Pi GRRL Zero – Does Not Include Pi Zero or Case! Adafruit

For all those who feared their Game Boy playing days would be but a memory, worry no more! That handheld may be dead, but with this pack you’ll have a chance to revive it. We’ve collected all the right parts so you can assemble the guts of your very own DIY GameGRRL – a portable Raspberry Pi running MAME and NES emulators.

This version DOES NOT INCLUDE THE RASPBERRY PI ZERO! It is also a DIY kit that requires you to 3D print the enclosure and assemble the project

If you are looking for a version that does include the Pi Zero, click here!

This portable handheld game emulation station is called the PiGRRL and it’s powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero and a PiTFT display. You’ll have to do all the 3D printing, assembly, and installation yourself to get gaming, but our learn guide will help you get through the process.

This PiGRRL pack has just about everything you need to make this project EXCEPT the case, battery, wires and hardware, and hand tools for soldering, cutting, and Pi Zero, etc. You will need to 3D print your own case – but check out our 3D printing guide for the pack so you or your friend can 3D print an enclosure. You still do need a 2000mAh lipoly battery and we only guarantee that it will work with our batteries. Using the wrong polarity or chemistry battery can destroy your PiGrrl project.

With this update, we really wanted to make it easier to build. We’ve dramatically cut the build time in half by making a custom gamepad PCB. Just solder in the buttons and an IDC box header to the gamepad PCB – No more tedious button wiring!

You will also need to solder together the parts so many hand tools and other small parts such as silicone wires, screws or blue tack are required. Please read through the tutorial so you can see what else is needed to complete this project!

Please note this is a medium-difficulty project that uses many Maker skills such as soldering, 3D printing and installing Linux! The PiGRRL Zero is a fun build but it is a DIY project, it will not have perfect audio/video/emulation capabilities. In particular the Zero is fairly slow compared to the Pi 2 or 3 and can pretty much emulate NES-complexity-max games.

Technical Details

This pack includes:

• 1x Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire – 2m 30AWG Black
• 1x Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire – 2m 30AWG White
• 1x Adafruit PiTFT 2.2″ HAT Mini Kit – 320×240 2.2″ TFT – No Touch
• 1x PowerBoost 1000 Charger – Rechargeable 5V Lipo USB Boost @ 1A
• 1x 8GB Class Memory Card – may come either blank or with NooBs (you can overwrite it with the PiGrrl image during the build)
• 1x Break-away 0.1″ 2×20-pin Strip Dual Male Header
• 1x Tiny OTG Adapter – USB Micro to USB
• 2 x PiGrrl Zero Button PCBs
• 1x Tactile Button switch (6mm) x 20 pack
• 1x Breadboard-friendly SPDT Slide Switch