The average console owner probably handles his or her system cautiously, and with good reason. Messing with the hardware side of modern consoles can void important warranties and even get consoles banned from online services. However, for a small sector of the gaming community, tearing into gaming devices new and old in service of creating something crazy is worth the risk.
GC – Lynx
The original Atari Lynx snuck onto our recent list of gaming innovations the world wasn’t ready for. Luckily, the general public’s lukewarm response to the handheld didn’t stop Atari from releasing a much better looking revision. Without the redesign, this beautifully executed GameCube handheld from Akira, a user of the popular Bacman modding forums, probably wouldn’t exist.
While far from the craziest example of a technique called frankencasing, in which creators adapt a pre-existing case to house their creation, Akira’s GC – Lynx is one of the of the nicest custom handhelds around. In addition to being an interesting use of a mostly forgotten piece of gaming history, the handheld sports the kind of attention to detail that makes it stand out from similar projects.
Particularly impressive is the inclusion of triggers that mimic the original GameCube controller, the Lynx’s original rubber grips, and a vent shaped like the GameCube’s logo. The result is a handheld that looks like it could be a real Nintendo prototype.
The BMO Boy
Adventure Time’s blend of oddness, high-quality animation, and the earnest embrace of the geekier side of modern culture has allowed it to transcend the age barrier commonly associated with cartoons since its premier in 2010. One of the series’ most popular characters is BMO, Finn and Jake’s loyal companion and living video game console. With such a strong connection to the culture surrounding games, it was inevitable that a real version of the loveable blue box would pop up.
A handful of people have made different takes on BMO from the classic “fat” Game Boy model, but few are as pleasantly simple as Bacman user djlooka’s project. While the mod is mostly cosmetic, djlooka went the extra mile, creating a custom Game Boy cart to display BMO’s face and box art based on the original Game Boy.
Gameboy – Reloaded
The original Game Boy is a longtime favorite starting point for modders. The case is big enough to be used for a handful of different types of mods, and it’s easy to work with. This particular Game Boy mod, also by Akira, sets out to be the Swiss Army knife of handhelds and succeeds.
While not as visually outstanding as the GC – Lynx, the Gameboy – Reloaded can play a dizzying array of titles, including original Gameboy titles, dumped NES and SNES carts, and even some Nintendo DS games that don’t require a second screen. It also sports a custom cartridge that flashes LEDs in time to game music, a pair of extra face buttons, built-in rechargeable batteries, the DS’ larger bottom screen, a massive extra speaker, and a custom case with accessories.
R2-D2 Gaming Droid
The gaming community’s interests regularly spill over into other forms of media; even Game Informer branches out and covers books, films, or board games once in a while. Occasionally, overlapping interests combine to make something special. Brian De Vitis’ R2-D2 Gaming Droid is just the kind of unique blend of video games and Star Wars worthy of being called special.
Work on R2 began in 2007, as De Vitis, a mechanical engineer who now builds unmanned vehicles, began modifying an R2-D2 themed Pepsi cooler. The project continued to grow for the next three years, incorporating more and more consoles as it neared its debut at PAX 2010. When work finally stopped on R2, the former cooler housed an N64, NES, SNES, Atari 7800, original Xbox, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Atari 5200, a Windows XP computer, GameCube, Genesis, a projector, and a PSP in a custom compartment.
Everyone’s favorite astromech droid made the trip to a pair of PAX conferences, where it hosted tournaments and hung out in the convention’s free-play room.