This DIY Arcade Controller Brings the Fun Anywhere

Last year, Facelesstech got heavily into RetroPie projects, creating a mini “Pi Man Arcade” cabinet on which to play his favorite classic titles. It seems, however, that making it was apparently more fun than actually playing it, and after a period of disuse he decided to sell it. That doesn’t mean that he is no longer into retro gaming, and chose to build a pretty awesome potable controller that comes with its own waterproof shell.

What’s really neat — and somewhat surprising — about this unit is that when you open up its Pelican case-style housing, you’re greeted with the bottom of the setup, with a fairly neat wiring job. To actually play, you grip two handles, remove the 3D-printed plate, rotate it 180 degrees to reveal the user interface side, and place it back in its holder. It’s ingeniously simple, and should stand up to a good amount of jostling.

The device is controlled by an Arduino Pro Micro, which takes inputs from six light-up play buttons, two non-lit buttons for start/select interface, as well as a miniature industrial joystick/four-way switch. When flipped into position, the board acts as a pass-through, piping HID commands to a Pi or wherever else its connected. Notably, the buttons would normally take up every digital input on the Pro Micro, but as he damaged one while recycling it from another project, an analog pin is used instead.