I love how well this turned out! First finding that it actually had 3 extra games, then finding a cute little test mode screen, Going further to put a selection switches, And how small and lovely this little this in in final :)
As sad as I am to hear that Ben's leaving the show, I support his decision and wish him luck with his future endeavors, and if the show continues, I hope that the next person to take his place will do a good job. He might not be the Ben Heck we all know and love, but I'm willing to give him a chance.
btw I have a friend who works at the Hong Kong-based company that manufactures these mini arcades, and after telling her about this hack, she said yep, that's exactly what they did what with putting all four games on the same chip and using a jumper to select, and also the checksum screen was what she constantly saw while debugging the thing
Could you share more about the company? It's no simple feat to re-write the game. If the game plays like the original it is an enormous achievement. I wonder who these geniuses are. Why would they want to remain anonymous?
I think the chain on the back isn't for your keys, it's so you can clip it to the outside of your backpack or whatever. That almost seems like a worse idea than keeping it in your pocket, but whatever, people do it.
Not sure if someone already posted this. For the multi game selector. You could have used the joystick to complete the bridge. The end result is that while the game is off you hold say up and turn on the game at the same time. It loads galaxian. Game off,you hold down at the same time you power on. It loads space invaders. And so on for left and right. I did that to my mini arcade. It works great. No need to cut,glue or add anything else to the cabinet.
People talk about buttons being "mushy", but I think with the funky foam on the button contacts, you are bringing it to a whole new level! How do the controls feel?
Add me to the list of those who enjoyed this video's dose of regrettable acting. I loved it. Nice redesign of the system. Making it look like the mini arcade LCD games from the 80s is a nice touch.
Very interesting hack up. Cool to know all 4 games are on the board. Gonna have to tear one down if I find one in the wild. REALLY excited for next episode though. Been looking up making basic computers from scratch recently, and a Z80 computer sounds like a fun project!
Great video! I just wanted to say that Ms. Pac-Man is really pretty different. The lady version adds complexity through four different boards, and has “smarter” ghosts. Ms. Pac-Man is more than meets the eye
I wonder if he tried soldering more than one of the A, B, C, D connections at a time. Like A+B to see if other games are on the chip besides the four found.
You need a store. I would buy almost everything you build. You could sell either completely built projects, or you could have people send you their systems to be modded or you could just sell kits with instructions. Please do this! I want a giant Gameboy!
Those of us that bought these when they first came out found out right away about the jumpers for the games. Many have modded them to use a 4 pin dip switch since there is room in the back to cut a hole and mount one.
The jumpers on the mainboard reminds me of those bootleg multicarts you find overseas. They'd often just have solder points that are jumped to change how many "Games" you got on the cart, and then have it (sometimes incorrectly) labeled accordingly.
Ben, have you tried connecting more than one of the game selection pads at the same time? Could there be more games? (they could have used two jumpers to select the four possible games-as you did-so they may have used the four jumper bits to select 15 possible games (plus the "zero" mode you've found.)
I personally imagine the boot code checks each jumper in sequence, and would initiate the first game in the list if all are high. Would've been cool to see more possible modes with combinations though.
That was fun. Short, but fun. I wish Ben would try and find a screen that would show all the pixels of the game, not interpolate them, however that's called. Or just go ahead and put a bigger screen. The one that comes with the game is really tiny. Pretty cool little project nonetheless.
There is, he mentions it during the design phase, it's at the lower left bottom. You can see it in the finished product when he shows Ms. Pac Man @10:30
I don’t know if I’d want to kill one of these cute little things just to build what can be achieved with a PI zero. But it is a really cool and simple build.
You could have used the d-pad as a double duty game selector, hold up-turn on for pac man, turn off, hold down-turn on for ms pac man etc as it seems the board only checks on boot probably wouldn’t need any persistent logic.
Hi Ben, great videos. I like the pop culture references. I was wondering if you ever used webtv? It was a set top box that allowed you to browse the web on your tv. It would be neat if you did a teardown and "modernize" it using a raspberry pi or something. It's an idea anyway.
I love your videos i just wish you'd provide DIY instructions for these projects (even if its in the form of another book...which id buy as your console mod book was incredible!)
for the super solder episode (if it hasn't already been made), can you talk about choosing flux type & %? R/RMA/RA/WS/NC etc. and how to generally choose % (and how % may vary with solder diameter). I'd be interested to see a side-by-side real time of 63/37, 60/40, and kl100d/lead-free. Thanks for TBHS everybody, i look forward to seeing what the future holds
8:55 "point zero eight zero, the last zero is pointless" Nitpicking: Actually, it's pretty significant; 0.08 means between 0.075 and 0.085, but 0.080 is between 0.0795 and 0.0805, wich is ten times as accurate.
They could have had it check multiple links for up to 16 games but they didn't. You can actually wire the joystick lines to the ABCD jumpers so you power on, holding a direction to get a game.
Thinking it would have been cool if instead of a switch selector, have printed cards with the game picture on it and jumper for the game, so it’s like putting a rom cart in it 🤔
They're really upping their 'regrettable acting' game on this video :)
Great build!!
Regrettable acting is their best hook.
I love how well this turned out!
First finding that it actually had 3 extra games,
then finding a cute little test mode screen,
Going further to put a selection switches,
And how small and lovely this little this in in final :)
It looks so good and compact that the manufacturer should seriously consider to build something similar to this, it would sell even more!
There are more credit-card-sized ones now on the market called Micro Arcade that are a lot more like that (but with a transparent case).
Just bought two of these right away. Awesome project.
BENNNN you are the best!
Love these stuff, keep up the great work and content you deliver every week
FYI, Ben is moving on soon.
Hahaha
As sad as I am to hear that Ben's leaving the show, I support his decision and wish him luck with his future endeavors, and if the show continues, I hope that the next person to take his place will do a good job. He might not be the Ben Heck we all know and love, but I'm willing to give him a chance.
Will miss Ben, but will still watch as long as you guys do stuff. And look forward to Ben dumpster diving down under.
btw I have a friend who works at the Hong Kong-based company that manufactures these mini arcades, and after telling her about this hack, she said yep, that's exactly what they did what with putting all four games on the same chip and using a jumper to select, and also the checksum screen was what she constantly saw while debugging the thing
Could you share more about the company?
It's no simple feat to re-write the game. If the game plays like the original it is an enormous achievement. I wonder who these geniuses are. Why would they want to remain anonymous?
I think the chain on the back isn't for your keys, it's so you can clip it to the outside of your backpack or whatever. That almost seems like a worse idea than keeping it in your pocket, but whatever, people do it.
Not sure if someone already posted this. For the multi game selector. You could have used the joystick to complete the bridge. The end result is that while the game is off you hold say up and turn on the game at the same time. It loads galaxian. Game off,you hold down at the same time you power on. It loads space invaders. And so on for left and right. I did that to my mini arcade. It works great. No need to cut,glue or add anything else to the cabinet.
I feel like Ben Heck is back. So much better content in the last few weeks.
People talk about buttons being "mushy", but I think with the funky foam on the button contacts, you are bringing it to a whole new level! How do the controls feel?
Did you not try different combinations of jumpers? I remember seeing more of these games at Walmart.
Enjoying these short form projects alot.
Add me to the list of those who enjoyed this video's dose of regrettable acting. I loved it. Nice redesign of the system. Making it look like the mini arcade LCD games from the 80s is a nice touch.
"There she is! Pacman's wife! Beauty!" Classic Ben's Dave.
Woife!
Very very nicely done... don't know why TH-cam hadn't recommended it, had to find it manually.
Sweet how Ben has this very neat four-arm helping hand thingy but solders right on his desk anyway... :D
These videos could do with being 5/10 minutes longer showing some of the actual work and design.
Why not just install 1 @ 4-way switch? The 2 @ 2-ways seem to be very very complicated to get what you want.
Very interesting hack up. Cool to know all 4 games are on the board. Gonna have to tear one down if I find one in the wild.
REALLY excited for next episode though. Been looking up making basic computers from scratch recently, and a Z80 computer sounds like a fun project!
I loved it too much!!
I have one suggestion to the case build.
Where are your stl files?
Great video!
I just wanted to say that Ms. Pac-Man is really pretty different. The lady version adds complexity through four different boards, and has “smarter” ghosts. Ms. Pac-Man is more than meets the eye
Seriously cool that you get the 4 games working! Great build, much better than the original.
I wonder if he tried soldering more than one of the A, B, C, D connections at a time. Like A+B to see if other games are on the chip besides the four found.
Stolistic Games There's only 4 different models of this, so I realllllly doubt there would be more games.
There's a Q*Bert one.
A Floyd the Q Bert one is a different brand/model
You need a store. I would buy almost everything you build. You could sell either completely built projects, or you could have people send you their systems to be modded or you could just sell kits with instructions. Please do this! I want a giant Gameboy!
TSGTWEST1 I'm pretty sure he does sell most of his creations, many of them are customer requests if I recall.
I really like seeing these types of projects. I just hate to see it end.
think the whole making things smaller is so much fun yet i have no idea why lol keep it up Ben :)
Those of us that bought these when they first came out found out right away about the jumpers for the games. Many have modded them to use a 4 pin dip switch since there is room in the back to cut a hole and mount one.
I used a 4-way slide switch, even easier.
Love the ben heck videos ! Great work and what a genius of a guy 👦
Will the build files be available?
I really enjoyed watching this video! Good job!
11:13 now Billy Mitchell can cheat on the go!
My friend you are a piece of art,
I LIKE YOOUUUUUUUU
Do we have a pinout for the PCB? Building something similar and having issue with the buttons.
I want to learn to understand how what you did works. How should i go about doing that?
Yay, another one of Ben's Hekades!
Oh man that's really great, I wonder if is possible to create something like plug in play at tv AV or HDMI input, do you think it is possible?
Nice work
Ben Heck, the man who can take one game and turn it into four games!
Seriously I did this like a year ago.
Everytime I watch the ben heck show I want a project of my own!
Why piezo you can use small loud speaker from old mobile phones
It already had a moving coil speaker so it probably wouldn't
so are the controls still laggy ?
MORE REGRETTABLE ACTING!
The jumpers on the mainboard reminds me of those bootleg multicarts you find overseas. They'd often just have solder points that are jumped to change how many "Games" you got on the cart, and then have it (sometimes incorrectly) labeled accordingly.
Galaga is my favorite. I actually found my old Galaxy 2 little arcade by Epoch at my grandma's house and it still works! 37 years old!
Since the joypad already has a GRD, can you solder A,B,C,D to L,R,U,D and use the DIR + START instead of a selector switch?
Ben, have you tried connecting more than one of the game selection pads at the same time? Could there be more games? (they could have used two jumpers to select the four possible games-as you did-so they may have used the four jumper bits to select 15 possible games (plus the "zero" mode you've found.)
I personally imagine the boot code checks each jumper in sequence, and would initiate the first game in the list if all are high. Would've been cool to see more possible modes with combinations though.
There must be other games selected by the combination of links? so could there be 16 games inside?
Very good!
What is the red material you laser engrave to white?
What is your brand name iron? Thank you
Good job Ben
so... do you guys release the STL files so we can make our own?
Pretty cool.
How about giving the Arduboy a look? The games are open source and it runs on common hardware
This is awesome! I love this modern-retro stuff. I´ll give this one a try! Is it possible to get the stl files for 3D-Printing?
Very nice
Is there a video where they scale it up instead, to a full-size console?
What's with the sound? Does it not work at all in this key-chain thingie?
11:45 Cheesy infomercials for all of your hacks from now on! xD
Have you checked out the “my arcade portable pac-man” ? It’s got a nice case, wonder if it also has hidden games?
I was at my walmart today and they had these for 10 bucks in the video game section. Bought one and am now working on one.
Loved the Smashing Pumpkins reference:)
All these games and the one that I played the most was Oregon Trail. Because playing on 5 in floppy's was cool.
The Dave Jones (EEVBlog) impression at 10:30 😂
Sell these things all dialed in like that?
That was fun. Short, but fun. I wish Ben would try and find a screen that would show all the pixels of the game, not interpolate them, however that's called. Or just go ahead and put a bigger screen. The one that comes with the game is really tiny.
Pretty cool little project nonetheless.
I didn't see a charging port for the battery. I hope there is one.
There is, he mentions it during the design phase, it's at the lower left bottom. You can see it in the finished product when he shows Ms. Pac Man @10:30
I don’t know if I’d want to kill one of these cute little things just to build what can be achieved with a PI zero.
But it is a really cool and simple build.
You could have used the d-pad as a double duty game selector, hold up-turn on for pac man, turn off, hold down-turn on for ms pac man etc as it seems the board only checks on boot probably wouldn’t need any persistent logic.
did you try shot two switch at once ? (it's might have more game in it)
what would happen if you would bridge one side of say a to d? would it just fry the electronics?
What happens if you change the switches with it on?
Hi Ben, great videos. I like the pop culture references. I was wondering if you ever used webtv? It was a set top box that allowed you to browse the web on your tv. It would be neat if you did a teardown and "modernize" it using a raspberry pi or something. It's an idea anyway.
I love your videos i just wish you'd provide DIY instructions for these projects (even if its in the form of another book...which id buy as your console mod book was incredible!)
for the super solder episode (if it hasn't already been made), can you talk about choosing flux type & %? R/RMA/RA/WS/NC etc. and how to generally choose % (and how % may vary with solder diameter). I'd be interested to see a side-by-side real time of 63/37, 60/40, and kl100d/lead-free.
Thanks for TBHS everybody, i look forward to seeing what the future holds
The difference between Pac-Man and mrs. Pacman is Miss Pac-Man's maze change
It made me sad there was no Asteroids in this form factor! Any peek into the flash memory?
They all are, its for collecting! There are asteroids mini arcades, just not in this nice size, and nice graphics.
Should replace the keyring with a small carabiner clip to make it easier to clip onto things. :)
it looks really great, i want one O_O
we're going to miss ben so hard when he leaves.
What happens if you jump several of the selector pins? With 4 pins you could have 2^4 (16) options.
Nothing, there are only 4 games on the ROM.
I lost it at "PAC-PERSON"
I couldn't image that any tinier, I'm not sure my fat thumbs could handle that. Good work!
This video is so inspiring
You don’t need a selector Switch. Just wire the pads to the joystick up down left right buttons.
I have to wonder if they licensed all 4 games for each produced unit, or just one. It makes a difference, money wise.
While I liked the long term projects, too, I never realized how much I missed the "regrettable acting" parts of the show :D
i hope these guys do a remote "turn on and off" controller for retro consoles someday:( those mods are needed these days...
The Clapper!
8:55 "point zero eight zero, the last zero is pointless"
Nitpicking:
Actually, it's pretty significant; 0.08 means between 0.075 and 0.085, but 0.080 is between 0.0795 and 0.0805, wich is ten times as accurate.
Did you try all ABCD at once? Maybe a fifth game! I preferred Galaga to the other games shown. But that makes it a tempting thing to buy and make own.
I did this mod to mine, no link is a test mode which if you hit some buttons on that checksum screen, you can test joystick etc.
Ah good to know. Thanks.
There's only 4 models of this kind so that's all the games there are
They could have had it check multiple links for up to 16 games but they didn't. You can actually wire the joystick lines to the ABCD jumpers so you power on, holding a direction to get a game.
Oh, I see another mini arcade seller that has seven games devices so could problem switch between all seven like this?
I was hoping a 5th game would pop up as CRAZY OTTO. ;)
Was that Dave's eevblog impersonation ? 'beauty'
I would love to see this form factor actually reaching store shelves
Reminds me of the 486 dx - 486 sx by use of a jumper that disabled the math coprocessor so they could sell it for less???
I went to Target and they were completely sold out of Oregon Trail games. The whole rest of the games shelf was 100% stocked.
I WANT ONE! Kickstarter it! PLZ
Thinking it would have been cool if instead of a switch selector, have printed cards with the game picture on it and jumper for the game, so it’s like putting a rom cart in it 🤔
Benny, don'cha know? She's more than Pac-Man with a bow!