Petal Hero Is a Handheld Rhythm Game Compatible with Frets on Fire and More
Sebastian Krzyszkowiak’s Petal Hero is an open source DIY handheld rhythm game device.
It is almost impossible to overstate the effect Guitar Hero had on the video game industry when it first hit the market in 2005. With a plethora of sequels and whole host of knockoffs, it can feel like there is endless content to choose from. But that isn’t true, because only a small percentage of artists licensed their music for use in such games. Open source projects, like Frets on Fire, solved that problem. And if you want to play while you’re out and about, Sebastian Krzyszkowiak’s handheld Petal Hero device is compatible.
Petal Hero is a handheld rhythm game device. It is like having a PlayStation 2, TV, and Guitar Hero controller all crammed into a single device that can fit in a pocket. With this device, you can play rhythm games anywhere you go.
Krzyszkowiak originally created Petal Hero has an installable app for the flow3r badge, which was made for CCCamp23. That has beautiful petal-shaped PCBs and a circular screen in the center. The petals acted as buttons, which Krzyszkowiak used for the Petal Hero game input. But unless you happened to get a flow3r badge at CCCamp23 or bought one on the secondhand market, you would miss out on all the fun. So, Krzyszkowiak designed his own hardware that anyone can build to play Petal Hero.
That hardware consists of a large PCB custom-made for this project, an Espressif ESP32-S3-DevkitC-1 development board, a GC9A01 1.28” circular TFT LCD screen (with microSD card slot), and a battery charger board to support lithium batteries. There is also one tactile button and a handful of individually addressable RGB LEDs, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio output.
Krzyszkowiak designed the PCB with five large capacitive touch pads to act as the primary inputs. They perform the same function as the petal buttons on the flow3r. There are also six smaller capacitive touch pads that are meant for navigation and configuration. The game graphics have a cool radially symmetric interface that looks great on the round LCD.
The best part is that Petal Hero is compatible with a bunch of different open source rhythm game songs, including those from Frets on Fire, FoFiX, Performous, Phase Shift, and Clone Hero. Certain formats may require a bit of conversion work, but you should be able to find just about any song you could ever want. And you won’t be held back by bulky controllers or licensing agreements.