WORK IN PROGRESS
Packaged and curated by emblemparade and gibbousmoon.
Hey, do you like video games? Specifically, do you like old video games?
First off: this is not a solicitation and not a business and we're not doing this for profit. It's just a fun project we want to do for our friends, because we love to tinker and we love games and we love you.
It seems that a lot of you are nostalgic for old games and are excited about the $60 Nintendo Classic Mini and the $80 Super Nintendo Classic. They each come preloaded with about 30 games and classic gamepads, ready for action. Woo!
But we think you can do much better for your money. Thirty games is not very many at all, especially if they are limited to the original Nintendo. What about those other great Nintendo systems, such as the Super Nintendo, the stunning Nintendo 64, and the addictive Game Boy? And what about Sony's PlayStation? What about Sega? Even the obscure TurboGrafx-16 had some amazing can't-miss games.
And so we present the Chalmers Console, named after this memorable moment. For $92 (or $62 for the Chalmers Mini model, same price as the Nintendo Classic Mini) you can get a console that is preloaded with several dozens of games from all these popular game systems. That's easily enough for a lifetime of gaming. It's the Nintendo Classic Mini times eleventy billion. It even imitates the original analog TV experience, which was slightly different per gaming console, for a true old-school experience. And it's truly tiny: our Standard model is one third of the size of the Nintendo Classic Mini, while our Mini model is as big as a pack of gum. Chalmers would barely take room in your drawer, and it's a piece of cake to take with you to a friend's house or when you travel.
On our end, we enjoyed sorting through and picking games, often playing them to make sure they live up to our rose-tinted nostalgia. Yes, it's a hard job, but somebody's gotta do it. We insisted on only including games that are good instead of famous titles that are historically important but haven't aged so well. Chalmers is meant to be a fun machine, not a museum.
Let's be clear: we neither condone nor encourage stealing software, a.k.a. "piracy." The guiding assumption of this project is that you paid for and own these games in their original form. All we're doing is offering a new way to access games that you already own. We refuse to be held accountable for the decisions of individuals to pirate games.
Chalmers is designed to be a standalone, preloaded gaming console, but it also can be used as a media center. You can play movies and music from external USB drives, or plug it into your home network and access your other computers. If you have a PC with an NVIDIA graphics card on your home network then you can also "stream" games from your Steam collection, turning Chalmers into a state-of-the-art console. And if you're connected to the Internet, you can enjoy thousands of radio and TV channels, as well as podcasts from around the world. But these are all useful little freebies you can ignore. Network access is absolutely not required to play any of the preloaded games.
The "brain" is a Raspberry Pi, a tiny little computer made for educational and hobby projects. It's weak by current standards of personal computing, but perfectly capable of emulating game consoles made up to the mid-1990s (the "5th generation" for the Standard model or the "4th generation" for the Mini model). Yes, that’s how much technology has improved in two decades.
We took care to choose the best gamepad to pair with it. We wanted one that would work great with both older and newer games, which meant having two analog joysticks in addition to the directional pad. You can also buy extra gamepads to play with friends: up to four are supported. (The gamepad also works well with Android phones: if you're interested in retro gaming on the go, ask us and we'll set you up.)
Otherwise, the Chalmers kit also comes with a power supply (standard micro-USB, just like a phone charger) and an HDMI cable to hook up to your TV or monitor. Everything you need to start playing.
All we ask is that you buy the parts. Then we do the labor—or you can do it yourself by following our step-by-step guide.
We set up two Amazon shopping lists for your choice between two models.
The Standard model is about $90 and includes all the games. It's about as big as the palm of your hand. The Mini model is about $60, which is $30 cheaper, even smaller (the size of a pack of gum), but does not include Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games. The color scheme for both is an adorable red-and-white, similar to the "Famicom," which was how the original Nintendo was packaged in Japan. Only the gamepad is unfortunately available only in black.
Prices are from December 2018. Remember: you can add extra gamepads to play with friends!
The parts cost about $90.
Red-and-white case ($5.50)
Red-and-white 10' HDMI cable ($8.50)
64GB microSD card ($11)
Gamesir G3w gamepad ($19)
Don't like the red-and-white colors? You can replace the case and cable and go all black:
Black case ($6.50)
Black 10' HDMI cable ($5.50)
And if you don't mind spending a bit more, this is a cool case that looks like the original Nintendo and offers improved performance:
NESPi case ($21)
The parts cost about $60.
Raspberry Pi Zero + power supply + heatsinks + adapters + case + 8GB microSD card ($34)
White 10' mini-HDMI cable ($6.50)
Gamesir G3w gamepad ($19)
Note that the Mini only comes with a single USB port. If you want to add extra gamepads you'll need a hub, like this one ($7).
Do you have any old gamepads lying around? There's a good chance they can be made to work with Chalmers using an adaptor. Let us know and we might be able to help. USB adaptors are available for original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64 gamepads.
Otherwise, casual gamers will have plenty of fun with the 3rd-party Gamesir gamepad we include in the kit, but if you're serious about improving your high score you might want to get your hands on something better. The biggest difference would be in the quality of the directional pads: easy to imitate, yet to duplicated. For games requiring precision and split-second responses, good d-pads are indispensable. Here are some options:
A terrific all-around gamepad is the Wii Classic Pro, available in white ($61) or black ($72). You'll need to add this USB adaptor ($20).
Another great gamepad is the PlayStation 2 DualShock. Unfortunately, it's no longer made, so new-in-the-box items sell at collector prices. If you're not grossed out by the idea, you can buy it used and cheap ($15 and up), available in white or black. You'll also need to add this USB adaptor ($8). Affordable, but a used gamepad is not everybody's cup of tea.
Chalmers is designed to be used exclusively with a gamepad, but in some cases a keyboard and mouse could be useful. You can plug in any old USB keyboard and mouse, but for something more living-room friendly try this ($26) or this ($13.50).
If you want to travel with your Chalmers, you might consider getting this tiny but brilliant monitor ($111), which even has built-in speakers. You can even add this case ($20), which will allow you to mount Chalmers on the monitor, for a nice all-in-one gaming package. Make your Nintendo Switch friends jealous!
Is Chalmers's power adapter taking up precious power outlet space? Consider getting a power strip that has USB power ports built in, which is also useful for charging your phones. Here's one ($17) that is also a surge protector.
You might not like the idea of building a console from parts and hobbyist software. One issue is that you will not not be able to get comprehensive product support in case there is a problem. An alternative is to buy a ready-made device: we recommend the NVIDIA Shield TV, at $140 without a gamepad. It's not very cheap, but it's very good value, much more powerful than our Raspberry Pi and able to emulate even more advanced consoles, such as GamCube, Wii, Dreamcast, and even some Sega Saturn games. Here's a great review of what it can do. Of course you may also enjoy its TV features.
The Shield TV runs an Android-based operating system and you will have to install the emulators separately, so the overall experience will not be quite the same as on Chalmers. Still, you can go with all our curated games.
Note that the Shield TV also comes bundled with a gamepad. However, it's widely reviewed as terrible and we do not recommend buying it.
TODO: guide.
If you already have a computer with Windows on it, why not use it to run Chalmers? Even older computers would be able to run it very well. It could be a good way to put unused, old equipment to use. Here's a nice guide on how to do it.
Note that you want to make sure that you can connect the computer to your TV (HDMI?), though of course you can also use a laptop and its screen to game on the go (or in bed). Also, you definitely want to add a gamepad: playing with a keyboard is possible in a pinch, but not recommended.
Of course, you can also build a new PC just for console emulation. A great centerpiece is the AMD Ryzen 3 2200G, which is powerful enough even for Wii U games, as well as a huge catalog of PC games.
TODO: guide.
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