RetroFlag GPi Case - A 'GBZero' that isn't janky


I assume he was including shoulder buttons. The classic GB style case solution for six total buttons by putting two in slightly odd places on the back is not a good solution to me either.
 
second exodous said:
I think the GameBoy shell is great for 2 or 4 button games, horrible for everything else. I don't know why everyone copies it over the GBA, which can have 6 buttons and if they go for a 6 face buttons layout like a Nomad/genesis/mega drive it can have 8 buttons, the same as a PS1 controller. If retro flag makes it they might have the handy feature of select+R+L combo to switch the shoulder buttons with two of the face buttons like their 6 buttons MD pad does now.

I know the original GB is Nostalgic and everyone and their dog had one back in the day and it brings back fuzzy feelings in the hands but when you try to play anything that requires more than 4 buttons it just isn't an ideal layout.

I'll wait for RetroFlag to make a GBA shell. And hopefully like they did with this shell they'll throw in extra face buttons for good measure. The pi zero in the cart was genius though, hopefully they'll keep that to make it easy to set up.
Click to expand...
The gba sp was one of my favorite truely pocketable game devices ever. It blows my mind that form factor hasn't been reproduced to hell and back by now. I'd buy a pi zero in a sp form factor.
 
pmprog said:
I need to find out if a Raspberry Pi Zero can emulate NeoGeo Pocket Colour, as that's one thing I wished was supported on my ODroid GO, but I don't think it can because of hardware requirements.

If Banana Pi can handle GBA and NGPC, I'll be pretty tempted to wrap these together


A GBA shell with 6 face buttons? Have you got a picture? Because a regular gameboy looks a squeeze with 6 facebuttons, and the GBA shell certainly seems to have a smaller surface area
Click to expand...
Well, not the same size, but like a Nomad with shoulder-buttons. Basically a landscape configuration so the shoulder buttons are comfortable to use and with 6 face buttons.
 
I'm not sure a massive box without paralell lines anywhere on it is a good representation of a six button device. That said, I've looked up some other handhelds that I thought could accommodate six buttons easily; the original GBA is too narrow and the SP is a little tight. The thing I've seen which seems to have the most space between the d-pad and the buttons is the Gameboy Pocket/Color, but that has the disadvantage of having no sensible place to put shoulder buttons should you want them.

Sure you could make the box just the right size to fit six buttons and two shoulders, but the point of these things is a retro thing of making a handheld that's apparently an old school handheld at first glance. I suppose you could make it look like a Nomad, but be aware that was only ever sold with support in north america; you could only rarely get them here on import for stupid prices. I'm not sure that anyone who saw me apparently playing with one would see it as anything they recognise.
 
It might have been, but it's sold out already. The reddit thread claims it sold out in 37 minutes.
 
No, not even listed, whereas you can find it on the .com even if it's not in stock
 
i just picked mine up on ebay. was not priced to bad. still under 100 so hoping when it gets here it is the true thing
 
I've got mine, and the build quality is as good as I expected. Hopefully I can get up to microcenter this weekend to get a zero to stick in it.
 
I got one of these in the end, the device is a nice shape and size and looks good. Though I've had quite a few frustrations.

  • I found it impossible to use the back "shoulder" buttons, as their position to how I held the device didn't fit... They also required a decent amount of force to press, which meant you needed counter force on the top side to prevent the device just flip flopping everywhere. In all honesty though, the games I wanted to use this for didn't have shoulder buttons (Gameboy and NeoGeo Pocket).
  • Barrel Jack for external power... it has a very thin barrel, which was stiff to insert the first time, and I was afraid of breaking it. They'd have been better with a micro-USB here. Especially as the barrel jack cable just connects to a USB port!
  • Batteries... For some reason, the two different sets of AA batteries I've tried don't actually get me into RetroPie... they fade, the screen corrupts, and the Pi reboots. Whilst not brand new AA batteries, I've checked their charge, and all of them are good; so it's slightly worrying that if I can't boot without brand new AA's, it's not going to last very well.
  • Battery compartment USB port. There is a USB port in the battery compartment that I have used to power up the device... however, you can't obviously close the case in this situation, so you can't hold it properly.
  • "Pi Cartridge" is only locked into the device when the power switch is moved to "on", very much like a gameboy... However, this means when it's off, there's only the friction of the connector holding the Pi to the rest of the device. Maybe that's enough, but I don't know, I feel like it should be more secure

Personally, I was very disappointed with the end result. I'm tempted to resell it, and try and recoup some of the money spent on it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ArchiMark
More Pi?.....Try some Noodle Pi
Replies
6
Views
7K
levi
levi
Chip
Chinese-made gameboy 3 on ebay - does anybody have one?
Replies
4
Views
3K
Chip
Chip
BeMoreViking
handheld consoles for homebrew with > 320x240 screen?
Replies
14
Views
3K
spud42
spud42
A
Ds Lite Is A Big Hit
Replies
11
Views
2K
PSyMastR
PSyMastR
kingoddball
Pyra case printable file/STL one day?
Replies
4
Views
3K
WizardStan
WizardStan
Back
Top