Downing's Basement

So it may have taken a great deal longer to complete than anticipated, but my latest N64 Portable Commission has been completed and is getting ready to make it’s trip to “The Land Down Under”. The Hesline 64 is by far the most complete unit I’ve done to date as far as N64p’s are concerned and I’m very pleased with the final outcome…I actually don’t want to part with it, but alas, it must go to the one who paid for it.

Of course, though I’ve done many of these at this point, there’s always at least one problem that I run into with every build and this one was no different. But of course, because this was an European PAL region system, I had to import the N64 itself to for the build and of course, it was going to be the one thing I fried during the process. That caused many hours of frustration and an extra expense due to having to import another board from the UK. Thankfully a modding buddy of mine under the lid of ElectroModder from the UK was kind enough to source a couple boards and tear them down so the shipping was minimal to get them over here.

As I said before though, this is the most complete unit I’ve done to date as it utilizes almost all the features that one can cram into a portable and applied a lot of new building techniques which include using all custom PCBs for the buttons as well as a custom controller board and audio amp. The inclusion of a Breakout Board that is connected via HDMI cable also allows for the user to both Play and Charge the system at the same time as well as incorporate full Multi-Player functionality which I’d never done before.

Technical Junk

Specs:
• Original PAL N64 Mother Board, Trimmed w/Expansion Pak
• 5″ 4:3 TFT Composite Display
• 2 – 25mm, 32Ohm Speakers
• 2 – 3.7V 5000mAh Li/Po Batteries in Series for 7.4V Output, 4 to 5hr Battery Life
• Hardwired Original Memory Card/Controller Pak
• Custom N64 Controller Board by RDC
• Custom Switchable Audio Amp for Speakers/Phones by RDC
• Custom 3.3V Regulator PCB by RDC
• Custom Tact Switch PCBs by RDC
• 5 Part 3D Printed Enclosure
• 1 – 5mm Barrel Pin Connector for Wall Power
• 1 – 2.5mm Barrel Pin Connector for Battery Charger
• HDMI Jack for Play/Charge and Multi-Player features using included Breakout Box.
• External Breakout Box includes a 12V, 2Ah DC Adapter for wall power and a 7.4v Smart Charger for the Li/Po batteries used in the handheld. It also houses the three other player ports so full multi-player gaming is possible. Lastly, there is an A/V output on the back of the box for standard RCA video out to a TV for full sized TV game play.

The A/V, Play&Charge and Multi-Player Breakout Box

I went with an HDMI connection because the number of pins they have by default in a small footprint. Also, the data speeds these cables are designed to handle are much faster than anything this will put out and the shielding provided in the cable makes interference very minimal for the travel length of the cord. I also used three lines each for the wall and battery power because a single line wouldn’t cut it for the amount of draw it’s pulling.

An example of the amazing work that RDC does, essentially this a full N64 control board on a 1″ x 1.5″ footprint. This makes the whole process of placement and wiring so much easier, even if the trade off is stripping an original controller and swapping the components to this board. Wiring is so much easier now and the space saving is huge.

But yes, the build process is shown in the video’s slide show as well as explained in full detail afterwards. It’s a pretty long video but there was a lot to cover on this and I like to be as detailed as possible. This will probably also be the last commission I do for awhile as I have a few other projects I’ve been working on for awhile now that I really want to get off my desk. Time is also super limited these days which has been pretty much the norm, but if things free up a bit, than I might start taking more.

Hope you enjoy, this has been a fun and challenging project but I think it came out beautifully!

Also, please check out the Build Log over on the Bit Build Forums!