Hand-held Video Games

We have hardware for creating our own hand-held video games. Some devices are built from scratch, and we also have Arduboy and Pokitto devices.

Pokitto

The Pokitto uses an ARM processor and can be programmed in C. Here are the specifications

• NXP LPC11U68 processor clocked at 48 MHz
• 256KB Flash
• 36KB RAM
• 4KB EEPROM
• 220x176 2-inch TFT display
• 7 clicky control buttons
• microSD card reader
• Speaker and headphone output

This script can be used to upload new code

#!/bin/sh

dd conv=nocreat,notrunc,sync,fsync if =$1 of=/media/pi/CRP\ DISABLED/firmware.bin

umount /media/pi/CRP\ DISABLED

Arduboy

The Arduboy uses an Atmel processor that can be programmed in C. Specifications:

• ATmega 32u4 processor clocked at 16MHz
• 32KB Flash
• 2.5KB RAM
• 1KB EEPROM
• 128x64 OLED monochrome display

Bespoke Hand-held Video Games

The hand-built video games have some nice advantages. They are relatively inexpensive. If you think of a way to improve a design, you can take the device apart and build it a different way. If the device has a problem, you can replace the parts.

The Hand-held Video Game Mark IV

ATmega328 Pro Mini 3.3V 8MHz

ILI9341 TFT 320 x 240

Joystick

Speaker Out

Arduino IDE Settings

Board: Arduino Pro or Pro Mini

Processor: ATmega328 (3.3V, 8MHz)

Port: /dev/ttyUSB1 (for example)

Pin Assignments

TFT Display

Pin 1 VCC - 3.3V

Pin 2 GND - Gnd

Pin 3 CS - D10

Pin 4 RST - D8

Pin 5 DC/RS - D9

Pin 6 SDI/MOSI - D11

Pin 7 SCK - D13

Pin 8 LED - 3.3V

Pin 9 SDO/MISO - D12

Joystick

Pin 1 GND - Gnd

Pin 2 +5V - 3.3V

Pin 3 VRX - A0

Pin 4 VRY - A1

Pin 5 SW - D2

Speaker Out - D3

The Hand-held Video Game Mark III

ATmega328 Arduino Nano 5V 16MHz

MAX72xx 8 x 8 LED array

CLK - D13

DIN - D11

CS - D10

Speaker out - D5

Joystick

Pin 3 VRX - A0

Pin 4 VRY - A1

Pin 5 SW - D8

The Hand-held Video Game Mark II

Teensy 3.2 72MHz

ILI9341 TFT 320 x 240

Joystick and push buttons

The Hand-held Video Game Mark I

The Mark I goes way back. It was a powerful system, but the physical design was a bit complicated, and the wires connecting the display to the processor were prone to breaking off.

You can import the latest mbed version of the Mark I that uses a Freescale processor video game from here