This NES-Turned-Switch Dock Is Perfect for Retro Gamers

Retrogaming has seen a huge resurgence in recent years, and a lot of the reason for that is simply because video games haven’t been around long enough to even have retrogaming be a possibility until relatively recently. Today we have a massive catalog from the past four decades that contains literally thousands of games. Thanks to emulation and virtual consoles, those games are also very accessible. The Nintendo Switch, for example, contains NES, SNES, and Game Boy Advance games (among many others). Redditor IMOKRUOK turned an original NES into the perfect Nintendo Switch dock for retrogaming.

The Nintendo Switch is the company’s current console, and it is particularly notable because it’s both a good ol’ fashioned home video game system and a portable handheld device. The Nintendo Switch has its own built-in touchscreen and hardware controls so you can play it on the train. But when you’re at home, you can plug the Switch into a dock that sends the video to your big screen so you can play from the comfort of your couch. The standard Nintendo Switch retail package comes with a dock for that purpose, but you can also build your own. And if you’re going to build your own, why not use a classic NES as the base?

IMOKRUOK started by removing all of the electronic guts from an original NES that wasn’t in working order. They then took apart a Switch dock in order to acquire the electronics. The NES enclosure was carefully modified to allow the Switch to slip in through a spring-hinged slot in the top. Cuts were also made to make the dock’s various ports accessible from the outside. Using laser-cut parts and a table router, IMOKRUOK fabricated mounts for those ports and the internal parts. The NES’s reset button was repurposed to switch between TV Mode and Charging Mode, and the power button is used to turn on/off the LED (in case it gets distracting). The resulting dock looks great, and it is certainly functional.