TinyTendo: Hobbyist builds NES handheld from real NES hardware

Why not just build something new out of an old Nintendo Entertainment System?

Sure, one or the other may mourn the loss of the functioning console, but in this case the TinyTendo emerged from it, a handheld with NES hardware in the design of a Game Boy.

A craft project

It’s a project by Twitter users redherring32, who assembled the handheld from NES hardware. Custom-made mini-cartridges are also used, although the original cartridges also work with an adapter.

According to redherring32, he scaled down the original chips accordingly, making their size less than seven percent of the originals.

“This is TinyTendo, a true hardware NES handheld that’s the size of the original GameBoy,” writes redherring 32 on Twitter. “This isn’t an emulation, it’s not a Pi, it’s not a NOAC, it’s not an FPGA. It’s real NES hardware from a real NES. This project will also be open source in a few weeks.”

“TinyTendo uses real NES chips that have been cut together and sanded smaller. Simply put, I sand down the bottom of the chip until I hit the chip and leads, then I use a Dremel to cut the chip smaller.”

The downsized chips fit on a circuit board smaller than a Raspberry Pi 3. He did the cutting process entirely by hand.

Definitely a different way to experience NES games.