Pocket-sized fun is the name of this game, with the Joy Bonnet - our most fun Bonnet ever (no we didn't even think that was possible, either!) This Bonnet fits perfectly on top of your Raspberry Pi Zero (any kind) and gives you adorable hand-held arcade controls. Once you install our script onto your Pi, the controls will act like a keyboard, for easy use with any emulator or media player.

Personally, we found this Bonnet to work best with RetroPie/EmulationStation. On a Pi Zero we could emulate NES and MAME game (our favorites!) but other emulators that don't require more than 1GHz speeds will work OK too, e.g. a N64 emulator won't work, it needs way more power!

Best of all, this Bonnet is fully assembled - no soldering at all is required. You may need to solder headers onto your Pi Zero (or use press-fit headers) but once that's done you're ready to rock. In theory you could also use this with one of the full-size Pi models, but it wouldn't be very hand-held

Since you'll likely grip the Pi during play, we strongly recommend a comfortable enclosure to go along with it! The Adafruit Pi Zero case works well and is nice and rounded for easy holding

Angled shot of a rectangular black and clear acrylic case.
This is a basic, classic Pi Zero enclosure with a black base and a clear top. The case is as minimal as it gets, coming in just two pieces of polycarbonate that...
$4.75
In Stock

Friendly forum-member cvadillo suggests slipping the extra piece of plastic underneath the bonnet to support it

A Mini HDMI cable will also make it easy to plug-and-play into your HDMI screen

Mini HDMI to HDMI Cable - 5 feet
Connect a device with a Mini HDMI port to a regular sized HDMI port together with this basic HDMI cable. It has nice molded grips for easy installation, and is 1.5 meter long...
$5.95
In Stock

This guide was first published on Mar 22, 2017. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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