Startup Ideas Bank
Nostalgia doesn't pay the bills
AI roast score: 45/100 (F)
The idea
Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time
This post serves as an introduction to a “homebrew” video game console made from scratch, using a lot of inspiration from retro consoles and modern projects but with a unique architecture.
Some friends of mine have told me again and again not to keep this project to myself and to put this information online, so here it goes.
How it got started
My name is Sérgio Vieira and I’m a portuguese guy who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I’ve always been nostalgic towards retro-gaming, specifically the third and forth generation consoles.
A few years ago I’ve decided to learn more about electronics and try to build my own video game console.
Professionally I work as a software engineer and had no experience with electronics other than ocasionally building and upgrading my desktop computer (which doesn’t really count).
Even though I had no experience, I said to myself “why not?”, bought a few books, a few electronics kits and started to learn what I felt I needed to learn.
I wanted to build a console that would be similar to those which are nostalgic to me, I wanted something between an NES and a Super Nintendo or between a Sega Master System and a Mega Drive .
These video game consoles had a CPU, a custom video chip (in those days it wasn’t called a GPU) and an audio chip either integrated or separate.
Games were distributed in cartridges, which were basically hardware extensions with a ROM chip and sometimes other components as well.
The initial plan was to build a console with the following characteristics:
No emulation, the games/programs had to run on real hardware, not necessarilly hardware of the time, but hardware that is just fast enough for the job
With a dedicated “retro” CPU chip
With TV output (analog signal)
Ability to produce sound
With support for 2 controllers
Scrolling background and moving sprites
Ability to support Mario-style platform games (and of course other types of games as well)
Games/Programs available through an SD Card
The reason I wanted SD card support instead of cartridge support, it’s mainly because it’s a lot more practical to have programs available in an SD card, as it makes it a lot easier to copy files from a PC to it. Having cartridges would mean to make even more hardware and to have a new hardware for each program.
Building it
Video signal
The first thing I worked on was the video signal generation.
Each video game console of the era I was aiming for had different proprietary graphics chips which made them all have different characteristics.
For this reason I didn’t want to use any pre-made graphics chip, I wanted my console to have unique graphical capabilities. And because it was impossible for me to make my
The roast
While your passion for retro gaming is commendable, building a hardware console in your free time is a hobby project, not a viable business. The market for such a niche product is limited, and your lack of experience in hardware manufacturing is glaring. The biggest red flag, however, is your solo status (q13=solo) and your lack of funding (q14=no_funding), which make scaling this project nearly impossible.
Your dream of creating a new retro console with unique architecture sounds like a passion project that will drain your time and resources without a clear path to revenue. The reality is that the gaming industry is fiercely competitive, and nostalgia-based products rarely break out beyond a small, dedicated fan base. Your 'unique graphical capabilities' (q2=hardware) might impress a few enthusiasts, but without a clear and large market, this won't fly.
Red flags
- q13=solo
- q14=no_funding
- q15=will_pay
Verdict
Turn this into an open-source project or a limited-edition Kickstarter campaign; it's not a viable business.
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