Tag: portable

Portable Bartop Arcade

Categories Electronics, Gadgets, Video Games1 Comment on Portable Bartop Arcade
Powkiddy Pandora's Box portable arcade retro system 2020 Dave Delisle davesgeekyideas

What if a Pandora’s Box system actually came in a box shape? My genius knows no bounds. Jokes aside, I’ve been digging those suitcase systems Pandora’s Box has been releasing as of late, however I just don’t like removing the joystick when I need to go portable. So I went with a typical Powkiddy arcade system and added a folding cover.

A couple of latches unlock the cover (which has a suitcase handle), allowing it to swing to the back of the system. The end result looks like a regular bartop arcade. The whole thing works like a baby bassinet cover, I must admit.

There are no electronics in the cover section, to keep things simple. If you want to back-light the marquee, the LEDs could be housed above the monitor. A compartment behind the monitor stores the power adapter and cord.

Notes: This could be kept in suitcase mode and used as a console, most of these systems have an HDMI port on the back to allow TV-out functionality (plus USB ports for controllers and the power button too). The entire system could be clad in colorful graphics to resemble a bartop, I am limited to 256 colors in order to make animated GIFs, so the mockups reflect that. Originally I wanted the suitcase to look like an 80’s lunchbox, but I already did something like that.

Power Adapter Game Console

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Inspired by this neat Nintendo Switch dock, I thought it would be fun to fit an entire game console into a power adapter. The idea is not so far-fetched, nowadays you can get a 4K computer to fit in a tiny box.

This wall adapter features a tiny wireless controller, about the size of the 8bitdo Zero 2. It stores in a small compartment, where it also docks and charges.

After plugging this into the wall, all that is needed is to run an HDMI cable to the TV. Only one cable to deal with! I currently have a Raspberry Pi Zero as my travel kit for gaming, and it needs an HDMI cable, the power adapter, and a wired USB SNES controller to operate. It’s often a tangled, bulky mess.

Speaking of the HDMI cable, I designed the shape of this device to act as a spool for the cable:

With the power prongs folded up, this would make for such a compact kit. I believe it would be small enough to be sold in vending machines at airports and hotels.

For this design I think a bunch of included 8-bit and 16-bit games would complete the package. An SD Card slot for adding games would be welcome too. If you want to be really fancy, this could include wi-fi and streaming apps. A variant with 2 controllers can be done as well.