A lucky few were able to secure and purchase the new NES Classic Edition when it launched on Friday, but not every buyer is playing games on it. The hacking community has pounced upon the device to see what the little box can do, and you know what that means: installing Linux.
Or, at least, your own Linux kernel. The NES Classic Edition already runs on Linux, and Nintendo has complied with open source license rules by offering downloads of the tiny hardware’s Linux source files. While a few enterprising hackers have posted about connecting a serial cable to the motherboard and trying to install their own kernels, one Japanese hacker pulled it off – and posted a guide explaining how he did so (if you really care, he also posted the entire bootlog from his first successful boot).
I still really kind of want to build my own little machine that can emulate classic consoles. One of those project that’s actually not too hard to do these days.
Or you can get an nVidia Shield TV and fill it with emulators. Either way, if you’re like me, you’ll probably play with it for about 30 minutes, and never touch it again.
Agreed. If you actually want something you’ll actually play, stick to stuff that’s quick and easy to pick up. I spent a few bucks on some NES and SNES USB-to-controller adapters from China and hooked them up to the PC I do work on so that, whenever it’s time for a Pomodoro break, I can just un-pause or load a save state.
(You’ll want both NES and SNES controllers because the NES D-Pad is stiffer than the SNES D-Pad and NES or authentic-feeling NES-tribute games will feel un-responsive when played on the lighter D-Pads SNES controllers have.)
Speaking of which:
1. If you can find NES controllers that are “for parts” because there’s a clean split in the outer shell of the cable, Super Glue will fix that right up.
2. Ask your local pawn/retro shop how often they empty their eWaste bin and whether they’ll sell you broken SNES controllers for $5 or less as “for parts” units if you catch them before they’re gone.
You’ll save money, SNES controllers are designed to be impossible to re-assemble incorrectly, and, unlike NES and Genesis controllers, the cable isn’t soldered directly to the PCB.
(So all you need is a small Phillips screwdriver to take the PCB from a “cable destroyed by pet” controller, put it into a “looks great, but the PCB is fried” controller, and then mix an match the button membranes for the least-used feel without paying for a $20 replacement kit.)
I still really kind of want to build my own little machine that can emulate classic consoles. One of those project that’s actually not too hard to do these days.
1. a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
2. 2 USB controllers
3. https://www.recalbox.com/
And you can play almost anything up to N64
Yes it will play games…if you only want to play the popular games that can be emulated on hardware with those specs. Once you step outside the top 10-50 games for a platform past the NES, it’s a total crapshoot what works properly and what doesn’t.
Well, isn’t that par for the course with any kind of emulation anyway?
This does not reflect my experience with RecalBox. I can’t name any 8-bit or 16-bit game that didn’t work out of the box. And I have played dozens of them. 32/64-bit worked pretty good too, which really surprised me.
When the NES Classic was announced, there were questions on whether it was an emulator or hardware. That’s pretty definitively answered now. It’s an ARM quad-core SoC with 1GB of ram. The only surprising thing is just how much power they gave it for just an NES emulation.