The elegant, iconic design of the NES cartridge tickles a nostalgic part of our brains. For many, its shape and feel MEANS 8-bit gaming to us. For this reason, what better object to repurpose as an all-in-one console case/controller grip for your own old school game machine?

Using the incredibly tiny, yet powerful Raspberry Pi Zero Linux computer running RetroPie, plus the wonderful Joy Bonnet for all of your button and thumbstick need, this project is as easy as, well, pie!

Parts & Tools

You'll need these parts and tools to build your NES Cart RetroPie:

1 x Raspberry Pi Zero
the heart and soul of the console
1 x Joy Bonnet
to control your games
1 x Male Headers
for connecting the Pi to the Bonnet
1 x Mini HDMI to HDMI cable
video and sound from Pi to TV/monitor
1 x Tiny OTG adapter USB micro to USB
to plug in thumb drives, keyboards, and the like
1 x Micro SD memory card 8GB
OS and ROM storage
  • old, unwanted NES game cartridge
  • 3.8mm NES security screw bit and driver (aka "Gamebit")
  • double stick foam tape
  • box cutter or hobby knife
  • soldering iron and solder

Here's the build video from John Park's Workshop Live:

This guide was first published on Aug 09, 2017. It was last updated on Aug 09, 2017.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Aug 09, 2017.

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