The New Guy

[TornadoCreator]

Hi. I'm new here and new to the console modding hobby. In fact, I honestly have never modded anything ever, and the last time I worked with wood, plastic or electronics was almost a decade ago back when I was in school. But for a long time now I've wanted to make a couple of hand held mods. There are a fair few systems I'm interested in making portables of. My favourite games are RPG's and Platformers depending on my mood.

I'd ideally like to create the following portables.

Sega Master System - I was thinking of possibly using an original Gameboy as the case with some modifications.
Super Nintendo - I'm hoping I can pull off something similar to Brian Henderson's SNESp if I'm patient (found it on YouTube by searching "SNESp").
Nintendo 64 - It's a great console, and honestly... I've never owned one.
Sega Saturn - This is the big challenge for me. CD consoles are apparently much harder to make into portables and Sega Saturns are quite hard to get hold of now. But it's by far my favourite console so this would be my Magnum Opus as it where.

I would have included Sega Mega Drive in there, but I'm really enjoying the GEN Mobile and honestly I don't see how a portable I make could top it really. Sure the sound is a little off, but it plays the games perfectly and the controls are solid, also, built in games... a buy I'm definitely happy with.

So yeah, hopefully this is in the right place, I stalked the forums for about a day or so and read a few threads, but I couldn't for the life of me find an "Introduce Yourself" thread (to which the first response will be a link to the obvious "Introduce Yourself" thread I couldn't possibly have missed but did). Any advice people could give me on where to start, including the best way to go about learning the basics would be appreciated. Anyway, it's good to be a part of the community.

The first project I want to start is my Master System idea, but I'm going to give myself a few weeks to plan everything and learn the basics before I start taking things apart.

PS: I'm also TornadoCreator on YouTube for anyone who wonders, as I may comment on mod videos as I tend to use YouTube a lot.

[limpport]

Welcome to the forums! Glad to have you here! And *GASP*, you use proper grammar and punctuation!

Out of your list of consoles-to-be-portablized, I think the SNES would be the easiest to start with. It is extremely well documented, and fairly easy to portablize. I would also recommend picking up a copy of Ben's Hacking Video Game Consoles. It includes two ways of making a SNES portable, other consoles, and a very good introduction to basic circuits/electronics. It's the portablizers Bible, basically.

If you have questions, check the stickies at the top of each individual section. Feel free to ask questions! We're here to help!

[TornadoCreator]

You know, I assumed that the Master System would be easier as it's an 8 bit console, only has two action buttons and the d-pad (the SNES has 6 if you include start and select), no shoulder buttons and no FX chip to worry about but I'll certainly get hold of that book. Chears, and thanks for the warm welcome.

[weaponepsilon]

Welcome to the forums. I hate to be a killjoy, but you can already get an adapter for the game gear and its already a portable master system. Go grab an FC twin and mod the hell out of it for a killer SNESp!

[TornadoCreator]

Yeah, you can get an adapter for the game gear, but it eats batteries like there's no tomorrow and the screen isn't back lit or particularly good quality (although better than the original gameboy I must say). Plus it's not so much about the result but more about the modding itself. It seems like an interesting and fullfilling hobby so yeah.