Gaming
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7 of the best console mods we’ve ever seen
These hacks tread the tightrope over genius and madness, taking console modding to the next level.
We don’t have the time or talent to create these
© banjokazooie / sudomod
While just about anybody can slip a new hard drive into a PS4, true hardware mods put time, effort, and knowledge into the process. Ranging from the artistic endeavours to people just trying to find solutions to problems, these mods are well beyond our technical ability and have left us in awe, either down to the insanity that must have led to their creation, or just because they’ve reminded us how clever some people are.
The Wii U Switch
Nintendo’s Switch is barely a month old at this point, and while we’re enjoying it, we find it quite funny that someone decided to turn their Wii U into a Switch. Thanks to a broken Wii U GamePad, user banjokazooie decided to turn that broken shell into a handheld console that you can take anywhere and play any time. This Wii U-cum-Raspberry-Pi-cum-Switch will give playtime of up to three hours – same as the Switch – and shows terrific ingenuity in turning something broken into something very cool.
Portable SNES
As large and bulky as this might seem, if you’re old enough, the idea of taking your SNES games with you and playing them anywhere – like the Switch, now – was amazing. Sure, right now you can play Super Mario World on your Wii U, but if this kind of hardware mod had existed back when it was first out, we’d have never stopped playing it. We like how the controller is in the body, and because the screen is where the cartridges used to go, they’ve been moved to the top of the device.
The Infinite Xbox 360
This is so cool. While the insides are still a functional, standard Xbox 360, the outside has been modded in a way to create an infinite glowing space corridor-type situation. Nirvana once sung “with the lights out, it’s less dangerous” and indeed, with this mod turned off, you can see the smoke and mirrors, but they’re actual physical mirrors, as that’s how this visual illusion is done. Still, who turns a console off, anyway?
The BMO Game Boy
Mini 64
Xbook Duo
Dreamcast Portable
Like most people who fell in love with the Sega Dreamcast, we often lament how badly it all panned out, but then, that’s what happens when you release a console suddenly and with no hype. If you do remember the console, though, you might remember the memory card unit that went into the controller, called the VMU. Now, this had a tiny display that actually allowed for some rudimentary fun. Here, Ben Heck (the master of console mods) is making a portable Dreamcast. While it’s not the smallest of portable devices, having Shenmue in our bags on the go is worth that. Amazing.
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