I think Ashley that you have been proven the jackass frankly. I never divided any community, that is ridiculous, I joined a far more friendlier forum, ModRetro when I was invited to join, and was honoured that I was asked to be an Admin on that excellent site too; truly honoured. The fact that others come to us from the BenHeck site is not down to me but the fact they voted with their feet for their own reasons and views.

Your posting in this topic Ashley is divisive and aggressive, which is a dent on your character not mine. Fortunately, people with knowledge on the subject have put you right. I think you might be bitter that I have directed all traffic to ModRetro and not BenHeck on this project, I am sure other people reading these posts will understand why, thanks to you tone. ModRetro is a far friendlier site to be on and has some excellent members.

For the record, not sold many of my kits you refer to, made about £200 loss in fact, so i'm not making any profit at all, I am quite happy with that though as it wasn't my reason for offering them in the first place - ego not profit. Ben in contrast makes a living off selling his book, promoting his projects, selling his cut bits of plastic, portables and forum profits! (I am just a hobbyist in contrast). I have had a few people asking me to take a commission to make them a system, I haven't accepted any for various reasons. You should also note that no-where have I offered anything for sale for the IntoGrafx at all - sorta makes your comments stupid, huh? Also I willingly give all my modding tips and guides away for free and have never charged anything for them: and give people advice and help whenever asked. So, rather than any profit, I don't do commissions, ran the kits sales at a big loss, give away my guides and help for free - do I need to elaborate further?

At least people here haven't said the usual comment of "why not use a PSP to emulate, dude"! ;)

There are always alternatives to systems, i've not played on the TurboExpress myself but I don't personally like playing games on a pokey screen, the PSone screen is nearly 4x the image size in contrast, and the buttons are placed exactly where I want them; these are good reasons to make your own systems (and others too).

One great thing though, everyone knows about the wonderful Nintendo consoles, however many don't know about the TurboGrafx. The TurboGrafx has some awesome games on it. Doing this project has hopefully helped to increase awareness for the system and encourage people who like to play console games to look into the system!

Expecting comments like this!

Ok, to answer a few points:

Two joysticks are on all but the early versions of the Playstation controllers, and may games later used joysticks far better than by d-pad; some required the right joystick too (eg Ape Escape and others) - without both joysticks a system cannot run all the Playstation one games. Positioning - easy to use, just like an official controller is. bulky - depends what you mean - is it far less bulky than having to take a PSone console, portable screen attachment, power supply, controllers, wiring with you, as opposed to a unit like I made which is fully integrated and internal. Portable does not mean luggable, it means portable; this system is hendheld so entirely portable. Oh, yes, the usual PSP comments - an emulator is not proper hardware and does not run many games full speed, with proper sound and without graphic glitches; also hacking a PSP is not legal nor are many roms for it either - my system only uses official hardware so entirely legal. ZeroCorpse - read you comment again and reflect on how silly your post was! sqela - actually, my system is smaller and considerably more attractive than his PSone system - look at his pics on his site and compare to mine. broli - as above - emulators are not on the same playing field as proper hardware.

Fantastic work and result.

Tonjevic - No, look on my webpage - the case front is made from very rigid and tough 3mm thick perspex and the back 2mm. The case has no give when you hold it so is solid, as intended.

Nate - The paint sticks totally and completely to the perspex.

ryan - Thanks!

Ryan Trevisol - ...you mean like mobile phones? No, the onus on games
companies is to make handhelds fit in the pocket rather than being
easy to use or comfortable to use - eg GP2x, NeoGeo Pocket, GBA, GBA
SP, GBA Micro, Gizmodo, PSP, etc. Personally, I don't want my hands
ache like you get with a PSP or eyestrain with GBA, etc from
focussing on a small screen for any period of time. My mod stops this
- big buttons, big screen, easy to hold comfortably, etc.

Nate - The paint sticks totally and completely to the perspex.

ryan - Thanks!

Ryan Trevisol - ...you mean like mobile phones? No, the onus on games companies is to make handhelds fit in the pocket rather than being easy to use or comfortable to use - eg GP2x, NeoGeo Pocket, GBA, GBA SP, GBA Micro, Gizmodo, PSP, etc. Personally, I don't want my hands ache like you get with a PSP or eyestrain with GBA, etc from focussing on a small screen for any period of time. My mod stops this - big buttons, big screen, easy to hold comfortably, etc.

Thanks guys!

SOOPERGOOMAN - I wasn't trying with Arkanoid, point was to show it working and not showing my playing a game!

TMFAN - system works great with the GC d-pad (or from a GBA, I can't remember which), however with adult hands, a bigger d-pad is better, so I will be changing the d-pad to a NES one presently.

Will be doing the GBA too on this, it is much better with a larger 5.4" screen than a pokey GBA or GBA SP one. I have done this mod before, so I know what I am doing.

w4rh34rt - Plug'n'play systems have some very good games (eg arcade perfect games on Namco, etc) only lousy controls and unresponsive and bad "joysticks". My system allows playing these systems as cartridge systems, with nice rubber membrane contact buttons and proper d-pad; with a nice 5.4" screen (not "squinty"). System is light, easy to hold, easy to use and long battery life.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I love it: the important factor though is functionality and comfort to use - this system is unique and comfortable to use. I have played a few hours on it so far. There are quite a few more plug'n'plays I will be converting over the next weeks; then back to my previous project.

Thanks for the comments and queries, guys:

SteveJ - No, not for sale. Took months to make this and will take several days / weeks to add each additional console; mostly for case making of the system half. It all has to be very precise and it is all cut from tough 2mm perspex. My previous systems needed mains, this one is entirely portable. It can be made to work off a 7.5v car adapter of 3amps (most systems will only need half of this though), although there is no point as I should get about 5.5 hours playtime on a set of batteries: I have two sets of batteries!

Benson - Thanks for the comments. Dimensions are 27cms x 21.5cms; handheld area about 3.3cms only. This really isn't large, as you see in the pic it is all in proportion.

Jake Tobak - No need, this system has all the controls needed to run all the systems I mentioned, built in. Some systems need all, some only some.

Lloyton - The aesthetics (definition: "An artistically beautiful or pleasing appearance") are euronomic rather than beautiful. All the components have been placed in their relevant and exact positions as I have taken the time to test where my fingers rest on the case, buttons have been placed in the right places therefore. I think the system is quite attractive; i'm not fickle enough to consider aesthetics to be more important than functionality and practicality. Sure, I have had to make some compromises, as is usual for inventions, isn't it?

I will sand the sides again and re-paint them, and sort out the shoulder buttons to look nicer though.

fistpittingnork - The A and B buttons (blue and green you mention) were from a third party N64 controller. The other parts - joysticks from GameCube, 4 button pad from a serial PC controller, D-pad from SNES.

Hooterman - Sure, I was going to upload it to YouTube today anyway.... Have a look later today!

Yor1001 - Same way as I stopped overheating in the N64 system, using heatsinks and fan to suck out hot air.

cDub - No emulator plays all/many games without slowdowns, audio glitches, graphical glitches or wrongly; anyway, you are circumventing the Sony design by making it work on such emulators and using illegal ROMS on it, I bet. My system is entirely legal as it uses original hardware and game cartridges, and runs 100% of the games as the software houses intended them to be.

ShadowKain - All "fugly" means is that you only value looks and not functionality. A bit like someone who buys a new mobile phone often as it "is no longer cool". Claptrap! By the same token, all the games consoles, new and old, are also "fugly" - they are hardly georgeous to look at (possible exception of the Wii or maybe PS3, at a push).

Lars - Thanks!

Striker - Yes, the PSP gives handcramp after only a few minutes playing it, it is hardly easy to hold or comfortable to use - same as the GP2x - buttons not in right place, easy to press the wrong one, joystick too small, not in right place, too slim to hold nicely, etc: they are built not as functional, but to look "cool" and fit in your back pocket (but don't sit down!!).

Hooterman - Indeed, I will be using the system at work (quiet time) and home; it isn't tiny enough to take everywhere, however I will put it in a case I got for £1 at a car boot sale - for a hairdrier, nice size, I just need to foam pad it to fit my system nicely and protect it.

imnotshockslayerbacteria! - I agree with your sentiments entirely, ShockSlayer; oh yes, "imnotshockslayerbacteria!". As you say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and thou hath beheld it not."

No intelligent comments here so far, pity. Let's work with what we have so far:

Eric - No, a GBA has small screen, tv out option plays it on a bigger and better screen. I incorporated this via a GBA Transverter on a previous project.

BigTeebo - The OneStatoin is just an emulator with restricted games built-in - my system uses original hardware, LEGAL, and the entire catalogue of games.

It takes literally several weeks to make each console system modded and case made; hence only the N64 done so far, however the other systems I have quoted WILL be made into slot-in carts for the system;I have put a lot of research in making it so.