It’s really crazy to see how far video games have come; Even just looking at home consoles, there’s such a more advanced level of hardware that can fit into a Nintendo Entertainment System-sized shell than could back when the 8-bit console was the greatest thing on the market. But video games weren’t always in the home: Our younger readers may have heard of these places called arcades, where you actually had to leave the house and pay in quarters in order to enjoy Donkey Kong on a machine that was the size of a refrigerator, a machine that could play just that one game.
Now, there’s an arcade machine that’s known for its size, but only because it’s remarkably tiny (via Engadget).
Using a Raspberry Pi Zero computer, Phillip Burgess created a tiny Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator cabinet that’s a mere 67.2 mm (or barely over 2.5 inches) tall. Aside from the Raspberry Pi Zero, the project required a 0.96″ RGB OLED display, an I2S class D audio amplifier, buttons, and other bits and pieces. Burgess stressed that while his creation is totally playable, it was more of a spontaneous project that he doesn’t recommend anybody else recreate, simply because it’s not that practical or worth it: “I suspect a lot of the ‘playing’ is just muscle memory from past experience. Honestly the whole thing’s a bit gimmicky for the sake of smallness. Sharing it for a laugh.”
For those interested in trying to create something like this, though, Burgess wrote about his process over at Adafruit, and also recommended some more useful alternative projects for tinkerers looking to try their hand at a Raspberry Pi-based retro game emulator.
Featured image: Adafruit Industries
