Worklog The "Atlantii": Wii portable, in Advance AGB formfactor.

[Anris]

Background:
I have made 3 portable Wii designs throughout my education as an electronics engineer.
Every time i felt like i really learned something new.
I put it to use in a new portable idea.
I have posted about the last one, the "Wii backpack", and may make posts about the first two projects at some point as they are also quite fun.
After 2.5 years working full time having a bachelor degree, i have now returned to university for a masters.
And as i am "advancing" myself, i felt it appropriate to make an Advance inspired Wii build.

I love 4:3 content, and the advance originally has an aspect of 3:2, quite close.
I chose to build the design around the 3.5" 4:3 640x480 IPS Screen.
This is about 1.2 times bigger then the original screen, so the whole build will be about 1.2 times bigger than the original GBA.
I got to sketching and brainstorming:

Research and planning:
After a few years of working, not having followed BitBuild in that time, i got myself up to date with the forums and happenings in portabilizing.
I was very impressed seeing the Xiiboy Ultra and the progress in transfering the BGA chips of the Wii.
Shoutout to @Xenii & @B_rob1

Goals and rules for the project:

• KISS: Keep it simple stupid.
  • Limit moving parts and wires where possible.
  • Keep number of PCB's to a minimum.
• Design for manufacturing.
  • Too often the portables are made with the end goal in mind, building while designing for making one single console.
    • With the Atlantii, i want it to be as easy as possible to build multiple portables fast and easily, without the process being too intensive.
• Open source.
  • Best part about the Bitbuild-scene is everyone working together for better portable consoles in the future.
  • I have a few projects i want to implement or modify into my design, will do my very best to give credit and open source my files in the end.
• 4 Layer tech.
  • Nothing but respect for these guys. But i will try and avoid using the off the shelf PCB's from here that are not open sourced.
  • I want to keep the price of the project to an minimum, and shipping + import from USA to EU is a killer.
    • (The prices for their PCB's are super fair btw)
  • Just want to compact the design and myself have full control of as many components as possible.
• OMFG Wii trim.
  • I have bought a drying oven, a ultrasonic cleaner and re-balling jig for BGA chip relocation - but will save this for the next project in the future.
• I will save you all from listing to many of the "usual" features now. Will go through them as we go along the Worklog. Here is some of the more unusual features i want to implement.
  • HDMI output from an internal switcher circuit. Displaying & gaming on a bigger screen is sometimes wanted.
  • 1-2x original Gamecube ports for 2x player Gamecube controller & compatability with the original GBA for Pokemon Box & the likes.
  • IR diodes build into the design, so that Wii remote gameplay is as easy as pointing towards the console from a comfortable short distance.

Buttons & initial shell design:
So i have decided on re-using as many buttons as possible from other consoles and making the rest as 3D prints.

• Joysticks
  • Switch Joysticks
  • The Click on each i thought about also mapping to Start / Z
• ABXY / D-Pad
  • Thought about using Switch Lite buttons & Gamecube / SNES buttons.
  • Ended up with Nintendo DS lite buttons. They feel relly nice, and only bad availability will make me change it again in the future.
• Start button
  • Placed a small start button between D-Pad & Left Joystick - wanted to use a Gamecube start button and membrane. Might make something custom 3D printing it.
• L/R buttons
  • 3D modelled
  • I want to have a resistive slider and a push button on the PCB, making Supermario Sunshine controls reactive.
• Z-button.
  • Want to have something like the original Z-button on the back, will have to make a 3D print solution for this one i feel like.

I have downloaded scans of the GBA shell (Thanks @Wesk for your 2020 post)
Remodelling the case in Fusion in a 1.2x bigger size.
I have also found models of the intended buttons and made the layout.
A testprint later, holding it in my hands feels nice, size is perfect.

Thank you for reading along and look forward for my next post where i will have the buttons dialed in feeling nice. and getting to an outline for my main PCB.