How to Make a Portable Game System

Ever thought about being able to play your favorite game system anywhere? I'm sure you have. Following this guide, you can learn how to 'portablize' the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In this Instructable I will teach you everything you need to know to put together a portable. There will be several different sections:

- What batteries to choose
- How to make a case
- How to wire everything
- What screen to get

These are just the basics. All these and much more will be discussed in this Instructable.

The console highlighted in this tutorial is the Nintendo Entertainment System. I chose it because it has tons of awesome games and it is easy to make handheld. The total cost of this project - for me at least - was $200. Now don't freak out - your price will be much lower. It was so high for me because I broke the first screen and NES. That set me back about 70$. :P You won't make the same mistakes, because you are going to learn from mine.

Now, this project is not for the lazy. It is not easy. It is not cheap. But the reward is worth so much more than what you spent, that you won't even care. :) My portable NES took me about 4 months to build, so lots of dedication is needed.

This Instructable will play with a new format; because the parts list is so huge, it would be ridiculous to post it all in one step. So, for each individual step, I will write the parts and tools needed for that one step. I will tell you one thing: get some IDE cable. That's the stuff that is used to connect hard drives inside of computers. IDE cable is invaluable to any portable. It's amazing stuff, and you will use it many times in this project. Get some in advance.

This project requires that you already have the basic knowledge to solder, use tools, simple stuff like that. This guide assumes, however, that you would have no clue where to start when building a portable. This tutorial is for you.

I urge you to read the following steps on picking and ordering a console, screen, and batteries. They contain very useful information and will help you greatly. It may seem like a lot to read, but please look at it all.

Now, let's finally get to the Instructable. :)

Step 1 What Console to Choose

We will be covering the NES in this Instructable, but you can make a portable out of any console you want. Some are harder than others, though. Here are the "main" game systems that would be easy to make handheld:

Atari 2600
Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System

These systems are slightly harder:

Playstation One
Nintendo 64
Dreamcast

And these are VERY hard to portablize:

Playstation 2
Playstation 3
Wii
Xbox
Xbox 360
Gamecube

Obviously, the last list is only for people who are more comfortable with electronics and know their way around a PCB. For a first-time portablizer, I recommend the Nintendo Entertainment System. This console has tons of great games (SMB3, Kirby's Adventure, Legend of Zelda, and Mike Tyson's Punch Out, just to name a few.) and is a easy console to start with. The NES is what we'll be portablizing in this Instructable.

If you want to do a different console, then you need to look at http://forums.benheck.com/ . This is a huge community dedicated to making awesome handhelds, and it contains information on how to get power, video, etc. for your console, and how to cut down many systems to make them smaller. If you are going to do a console other than the NES - which is what we are going to work with in this Instructable - then you need to check out that site. Scroll down and find the forum for whatever system you want to do. Check the stickied topics in that section for all the information we have on that console. Also be sure to look at the Reference section.

Enough chit-chat. Let's get to the first step of portablizing!

Comments

[Bad2Grim]

now what what should i buy a used nes or a new one?

its like only 50 bucks for a used one soooo i can use that rite?

[1up]

$50 used?! That's ridiculous. You shouldn't pay more than $15 for it.

[Bad2Grim]

then where did u get urs?

[1up]

A friend gave it to me years ago. You should be able to find one much cheaper than $50 on ebay or something, though.

[Bad2Grim]

okay i found one around like $28.50

also i saw this stupid price of $140 for one with two games. xD

[Sonicthehedghhog]

Guy: Say whut?

[1up]

Yes, that's a better deal.

[wolf1234link]

 dang i found my old nes down a hil near my housw buried under tree needles and i brought it up and try to fix it i had it wen i was like 7 so it was a good few years down there  but then we smashed it i wish i saw this firts and had about 130 bucks and 4 months of free time lol

[tmootsey]

How dare you smash a NES!

[Sonicthehedghhog]

Please be nice, tmootsey, and you, wolf1234link, why would you do that? :(

[Sonicthehedghhog]

I would wanna do this... but I don't have everything I need. Also, my parents won't let me do it. :P

[keroroman]

Nice...Hand. I love your ideas! <3

[triforce]

Hello, you did a really nice job.
I am trying to save money on a multi-system portable so do you think famiclones are good for modding

[Aza1234]

Would I still need a power regulator if I used 4 1.5V AA batteries

[vega7291]

Hey I;m just wondering where you got the case to put all the parts in?

[Wesley666]

Actually the N64 and Gamecube should both be on the easy list of making portable as these are the two most documented conversions on the Internet I have seen. There are lots of N64 and Gamecube to portable conversion online. They both lend themselves to being converted quite well.

[hightekrednek2396]

my gamecube i got at a yard sale came with a screen that mounts right to the top u just gotta plug the power in then ur already portable

[Wesley666]

You need a 12v battery to plug into it and it would be yes, but there is also a lot of articles on the internet about people taking a controller, a screen, a system, batteries and a few other things and making a hand held console. I have seen an N64 one that looks like a big Gameboy Advance.

http://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/a-professional-looking-n64-portable-build/

[Portendo.David]

Would using a car camera monitor work for the screen as well?

[1up]

Yes, as long as it accepts composite.

[killfoo]

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
to bad i cant soder, or do any of stuff

[dvalentine6]

soldering is too easy. give it a try. the iron you can get at radioshac super cheam and solder is very inexpensive

[Zachintosh]

Solder**

[jgosselin]

anyone can solder it just take practice and patience

[NativeSs]

you are my new idol

[jgosselin]

are the can capacitors labeled so if i wanted to i could go get replacements with longer leads and just fold them over and re-solder them???

[hightekrednek2396]

capacitors are almost always labeled with capacitance, voltage rating, and temperature. so u should be good

[minijc]

can you make this work with a xbox or ps2 or even a xbox 360

[mario123451234]

would a 7'' widescreen portable dvd player from best buy work

[theawesomedude92]

could you use a Retro Entertainment System, it uses NES games, not Famicom games

[superduperdrew]

just take it apart and see!

[theawesomedude92]

I've done that like 20 times, so i think it'll work

[superduperdrew]

HI! I've been thinking about making a system that has a screen and speakers on the main part then have cartridges with the systems and controller ports on them,I think it will be NES,SNES,Genesis and maybe N64.What kind of battery setup do you think I should use?The main ones I'm thinking about are a lot of AAA batteries linked together or gameboy SP rechargeable ones.

[Kageyami]

Dude, I just Wanted to say thanks so unbelievably much, im at the part where you flatten the brown capacitors and lengthen the blue ones with ide cable, and everything up to that point has been going perfectly. I even skipped ahead a lil bit and disabled the lockout chip and i can finally play my nes games again, otherwise before it would just turn on then off repeatedly and i wouldnt get a picture, even though my games are from the right country and arent fake.
I really love your work and i dont know but your the guy that made the Retro 64 Portable right? thats like my favorite n64 portable. Good job and thanks for making such a well detailed guide. I just have one question the part with the RF board, like in your picture its like all destroyed. I managed to take off all the metal walls without destroying the board and its parts, i was just wondering, do i need those? Because on there is the part the power plug goes into, and same for the Red and yellow wire cables, just wanted to know.

[viper56]

I want to know about these green chips in the picture??

Thank,,,,

[viper56]

Hi I am new here and I just bought PS1 Screen from ebay and I just want to know which of these battery I have will probably work

1- I have a racing car batteries which written on it Ni-cd 10xAA 800mAH 12V

2- Ni-Cd AA700mAh 9.6v and another one Ni-Cd AA 700mAh 9.6v

3- Also, I have battery made in Taiwan for GameBoy no details written on it but on the box written on it TV Game Battery Pack For Game Boy Charges 50 Sec. and it have an adapter: Model: MA-5-9205 / Input: 240V AC 50Hz / Output: 12V DC 400MA

So are any of these can work !!

[sea34567]

how did u strip the wires its hard

[sea34567]

can voltage go up if its like 7 volts can it go up to 8??

[nquast1]

I was thinking about using a toshiba satellite battery for a nintendo 64 portable;
the battery has 3600mAH. How long of a battery life should I expect from that battery?

[1up]

Almost three hours. The problem with laptop batteries, however, is that there is no way to charge them without the original laptop. Plus, they're usually 12v when you only need 7.5v. But, if you 're fine with using the laptop with the charger, and having some extra heat from your regulators, I suppose it's fine.