRAM modded paks so I will be selling them on ebay. Some aftermarket paks that advertise extra memory, quite literally have two memory ICs inside with a switch to activate either chip. Due to the memory bank size, it is not possible to use a larger memory. The memory size is 256KB, which is the same size as the original pak. I modeled the memory pak shell to be 3D printed. The pcb will even fit perfectly in an original nintendo memory pak shell in that case that you want to swap them.
I used an FM28V020 FRAM IC which does not require a battery to retain the saves and according to the datasheet it will last 150 years! Most FRAM modded paks I see use parts harvested from an original nintendo memory pak so instead I designed my own pcb so I can build the whole device with off-shelf purchased parts. Ever had your N64 memory pak battery die and lose all your precious saves from your childhood games? Or purchase an aftermarket pak only for it to arrive broken? I have, which is why I designed my own N64 memory pak.