Homemade Nintendo Switch Built on a Raspberry Pi and RetroPie

After the release of the rather disappointing Wii U in 2012, Nintendo was in pretty desperate need of a hardware hit. Great game lineups alone aren’t enough, the console itself needs to be great too. Luckily, the recently released Switch’s hardware is great. So great that it’s been hard to find in stock since its release. So great, in fact, that the hardware itself might just be all you need (not the fancy new games).

Maybe that’s what Tim Lindquist was thinking when he set out on a summer project to create the ultimate Switch-inspired Raspberry Pi gaming handheld. The Nintimdo RP really stands out for the build quality, attention to detail, and functionality. All of the various buttons, switches, and lights are working and have a purpose in the system, and the case is beautifully modeled and 3D-printed.

It’s based on a Raspberry Pi 3 with RetroPie and RetroArch running on Raspbian Pixel. That’s all powered by a 10,000mAh battery that can keep up with the 7" touchscreen, and the whole system can automatically switch over to HDMI when a cable is plugged in.

Lindquist has future plans to make the Nintimdo RP more usable as a full computer, but has already uploaded the design files if you’d like to construct your own.