RetroPie64: My Nintendo 64 conversion

[Capt_MorganCreek]

After weeks of tinkering around with the software, cutting, spraypainting and fitting the hardware my build is finally completed.

It's the first time I did a project like this and I had no clue about Linux, bash, soldering, electronics - so everything went slower as I would have liked but it was a fun ride.

Around christmas I had too much time and watched too many videos from eta prime on Youtube and really wanted to try retropie. Around the same time the NES mini became a thing, and since I never had a N64 I thought a Nintendo 64 conversion would be a fun thing to do.

Hardware:

My goal was to build a device that would work easy without fiddleing around, could use 4 original N64 controllers and some extra buttons to save/load/switch slots, so no hotkey combinations were necessary. I also wanted to use the original power switch and the reset button to return to emulationstation. It should feel like a product you could commercially buy and use without weird hiccups.

I didn't want to get rid of the cartridge and I thought it would be fun if I could use it to hold the roms. To make it look pretty I designed a custom cover based on Rookervik's splashscreen logo.

To make the power button work I ordered petrockblog's Power Block. I originally ordered a switch from mausberry circuits but it took them weeks to ship the item, so went with the Power Block (which is the better choice in hindsight). For the added buttons and the reset buttons I use Adafruits retrogame software to map GPIO inputs to keyboard inputs.

The inside of the N64 is surprisingly compact with strange angles and it took me some time to figure out how I could fit all the hardware into it. Since I didn't have the original power adapter I decided to use this space and add a plate later. It's still a tight fit, but I can easily access all the hardware.

Software:

One of the difficulties I faced was the configuration of the controller and the low analog output which I documented here. I use two Hiujia N64 to USB adapters.

Another problem I had was the order of the controllers. After each reboot the order was scrambled around, but the "Joystick Selection" addon solved this issue for me. In mupen64plus I use the "Auto with named SDL Device" method to preserve the correct order.

Overclocking is sadly not possible with my Pi3. Even with a small overclock the system freezes randomly.

I also use the background music script I found here in a thread to have some classic tunes playing in the menu. For the splashscreen I use Rookervik's Retropie64 video splashscreen, which is a perfect fit for my build. I just shortened it and tweaked the colors.

And some beautyshots:

Thanks again to the retropie community for helping me with my many questions - I'm sure there are more to come! This project wouldn't have been possible without you.

If you have questions or if I can help you out just ask :)

[markyh444]

Lovely build dude.