Fan of the great Nintendo Switch, but disappointed by the fact that it can’t play EVERY retro game? Well, then you have come to the right place! There is a do it yourself Nintendo Switch, which lets you play the retro games you have ever wanted, but you couldn’t since they were unsupported on the original Nintendo Switch.
Without a doubt, Nintendo Switch is a great console to have, but for all the retro game lovers, it would be better if they opt for something like the SNES Classic rather than buying the current generation console offered by Nintendo.
But then what if you genuinely wanted to have the latest and top of the line console while also wanted to play retro games? Fear not for Tim Lindquist, a hardware Modder and an electrical engineering student at Iowa State University, has devised a workaround to build your very own similar to Switch console!
Courtesy the open source simulation software, this do it yourself combination would enable you to throw any retro game at it, and it would easily be able to run it, while you enjoy all the retro memories associated with the game.
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Tim Lindquist’s DIY Nintendo Switch is smartly given the name of “Nintimdo RP” by its creator. It’s not just a simple Raspberry Pi emulator though and goes even further. It’s similar to the Switch in the way that itself is a full-fledged portable console.
Using the technology of today rightly, Lindquist had used a 3D printer to “build” a custom 3D-printed case. This case is built around the eye-candy Raspberry Pi along with adding an additional microcontroller. This additional micro-controller supports connecting the physical button inputs to the main processor. The case a 5 LED display on the top edge, which enables you to view volume and the battery level remaining.
The best thing is that all this electronic stuff requires just a 10,000 mAh battery! This battery can also be easily recharged by the standard and much common MicroUSB cable. To provide an operating system for the Nintimdo RP, the RetroPie serves as the base OS. Along with this is the EmulationStation which is professionally looking in itself, and makes the operating system have more a neat and polished outlook.
The device might even have an edge over the original switch in its features. The 7-inch touchscreen of the Nintimdo RP is actually bigger than the touchscreen present on the original Nintendo Switch, thus, of course, there is more screen to look at and truly enjoy gaming. Not only this, but it also outsmarts the Switch when it comes to its ports.
In the DIY, there is also an HDMI port, which when you connect via a HDMI cable to a TV, it switches off the display on the screen itself, and shows it only on the TV making is more similar to how the Nintendo Switch functions. If you wanted to plug in extra accessories there also are two USB ports for that, but the only thing which is missing is the removable Joy-Connectors.
Don’t worry there is also a workaround for that. Since the Joy-Connectors support Bluetooth, therefore you can easily connect them over a Bluetooth Connection to the Lindquist’s DIY Nintimdo RP.
If you are already fond of this device by now then you can head over to YouTube, and see a time-lapse video which shows how Tim managed to make this device from scratch. There is even further good news that Tom is going to put up some of the source code and 3D models on GitHub, which will enable you to make such device on your very own!
