I wondered if this could go in the Retro Tech area, but I thought this area would be fitting too..

Around 2016, I think, Nintendo released their NES Classic Mini, a small console that looks like an original NES but it's a small computer running an emulator, pre-loaded with a set of NES games. A couple years later, they did the same with their SNES Classic Mini. Other companies followed suit: Sega similarly released a mini Genesis, Sony released a mini Playstation, and I also recall there being a mini TurboGrafX-16.

These were limited releases, and they're no longer made. I wanted the SNES mini, and I thought I missed the boat, but Nintendo released a new batch in 2018 (I think), and I was able to buy one. Almost immediately, I hacked it (using the Hakchi2 software) and added more games to it, including SNES and several other consoles. A couple days ago I added some more games to it, and I remembered how cool this device is. There are many ways to emulate old console games, but I think this one is unique in that it was an official Nintendo product, looks like a little SNES, and it has a pretty nice user interface. I'm wondering now if it's possible to copy the UI software from it and run it on other devices (such as a Raspberry Pi)..

Since these are no longer made, I recently decided to buy another SNES Classic Mini from eBay as a spare. For a while, people were selling them for more than their new price; new, they were about $80, and people have been selling them for $100 or $120 or more, but I found a seller with a small batch of them selling them for about $63 each with free shipping. The listing says it's an open-box item (customer return) and shows the box, manual, and everything is included; I hope it's in good working condition.

Nightfox
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On 24 Jun 2025, Nightfox said the following...

Around 2016, I think, Nintendo released their NES Classic Mini, a small console that looks like an original NES but it's a small computer
running an emulator, pre-loaded with a set of NES games. A couple years later, they did the same with their SNES Classic Mini.

We got an SNES mini & then I loaded up one of the Pi's I'm not using with RetroPie and loaded a bunch of ROMS from different systems on it. We still have the SNES mini but it mostly sits there as decoration as we'll either play these on the Switch 2 or the RetroPie.

batch in 2018 (I think), and I was able to buy one. Almost immediately,
I hacked it (using the Hakchi2 software) and added more games to it, including SNES and several other consoles. A couple days ago I added
some more games to it, and I remembered how cool this device is.

I'm not sure I ever thought about hacking the SNES Mini, but now I'm intrigued. The RetroPie is kind of neat, but sometimes the Bluetooth controllers we use with it will just glitch or disconnect, which isn't something that happens when using it with a PC.


Jay

... I don't have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem

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Re: Re: Nintendo Classic Mini consoles
By: Warpslide to Nightfox on Tue Jun 24 2025 02:38 pm

We got an SNES mini & then I loaded up one of the Pi's I'm not using with RetroPie and loaded a bunch of ROMS from different systems on it. We still have the SNES mini but it mostly sits there as decoration as we'll either play these on the Switch 2 or the RetroPie.

I'm not sure I ever thought about hacking the SNES Mini, but now I'm intrigued. The RetroPie is kind of neat, but sometimes the Bluetooth controllers we use with it will just glitch or disconnect, which isn't something that happens when using it with a PC.

I'd thougbt about setting up a RetroPie, but I already have several different ways of running old console emulators, so I hadn't really looked into it too much. But one of my other devices is a portable Pi-based handheld using a RetroFlag GPi 2 case and a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, and it's running Recalbox. That was the default they recommended, and I've stuck with it. I looked into possibly putting RetroPie on it, but I seem to remember reading that RetroPie can be a little finnicky. And one thing that I think is nice about Nintendo's Classic Mini consoles is that it 'just works'. And hacking it is pretty easy too, with the Hakchi software. You can add more games fairly easily and it will do the configuration stuff for you (but you can still customize the emulator command lines if you want to, and you can even SSH and telnet to the device when it's plugged into your computer via USB).

Nightfox
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I'd thougbt about setting up a RetroPie, but I already have several different ways of running old console emulators, so I hadn't really
looked into it too much. But one of my other devices is a portable Pi-based handheld using a RetroFlag GPi 2 case and a Raspberry Pi
Compute Module 4, and it's running Recalbox. That was the default they recommended, and I've stuck with it. I looked into possibly putting RetroPie on it, but I seem to remember reading that RetroPie can be a little finnicky. And one thing that I think is nice about Nintendo's Classic Mini consoles is that it 'just works'. And hacking it is pretty easy too, with the Hakchi software. You can add more games fairly
easily and it will do the configuration stuff for you (but you can still customize the emulator command lines if you want to, and you can even
SSH and telnet to the device when it's plugged into your computer via USB)

I love having a RetroPie/EmulationStation setup... my favorite one was a PiBoy DMG - an original Gameboy shaped device w/ a 3.5" LCD and modern controls - it was perfect... but the dev left the project and my hardware finally gave up the ghost.

Gonna dig into it sometime soon and see if its salvagable, otherwise I'm ripe for a new ES build. I've always had great success with < PS1 console emulation. :P



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

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Re: Re: Nintendo Classic Mini consoles
By: paulie420 to Nightfox on Tue Jun 24 2025 06:51 pm

I love having a RetroPie/EmulationStation setup... my favorite one was a PiBoy DMG - an original Gameboy shaped device w/ a 3.5" LCD and modern controls - it was perfect... but the dev left the project and my hardware finally gave up the ghost.

That's cool. I had something similar happen.. In 2014, I bought a GCW Zero, which was a handheld retro game console, which was also open-source and ran a variant of Linux. It was very easy to install emulators on it and transfer ROMs & stuff to it, and I enjoyed playing old retro games on it. But just a couple years ago, the screen basically gave up and the (internal) battery started going bad and had inflated a bit, so I figured it was time to replace it.

Nightfox
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