Sega Dreamcast Converted into Portable Pi Zero Console

When it was released in the late 1990s, the Sega Dreamcast was an amazing system, poised to push console capabilities to a new level. Unfortunately, competitors such as PlayStation and Xbox would soon release next generation consoles of their own, pushing this promising gadget into an early demise in 2001. One exciting feature — not really seen before or even since then — was the VMU, or visual memory unit, which could display game data and even function as a rudimentary handheld gaming device.

Fast forward to 2018, and this device with a directional pad, screen, and several function buttons just happens to be the perfect size to house a Raspberry Pi Zero. While we’ve seen the Pi and Pi Zero shoved into a wide variety of units, few fit this purpose better. Hacker satri360 does a masterful job of assembling components on a custom VMU Zero board, then meshing it with the Pi Zero using an array of tiny wires.

The space inside the VMU case is so tight that the battery connector had to be trimmed off of the VMU board, and the camera connector was even removed from the Pi Zero. Files and a parts list for the project can be found on GitHub, and while few of us would have the patience for a project like this, the resulting build looks spectacular.