Improving the $10 8-bit handheld game console 

I think you rushed by cutting the buttons ...two pieces of Kapton tape over the contacts would have been a better idea...think future!!

"Blob" is a perfect name, I see it as an acronym of "Black Lump On Board", kind of like COB being Chip On Board... :P

10:00 have to be a genius to figure that out. Made all the colors right with changing a resister i dont know how many things you will have to know about to figure that out. Hats off. Those Chinese sellers need to contact you for finalizing products.

Glad you did these videos - I'm actually have ordered one of these handhelds a while ago, so now I know what to expect and how to fix! Thank you!

Used your 47 ohm resistor trick from this video. I had to mod my old 80's computer to get composite out of it...it only had RGB, monochrome composite, and RF. For some reason no color composite, partly because it was a UK machine and had a pin designated on its DIN-8 connector for PAL composite but only gave a 5 volt signal instead (which seems to be common for the US version). So when I grabbed the signal off the pin from the video chip (well sub-chip, MC1733) and re-routed it to one of the unused DIN-8 pins, the picture was a bit washed out color wise. When I put the 47 ohm resistor in line, the color came out fully again. So that trick worked, thanks!

I bought this just today my first time at 5 below, I am super glad you have a video on it!

Your videos are always so entertaining and relaxing at the same time. Keep it up!

I love this channel, the creator is awesome and a blast to listen to...where has this channel been?!?!! So glad I found it. I can't think of another person I would rather sit down with and play retro games! It would be so fun and full of laughs! Lol. Well I'm here now, so keep going buddy. Good stuff....

great video. i just bought the updated version of this for my cousin's 6yr old today. only difference is that it now has a controller that plugs into it when connected to the TV. thanks for answering all of my questions! you got my sub!

Yes, this is the video I was hoping someone would make. Thank you one thousand times over, I have no electrical engineering knowledge - so you answered all the questions I was wondering about.

Would love to see more projects like this. Simple tweaks to ultra cheap gizmos that are easy to order!

I really appreciate your efforts Be blessed

Thank you so much for the video fix. bought a NES clone form aliexpress a few years ago and it has the same problem. Looking forward to trying the resister and hopefully cleaning up the video.

Dividing the crystal oscillator frequency by 12 yielded the exact clock frequency of the NTSC NES. Dividing by 13 yields almost the same frequency as the PAL NES. Clever.

Something I just thought about, if you got a NOR chip, you could probably get a E3 nor flasher kit like ones for a PS3 and attach it to the memory and 'dump' the files :) good video as always

Superb video. Love your stuff 😎

You talked about the usb interface supporting the 3-pin controller. Well in the link you gave us there is an option to buy it with a controller (+$3.00) that does, indeed, use the mini-B interface. Just thought you would want to know.

I lack your electronics knowledge, so I thought it was super cool how you put in the resistor to lower the video output voltage. This was pretty interesting all around.

Great video Adrian, as usual. I'm happy you removed the battery; I'd hate for you to get shocked down there in the basement.

This was probably the coolest video regarding these cheap and horrible $10 devices, I really enjoyed it. =D

Though I also would have just used Kapton tape, another reversible alternative to nail polish would be pure rosin. I bought some rosin chunks and dissolved them in solvent (you could use straight isopropyl, a blend of isopropyl and ethyl alcohol, or just commercial flux remover), and I paint it onto etched PCBs to protect the copper from oxidizing. (The more rosin in the solvent, the thicker the coat, but longer drying time of course.) This would work as a removable insulator for the buttons, since pure rosin isn’t conductive and is not hygroscopic.

Great video/teardown, thanks! I just ordered one off Ebay for $7.51, and also a black/white one for $1.87....both with free shipping! Amazing!

very nice improving handheld

Interesting teardown and mods!

Therapist: headless PET isn't real, it can't hurt you Adrian's PET with the monitor removed in the background of the intro:

Great job and video again

Thanks for the teardown.

I just bought a very similar unit for 10 €, sold - quite incredibly - at a retail shop. The only thing I'd like to add would be a pivotal ball for the dpad, because it registers two directions at times.

cool finally to see what is inside! :)))

Great work 💫

New sub, love the content.

I'm still pretty basic in electronics but wouldn't it be possible to use a potentiometer instead of a resister? That way you could just it as you're looking at the screen to "dial-in" the best value.

Hey Adrian, drop by my office with that thing, and we can hot-air the flash chip off and read it with my TL866+adapter. Maybe we can load different ROMS in it!

Instead of modifying the video output of the unit with an inline resistor, it may be better or easier to modify the video cable.

2V video? I bet they forgot the 75 ohm series resistor for termination.

I'm impressed by these cheap handheld tbh. So cheap and able to even give a working gaming experience

Thank you so much for this video

More videos like this please!

That flash rom looks a little scabby which makes me think they tore it out of an old phone, the Chinese reclaim parts from tons of junked e-waste, its actually nice to think they have a second life. Devil World is an awesome little game.

Devil World was released in Europe aswell! It is an interesting game, by Shigeru Miyamoto if I'm not mistaken.

You had me at Thexder. If it had Moon Patrol it would be my dream game.

I wonder what the purpose of that missing capacitor is. Fun video, thanks for sharing!

3:06 -- not really. Remember Nintendo released a turbo controller for the NES, first party.

Thanks for this nice video Adrian. Could it be possible to show us in another video how did you measured the video signal voltage level? Or it might be a very useful video if you can make a how to measure a composite video if it is proper or not.

Thanks for this video 👍🏻👌🏻✌🏻

Great Video! Very informative and interesting things happening here! Using some of these concepts and others? In a sense, could you alter/upgrade another cheap foreign handheld to better standards like video storage and such? I'm slowly learning about ROMs and trying to figure out how to change what's loaded on what I have. I bought my kids the X6 Retro Handheld system and want it to look better and run better? And good standards to start with? Or other video suggestions? Thank you a head of time!

Turbo would be great for shmups like Star Soldier, Abadox, anything where mashing the buttons repeatedly would just be impossible on such a tiny screen. Devil's World was a cartridge game, it's one I like to go back to when I break out the Famicom! Now I wanna know how to reprogram or replace the storage chip.

That seems to be built quite well...

Wow. I always wanted to have a decent portable console and this is not only cheap and decent but also actually a real modern copy of NES running original NES games.

#easylab4kids really loves your digital basement, with racks of electronics & test equipment. My wife says its a chaos , similar to my mancave :P :P

Great video. What would it take to change the games or add to them?

I swapped my buttons for some buttons i had out of a Nintendo DS. they are concave and almost perfectly flush.

Should adding the resistor outside the console by hacking up the video cable produce a similar result? In addition, what resulted from adding the capacitor? Did it reduce the audio buzz mentioned in the previous video?

I loved this video! Couple of questions, what is the "ultralitic" that you installed on the back for, and is there any kind of save function on this thing?

Can we add more games to this by flashing the EEPROM ?

So, my original answer to your video title was "GTFO"....until I watched...Nice job man!!!....Life is a wonderful puzzle....

Hi Adrian, I hope you'll see this. I found your video bc I'm looking to "mod" a similar handheld. I found a small Chinese device that has the same baked on os as most of these Nintendo drvices. but, since it's so small, I wish I could emulate like Gameboy or gamegear instead... makes more sense for the form factor. That device has a removable micro SD running the os. Same Chinese os as your device here. What kind of os can I flash onto that card?

Nice video, so how did the cap improve this?

Great Video! One more subscribe from Brazil!!!!

You could have used electrical tape to cover the contacts on the board to disable the buttons wirhout destroying them.I always try to make modifications in a way that they are non-destructive in case I want to remove them later...

I could've told you that clipping off those rubber pads would've made that cheap, cheap button array rattle :P

Amazing! I hope someone will go and see how it was coded. I manged to play Rock Man / Mega Man on this game box last year. Now, I can't remember how.

I wonder if you could rewrite the memory to play any nintendo game?

you said $10, i specifically watched this video to see if it was blob based, was not disappointed :)

My curiosity leads me to ask now; would it be possible to mod a cartridge connector on it, and turn it into a 10 dollar portable nes :3

Is there a way you can edit the games on it?

Hello Adrian. Really liked how you used your tech-savvy skills to improve your handheld console video output. My only problem is how to add a game on to the game code chip without having to dismember the console itself.

devil's world always comes in those 76 in one cartridges, with games like ice climber, pooyan, joust, tengen tetris, karateka, milk and nuts, battle tank, circus, contra, elevator action, excite bike... all the "smaller" games

Adrian, to what lines is the cap that you installed connected? Do you have any guess as to why it was not on the finished design? I have one of these, but have yet to open it. The LCD is far too bright for me without computer glasses, so I'd like to put a variable resistor on the power line to the LCD itself.

And the added capacitor on the backside was for...

I see we got the same pack of lights from amazon!

Got my son one of these and the charging port fell out the first time it was charged. Trying to get hold of a new soldering bit that's small enough to fix it!

i would go back in there and remove the one wire to the resistor, cut it shorter, solder the resistor directly to the board and no worries!

As soon as i finished watching the first part i ordered one, cant wait to play with it and it was only £8.73 including postage to England , bargin

Awesome video, is there any way to add games to the console through pc?👍

I think a single piece of sellotape would also have worked. I hoped you were going to take off the flash chip and then try modding it further.

Hold a and b while powering this thing on, it gives me a weird menu to test buttons

Btw: You could just have placed some paper or isolation tape behind the buttons' rubber ;)

You could have put clear tape on the contacts below the turbo buttons, lol

Great video! Question, how could I change the setting from NTSC to PAL, please?

Your Awesome!!!!

a little piece of tape between the pads and the carbon rubber push buttons would've done the trick.

How about cutting the trace scrapping to metal on each side and and adding a SMD resistor

The button layout is consistent with the SNES layout

I wish I could find a datasheet for that LCD display, could be used as a nice case and display for a diy game console, maybe using a FPGA, who doesn't love those things?

I put in micro switches. Works verry well

That ST letters on that chip makes sick everyone that ever worked in embedded development.

I was sure that this is NOAC inside (NES On A Chip)! I love China they still produce 8bit Nintendos :D

nice video, i have sup box game and i have the same problem with colors and are you fixed the super speed problem in some games like super mario bros or ninja gaiden 2?

MOAR VIDEOS PLS THX

Did I miss the part about modding it for a controller or isn’t it in the video?

As for the generic TFT screen, is there any type of microcontroller to use with it, in case I want to plug in a raspberry pi, for example?

Hopefully the manufacturer takes note of the corrections.

-Maybe you could smake an AAA-cell mod, for increasing the overall lifespan of the device to more than the included battery-pack? :) -And modify the flash contents. Remove the double games, correctt he names and add missing games? :)

ymm i wonder that screen work on raspberry pi 4

Nice! Have you checked it to see if it's possible to use real controllers with it? Thanks!

Why the blob over the chip? Great channel by the way

You can build a NES console from it...

Someone think he should try to read the flash memory? Would be nice!

Sir can you make video for LDK game console tear down and repair