My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display

[cjiniinni]

Unfortunately the campaign didn't get funded. But I'm going to try one last time, but with a much lower price tag.
I've found and contacted other suppliers, to get better deals on some of the parts. I also cut down on the quantity consoles I can make by half, so I can build most of them myself.

You can find the new link here if you're interested:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cjiniinni/portable-retro-game-console-with-big-79-inch-display

[joinski]

@cjiniinni

I like your idea and your concept in general, but there are 2 downsides at least in my eyes (as i already mentioned here before).
And that is at first the size (it is just too bulky for a mobile device) and second the missing Analog Stick (would be great for playing games like Super Mario 64 or many PS1 games with analog support).
That is why i am using a PS3-Controller with a smartphone-klip and either a jailbreaked iPhone 4S (with emulators from Robert Broglia http://www.explusalpha.com/home), iPad Mini 2 or a Raspberry Pi 3 A+ with attached 5 inch HDMI Screen from Waveshare + a Powerbank (but thats unfortunately also a bit bulky and heavy then).

I would love to have something like the RetroFlag GPi Case, but with the form-factor of a Gameboy Advance, 3DS or PSP (so just like your game console with controls at the sides of the display and not below it) and with the possibility to put in a RPi3A+, because it is almost as small as the RPi0 but way more powerful.

[cjiniinni]

@joinski
There's allready a lot of raspberry based consoles of that size. That's why I chose to make a bigger one, more like the switch or wii u gamepad(https://hackaday.io/project/164930/gallery#e09f9494afb658c9dae137001c82cd5b)

And the raspberry pi can't emulate all n64 games in full speed, and there's only one ps1 game that require analog sticks.
This is some of the reasons why I chose not to include any analog stick.

[voljega]

@cjiniinni this doesn't make any sense at all, you're right the pi3 isn't powerfull enough for n64 so why include something even less powerfull ?

And if you ditch psx/n64 game all together to restrict your console to 8 and 16bit era, the big screen makes even less sense, and it's even worse because such a big screen will draw so much power...

Basically your project doesn't make sense...

Well it's good to propose something but if you don't accomodate people's logical questions, it's likely you will fail your kickstarter again

[cjiniinni]

@voljega said in My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display:

@cjiniinni this doesn't make any sense at all, you're right the pi3 isn't powerfull enough for n64 so why include something even less powerfull ?

And if you ditch psx/n64 game all together to restrict your console to 8 and 16bit era, the big screen makes even less sense, and it's even worse because such a big screen will draw so much power...

Basically your project doesn't make sense...

Well it's good to propose something but if you don't accomodate people's logical questions, it's likely you will fail your kickstarter again

If I would include something more powerful than the Raspberry pi 3, it would cost much more and draw more power.

Yes, basically you can play everything up to ps1.
So you think 7.9" is to big for playing something like nes or snes? I don't really understand what you mean by that.

[voljega]

@cjiniinni said in My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display:

If I would include something more powerful than the Raspberry pi 3, it would cost much more and draw more power.

I never said that, I said that PI3 A+ is a bad choice compared to pi3 b+

So you think 7.9" is to big for playing something like nes or snes? I don't really understand what you mean by that.

no analog and too big screen which will drain the battery very quickly => anything more powerfull than 16bits era is either not correctly playable and/or will drain battery even more

and you don't need such a big screen to play nes and and snes as they have small resolution, so such a big screen is not really usefull and is actually not good : makes the device too big, kills the battery

what I mean in one phrase is that you need to rethink the aim of your project and what user you want to target.
first if you want a portable device, size is an issue and battery life i also
then depending of what emulators you want to target, you can improve the device and add some benefits to some area : 8-16 bits, no need for a big screen, restrict yourself to a 5 or 6 inch display, you will gain in portability and battery life

you current project tries to be a bit of everything and overextend itself, especially regarding portability

[cjiniinni]

@voljega said in My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display:

I never said that, I said that PI3 A+ is a bad choice compared to pi3 b+

Not really. The only difference between them is the RAM. And even if it had 10 times the RAM, it would not emulate N64 games in full speed. You need a faster CPU for that.

@voljega said in My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display:

no analog and too big screen which will drain the battery very quickly => anything more powerfull than 16bits era is either not correctly playable and/or will drain battery even more
and you don't need such a big screen to play nes and and snes as they have small resolution, so such a big screen is not really usefull and is actually not good : makes the device too big, kills the battery
what I mean in one phrase is that you need to rethink the aim of your project and what user you want to target.
first if you want a portable device, size is an issue and battery life i also
then depending of what emulators you want to target, you can improve the device and add some benefits to some area : 8-16 bits, no need for a big screen, restrict yourself to a 5 or 6 inch display, you will gain in portability and battery life
you current project tries to be a bit of everything and overextend itself, especially regarding portability

On this, we just disagree. But that's fine
Thank you for your feedback.

[voljega]

@cjiniinni said in My Portable Retro Game Console with 7.9-inch display:

The only difference between them is the RAM. And even if it had 10 times the RAM, it would not emulate N64 games in full speed. You need a faster CPU for that.

And RAM was already too limited on the pi3b which caused a lot of problem... so there's that.

and it seems I am not the only disagreeing with you given your kickstarters

[cjiniinni]

@voljega
Ok

[cjiniinni]

If you're interested in buying one, you can visit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/682397120/portable-retro-game-console-with-big-79

[OldGreg]

@cjiniinni : Super project. Really interesting. Full of good things in the design, like the L1 / L2, R1 / R2, the sound on the front, the battery that seems pretty good ...

Personally the price slows me down. (about 250 euros with shipping costs, we are getting too close to last generation prices)

Do you plan to launch another cheaper model? (as if you started with the XL version of your console ^ ^) With a smaller screen and cheaper and some elements like that?

[joinski]

The Lyra Handheld looks also interesing:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creoqode/lyra-handheld-game-console
It is smaller and a bit cheaper.
But it is also missing an Analog-Stick like your portable retro game console @cjiniinni
And it does not have L2 and R2 buttons

@cjiniinni why don't you add an Analog-Stick (could be placed where the volume knob is)?