N64 portable in a Gamegear(Mercury64)

Joined
Dec 11, 2022
Messages
52
Likes
77
Location
Texas
Portables
5
Hey y'all, I finally finished it.

This took me about 7 months, start to finish.

I'm terrible at work logs but I'm gonna give it my best.

So I started out with this Gamegear I was trying to refurbish, however the board was just way too corroded. So I came up with this:
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No official Jungle green controller was harmed in this process
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Gamecube Joystick. Orignially I wanted to keep the speaker here but I also wanted the D-pad so I had to compromise.
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Getting it all sanded up.
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Filler
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More sanding
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This is when I figured out the d-pad was gonna be impossible without changing the speaker location.
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I marked imperfections and added the d-pad from a GameCube.
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Adding more filler.
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Sweet smoothness. I also tried to get some paint to match an original grey n64 controller, but the best I could find was actually the primer I was already using so I decided to just go with it.
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On went the clear coat and I was happy with the results.

First of all let me say I make sure my solder joints are tight and nothing is shorting out, I know how to wire well. However my wire management leaves a bit to be desired.
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The victim, old style trim, no pif relocation because it's not really necessary for this build.
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Trim before the cleanup.
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Board bend, ignore the wire wrapped around the heatsink post, that's temporary
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Successful cart relocation on the board bend.
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Board test fit, it fits!
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Akiraflex Ram swap, thank you CrazyGadget!
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I used this rumble pack/memory pack for this.
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This is what I used for my batteries. 2 of these for 7.4v at 1900mah, not a crazy capacity but enough for me.
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Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures of the electronics as I did them but here is the completed insides, it doesn't look the most tidy but it works.
Those 2 heatsinks I'll probably end up replacing because I under estimated the amount I would need.

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Thank you to everyone who helped me with this, I appreciate you all! I'll have a full video here soon.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 11, 2022
Messages
52
Likes
77
Location
Texas
Portables
5
This portable is a really cool hybrid of blast-from-the-past Bacman/MR techniques and modern innovations like the AkiraFlex. I love it!
That's when I learned to portablize and the end of benheck lol so it's really the only way I truly know how to do it. CrazyGadget really came through for me with the AkiraFlex, if not I would have had to add a spacer Thank you so much again CrazyGadget.
 
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