We’ve long been fans of the Raspberry Pi, the miniature and inexpensive computer that can allow you to make just about anything you can imagine. Perhaps the area of tinkering that the Pi has gotten the most use for is making retro gaming machines. There are plenty of examples of this, like the Burger King toy turned Game Boy Color and the actually functioning BMO from Adventure Time.
Knowing about these possibilities, modder Finn Anderson couldn’t just walk by the vintage portable TV he saw on the street and not do anything about it. He took that sucker home and converted it into a retro gaming machine that could be the ultimate standalone old school video game experience.
Anderson posted a gallery of photos from his build process on Reddit, and from that, we learned that very few of the TV’s original innards made it into the final product. It didn’t have much in the way of input, so its guts were replaced with a Raspberry Pi, a modern screen, a wireless Xbox controller receiver, and even a digital tuner so you can still watch TV on this TV. He even created a curved plastic screen cover, and that bit of nostalgic design is the kind of touch that can bring a project like this together and make it feel complete.
Check out Anderson’s build gallery below and a video of his new/old machine in action above. Is this the coolest Raspberry Pi project you’ve ever seen? Share some of your favorites in the comments below!
I turned an old portable TV into a dedicated retro gaming system!
Featured image: Finndersen/YouTube
