Something my brain won’t stop thinking about is an open source handheld based on the Raspberry Pi. I know in general there are a lot of DIY handheld cases for the Raspberry Pi, but I can’t say that I’m a big fan of the designs, which generally tend to be the original Gameboy with four face buttons.
For the most part I really want a Gameboy Advance clone to program for more than anything. Gameboy advance or potentially PSP. If there was a kit that replicated one of these two options that would make me super happy. I think when it comes down to it, that’s really want I want, either a Gameboy advance or PSP clone with XP-input controls and a full size SD card for fan games.
Because I’m a stupid idiot, and I keep thinking about hardware I’ll go ahead and make a quick list of the Raspberry Pi clones I would love to see (or make if I had any talent).
1. Piboy Pocket – Clone of the Gameboy Pocket with a black and white (e-ink would be amazing if the refresh rate wasn’t terrible) screen at 640 x 480 . With D-pad, A, B, Select, Start.
2. Piboy Color – Clone of the Gameboy Color with an IPS display at 640 x 480 . With D-pad, A, B, Select, Start.
3. Piboy Advance – Clone of the Gameboy Advance with an IPS display at 800 x 480 . With D-pad, A, B, X, Y, R, L Select, Start.
4. Piboy Portable – Clone of the Sony PSP with an IPS display at 800 x 480 . With D-pad, A, B, X, Y, R, L Select, Start, Left Analog.
5. Piboy Portable2 – Clone of the Sony PS-Vita with a touch-screen IPS display at 800 x 480 . With D-pad, A, B, X, Y, R, L, R2, L2, Select, Start, Left Analog, Right Analog
6. PiBoy Switch – Clone of the Nintendo Switch Lite with a touch-screen IPS display at 1280 x 720. With D-pad, A, B, X, Y, R, L, R2, L2, Select, Start, Left Analog, Right Analog, Right Analog Click, Left Analog Click.
If I could choose only one from this list, I think it would probably be the Piboy Portable. I think that would generally be a good starting point of having four face buttons, two trigger buttons, the main input being a directional pad, with the option of using the analog for more control. I wonder if there is a happy medium between the PSP and PS-Vita that could be targeted. But in general, I would really like to see a well designed kit for a Gameboy Advance or PSP that is it’s own kit that you can put together and not have to mod the original console.
Though if that’s what I’m looking for, then it might be a good idea to buy a pre-made version of the Gameboy Advance Pi mod.