Some new things I wanted in this portable were:
• Vertical layout, like the original Game Boy
• The cartridge should slide down the back, and not stick out
• Better cooling. There should be vents and maybe a fan.
• Enough room to keep the mobo shielding. This would prevent frying the N64
• Have the D-Pad and analog stick, as well as having the L, R, and Z buttons (and having them more accesible then my last concept)
Unlike the last concept I made, I first roughly sketched what I wanted it to look like on paper. I made a few different sketches before I came up with what I have now, however I can't scan them in to show you guys. Maybe later.
Introducing the cN64!
Parts may or may not be to scale. I'll adjust the final product as needed.
The "c" stands for "cell". The word "cell" is defined as "the smallest structural unit in a living organism", and the keyword in there is small. I want this to be as small as possible, while still meeting the requirements I listed earlier.
In the top-left corner, you can see a switch which acts as the power switch. In the middle position it's off, when up the batteries can be charged by an external charger (more on that later), and when down the cN64 functions normaly.
Below that are the Z and L button. I made the Z button slightly easier to press then the L button because of the fact that the L button is so rarily used. The only use I can think for it right now is taunting in Super Smash Bros., but hey! It's there should I find a game where the L button does something more important.
You'll also see that the R button is on the other side, located at the same position as the Z button. I plan on using standard Radio Shack push buttons for the shoulder buttons.
I did the samething with the D-pad and analog stick. Both of them are easy to access, and the D-pad doesn't get in the way when using the analog stick. It's easy to switch between using them as well, as they are located next to each other.
Everything else is pretty standard. There are charger and headphone jacks at the bottom, vents underneath the screen, and holes for the two speakers at the bottom. Oh yeah, the thing is sexy blue, and there's a matching blue power LED in the top left corner.
To make the case I plan on using a tackle box, and doing some heavy modding and bondo work. The controller ports will be desoldered and won't be attached. A memory pack will be soldered permanently to the controller board. I have a new soldering iron with a super tiny tip for SMD work, so I'm going to relocate the cart slot, remove the extension slot, and remove the RAM expansion slot, where I will permanently solder in the RAM expansion pack.
I haven't decided on batteries yet, but at my local electronic components store they have some 2500-3000mAH Ni-Mh AA batteries with solder tabs, which I believe are commonly used in laptop batteries. Should work a lot better then your everyday rechargable supermarket batteries, which suck at high drain applications. I'm going to use either those, or some Sony camcorder batteries.
The screen is most likely going to be a 5" PS1 screen, which I'm going to LED mod and use S-Video output with.
I thought of a cool idea when I was in the shower yesterday (why does everyone's best ideas come to them in the bathroom?
I know this happens to Ben too...). I can have a hidden compartment with a door on the back of the portable with some DIP switches, which can control the clock speed of the N64. Underclocking/overclocking the N64 is fairly simple, and I think I could easily do it. Then, when I want to save battery life I can underclock the system, and when I have a game like Quake which has quite a slow frame rate, I can overclock the system. Of course, it's a very bad idea to change the clock speed when the system is on. So, now I need to go buy everything. I pretty much destroyed all of my controllers, and fried my N64 (reversed the 12v and 3.3v lines, doh!
), so I don't really have anything to start with other then the tools I already have. I figure that this should cost me about $120-$200 CAD, but i'm willing to spend more if needed. N64s fry easily, after all. Questions? Comments? Conundrums? Feel free to post here or PM me!
Long enough post for ya?
Other than that, very cool design, and good luck.
