lovablechevy's HandyPNP - the Plug & Play portable!

lovablechevy

Active Member
a long time ago in a forum far, far away… there was the first portabelooza ever held. while i attempted to take part with the Handy Gear, i was not able to get it done in time. however, one bacteria went on to make a first ever system: a multi mini console that would play all sorts of plug and play systems! this was done back around aug/sept of 2008. i knew from the moment i saw it what a brilliant idea it was and that i must make my own version someday. of course, i didn’t expect that to be 5.5+ years down the road… i even started collecting everything for it the very same month bacteria released his. funny how life gets in the way and other projects are good at distracting you.

after all those years, i can finally present to you my HandyPNP!

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why, you may ask? i never have AAs or AAAs on hand. this will allow for me to actually play these games (which most i've had for about 5.5 years or more). also, this will save a lot of room. the 20+ plug and plays i have were in an overflowing bin. they will now only take up the space of 20+ famicom carts (some the larger version, most the normal size) and the HandyPNP itself. easily taking up less than 1/4 of the room the plug and plays themselves take. :D

HandyPNP - plug and play portable


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specs:
base console – houses just the 3.5” screen, controls, batteries, and all needed jacks/ports/other buttons (there is no actual system in the base console)
system – various plug and plays chopped up to fit inside famicom game carts
power – 2 3.7v li-ion 3200 mAh batteries with 8-10 hours at screen brightness 100% and volume at ½ (time will vary depending on game cart in use)
case – frankencased sl-64p & lp-55p (polycase.com) with varying p&p controller casing epoxied in
controller – varying p&p controller boards
random tidbits – power led (white); low battery indicator (red); case has custom made sticker; each game cart has custom made game label and controller instructions on back; has a/v out, headphone jack, and 2nd player port (currently unfinished)

please feel free to visit my facebook page to see all pictures taken during the process. or, take a look at the build thread for it. :)

a few measurements of the system:
weight of portable – 15.6 ounces
weight of game carts – varies from 2-3.2 ounces depending on cart
thickness – 2"
height – 4”
height with standard PNP game cart – 4 1/16”
height with taller PNP game cart – 5 ¼”
length – 6”

look at all the space i’m saving!
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this project took me 6 weeks from the moment i started case work (march 22). but a LOT of planning went into it before that. i was working on labels and such at least a good month before i started any case work (february 20 was the first label made). it isn’t fully completed yet. i only was able to get 12 game carts done in the timeframe i had to work. i plan to do an update when I get the remaining game carts finished and the 2nd player controller made and tested

big thanks go out to tibia, bungle, and bacteria.
 
This is a fantastic portable!

Could you shed more light on the internals? I have a lot of of those same Plug & Play devices; perhaps I should try to do a similar project.
 
So very cool! Not only does it look amazing and seem really great but you got rid of a ton of cables in the process.

Couple questions:

1.) How do you find the controls work for you? Whenever I've thought about a multi-system mod I can never decide on controls because I want each game to play like the original.

2.) How long does it take to put a p-n-p into a famicom case....on average?

3.) Any p-n-p's you couldn't get to work for this?
 
couple of answers: ;)

1.) the controller layout works perfect and is better, if you ask me. i hate the vast majority of the arcade sticks used in these plug and plays. they are too clicky and fail too often. the button layout i use is easily transferred to these plug and plays. a good majority only have 1 action button, which i then mapped out to all 4 of the face buttons. the next majority have only 2 action buttons (a/b, o/x, x/[], etc) which i then mapped out with 2 of each to the 4 face buttons, giving you the option of how you want your thumb positioned. the mortal kombat one uses 5 face buttons, but the middle one in the x pattern of buttons is block. i simply mapped block to both shoulder buttons, which to me, makes so much more sense. i'm not accidentally hitting it when trying to kick or punch. if any games use turbo, i've moved them to the shoulder buttons, also, which just makes sense to me, too. then i'm not accidentally using turbo when playing. any p&ps which use only 3 face buttons (none of which i've gotten done yet), i will map them on the 4 face buttons, leaving the top one as nothing.

2.) oh geeze... erm... to go from fully functioning famicom cart to fully closed and functioning PNP cart... probably 4-6 hours per. that includes stripping the famicom stickers off, cleaning the cartridge, cutting the famicom board down to what i can use, prepping said famicom board pins that will be used, cutting down the p&p game board to fit, partially wiring up (just video, power, and audio) to test to make sure the cut does indeed still work, wiring up fully the game, testing to make sure that every button is registering, fixing any issues of buttons not registering (have to jerry rig a lot of the pins to touch correctly), then figuring out how to fit it all inside the case, hot glue the wires down so they are secure and out of the way, secure screw posts in (which then takes a few hours to dry which i've not included on the 4-6 hour time above), drill the holes for the screws, make sure it lines up correctly with the screw posts, fix any screw posts that happen to break out in the process (which was common for at least 1 to break out), wait for that to dry (which again is another hour or 2 i didn't include), then screw it all together, and then test again to make sure it all still works, and then fix anything that still needs fixed. it's not exactly a quick and easy process. i was lucky to get one done a night after work. normally would only get 2 done on a saturday. and of course there is also the designing of the front and back labels, which takes at least another hour per cart.

3.) and, no, not really. i had a board or 2 that died. but there is a very good chance they died before i ever started. as a lot of these have been open and out of their casing and tossed around in a box for 5+ years. lol
 
Happy to see this finished. Great work on this, I love how it turned out.
 
Congrats on doing what many have talked about but few have actually done. Systems in carts seems like a good idea, but implementation that isn't huge is another issue.

One of the comments on HAD suggested a RaspberryPi cart that could play emulators/media.
 
Yeah I saw that. I have zero interest in a raspberry pi. I dont emulate. Only Roms I have are on x-in-1 plug and plays I've legally purchased.
 
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