Ben Heckendorn's latest, the nPod

This guy is just out of control. After taking a brief break to work on his own independent film, Ben Heckendorn is back to his old hardware hacking ways, this time cramming a portable NES system into form factor barely larger than the cartridges it plays. Titled the "nPod," his new creation has a 3.5-inch screen, runs on four AA batteries, and is based on one of those "NES on a chip" joysticks. It's obviously about as small as a unit can be and still manage those beastly plastic game carts, but we're sure Ben will find another way to display his leet hacking skills before too long.

[Thanks, ThinkRandom]

[Jasafar @ May 13th 2006 7:36AM]

Def. cool. I'm glad one can carry around a GBA w/ flashcart and NES emulator to do the same thing :)

[LeDoubleD @ May 13th 2006 8:10AM]

leet? I think you meant 1337, good grief Engadget, do you guys not check your articles for typos?

Seeing all of these cool things that people do with their NES makes me wish I didn't trash mine when I was in elementary school.

[Think Random @ May 13th 2006 8:47AM]

So you have a sensor on links now? My site is just a blog, the name is a bit innapropriate but its just a blog!

[TZK @ May 13th 2006 9:09AM]

This guy is the best at what he does - whatever that is! The frankenstein of mini game kmodders.....

PS - Think, your blog is linked through your signature, so need to whore yourself out anymore than that.

[Paqza @ May 13th 2006 9:18AM]

Think Random, you spelled your site's name wrong...as for the mod, it's excellent.

[Paul @ May 13th 2006 9:25AM]

I saw almost the same size NES, but without screen, it had connectors to TV. But this one is amazing

[abigsmurf @ May 13th 2006 10:36AM]

impressive mod. Would love to know the battery life though, using a 5V li- polymer may have been a better solution in terms of weight and power

[PodMonkeys @ May 13th 2006 10:51AM]

Now THAT is some neat work! :D I'd buy one of those if they were available for purchase.

[Think Random @ May 13th 2006 12:08PM]

PodMonkeys - Just email him. He's asking $350.

"For a custom, hand-built nPod, with 3.5" screen, I'm charging $350. This is in line with most of my portable gaming items.

I am going on a mission to locate more NES on a chips this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to make more of these. The screens are easy to find.

Custom colors (such as brushed aluminum or grey) can be done as well. The unit runs off (4) AA batteries.

-Ben"

[Patrick @ May 13th 2006 2:16PM]

That's pimplicious.

[just me @ May 13th 2006 2:23PM]

these are nice and I can see that a lot of time went into making theM. But besides the challenge of it why make something that can emulated? I have a psp with emulators for about 10 systems and the Nintendo one has over 1000 games for it not to mention the SNES, Sega, Gameboy and Atari plus a few others ll together I have over 5,000 games on the chip. I am impressed by the workmanship but not the practicality. I am not going to spend $350 on something like this when I can get a psp and a nice size chip for about $300

[D14BL0 @ May 13th 2006 4:58PM]

People should stop working on making portable NES systems and start working on a portable NES cartridge. I mean, nobody's ever trying to see what they can do with the game, itself, and just keep working around it.

I'd like to see somebody find a way to actually shrink the cartridge down to a point where you can effective use a truely "portable" NES with it.

[ebob9 @ May 13th 2006 10:18PM]

I broke a NES cartridge when I was in 7th grade - about 16 years ago!

The board inside the cartridge was tiny, about 1/4th the length of the cart. So, modding carts to be smaller would be a cinch if they are all that size.

ebob9

[Gnu @ May 13th 2006 11:18PM]

You wouldn't really even have to shrink the carts -- just use Famicom cartridges instead. :P

[Markblu @ May 13th 2006 11:19PM]

Shouldn't the basic electronic layout be almost the same for each game cartridge? Couldn't you just include what's needed inside the system... and send only the ROM image of the game to it's own little cartridge? This cartdridge could even be programmable... hmm? Easily through USB for once? Yes... I do say it sounds quite dandy :P

[polobunny @ May 14th 2006 2:06AM]

Technically it would be better to flash your own chip and then include it instead of using the crappy carts. ;D

Yeah you know, something like 1000 games wouldn't weight all that much, under 150Mb. Interfacing it with a SD cart reader, now that would be rad. :P

[jordan @ May 14th 2006 11:58AM]

With an SD card reader? You're better off just getting a PSP or another handheld in that case. If all you want is an emulator and not the true thing, why waste your time?

[Perrey Z. @ May 14th 2006 12:13PM]

Pretty creative individual. I like what he does to oldies and turn them into somewhat newbies. Hope he was a count on how many patents and trademarks he's violating with his tech projects...

[blog101 @ May 14th 2006 4:10PM]

I don?t think Apple will be too thrilled with his name choice. It might be too similar to iPod.
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[web design uk @ May 15th 2006 10:29AM]

LOL That is truley amazing!!
I'd buy it

[hacker not cracker @ May 16th 2006 12:20PM]

That is too cool!

[JohnQ @ May 17th 2006 2:54AM]

At first I thought it was just me coming back after a long time, but now I'm pretty sure that Engadget's writing style has changed.

I mean "leet?" Come on. If you're going to use that word at all, you should spell it l337. I remember back when Engadget was looking for new bloggers who could "write in the Engadget style." Looks like they couldn't find any and settled for straight up reporters.

It used to be that every post had some nice wisecracks in it, now the wisecracks are few and far in between, with some posts going without humour altogether.