Benheck one-ups himself with portable nPod 2
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jun 29th 2006 at 4:25PM }
Just as Nintendo has dropped the unwieldy designs of their past in favor of svelte, smaller designs, so too has hacker-extraordinaire Ben Heckendorn (that's Benheck to you kids). He's gone and updated the dated retro-Nintendo look of his original nPod with something decidely more
The Geppetto to this Pinocchio writes, "[The nPod 2] uses a different kind of NES on a chip motherboard and is actually even smaller than my original nPod. It has an easy-to-use sliding battery pack (4 AA's that last a long time) and clean, simple styling. And lo and behold it has a headphone jack! Customization would also be possible, such as all the gray parts could be a different color, for instance."
Just how small is it? "Think of 2 NES carts stacked atop each other, and that's pretty much it." Not bad, and bonus points for using Nintendo's metric of x amount of something stacked atop each other. Better still, you won't have to settle for ogling it through the dense and unloving prism of your computer screen. You'll be able to throw $250-300 (he guesstimates) down and buy one for yourself (or a loved one). Whaddya say? For the price of a Wii, are you buying?
See also:
Top 10 custom-built consoles
NES Micro by Ben Heckendorn
benheck does it again - the portable N64
[Via TechEblog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Robert @ Jun 29th 2006 4:33PM
If I still had any of my old NES carts I'd think about it. But what I really wish is that I had as much time/skill as this guy to make this kind of crap.
Zoë K. @ Jun 29th 2006 4:34PM
Ludwig's got me covered.
Right Luddie?
Thomas Werewolf @ Jun 29th 2006 4:38PM
If I had some extra cash one month, I would seriously consider spending it on one of these. I'll play it on the bus to work and say loudly, "What, this? Oh it's just a portable Nintendo. I'm playing Duck Tales right now. Yeeaaah, it IS cool!" even though no one said anything to me. That'll show 'em.
urchin @ Jun 29th 2006 4:46PM
That looks a lot more like a game.com than an ipod.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gamecomwithbox.JPG
dvddesign @ Jun 29th 2006 4:50PM
Oh lordy, the smackdown you could bring upon a clerk or average patron of GameStop with one of these...
"Pfft, DSlite is so yesterday..."
NSMB? Animal Crossing? Metroid Prime?
More like T&C Surf Designs, Bionic Commando, and TNMT, FTW.
BPM? @ Jun 29th 2006 6:32PM
Ben's hacks are so awesome.
But, way out of my price range. Oh, well.
Chris @ Jun 29th 2006 7:12PM
As cool and homebrew as it is, there's no reason to buy one outside of the novelty. Considering how you could just get a GBA Flash Cart ($50-$70) and a Gameboy Micro ($90) for cheaper is scary and its much more portable. Or even a PSP and a decent Memory Stick Pro Duo.
When it comes to legality, hopefully Nintendo will offer up a way to transfer NES games via download play to the Nintendo DS on the Virtual Console.
Eli @ Jun 29th 2006 8:56PM
That one on the right reminds me of the "Black tie optional" black G3 iBook.
darryl @ Jun 29th 2006 9:22PM
...behold, the gheyPod II - like the first version left anything to be desired. Some folks... need alternate hobbies.
xerus @ Jun 29th 2006 10:21PM
"More like T&C Surf Designs, Bionic Commando, and TNMT, FTW."
How the FUCK do you surf in that fucking game!? AUUUGH
Chris @ Jun 30th 2006 10:00AM
Cool... but way overpriced. I would much rather buy a GBA SP (or maybe a Micro?) and a flash cart and fill it up with NES roms. Much more portable and would cost a fraction of the price.
Gareth Jones @ Jun 30th 2006 10:12AM
Great development and well done to him for the hard work, but I just don't see how changing the colours and moving a button make it look less dated.
The dated look comes from the angular edges on the sides and very, very flat surfaces.
Get some rounded edges and some curves on there, like that portable N64 had. Maybe then it won't look like it's on holiday from 1984.