Hello, my name is Rasmus and I am an avid electronics hobbyist from Norway, currently working on my education towards becoming an electrical engineer. I've been an active member on the benheck-forums for quite a few years now and have built a few portable gaming systems and various other nifty projects.
I have an idea for a project I think would be ideal for "The Ben Heck Show"! A Nintendo 64 Laptop! If Ben is reading this, he'll probably stop doing so right about now, but I know for a fact that the N64 is a very popular system and an episode with this build may very likely reach quite a lot of views if it were to be put on the show. It's a fan-favorite console, and by saying that; I do believe I'm stating a fact. Correct me if I'm mistaken
First of all, I'm fully aware that Ben hates working on N64s, but bear with me. I have been hoping to attempt making this myself someday, but I can never seem to find the time. Also I don't have several 3D-printers conveniently laying around my house, unlike some. You may ask: "Why make it a laptop? Why not a standard portable?" Well, because there is hundreds upon hundreds of N64 portables out there and quite simply, this would be more original and has not yet been done in a professional way. And by "professional way", I mean with a few neat additions that I will mention soon. Hang on to your hats and keep reading
A few years ago I made a mock-up of my initial design-ideas in google sketch-up, and I'll put them up directly below. Since a picture actually does say more than a thousand words; behold!
This following section is some of my ideas for features this project could possibly have:
Now, as you may notice, there is a keyboard-like setup to serve as the P1 and I would like to ellaborate on why I think this is a good idea. First of all, it will remove the "goofy sensation" I get from seeing a separate controller used with a laptop console. It just doesn't "click" right, if you know what I mean. Your kinda supposed to have your hands on the laptop. Secondly, it will make the face of the laptop actually have things on it, which I also think it should so that it's not just a big, flat piece of plastic. (In spite of what I just said, I do like the laptops made on the show alot though).
My idea for this keyboard-controller is that the buttons would feel like the actual keys on a keyboard, except for being painted accordingly with the n64 controllers color-scheme. The circular pad-thing on the left side would be a, imagine a enlarged slider-pad, like on the Nintendo 3DS, serving as the joystick. I have not seen any of these in this size so I guess it would have to be hand made, potentially by enlarging the "head" of an actual 3ds circle-pad. The button next to it would be "Z", within reach of the thumb while using the rest of the fingers to control the pad. Maybe built-in rumble/memory pack? I wonder if this layout would be comfortable to use or not. I don't think it would be too bad really.
The cartridge connector would flip up, allowing you to insert the game, then flip it back down into its cradle so it's out of the way. 2 controller ports on each of the sides and a standard stock AV-port on the back.
It would probably also be lots of space left in the case for some nicely sized batteries and speakers
For connecting the screen, using rgb would probably yield the best results since the screen would be relatively big, so composite would really show its limitations. I have no clue where to find a laptop sized lcd that accepts scart rgb though... The absolutely best possible way would probably be this project by marshallh: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=43034 VGA-connection would be wonderful for this build, indeed! Unfortunately this is not completed yet...Also, his amazing 64Drive is perfect for any N64 project: http://64drive.retroactive.be
Marshallh has truly done wonders for this console, I tip my hat off to him!
All this rambling and ideas would ultimately leave us with these features:
-Nice and clear RGB image
-Built in custom P1 keyboard-style controller
-Stereo speakers
-Long-life batteries
-Flip-up cartridge connector
-Stylish black and red paintjob
-4 external controller ports
-And lots of other goodies
So, Ben...
Are you ready to face all your fears and undertake this build? I hereby challenge you to build: "The Nintendo 64 Laptop"!
