Earlier this month, we compiled a list of our favorite Pokémon 3D printing projects, in honor of the legendary game’s 20th anniversary. If that joyous celebration of pixelated creature-hunting whetted your appetite for a return to 90s gaming, then this 3D printed Raspberry Pi project is sure to satiate. Rasmus Hauschild, a talented teenage maker from Denmark, recently unveiled this 3D printed Pi Zero Gameboy NANO, a minuscule Raspberry Pi styled in the legendary Nintendo aesthetic and ready to be loaded with any number of retro video game emulators: Gameboy, Atari, Dreamcast, and more.

First, a little backstory: Despite his tender age, this mini Gameboy Pi is not Hauschild’s first venture into Pi/Gameboy territory. Back in July 2015, the maker created this chunkier, true-to-size Gameboy Pi, made with a Raspberry Pi 2. That design went down a storm, and the maker has now returned with a super-compact model built around the Raspberry Pi Zero, the much-loved $5 computer which has already spawned retro builds such as this 3D printed NES controller. Creative designers have, understandably, been mixing the Raspberry Pi with the Gameboy since before Hauschild came onto the scene: the DIY 3D printing legends at Adafruit designed their own 3D printed Gamegirl enclosure back in 2014, which was recently upgraded to the even-more-awesome PiGRRL 2.

Back to Hauschild’s new design: The Danish maker’s Pi Zero Gameboy NANO features a 1.5” Adafruit OLED, can be connected to a full-size TV with an HDMI cable, and measures just 6.9cm x 4.8cm x 2.7cm, making it one of the tiniest complete Pi devices in existence. The 3D printed device is loaded with RetroPie Emulationstation, an emulator front-end for Pi, Windows, and other computers which allows users to play older games consoles and their respective libraries of games through new hardware such as the Raspberry Pi. With Emulationstation, the cool 3D printed Gameboy gives players access to the Gameboy itself, as well as the Atari, Nintendo 64, Playstation 1, Sega Dreamcast, and much more. With a 32GB SD card, you can fit all of those formerly pioneering devices into the matchbox-sized computer. Crazy how fast technology moves, right?

The 3D printed enclosure for the tiny computer consists of eight 3D printable files, all of which can be downloaded from Thingiverse. After spending "all his money” on an Ultimaker 2, Hauschild configured the popular 3D printer to print with a resolution of 50 microns and 100% infill with no rafts or supports.

Want to get your hands on Hauschild’s cool Gameboy Pi but don’t have a 3D printer? Mum thrown away your old SNES and Mario Kart? Don’t worry: The talented young Dane is also selling pre-printed versions of the pocket-sized console for $250 plus shipping.

Posted in 3D Printing Application