A Plug and Play NES Computer

Having the latest and greatest hardware is a must for many technophiles, but sometimes it’s what’s on the outside that counts. For builds like DIY media players or retro gaming arcades, you really don’t need a lot of computational horsepower. But since these types of gadgets will be displayed prominently in your home, you do want them to look good.

Hardware hacker schvabek just demonstrated one of the coolest ways to build these types of devices that you will ever see. He stuffed a modern-ish computer into a reproduction NES case. It looks like it is ready for a round of Duck Hunt, but it can do everything from playing Super Mario 64 to streaming your favorite movies.

Rather than risk damaging an original NES, schvabek 3D printed a nearly perfect replica of a case. An older Mac Mini was then stripped down to its bare essentials, including the motherboard, drives, and fan. These components were installed inside the case, with the optical drive fitting perfectly in the cartridge port. Actual NES switches were installed as the power and reset buttons, and USB ports fill the controller port openings. Additional cutouts in the case were made for the fan exhaust and other I/O ports.

Things were looking good, and working as expected, but there was one problem. The 3D print was entirely white. To fix this up, schvabek tracked down some spray paint that very closely matches the original NES colors. These were carefully applied before a protective clear coat was laid down over the top.

This NES computer looks so good that you have to do a double take before you realize it is not an original NES. Check out the video below to see the computer in action.