Video Game Emulator

I made a video game emulator that plays classic games using Raspberry Pi. You can connect a wired or bluetooth controller to enjoy playing games ranging from Atari to PlayStation to Nintendo 64 on any TV, PC, or monitor you would like.

Engineer

Kai I.

Area of Interest

Mechanical Engineering

Programming

School

Las Lomas High School

Grade

Incoming Junior

Bill of Materials
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Motherboard (Element 14)
Raspberry Pi 3 Case – Black/Grey
CanaKit 5V 2.5A Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Power Supply / Adapter (UL Listed)
Samsung 64GB EVO Plus Class 10 Micro SDXC with Adapter 80mb/s (MB-MC64DA/AM)
DualShock 4 Wireless Controller for PlayStation 4 – Jet Black
AmazonBasics High-Speed 4K HDMI Cable, 6 Feet, 1-Pack
Rii I8 Mini 2.4Ghz Wireless Touchpad Keyboard With Mouse For Pc, Pad, Xbox 360, Ps3, Google Android Tv Box, Htpc, Iptv (Black)
SallyBest® 7 Inch Ultra Thin 16:9 HD 800*480 TFT LCD Color Car Rear View Monitor 2 Video Input DVD VCD Headrest Vehicle Monitor Support Audio Video HDMI VGA
1.4″ Plywood

Final Milestone

My final milestone was customising my setup by adding themes to my RetroPie and making a box to put my monitor in. I downloaded the themes off of EmulationStation in the RetroPie. I made the case out of 1/4″ plywood and spraypainted it. I fitted the monitor inside the case to give my emulator the best custom feel possible.

Second Milestone

This is my second milestone for my Video Game Emulator. I have transferred the ROM files needed to play certain games onto the RetroPie. I attempted to share the files through Samba or SFTP wirelessly, but the Raspberry Pi did not receive my server signals, so I transfered the ROM files using a USB stick. I fixed the audio output to AUX instead of through the HDMI out of the monitor’s built in speakers, I set the resolution to fit my monitor screen, I set the timezone to match my timezone, and I set the language to an American English since the RetroPie was set to a British English. I now have the ability to play games on my emulator.

First Milestone

This is my first milestone for my Video Game Emulator. I downloaded RetroPie, a distribution disk image software used for running the emulator on the Raspberry Pi. I have also downloaded ApplePi-Baker, a software that’s an SD card image writing tool used for writing the RetroPie software onto the SD card. I had to use an SD card reader port attached to the USB of my laptop, as my laptop doesn’t have an SD card reader built in. When I tried to write the RetroPie software onto the SD card using ApplePi-Baker, the SD card didn’t show up as one of the storages to write on. I got confused by this as the SD card showed up on my desktop. I tried to solve this by refreshing, dragging the SD card file from my desktop to the RetroPie, and messing around with the settings within the ApplePi-Baker software, but none of my actions made the SD card show up on the ApplePi-Baker software. When I went back to the website where I downloaded the ApplePi-Baker, I realised that I was using an older version of the ApplePi-Baker, and that the newer version fixed the problem where the SD card wouldn’t show up. After downloading the newer version of ApplePi-Baker, the SD card I am using finally appeared in the area where you select the SD card you want to use. I wrote the RetroPie onto my SD card which I put inside my Raspberry Pi.

Starter Project: TV-B-Gone

The TV-B-Gone is a device that can turn off almost any TV you use it on. It is made from a circut board, a microcontroller, four infared LEDs, a small green LED, a ceramic oscillator, an electrolytic capacitor, a ceramic capacitor, two 1K ohm resistors, a PNP transistor, four NPN transistors, and a button. It is powered by two AA batteries attached to the back of the circut board. The purpose of this device is up to the beholder, whether you want to troll and turn off random TVs that people are using, or turn off only your own TV at home when you don’t have your normal TV remote.

HOW IT WORKS

The batteries power the microcontroller that makes the infared LEDs flash infared light in patterns that line up with those that are also sent from TV remotes that turn off TVs. When the button is pressed, it sends a signal to the microcontroller, which sends pattern codes through the transistors that amplifies the signal to the infared LEDs. Because there are many different TV manufacturers, and not all TVs use the same infared signal to turn their TV off, the TV-B-Gone has many different signals programmed inside it in order to turn most TVs off. It takes about two minutes to send every signal needed to turn off most TVs, but because the TV-B-Gone is programmed to send the more popular TV producers’ signals first, most TVs will turn off in a few seconds after the button is pressed.

Schematic Design

Image Source: http://www.spikenzielabs.com/Downloadables/uselessmachine/UM_Schematic.png