Word seems to have gotten out about the work I’ve been doing for other modders and in the last week alone I’ve taken on over 5 new case jobs for 3 different modders doing console commissions for other people as well. Now this doesn’t sound like a lot but compared to previous numbers of 1 or 2 jobs a month, 5 in a week is quite the increase.
The job above is a simple case cut from a Poly Case SL-68 for MBB forum member [Gman] who runs a small operation known a [Gman Modz]. He’s been doing some pretty impressive work as of late and I’m glad to be helping him out with some of his projects. This one was a run of 3 cases, all cut the same and are for Portable Nintendo 64′s. Given the size of these cases, it will be quite impressive to see these completed.
That said, I am also in the process of doing a full vacuumed-formed custom Portable Game Cube casing which will have a surprising similarity to another console on the market today. Stay tuned for that one!
So I did a commission for a forum member called [FarmerDwight] who was looking for a unique controller used for his emulated NES games on his PC. Though I’ve never been a fan of emulation for many reasons, after finding out his wants I really couldn’t pass up the chance to make this for him. Basically he wanted a controller for his emulated NES games with a USB input. Thats really not that difficult to find as the vast majority of PC controllers are USB anyway. The trick was to get that controller to work while using the original buttons in the Game Boy itself.
Now this really wasn’t much different in theory to many of the other controllers that I’ve built. You have two contacts, one signal, one ground and a tact switch (or PCB pad) that once pressed completes the circuit and registers as a button press for the duration you hold it down. However there was one key difference to what I’ve done in the past and that was the fact that the PCB pads in this case were already integrated with the mother board of the Game Boy.
To make a long story short, that doesn’t work so hot when you have two separate devices trying to function off of the same ground lines. I was getting all kinds of screwy actions when I first powered it on, not to mention the Emulator controller provided went against everything I knew about how PCB pads worked. This project took me over 10 hours. 2 of which were basic labor and putting together and 8 hours of “WTF is wrong with this thing” troubleshooting.
In the end though, all came out well and though the Game Boy will never work again as a Game Boy, he can still play all the NES, Atari and whatever other emulated consoles out there with 8 buttons or less, including Game Boy.
More info and pics on the MBB forums. But I’m happy with it, and so is the customer which is all that matters! Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to sleep tonight knowing that my router will be arriving in the afternoon tomorrow! Expect a few more cool updates when I break that package open!
As my 3 week vacation is quickly coming to an end, the modding time has intensified. Spending close to 5 hours straight in my basement today alone, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m either obsessed the extraordinary, or bored with the ordinary, can’t figure out which…
Anyway, that really doesn’t matter.
In a combined effort from yesterday and today, I completed several tasks that have made the controller almost ready for testing. This was quite a post over on the MBB forums so for the fine details and more photos, I’ll again send you in that direction. But a quick list of what was completed since Friday;
Vacuum-Formed the back half of the controller
Cut slots for N64 Memory Card holder and VGA cable out which will be used to connect the controller to the systems.
Mounted and wired N64 Controller
Completed mounting of all controller buttons
Added header junction for the controller’s interface
Wired the D-pad and Start/Select buttons to the header.
Still lots to do but this project is drawing close to completion after nearly a year and a half in the making. More updates of course when I get more done.
Now there is something very satisfying to see an idea come around into some form of physical manifestation, even if it’s only in appearance. Show above is the painted up/mocked up version of my new controller that will take the job of playing all three of Nintendo’s early generation systems.
This controller will be able to play the NES, SNES and N64 games all from one unit. Using a parallel printer cable and connections, this will automatically flip to the unit that is powered on. The three holes you see in the center there are LED holders and house an LED that will illuminate depending on which unit is on.
It’s got a long way to go yet, but it will be getting there soon and then I can finally put this project to bed! Lots of changes over the year, but will certainly be worth it! As always, have a look at the WorkLog on the MBB Forums to get up to speed!.
Sure she’s pretty, but make-up doesn’t change her personality. What was supposed to be a simple LED and extended battery mod for this unit turned into merely a nice new custom paint job. Though normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing, I don’t like abandoning any project I start, much less one that got this far into. But then again, the project was never meant to take long in the first place and now I have several other projects/commissions that now need my attention.
So here it is, looks nice and plays just as well, but again without the advancements I was hoping for. Have a peek at the video below learn all about it, that is unless you’re ashamed with my apparent apathy towards project commitment!
The SNES-001 Advance was a huge success! I’d like to thank all who took a look and helped tip off the main sites like Engadget, Hack-A-Day and PC World! All three of these major news sites ran some pretty good press about the unit and I’m quite happy with the end result! Though the unit is still on eBay and no bids as of yet, it still has a day and there have been over 1600 views on the page and that in it’s own right has been amazing! So I’ll keep you up to date with that as more info become available.
But, no good triumph comes without consequence. Over the past three weeks I’ve managed to loose my job of nearly 5 years and have had one of my dogs (a Boston Terrier) fall ill with an eye ulcer which ended up costing my wife and I a cool $2500 to fix…yeah, ouch and a “WTF!!!” kind of ouch. So needless to say, the penny pinching is now upon us as our savings have been drained and I won’t be bringing in the same cash as I used to. But with that said, I do have a new job lined up to start on the 16th of July. So I’ve got some free time in between, but still won’t be taking the vacations we thought we would be.
But enough of that, this is a modding blog, real life is for the day time! I’ve got a couple more projects going that hopefully will hopefully add to the list of completed mods shortly, including a GameBoy Advance mod and finally going to finish up my computer desk with a few major adjustments from what it was supposed to be initially. I’ll be making posts about these in the future, but of course, the work logs can be found over at made-by-bacteria.com.
Again, I thank everyone who helped make the SNES-001 Advance such a success and we’ll see where these next projects go.
