Super Notendo

[fibbef]

After conceiving of this project nearly 5 years ago, I'm pleased to finally present the Super Notendo! Originally titled the "Notendo Toggle" when I started my worklog, I changed the name and reserved the "Toggle" moniker for another project.


The video more or less explains it all, but the Super Notendo is a dedicated device to play cheap plug-n-play games that have been re-housed inside Super Famicom cartridges. Why Super Famicom and not US SNES cartridges? Supply and demand. Many years ago I bought an eBay lot of 100 SFC carts and most of them were not playable to me because of the language barrier. Others just didn't sound fun. Those were the cartridges used for this project.

The SNES used for this project was dead at the start, so I had no qualms over re-using the shell. My overall goal was to keep the SNES cosmetically unchanged, though I did opt to graffiti the logo to identify it as NOT a Super Nintendo. Also, the RF components had been ripped out, leaving a small hole where the connector once was.

Also, I made the Toggle!

Spoiler: Additional pictures and internals

The Super Notendo logo on the game labels is designed to reflect that batteries are not needed to play these plug-n-play games.

The dirty, ugly guts. Wiring didn't have to be pretty since there is space galore inside the abandoned SNES shell.

Top view of the Toggle. Most buttons on the Toggle are 3D printed, but the shoulder buttons are high-stem tact switches due to space concerns. Unlike the Notendo, the Toggle was strapped for spare room.

Concealed detector switch shuts off the built-in screen when the Toggle is docked with the Super Notendo.

Inside the Toggle, view 1. 3D printed components hold the buttons in place. Lots and LOTS of kapton tape help prevent shorts.

Internals, view 2. Can I offer you some parmesan with that spaghetti? The component on the right is an Adafruit Powerboost 1000C, which boosts the 3.7v LiPo (protected under the big green block) and helps with charging.

Any questions, please ask!

Special thanks for this project are owed to the following:
@cheese due to his help programming the Arduino board to decode SNES controller signals. Finished code is attached to this post.
@lovablechevy whose HandyPNP directly inspired this project.

 

[Gman]

Congrats on finishing! The video was really informative great job.

About the High/low data button switching, would you be able to use an extra pin on the cartridges as a select that can automatically configure the arduino rather than remembering to use the button combination?

 

[fibbef]

Yes, probably. There are still 6 or 7 unused pins on the cart slot, so one could be reserved for that purpose. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly clever enough to be able to implement anything like that. CorruptedBit suggested using NOT gates inside each of the carts to flip the controls. I'm afraid I don't know enough about EE to even be able to build a single NOT gate, let alone one for every usable button on every cartridge with the flipped controls.

 

[Gman]

Yes, probably. There are still 6 or 7 unused pins on the cart slot, so one could be reserved for that purpose. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly clever enough to be able to implement anything like that. CorruptedBit suggested using NOT gates inside each of the carts to flip the controls. I'm afraid I don't know enough about EE to even be able to build a single NOT gate, let alone one for every usable button on every cartridge with the flipped controls.

You can use one pin with a pullup resistor on arduino side. If the cartridge needs to be flipped logic, you attach this connector pin to ground. At boot, the arduino reads this pin instead of the controller combination to change the logic.

 

[Bill Paxton]

This is awesome! Well done. I had an idea like this once, but I didn't get very far before I got discouraged and quit. I wanted to use an American cart, have the screen be the exact size of the label, and make it so the label of whatever game I was playing would automatically show on the little screen when I docked it into the console. But, I'm an idiot and couldn't figure out how I'd actually make the pi output to the games to the tv, and output the image of the label at the same time.

 

[Stitches]

the 3.7v LiPo (protected under the big green block)

Imagine not using the battery as a heatsink

 

[Reploid91]

What a cool way to use a broken SNES always love seeing a unique design Great job.

 

[Razethan]

Super cool idea and design! Nothing like a good fibbef project!

 

[lovablechevy]

Great job!

 

[MJMT]

My mind is blown