Improving the $10 8-bit handheld game console
Вставка
- Опубліковано 18 лис 2019
- Time to tear down the $10 game console we looked at in part 1. I also modify the device to improve the video quality and make it roughly equal to the original NES game console.
Part 1:
• Can a $10 8-bit handhe...
AliExpress Link:
www.aliexpress.com/item/33046...
Search terms:
"2019 New Handheld Game Console Built-in 400 Classic Games Mini 8 Bit Pocket Portable Player Retro Video Game Console" - Наука та технологія
I think you rushed by cutting the buttons ...two pieces of Kapton tape over the contacts would have been a better idea...think future!!
Adrian likes to rip things off like the C64 RF shields! 😁👍
It's funny, watching a retro channel we're quick to 'OMG, he just wrecked that device by cutting that'.. but then you realize this is an $8 piece of cheap Chinese crap that probably won't survive the year before it breaks or gets tossed. :)
come back to LA, where food trucks are 2 Chinese Handheld NES'.. Maybe that should be a new currency reference :)
I just scrolled down to say the same thing.
Bitoxic keeping the rubber mat intact and taping off the contact would have been the proper way and opened the option to rotate the mat once often used buttons start to malfunction. And going by the argumentation "it did not cost anything why treat it with respect" - why buy it in the first place and not spend the money on food?
10:00 have to be a genius to figure that out. Made all the colors right with changing a resister i dont know how many things you will have to know about to figure that out. Hats off. Those Chinese sellers need to contact you for finalizing products.
"Blob" is a perfect name, I see it as an acronym of "Black Lump On Board", kind of like COB being Chip On Board... :P
I always thought those were called glob tops
Used your 47 ohm resistor trick from this video. I had to mod my old 80's computer to get composite out of it...it only had RGB, monochrome composite, and RF. For some reason no color composite, partly because it was a UK machine and had a pin designated on its DIN-8 connector for PAL composite but only gave a 5 volt signal instead (which seems to be common for the US version). So when I grabbed the signal off the pin from the video chip (well sub-chip, MC1733) and re-routed it to one of the unused DIN-8 pins, the picture was a bit washed out color wise. When I put the 47 ohm resistor in line, the color came out fully again. So that trick worked, thanks!
Glad you did these videos - I'm actually have ordered one of these handhelds a while ago, so now I know what to expect and how to fix! Thank you!
I bought this just today my first time at 5 below, I am super glad you have a video on it!
great video. i just bought the updated version of this for my cousin's 6yr old today. only difference is that it now has a controller that plugs into it when connected to the TV.
thanks for answering all of my questions! you got my sub!
Yes, this is the video I was hoping someone would make. Thank you one thousand times over, I have no electrical engineering knowledge - so you answered all the questions I was wondering about.
Your videos are always so entertaining and relaxing at the same time. Keep it up!
I love this channel, the creator is awesome and a blast to listen to...where has this channel been?!?!! So glad I found it. I can't think of another person I would rather sit down with and play retro games! It would be so fun and full of laughs! Lol. Well I'm here now, so keep going buddy. Good stuff....
Would love to see more projects like this. Simple tweaks to ultra cheap gizmos that are easy to order!
I really appreciate your efforts
Be blessed
Something I just thought about, if you got a NOR chip, you could probably get a E3 nor flasher kit like ones for a PS3 and attach it to the memory and 'dump' the files :) good video as always
Dividing the crystal oscillator frequency by 12 yielded the exact clock frequency of the NTSC NES. Dividing by 13 yields almost the same frequency as the PAL NES. Clever.
So the first thing I noticed while playing Mario was the timer count down speed was almost twice as fast! possible to fix? installing a different crystal oscillator?
@@bigalanwgordon The timer was arbitrary. It's not meant to be in seconds. IIRC, PAL areas with 50Hz refresh had a slower timer than 60Hz NTSC areas.
@@fryode it's not just the timer but the music and game speeds are faster, at first i thought i might have pressed a button combo to speed up the game but it's in all the games on the handheld.
@@bigalanwgordonhey guy i know im way late but a lot of these chinese 8 bit devices are running an smb rom that is meant to run on some other device ive mistakenly downloaded that rom before its also worth noting that i have the fast rom on a multi cart as well if you start changing the oscillator speed you may fix the mario rom but youll create issues in all the other games on the machine likely theyll run slow
as you were trying to fix a fast running rom by slowing it down hope this helps
Oh, I only just watched the last vid. What timing, Adrian!
Thank you so much for the video fix. bought a NES clone form aliexpress a few years ago and it has the same problem. Looking forward to trying the resister and hopefully cleaning up the video.
You talked about the usb interface supporting the 3-pin controller. Well in the link you gave us there is an option to buy it with a controller (+$3.00) that does, indeed, use the mini-B interface. Just thought you would want to know.
Though I also would have just used Kapton tape, another reversible alternative to nail polish would be pure rosin. I bought some rosin chunks and dissolved them in solvent (you could use straight isopropyl, a blend of isopropyl and ethyl alcohol, or just commercial flux remover), and I paint it onto etched PCBs to protect the copper from oxidizing. (The more rosin in the solvent, the thicker the coat, but longer drying time of course.) This would work as a removable insulator for the buttons, since pure rosin isn’t conductive and is not hygroscopic.
This was probably the coolest video regarding these cheap and horrible $10 devices, I really enjoyed it. =D
I lack your electronics knowledge, so I thought it was super cool how you put in the resistor to lower the video output voltage. This was pretty interesting all around.
Great video Adrian, as usual.
I'm happy you removed the battery; I'd hate for you to get shocked down there in the basement.
He's not going to get a shock from a 3.7V nokia lithium battery.
I get the feeling if he turned the camera around we'd see a Jacob's ladder and a huge knife blade switch that throws off a shower of sparks
Superb video. Love your stuff 😎
I'm impressed by these cheap handheld tbh. So cheap and able to even give a working gaming experience
Great video/teardown, thanks! I just ordered one off Ebay for $7.51, and also a black/white one for $1.87....both with free shipping! Amazing!
It's cool that you can get these for so cheap. I just won a bid on Tophatter for one of these and paid $8.46. I like to take them with me when I travel about, instead of my PSP or 2DS. If I lose or break it, it's no biggie.... disposable gaming.
Also ordered on from eBay. It took four months to reach me, by far the longest anything has ever taken. It was so late, eBay refused to refund the sale. But it showed up anyway a month later. Just took a really, really slow path. Anyway it's great for $10. Never any any Nintendo consoles growing up so. We were too poor. So this is the first time I've ever played any of these games. I'm happy.
@@LatitudeSky Wow.....that is a long time! I agree.....if just one or two games are enjoyable, it's worth it! And i enjoy a lot more than that.
cool finally to see what is inside! :)))
Is there a way you can edit the games on it?
Great job and video again
Thanks for the teardown.
I just bought a very similar unit for 10 €, sold - quite incredibly - at a retail shop. The only thing I'd like to add would be a pivotal ball for the dpad, because it registers two directions at times.
Therapist: headless PET isn't real, it can't hurt you
Adrian's PET with the monitor removed in the background of the intro:
If a PET is headless, is it even still a PET?
@Duck GWR-Yes.... that’s a good one!
very nice improving handheld
Interesting teardown and mods!
Should adding the resistor outside the console by hacking up the video cable produce a similar result? In addition, what resulted from adding the capacitor? Did it reduce the audio buzz mentioned in the previous video?
As for the generic TFT screen, is there any type of microcontroller to use with it, in case I want to plug in a raspberry pi, for example?
I'm still pretty basic in electronics but wouldn't it be possible to use a potentiometer instead of a resister? That way you could just it as you're looking at the screen to "dial-in" the best value.
No
Great work 💫
Hey bro I have a retro bit generations mini console and it powers on but the USB controllers that connect to the console aren't recognized anymore any help would be appreciated.
or this screen connector same like in raspberry pi? can i use this display in raspberry pi board?
do you have a replacement screen part number? mine is cracked
Hi Adrian, I hope you'll see this. I found your video bc I'm looking to "mod" a similar handheld. I found a small Chinese device that has the same baked on os as most of these Nintendo drvices. but, since it's so small, I wish I could emulate like Gameboy or gamegear instead... makes more sense for the form factor. That device has a removable micro SD running the os. Same Chinese os as your device here. What kind of os can I flash onto that card?
I can't get the av out on mine to work at all. It turns the screen black, but when it is on the TV (or monitor or whatever I plug it into) there is absolutely no video or sound. Sometimes on this one monitor I tried it on, it will have a snow like appearance and a buzz. That's it. Any ideas what could be up with it?
any especially useful bits that can be salvaged from this board other than the battery? Could the screen be connected to any kind of standard connector for arduino/raspberry pi?
I was thinking about the 47 ohm resistor. And general wire resistance. If I just spliced in a longer video wire would it constitute 47 ohm resistance. It might be built for longer video wire ty
That flash rom looks a little scabby which makes me think they tore it out of an old phone, the Chinese reclaim parts from tons of junked e-waste, its actually nice to think they have a second life. Devil World is an awesome little game.
Adrian, to what lines is the cap that you installed connected? Do you have any guess as to why it was not on the finished design?
I have one of these, but have yet to open it. The LCD is far too bright for me without computer glasses, so I'd like to put a variable resistor on the power line to the LCD itself.
Can I feed external rca video into the LCD ? To use it as a portable monitor.
Turbo would be great for shmups like Star Soldier, Abadox, anything where mashing the buttons repeatedly would just be impossible on such a tiny screen. Devil's World was a cartridge game, it's one I like to go back to when I break out the Famicom! Now I wanna know how to reprogram or replace the storage chip.
Can you just add the resistor to the cable without opening it up?
More videos like this please!
Great Video! Very informative and interesting things happening here! Using some of these concepts and others? In a sense, could you alter/upgrade another cheap foreign handheld to better standards like video storage and such? I'm slowly learning about ROMs and trying to figure out how to change what's loaded on what I have. I bought my kids the X6 Retro Handheld system and want it to look better and run better? And good standards to start with? Or other video suggestions? Thank you a head of time!
Hi,
Do you know is it possible to replace this LCD display with an IPS display?
I bought the same model but the LCD is really really bad. In fact it’s in vertical display but they use is horizontal way. That’s why the colors are just strange
Do you think you can find the datasheet for the display? I've been searching but no results!
Can we use the screen from this sup on any of the gameboy? Just asking if you can see
Hello. I just got my handheld game yesterday in the mail. Is there a way to turn down to screen brightness?
Is there any modding way to use the screen for retro handhelds… like gameboy color, sega game gear etc …
I recently got a SUP game box. It works only when it is plugged in. I thought it was a bad battery and swapped it with a new one but it didn't work. Any suggestions how to fix it. Thanks.
Devil World was released in Europe aswell! It is an interesting game, by Shigeru Miyamoto if I'm not mistaken.
Sort of his take on Pac-Man, ya know before he made a Pacman game.
I guess it was not released on the USA because of those Christian religion references, crosses, demons, the Bible, etc.
Hey Adrian, drop by my office with that thing, and we can hot-air the flash chip off and read it with my TL866+adapter. Maybe we can load different ROMS in it!
I just bought one.... you can take mine apart if you like :)
Yes!! Please do it!
can you try it? how did it go?
@@antonindaro I have not. I got four units a few weeks after I saw this video. They all had a BGA-style flash chip on a carrier board, with castellated-via contacts to the main board. So it was not a trivial matter to flash one of these with the hardware I already had.
@@sharebrained we have to enjoy it as it is. thanks man! greetings from Argentina
Question! If i took off usb then put HDMI will it work?
hwo can you make a connector for a nes or serial controller?
Hi. You used that 47 ohm resistor on the video out. Why that value? And what other values would work for that situation? I think I might have used a smd style for that application. That way you only have to contend with the wire
New sub, love the content.
how did you add the wires and the resistor
I did not notice any charge protection on board --- I suppose the battery has it ?
You had me at Thexder. If it had Moon Patrol it would be my dream game.
Can we add more games to this by flashing the EEPROM ?
You have to install another SSD and 1 graphics card.
technically yes, i have dumped the original firmware from one of these mine had a Winbond W29GL128 and i have found the addresses of all the roms, and now can replace them but doing so is pretty much out of scope for the avg user
@Hungry Box can you make a video about it
not really cuz its a lot of work but overall i would say not worth it since the console itself is trash, too much work, but if you are still interested the author for that was a russian guy called "promolife"
@@crisivannacis2742 no cuz its too much work to make a tutorial and not worth it since these consoles are extremely cheaply made and will in most cases not survive the process, plus you can buy consoles which use an sd card for games cheaper than the EEPROM mod is gonna cost
Is it possible to install custom games on to these?
Hello! I have similar NES toy from ALI but the problem is that the sound playing bit faster than it should be. What you think - is that fixable?
Can you frimwate it to emulate games for the gba sp?
How big was that screen? I was thinking of putting in a better quality screen in there since they are pretty cheap but i just don't own a measuring tape lol.
Anyone know how i can delete the games on that tf card and add new games in?
Thanks for the video! It is possible extract the s-video for crt monitor?
2V video? I bet they forgot the 75 ohm series resistor for termination.
After you put the resistant does it got better with it own screen or just on tv?
So, my original answer to your video title was "GTFO"....until I watched...Nice job man!!!....Life is a wonderful puzzle....
Thank you so much for this video
is it possible to save current state of the game ? and can we install a new games ?
Please, how can we flash games or os to it ?
My curiosity leads me to ask now; would it be possible to mod a cartridge connector on it, and turn it into a 10 dollar portable nes :3
hey Adrian! i was thinking of running emulation software (mGBA) on this thing. is there a way to make that happen, or am i stuck with these nock of games?
is there a way to hack it and add or change the games on the handheld?
Hold a and b while powering this thing on, it gives me a weird menu to test buttons
Do you think you would use a Gameboy housing to replace the original clone one?
Is there any way to delete some of the games on this device?
So what did adding the capacitor do?
3:06 -- not really. Remember Nintendo released a turbo controller for the NES, first party.
@Rex Warden oooh I forgot the NES advantage..
When emulating turbo Graphics 16 games on an actual Wii you get Turbo so it's at least not cheating on that system but developers on the NES didn't develop with turbo in mind so it could be cheating
Contra
@@mrburns366 Festers Quest too
Correct, making this a DOWNGRADE in game play, shame. Though the mod for the video was great. This video makes me wonder how much little QOL stuff is missing from these cheap stuff, given this is the proper chips. The rom modification doesn't help either I imagine.
I wonder what the purpose of that missing capacitor is. Fun video, thanks for sharing!
How to make it have a save ability?
I could've told you that clipping off those rubber pads would've made that cheap, cheap button array rattle :P
Does anyone know where to buy such an LCD screen?
Thanks for this nice video Adrian. Could it be possible to show us in another video how did you measured the video signal voltage level? Or it might be a very useful video if you can make a how to measure a composite video if it is proper or not.
@terrylaze74 i thought he used an oscilloscope
you said $10, i specifically watched this video to see if it was blob based, was not disappointed :)
Btw any chance you got info like model etc of the lcd?
Can that setup, with different emulation be used to make a working Fall0ut pip-boy?
Instead of modifying the video output of the unit with an inline resistor, it may be better or easier to modify the video cable.
Modify how? Like in what way?
@@maxcypond splice in a resistor inline, add heatshrink
@@maxcypond If the connectors aren't moulded, then put the inline resistor in the connector. If the connectors are moulded, then you could replace the connector (preferably at the monitor end) with a normal wire-able one and fit the inline resistor in there.
Would adding a sink resistor to ground (to avoid cutting traces) work? Like soldering a 560 Ohm(or whatever) across the ntsc output tp to a gnd tp?
@@emprsnm9903 Possibly... I was wondering if the issue wasn't caused by the monitor not being terminated correctly (i.e. normally a composite signal would be terminated in the monitor with a 75R resistor). If the input impedance of the monitor is too high, then adding a resistor between the composite out and GND could very well solve the problem.
Did you measure the video output while terminated into 75R?
I loved this video! Couple of questions, what is the "ultralitic" that you installed on the back for, and is there any kind of save function on this thing?
How about cutting the trace scrapping to metal on each side and and adding a SMD resistor
Wow. I always wanted to have a decent portable console and this is not only cheap and decent but also actually a real modern copy of NES running original NES games.
If you are from the US you can pick up a similar system almost identical to this at five below in their five beyond tech section for $10
@@RyGuy0520 But I bought that exact thing with shipping to EU on Aliexpress for 15€ like a 2 months ago.
Great video! Question, how could I change the setting from NTSC to PAL, please?