Working in electronics myself for a living, it's always enjoyable to watch your soldering footage. You're one of the few RUclipsrs who not only knows the right methods but also has the skill to properly demonstrate them.
Right, when the video started i thought, hey i have and extra VMU i could try it with... then i check the link. Well there goes that, i can't. it's cool. but idk about $300 cool. Too many other things on my list i could do with that money.
@@will_it_work The VMU talks over a serial bus, it could have absolutely been emulated through the Pi Zero to retain function. For 260-300$ for a complete kit it's a shame it's not there.
for the first time, i disagree with you. This is not worth it at all. 260 dollars for this is waaaay to much You need to "kill" a VMU => No aftermarket shell right now Not even 3 hours of battery No GBA - Some emulation problems on Snes i do support creators / modders, but the price is way to hight gor just a "bling bling". Yeah, its small, yeah, its cute, i totally agree with that. The product is really cool. But all the cons that i mentionned makes it not worth it for me. And about the video: Awesome, as usual!
GBA seems to stem from the libretro core used and the lack of BIOS files. RetroPie users report these issues surprisingly often. Maybe the frontend built for this specific unit still allows you to switch to the gpSP core.
The circuit gem seems to be a fully assembled unit. A custom modded GBA is roughly around that much as well so as much as we hate it, this is just the state of pre modded retro consoles.
My face when he started to dremel that case D: I imagined this was done as clickbait. And if that really is how much this cost then it definitely was... You can get good emulation handhelds for half that cost
RG-Nano is way way better, actually can be used as a memory device on a PC, full SNES controls, Metal shell and type C Recharging. It's only flaw is it doesn't look like a VMU directly, it's the same shape and size though
Wait...so It's no longer a VMU at all? Just an RPi Zero handheld? No wonder it's not on the market anymore. Just grab one of Retroflag's GPi cases or one of Ambernic's handhelds. You'll have a more desirable form-factor and you won't be destroying a VMU.
With how much you have to modify the shell internally, I think you might as well just 3D print at that point. Especially for those who who don't have the precision tools for all the coin battery slot.
@@gluttonousmaximus9048 I never had one die on me unless your referring to the batteries which can be replaced. I would prefer a custom shell for this, perhaps with more buttons and a slightly bigger screen.
With some further modification (specifically just taking the chips that make the Pi Zero), maybe someone can make it dual purpose as a gaming device as well as VMU functionality in tact.
Brilliant video my friend and thank you so much for the shoutout! (Side note - RaspberryPi needs a BIOS loaded to play well with GBA roms, so the Gem does support GBA and quite well! But not without the BIOS)
You always manage to surprise me with these brilliant finds. The Game Boy Advance Micro is nice, but this VM+++ is downright fabulous. Too bad the components are so expensive.
I think you missed 1 con, and that is that each one of these emulator machines requires destroying a finite resource to get one. Seems needlessly wasteful given that aftermarket shells are available. Is the vendor just throwing away the VMU guts after taking it's shell?
This. I think it's fine if its a stand-alone project for personal use, but when people start mass producing modded units, it becomes more of destroying hardware for profit, than appreciating it. Making a PCB kit for hobbyists to assemble themselves makes much more sense, even if some people could complain its gatekeeping folk with no electronics skills. VMUs arent exactly cheap these days either, so it doesnt help that people scavenge grey markets and buy them in bulk to mod them for something completely different.
@@kraftypk7283 You mean the part where he irreversibly destroys an original VMU shell, while mentioning there being new aftermarket shells he could've used, but decided not to?
I love these! I still have a brand new Circuit Gem kit in the box and a new VMU to use with it! Probably going to sell the kit lol, no time for side projects with my streaming channel going now!
I too had the same dream, although seeing how it's from 1999, most I'd ever expect would've been GG/GBC. It's ridiculously expensive for what it is and does, though, and seeing how VMUs are hardly ever faulty, I am against destroying them to make these. Lastly, the position of the triggers would be better up top instead of at the bottom. 5/10
I've had mine for a few years. Its a cool device, I originally built with a white case but currently got it in a clear green case. For the L/R buttons you can actually fit them in the top mount screw holes, you'll see on the PCB theres a L1 & R1 pad just below the mounting posts, solder a tac switch to the pads and it'll line up perfectly. Makes the L/R buttons a lot easier to use, does require a little trimming of the top case but just the bottom screws hold it together perfectly! You can also use a Pi Zero 2 on these, probably overkill but there was talk about a downclocked Zero 2 running cooler and more efficient than the 1 since there would be so much more head room. Did kinda make sense but as you cannot buy the kits any longer, not many have tried.
Hey, I was wondering if you could do a video about the Wii HDMI base. There's not too much about it on RUclips and I think it would be wonderful to know stuff like the pros and cons and the way you make your videos as they are so clear and easy to understand. Thank you and I love your videos.
This is insane, I love it. Imagine playing that VMU but using a Dreamcast controller or arcade stick (with the VMU plugged inside the controller). Would love to see it. Thanks for sharing this hidden gem, looking forward to get a kit if they come up again at some point.
Real bummer these kits aren’t available. At the very least, it would be nice if the PCB was open source so you could get one manufactured - this is a great way to revive old damaged VMUs!
Maybe a rundown on buttons you were playing Metroid [maybe NES because only 2 buttons being used] but where B and A would be used Y and B were the 2. Also confused on SELECT START on NES fine you got triggers L and R are the L2 R2 present and I'm confused. Mortal Kombat 2 SNES DOWN + START when Dan Forden pops up Toasty! how am I doing that to fight Smoke?
I remember all the mini-games you could play on the vmu. A lot of people don't know power stone had actual vmu games you could download. It would be neat if it was possible to use this with dream cast games and download those old mini games
That price is nuts and I'm no fan of sacrificing the VMU itself... There are better micro options on the market these days that perform better like the FunKey S or the Anbernic RG Nano. Go just a tad larger like say the RG 28XX and you get more performance. Yeah, they're not mods or builds but they're relatively cheap gaming on the go.
I play Game Boy Advance games on a Raspberry Pi Zero based device, suggesting it’s a firmware issue? That being said yours was running at 50°C in the menu, so it’s possible it’s throttling? Obviously with a Pi Zero 2 & ideally a copper shim on the CPU/RAM stack as a heatsink you’d be able to run GBA games without issue. Interesting video, thanks.
@@MachoNachoProductionspossibly it is throttling that it actually is causing the issues, try messing with some settings or something while trying to look for a solution
Yeah, the Pi Zero W can handle up to GBA, though the emulator you use makes a difference, and you can still get stutters in the most demanding games. If you use the Zero 2W, that's the same quad-core chip as the 3B, which can go up to low-end N64 games. I've been doing Pi Zero mods since the Gameboy Zero days and still have a Kite Circuit Sword w/ CNC'd aluminum shell that I haven't put together yet. Oh, and $260 is outrageous. That's pure scarcity driving that price.
It's actually curious how a separate entity is now the sole proprietor, modder, and seller of these at a fairly exorbitant markup. This project actually has roots in another called 'VMU Zero' where they did release the designs and this project seems to have grown from that. They use the exact same charging IC's still. I've actually figured out every IC on this thing and most of the mappings, but unfortunately the one under the switch is a programmable MCU for currently unknown reasons, so the code for that has to be understood and redeveloped if one wants to make a somewhat faithful recreation of these. The kits for these used to sell for $65, so $300 is kind of a hard pill to swallow.
That crazy scifi guy funding comic book researches as Neuralink and Mars Colonization was advertising that make blind people see is one of the goals of successfully implant chips into people brains... Maybe we - short sighted/going more blind every day - would be able to benefit from this. ...2 thousand years in the future if the human race won't see it's end in the next century or 2, by our own hands if not due to the changes already happening in our world's nature.
this is so sick, I remember as a kid the dreamcast VMUs had frankly fat better than they needed to be D-Pad and buttons for their barely about Tiger minigames. This mod allows them to fully stretch their legs.
Was seriously considering making this my first hard modding project as have wanted to get into this scene for a while but most other projects are a bit too far outside my skill set but hearing how its no longer available and some bozo thinks $260 is a "fair" price i guess ill keep looking :'(
Fantastic. Being a non-FPGA project is meh on its own, but dipping into the supply of cheap second hand VMUs is just not cool. VMUs hold very little data as they are, so Dreamcast players are constantly needing more.
Playing RE: Code Veronica on the Dreamcast and not having to check the health status screen on the TV every time I took damage was reason enough to love the VMU
I agree, when I got the Dreamcast, I was wishing for the same thing. If this kit was still available (for a reasonable price), and I could find a dead VMU for cheap maybe.. If your looking for a pocket console like this with a small screen, maybe the GKD Pixel would fit the need, at least that with give GBA and a few others in the $80 price range. Too bad, cool device but, need to wreck a working VMU for it, that alone is a deal killer...
Sudomod itself is kind of dead now. There was a time for it and now that's passed. The later Pi based devices removed the need for the stuff. All of the mods and circuitry developed by the community was great. I have his circuit sword and the Aluminum case designed for it, but it is more of a historical artifact now with the RPi CM3 in it.
It’s a great novelty but there are too many concessions you have to make to have this be a viable handheld. Price and battery life are the biggest issues. Still a neat little project though.
Here is my personal suggestion for this particular project. Get both the original AND a similarly colored repro shell. That way you can have the best of both worlds and you can convert it back later if you so wish.
I did a double take when I saw this video, since I also have a kit from long ago. Mine has been sitting around since at the time I only had a pocket knife available to work on the shell. Maybe I'll finally pick it up and finish the build.
16:36 "a emulation powerhouse" How the hell is it that you understand what it takes to build this thing but you can't understand the difference between "a" and "an?"
I was ready to order the kit to do this project as I already have some Pi Zero W and VMUs sitting around until the bad news about said kit being unavailable.... for years at that 😟 I guess the good I got out of this, besides how awesome the completed project looks, is the reminder of buying the clear PocketStation on my eBay wishlist to go with my white and black.
That's super neat, but honestly I'd recommend just getting an RG Nano. Same size and resolution screen with more buttons and *much* cheaper. But yeah I do really love this idea.
Very nice. But this has mostly made me want a tiny emulation handheld which is fully designed as such. Is there one with a vertical screen? Would like to play some Donpachi on my keyring while waiting for the bus haha
I remember someone had modded their vmu to do this exact same thing, only difference they did was also rewired the dreamcast controller to act as "a controller" so hed plug it in and then he got analog stock,dpad,abxy buttons and such added As cool as this alone is, im sure the price itself is a scare away
Now I need something similar for the Pocketstation to bring back lost content or other peripherals like the Battle Network Chip Gates or a Solar Sensor for Boktai Emulation.
@@MachoNachoProductions it is the same footprint, so I guess you'll be right about firmware. Power consumption and battery life might be another issue due to the more powerful cpu in the zero 2 w.
i've seen many vmu mods in the past, and i've always felt hurt rather than amused. nothing wrong with the video and it's probably a great project, but just my personal take on vmu's getting killed off. they have become rare and rarer in the last decade. any of your guys doing this in the future or similar. save the vmu and get the new shell instead :)
13:55 I believe it is possible to connect the microsd card into your PC, but because the Pi is running a Linux based OS, you need a Linux machine or a way to mount Linux partitions like ext4
Next step is to preserve the VMU data port, so that the custom firmware can still interact with the Dreamcast as well as other VMU's. Treat it as a save card for Dreamcast, that also has emulation capabilities for the VMU itself as well as other emulation.
The fact that it isn’t called VMUlation is hurting me on a spiritual level
OMG that’s fantastic. May need to update the title!
You my friend... are a marketing genius!!!
@@MachoNachoProductions Love it that you actually updated the thumbnail
@@MachoNachoProductionsYou should release a line of Vmu custom shells with that name
@@MachoNachoProductions amazing that you actually changed it I never thought it would get this popular. Thank you.
Working in electronics myself for a living, it's always enjoyable to watch your soldering footage. You're one of the few RUclipsrs who not only knows the right methods but also has the skill to properly demonstrate them.
There's no way $260 is a fair price for an easy raspberry pie zero mod
Yeah, some of the prices these modders are charging now is beyond ridiculous.
@@EnforcerX71good for them ig, but you can make it yourself for like 20 dollars
$300 if you get it in green
Sure, if you start selling it cheaper let me know and I'll buy one. It's not something most people can do themselves.
Right, when the video started i thought, hey i have and extra VMU i could try it with... then i check the link. Well there goes that, i can't. it's cool. but idk about $300 cool. Too many other things on my list i could do with that money.
Hopefully the VMU guts will find themselves in an aftermarket shell so they can still be useful.
100%, I put it in one of the Video Games New York shell. It will not go to waste 😁
The biggest con you didn't mention, was destroying the VMU..If it retained its originally functionality, I'd be more on board.
Yes its neat they can fit it such small package, but not retaining original VMU functionality would be a NO GO for me on this mod.
There was no way it would retain its functionality. You're just being whiny.
@@will_it_work The VMU talks over a serial bus, it could have absolutely been emulated through the Pi Zero to retain function. For 260-300$ for a complete kit it's a shame it's not there.
Yeah, at this point it’s not even a VMU anymore, it’s just another emulator
@@will_it_work idiot
for the first time, i disagree with you. This is not worth it at all.
260 dollars for this is waaaay to much
You need to "kill" a VMU => No aftermarket shell right now
Not even 3 hours of battery
No GBA - Some emulation problems on Snes
i do support creators / modders, but the price is way to hight gor just a "bling bling".
Yeah, its small, yeah, its cute, i totally agree with that. The product is really cool.
But all the cons that i mentionned makes it not worth it for me.
And about the video: Awesome, as usual!
It’s one of those cute keychains you get and put in a box somewhere and find again in a decade when you’re moving.
GBA seems to stem from the libretro core used and the lack of BIOS files. RetroPie users report these issues surprisingly often. Maybe the frontend built for this specific unit still allows you to switch to the gpSP core.
The circuit gem seems to be a fully assembled unit. A custom modded GBA is roughly around that much as well so as much as we hate it, this is just the state of pre modded retro consoles.
My face when he started to dremel that case D:
I imagined this was done as clickbait. And if that really is how much this cost then it definitely was... You can get good emulation handhelds for half that cost
RG-Nano is way way better, actually can be used as a memory device on a PC, full SNES controls, Metal shell and type C Recharging. It's only flaw is it doesn't look like a VMU directly, it's the same shape and size though
It's painful watching him destroy the OG shell
you can still get new old stock VMUs for fairly cheap
@@DecibelAlex still is painful
Agree with you, makes me remember when modders used to destroy psone screens for custom handhelds
Your sentiment fell short...
Not to mention you can always get 3rd party shells to mess with
Wait...so It's no longer a VMU at all? Just an RPi Zero handheld? No wonder it's not on the market anymore. Just grab one of Retroflag's GPi cases or one of Ambernic's handhelds. You'll have a more desirable form-factor and you won't be destroying a VMU.
I've been waiting for this video! Always wanted to see how these rare gems were made.
With how much you have to modify the shell internally, I think you might as well just 3D print at that point. Especially for those who who don't have the precision tools for all the coin battery slot.
Plus the VMU is needed for the Dreamcast. Which makes sacrificing one a deal breaker for me.
@@8bitnation419 You can sacrifice a DEAD one or use an aftermarket shell for this.
@@gluttonousmaximus9048 I never had one die on me unless your referring to the batteries which can be replaced. I would prefer a custom shell for this, perhaps with more buttons and a slightly bigger screen.
25 glorious years of Dreamcast. The Dream will never die.
Dreamcast 2 will come once Sega starts to get serious again.
Aaaah Perry the Platypus, so good for you drop by to see my latest invention. BEHOLD, THE VMULATOR
This would need to also be a fully functional VMU to make sense. That is what we really need.
hopefuly the vmu got its own aftermarket case
Got my order in for the emerald green last week! Super excited to get it! I've been following Markypi for years.
I usually love your content, but destroying a working VMU ain't just worth some mid emulator
Never would've imagined that the VMU is big enough to hold a Pi Zero!
With some further modification (specifically just taking the chips that make the Pi Zero), maybe someone can make it dual purpose as a gaming device as well as VMU functionality in tact.
Ordered one the day of this video and it arrived yesterday. Thank you for making me aware of it!
Brilliant video my friend and thank you so much for the shoutout!
(Side note - RaspberryPi needs a BIOS loaded to play well with GBA roms, so the Gem does support GBA and quite well! But not without the BIOS)
I know its your business, but any shot you make a tutorial for how to do this without the kit?
You always manage to surprise me with these brilliant finds.
The Game Boy Advance Micro is nice, but this VM+++ is downright fabulous. Too bad the components are so expensive.
Even before i clicked the video, i knew that it is going a Raspberry Pi
I think you missed 1 con, and that is that each one of these emulator machines requires destroying a finite resource to get one. Seems needlessly wasteful given that aftermarket shells are available. Is the vendor just throwing away the VMU guts after taking it's shell?
This. I think it's fine if its a stand-alone project for personal use, but when people start mass producing modded units, it becomes more of destroying hardware for profit, than appreciating it. Making a PCB kit for hobbyists to assemble themselves makes much more sense, even if some people could complain its gatekeeping folk with no electronics skills. VMUs arent exactly cheap these days either, so it doesnt help that people scavenge grey markets and buy them in bulk to mod them for something completely different.
Did you even watch the video
@@kraftypk7283 You mean the part where he irreversibly destroys an original VMU shell, while mentioning there being new aftermarket shells he could've used, but decided not to?
He literally said you can use an aftermarket shell but he chose not to. There are also many dead VMUs out there.
@@wryyyy yeah.... One unit.... His.... Because he wanted to.
glad to open youtube and find you video first
I love these! I still have a brand new Circuit Gem kit in the box and a new VMU to use with it! Probably going to sell the kit lol, no time for side projects with my streaming channel going now!
I too had the same dream, although seeing how it's from 1999, most I'd ever expect would've been GG/GBC.
It's ridiculously expensive for what it is and does, though, and seeing how VMUs are hardly ever faulty, I am against destroying them to make these.
Lastly, the position of the triggers would be better up top instead of at the bottom.
5/10
These projects never cease to amaze me.
I've had mine for a few years. Its a cool device, I originally built with a white case but currently got it in a clear green case. For the L/R buttons you can actually fit them in the top mount screw holes, you'll see on the PCB theres a L1 & R1 pad just below the mounting posts, solder a tac switch to the pads and it'll line up perfectly. Makes the L/R buttons a lot easier to use, does require a little trimming of the top case but just the bottom screws hold it together perfectly!
You can also use a Pi Zero 2 on these, probably overkill but there was talk about a downclocked Zero 2 running cooler and more efficient than the 1 since there would be so much more head room. Did kinda make sense but as you cannot buy the kits any longer, not many have tried.
Hey, I was wondering if you could do a video about the Wii HDMI base. There's not too much about it on RUclips and I think it would be wonderful to know stuff like the pros and cons and the way you make your videos as they are so clear and easy to understand. Thank you and I love your videos.
Definitely need to look into that!
Even at the time the vmu seemed to me to be aiming to do something that the technology of the time didnt quite allow
This is so cool. I wish I could buy a kit still, half the fun of things like this is modding them yourself :)
Was just sitting there and then remembered we’re in October, which means we’ll get to see peak editing for the Halloween special!!!
Nice to see Kite's work still!
You're a lovely person Tito. Appreciate your work.
This is insane, I love it.
Imagine playing that VMU but using a Dreamcast controller or arcade stick (with the VMU plugged inside the controller). Would love to see it.
Thanks for sharing this hidden gem, looking forward to get a kit if they come up again at some point.
This is going to be another great video
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
babe, wake up, another macho video is out
Holy Crud, I have one of these and it’s my rarest build ever still.
Real bummer these kits aren’t available. At the very least, it would be nice if the PCB was open source so you could get one manufactured - this is a great way to revive old damaged VMUs!
Rip VMU OG Shell 😢🥺😭
So worth it, to live out a fantasy like that, what a dream.
Got one of these from marky pi and love it.
Maybe a rundown on buttons you were playing Metroid [maybe NES because only 2 buttons being used] but where B and A would be used Y and B were the 2. Also confused on SELECT START on NES fine you got triggers L and R are the L2 R2 present and I'm confused. Mortal Kombat 2 SNES DOWN + START when Dan Forden pops up Toasty! how am I doing that to fight Smoke?
I remember all the mini-games you could play on the vmu. A lot of people don't know power stone had actual vmu games you could download.
It would be neat if it was possible to use this with dream cast games and download those old mini games
You can download them with an emulator (I know at least one exists) and use them with no problem.
@@tenchuu007 You would be my newest Best friend if you could offer up the name of that emulator!
Just the same, I'm searching now.
This is such a cool project! The VMU is so small and cute
Shocked that Master System wasn't mentioned; a nice black one with custom MS markings would be an ideal weekend project.
That price is nuts and I'm no fan of sacrificing the VMU itself... There are better micro options on the market these days that perform better like the FunKey S or the Anbernic RG Nano. Go just a tad larger like say the RG 28XX and you get more performance. Yeah, they're not mods or builds but they're relatively cheap gaming on the go.
I play Game Boy Advance games on a Raspberry Pi Zero based device, suggesting it’s a firmware issue? That being said yours was running at 50°C in the menu, so it’s possible it’s throttling? Obviously with a Pi Zero 2 & ideally a copper shim on the CPU/RAM stack as a heatsink you’d be able to run GBA games without issue.
Interesting video, thanks.
Interesting that's good to know! I wonder if it is throttling that's causing the issue?
@@MachoNachoProductionspossibly it is throttling that it actually is causing the issues, try messing with some settings or something while trying to look for a solution
Yeah, the Pi Zero W can handle up to GBA, though the emulator you use makes a difference, and you can still get stutters in the most demanding games. If you use the Zero 2W, that's the same quad-core chip as the 3B, which can go up to low-end N64 games. I've been doing Pi Zero mods since the Gameboy Zero days and still have a Kite Circuit Sword w/ CNC'd aluminum shell that I haven't put together yet. Oh, and $260 is outrageous. That's pure scarcity driving that price.
It's actually curious how a separate entity is now the sole proprietor, modder, and seller of these at a fairly exorbitant markup. This project actually has roots in another called 'VMU Zero' where they did release the designs and this project seems to have grown from that. They use the exact same charging IC's still. I've actually figured out every IC on this thing and most of the mappings, but unfortunately the one under the switch is a programmable MCU for currently unknown reasons, so the code for that has to be understood and redeveloped if one wants to make a somewhat faithful recreation of these. The kits for these used to sell for $65, so $300 is kind of a hard pill to swallow.
300 bucks. 😂 what a scam, dude.
"Provided you have good vision" yeah that's a mod I'd like.
That crazy scifi guy funding comic book researches as Neuralink and Mars Colonization was advertising that make blind people see is one of the goals of successfully implant chips into people brains... Maybe we - short sighted/going more blind every day - would be able to benefit from this.
...2 thousand years in the future if the human race won't see it's end in the next century or 2, by our own hands if not due to the changes already happening in our world's nature.
these devices are soft-brags that your eyes still work. Love your new dremel and the skills there.
The dremel has definitely been a game changer. Makes trimming more accurate and easier for many applications!
holy wow Link's Awakening looks GOOD on this console
this is so sick, I remember as a kid the dreamcast VMUs had frankly fat better than they needed to be D-Pad and buttons for their barely about Tiger minigames.
This mod allows them to fully stretch their legs.
Was seriously considering making this my first hard modding project as have wanted to get into this scene for a while but most other projects are a bit too far outside my skill set but hearing how its no longer available and some bozo thinks $260 is a "fair" price i guess ill keep looking :'(
VMU looks cute as a gaming handheld!
Fantastic. Being a non-FPGA project is meh on its own, but dipping into the supply of cheap second hand VMUs is just not cool. VMUs hold very little data as they are, so Dreamcast players are constantly needing more.
Playing RE: Code Veronica on the Dreamcast and not having to check the health status screen on the TV every time I took damage was reason enough to love the VMU
Cool Dreamcast is getting more love.
God bless.
I agree, when I got the Dreamcast, I was wishing for the same thing. If this kit was still available (for a reasonable price), and I could find a dead VMU for cheap maybe.. If your looking for a pocket console like this with a small screen, maybe the GKD Pixel would fit the need, at least that with give GBA and a few others in the $80 price range.
Too bad, cool device but, need to wreck a working VMU for it, that alone is a deal killer...
$300 is ridiculous.
AWESOME WORK BRO
Man! I like how easy this is!😢
Sudomod itself is kind of dead now. There was a time for it and now that's passed. The later Pi based devices removed the need for the stuff. All of the mods and circuitry developed by the community was great. I have his circuit sword and the Aluminum case designed for it, but it is more of a historical artifact now with the RPi CM3 in it.
It’s a great novelty but there are too many concessions you have to make to have this be a viable handheld. Price and battery life are the biggest issues. Still a neat little project though.
.... this Is AweSomeNess PerSoNiFied ....
@$260 I would expect this to come in its own shell, AND still function as an actual VMU.
What would be really cool if the back shell could have the back buttons be part of the shell itself
I remember downloading Tetris on it via the dreamcast browser back in those days. Pretty handy for school...
GBA Micro was my favorite handheld to bring to school.😂
Here is my personal suggestion for this particular project. Get both the original AND a similarly colored repro shell. That way you can have the best of both worlds and you can convert it back later if you so wish.
considering that cost, I think i'll wait for something better and more powerful /efficient in the future.
I did a double take when I saw this video, since I also have a kit from long ago. Mine has been sitting around since at the time I only had a pocket knife available to work on the shell. Maybe I'll finally pick it up and finish the build.
Definitely for a niche crowd. I looked at this still dreaming to make my pi 3 portable.
I dont like jazz normally but this is chill
16:36 "a emulation powerhouse"
How the hell is it that you understand what it takes to build this thing but you can't understand the difference between "a" and "an?"
It really needs to run a Dreamcast emulator. That way, the logo on the VMU can finally be accurate.
Seems like the perfect thing to increase your Rx on your glasses XD
Wake me up when it still also works as a Dreamcast VMU.
wow, i bought a couple of these when they came out. built one, have the other in a box somewhere. maybe i should dig it out.
I was ready to order the kit to do this project as I already have some Pi Zero W and VMUs sitting around until the bad news about said kit being unavailable.... for years at that 😟
I guess the good I got out of this, besides how awesome the completed project looks, is the reminder of buying the clear PocketStation on my eBay wishlist to go with my white and black.
That's super neat, but honestly I'd recommend just getting an RG Nano. Same size and resolution screen with more buttons and *much* cheaper. But yeah I do really love this idea.
Very nice. But this has mostly made me want a tiny emulation handheld which is fully designed as such. Is there one with a vertical screen? Would like to play some Donpachi on my keyring while waiting for the bus haha
Haven't seen one with a vertical screen
I understand the all the heat around the project, but it is an interesting thing.
It'd be cool that it kept the VMU functionality
I remember someone had modded their vmu to do this exact same thing, only difference they did was also rewired the dreamcast controller to act as "a controller" so hed plug it in and then he got analog stock,dpad,abxy buttons and such added
As cool as this alone is, im sure the price itself is a scare away
Macho Nacho, I literally just wanna hang out with you and eat nachos all day bro.
It's kinda nice as a curiosity to show off to friends, but it would have been super cool if it had kept the VMU functionality.
Why am I suddenly craving nachos?
Where did you get your Dremel press? I am real curious about getting one!
Now I need something similar for the Pocketstation to bring back lost content or other peripherals like the Battle Network Chip Gates or a Solar Sensor for Boktai Emulation.
If only there was a mod were you can have the VMU be a emulated console wile keeping the functions of the VMU intact .
I wonder if the kit will be compatible with the Rpi zero 2 W for the extra cpu power vs the original zero w
If it's the same footprint, I don't see why not. The firmware would most likely need to be updated
@@MachoNachoProductions it is the same footprint, so I guess you'll be right about firmware. Power consumption and battery life might be another issue due to the more powerful cpu in the zero 2 w.
i've seen many vmu mods in the past, and i've always felt hurt rather than amused. nothing wrong with the video and it's probably a great project, but just my personal take on vmu's getting killed off. they have become rare and rarer in the last decade. any of your guys doing this in the future or similar. save the vmu and get the new shell instead :)
13:55 I believe it is possible to connect the microsd card into your PC, but because the Pi is running a Linux based OS, you need a Linux machine or a way to mount Linux partitions like ext4
Too bad they dont sell the kits anymore, I would buy one instantly. I prefer building my own devices
this is perfect for ants
If Sega made a Dreamcast portable mini, it should be like this.
Your intro is awesome, it inspires me to make my own, did you compose your intro?
Next step is to preserve the VMU data port, so that the custom firmware can still interact with the Dreamcast as well as other VMU's. Treat it as a save card for Dreamcast, that also has emulation capabilities for the VMU itself as well as other emulation.
Imagine playing Dreamcast games on it in the future
If only they had designed it so you could still use it as a VMU.