RetroPi/kodi NES Cartridge

I found out that an NES cartage and NES paddle screw holes aligned perfectly for my second attempt (First attempt failed. The PVC cement did not hold). Looks impressive but I didn't know if I could fit all the electronics inside.

Step 1: Wiring in the Game Pad to the Pi Zero W GPIO

One of the most terrifying days was wiring in the controller to the Pie Zero W. If this failed, I would have to redo the entire wiring. I bridged in the 5 volt supply for the display and the video link as well. Even had the project up and running off external power to test it out. Seems to be OK for now. None of the buttons worked as of yet because they are not programmed. Easiest method is to use GPIOnext to get the buttons setup.

Step 2: Battery Pack and USB Sound Card

Now the only thing to do was to mount the sound card, amplifiers, 3.5 mm headphone jack, battery pack (5 volt USB battery bank) and the speakers.

Step 3: Testing Time

Everything worked like a charm. At this time I found out that you can port Kodi on Retropie. Seeing as how PiZero W is limited in system resources. I was highly impressed! It can display video at 720p. The games played perfectly. This was a fun project to build and I hope to see yours soon.

Pros:

-Lets face it. This is just awesome

Cons:

-Audio from GPIOs was not happening. USB was the best answer. With both types of audio, I get a buzzing noise. Had to use a 33uF cap over the audio outputs to cut down on some of the buzzing. I did find out that it was coming from the generic power supply.

- The screen size is small. Made it extremely hard to read the system games and Kodi menus. Think I'll spend a little bit extra money next time and get a better screen, If there is a next time. The build took a month working on it 2 to 3 hours a day but it was still a fun project overall.