Worklog [2025 Contest Entry] 2025 Summer Contest - The s00per64

[s00per64]

Hi! I’m a long time lurker who keeps getting sidetracked every time I try to build anything. After over a decade of false starts, I’m finally committing to completing a portable.

And my project idea? I’m putting my namesake on it. Here’s my goal for this summer:

The s00per64​

So what is it? Well, I had thought about building either an N64 or Wii portable. Even though I’ve never posted about it, I have experience hardmodding both and I’ve learned a lot over the years. My heart was leaning towards N64 until I remembered how difficult it was to deal with the finer details. (Board size, expansion pak placement, etc.) After thinking it over, I decided not to go with N64 for several reasons.

So with that aside, I decided to build an N64 portable… but with a Wii! Some key points on the design:

• Hybrid frankencased/3D printed case (I have CAD skills sufficient for component mounts, but not great beyond that)
• Full RVL board suite, cell count and screen type TBD.
• N64 face button layout, maybe shuffled slightly to ease playing GC titles
• Retention of second analog stick for GC compatibility
• Button board type TBD (Custom PCB, 3D printed tact mount, perfboard, etc)

I have a Leapster to use for a donor case on the way but not much else to show at the moment. But just for the memes:

Good luck to everyone!

 

[turknatr]

Hi! I’m a long time lurker who keeps getting sidetracked every time I try to build anything. After over a decade of false starts, I’m finally committing to completing a portable.

This is a tale as old as time. I was the same way back in the Benheck.com days. I wish you luck on your build, and can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[cy]

I love your Venn diagram! It does a pretty solid job of capturing the challenges the N64 tends to present (minus power draw, the N64 is actually pretty decent for that compared to the Wii or God forbid any Xbox or PS console after the PS2). The N64 mobo when compared to the Wii can be summed up as "The hardest, smallest N64 trim is larger than the biggest and easiest Wii trim" - that thing seriously takes some work to cut down to size!

With that said, I like the approach your taking - I've always thought a Wii with C buttons could be really cool! Aurelio told me that you can put a 100 ohm resistor between tact switches and ground (or 3v3 if you're pulling it high) to simulate pulling either of the joysticks high or low. I got to make use of this in my N64 GC project which I've linked here - it does a better job of describing what I'm talking about visually than I can put into words.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

[s00per64]

With that said, I like the approach your taking - I've always thought a Wii with C buttons could be really cool! Aurelio told me that you can put a 100 ohm resistor between tact switches and ground (or 3v3 if you're pulling it high) to simulate pulling either of the joysticks high or low. I got to make use of this in my N64 GC project which I've linked here - it does a better job of describing what I'm talking about visually than I can put into words.

I had this exact thought today, not surprised someone's already done it. It's an option, but I'm also considering just "doubling up" the GC X, Y, and Z buttons like VC games do.

I think it'll come down to what's better for games like StarFox where I'd need to press more than one C button at a time.

 

[s00per64]

So some parts have been ordered, here’s the status on everything so far:

• Fresh Wii is on the way
• Leapster is on the way (Revision two or whichever the hell it is. I’ll post pics when it arrives.)
• 4Layer board suite is ordered
• ABS filament for mounts arrived today
• Have not decided on a screen yet. Want to go with RVL-DD but need to get hands-on with the Leapster to see which size will fit.

Alright, so I’ve been brainstorming some things while I’m waiting, and the biggest issue is the button layout. Even though this is meant to be an “N64” portable, a goal of mine is to maintain GC/Wii compatibility as if it’s any other Wii portable. This is a problem because there’s only so much overlap with N64 and GC button mapping. Because of this, I realized I need to test button layout options with RVLoader before finalizing any control decisions (I might be able to custom-map all this but I need to check first)

The (buttons to GC+2.0) options:

• C buttons to a resistor array “analog stick” as per cy’s suggestion. This works with most VC games, but takes away GC compatibility without additional non-N64 buttons.
• C buttons to X/Y/Z/Z2 fixes GC issue but breaks VC compatibility unless I can map buttons to the right GC/classic controller analog stick. I also need to see how Z2 is handled by RVLoader.

If I can’t remap buttons to the right stick… then the plan will be to go with the faux-analog stick option and either:

• Add GC-style X/Y buttons below the A button (Picture a GC button layout flipped vertically.)
• Physically separate A/B and C buttons and add X/Y back in as normal

I toyed around with KiCad to see if I could design custom PCBs for the buttons, but I’m gonna hold off on PCBs until I figure all this out. I’m gonna 3D print squishy tact mounts first.

 

[s00per64]

Alright, so the Leapster arrived today and… oh boy… So basically, it’s very smol. I had the first Leapster revision as a kid, but this is noticeably smaller.

For reference, that’s not the Wii I’ll be using but it’s a basic OMGWTF trim. I can shave off a little more around the edges and I should be fine, but it’s gonna be tight. I’m gonna keep going for now though, it’s very comfortable to hold and it’s just the right size for a 3.5” RVL-DD screen. The rest is going to be a challenge though, particularly where to cram the cells.

In other news, the Wii also arrived today and I had RVLoader installed and working in about 15 minutes. I played around with GC2Wiimote and realized I HAVE to wire the C buttons to the right analog stick. So the next step is going to be playing around with how to re-integrate X/Y.

 

[s00per64]

BIG Update

Yesterday, my 4Layer parts finally arrived. I also decided to go ahead and trim the board since it’s been hacked and I’ve tested controller settings.

Today I tested the board with the PMS2 and a composite screen, the board immediately tried to boot into RVLoader. (Success!)

In other news, I decided I’m giving up on the Leaptster/frankencasing. The Leapster is too small/irregularly shaped to accommodate batteries. Also, it was going to take a lot of effort to clear out the case interior and blend parts in (and even more if I have to redo anything with the buttons.) I have to design a lot in CAD anyway, drawing the main shape isn’t gonna be that much more work honestly.

Attempt #1 for the back half is on the printer right now. I designed it in TinkerCAD (Yes, TinkerCAD, it’s free and I have experience with it) and I’m gonna engage on the long struggle of making small changes, as we do. It’s my own design but it’s got a very clear GBoy vibe to it.

 

[s00per64]

I’ve been feeling a little behind on this project. I ordered an RVL-DD about a month ago but faced a delay due to an issue with getting a ribbon cable. I also had a few back-to-back weekends with family.

Anyway, I picked up a microscope to help solder the RVL-DD cable to the Wii, but I needed a decent case half to test it (just printed yesterday). This test had a lot that could’ve gone wrong, so I‘ve been sweating bullets for the last two hours.

First boot attempt after 2+ hours of soldering:

I’M DOWN BUT NOT OUT! More updates still to come!

 

[s00per64]

Good after-day-before-night everybody,

I'm toying with KiCad for a controller PCB and I've been banging my head against the keyboard over this one for about a day now. I have the 4Layer symbol and footprint libraries, both of which show up in the manager windows. As you can see, I can place a symbol no problem.

If I open a footprint through the footprint editor, they show up here. However...

Any time I try to place any of the four footprints, either directly in the PCB or by linking it to the symbol in the schematic, KiCad crashes due to a segfault:

For reference, I'm on an M2 Mac running KiCad 9.0.2. Any advice on what to do from here?

 

[s00per64]

Quick update: Updating KiCad to the latest build solved the problem. PCB revision 1 is underway!

 

[s00per64]

So, I discovered something funny this past week… I’ve been doing PCB work off and on, but there was a problem: I wanted to play around with a prototype in-game and such.

Now a lot of you are probably shouting, “3D print one!!!” Well, that was another thing to design, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to take the time to do that. But I still wanted to test fit one into the case. So I decided to check if KiCad can export an STL.

Not only can KiCad do that, it gave me through-hole mounts for the buttons! Just like that, I’ve got a perfboard good enough to test with!

So with that, I was able to get an (incomplete but presentable) front half today. Meet the s00per64!

 

[s00per64]

I sometimes wondered if I'd ever outgrow TinkerCAD as a casual designer. Well... that day has finally arrived.

I'm currently getting the case back up to speed in FreeCAD. In fact, save some tweaking the front half is pretty much done. So what does that look like?



Stay tuned!

 

[s00per64]

Hey, it’s been a little while! I’ve been rushing to get wrapped up by early October. Since I last posted, I designed the controller PCB revision 2 after playing around with prints.

It’s a two-layer board using a GC+2.0, ALPS squishy tacts, and a Gamecube T3 stick. I was looking at using a joy-con stick in v1, but decided against it when it became more trouble than it was worth.

There are four buttons and a resistor ladder mapped to the C-stick. I settled for this as opposed to some odd buttons as VC games all have different C button mappings to X/Y/Z. I used resistor arrays per the notes/suggestion of @cy and @YveltalGriffin on Cy’s excellent N64 GC controller. X, Y, and the shoulder buttons will all be on a shoulder button board which I plan to connect via FFC.

And the PCB arrived yesterday! All that’s left now is to get the shoulder board settled and finish corresponding tweaks to the case.

Speaking of which, I’m trying to decide on color, and I have multiple options that scream N64. I intended to use the bright red, but this new grey looks great too. I’ve also got a color reminiscent of the gold Zelda controller. But I digress.

I’m nearly there! Stay tuned!

 

[cy]

The front of this unit is looking like an old classic N64 portable! I'm curious to know how comfortable the controls are in the hands. I imagine that having proper C buttons will probably be really nice for N64 games. I almost want to make something similar to this someday since I like playing N64 ROM hacks and the original N64 isn't always the best platform to play those games on. And yeah, I lived the very real decision crisis of trying to decide what color to make the final unit with my Cyxty Four project. I kept bouncing between a jungle green a pure red and eventually I settled on a gray very similar to yours due to the overall color theory of it checking out.

Your resistor logic looks pretty sound from what I remember. I can't be bothered to dig through my old files right now, otherwise I would compare with my boards. If you need help troubleshooting this though you can always DM me on here or on discord and I can compare your resistor logic to my own. Loving this project! Can't wait to see more!

 

[s00per64]

 

[s00per64]

I've got a stable prototype! Just wanted to get this posted in case anything happens between now and November.



See y'all in a month hopefully!

 

[s00per64]

Dropping this here. Shoulder button PCB is stuck in customs and I'm not sure if it'll make it by November, so I went ahead and shot the video.



I'll come back with internals and whatnot later.

 

[s00per64]

IT FINALLY ARRIVED!

This one didn’t go as smoothly as the main PCB. This was my first time testing the FFC connector, and it barely registered any button presses at first. Turns out I just didn’t use enough solder on the shoulder button end.

But anyway, now that it’s working you can see what I was all worked up over: full Gamecube controls! With this I now have double tact switch triggers and X and Y buttons. It’s not a perfect solution by any means but it does give me that pure N64 face like I intended.

 

[s00per64]

I'm in the home stretch! I had to order another ribbon cable as the first one was too short. Just need to reassemble everything and I'm done!

Good luck to everyone in the final week!

 

[s00per64]

Alright, so I got it reassembled tonight, but it's having some new problem that seems a bit like it's stuck in shipping mode. But the good news is I didn't do any obvious damage and my shoulder buttons work with the new cable!



You may also notice the LED on the side. That was kind of a last-minute addition, but I decided I needed it after playing the last iteration for a week or two.

This is an internal shot from right before I buttoned it up. Regardless of whether or not I get the booting and RVL-AMP issues taken care of by Saturday, this is how it's gonna look!