Android phone into a gaming machine with SNES controller

Want to play a classing Super Nintendo game on your mobile? Here is a simple technique to convert your Android phone into a gaming machine. Generally if you want to play Nintendo games on an Android phone you either have to buy a phone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard or buy a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. But in case you like your current Android phone or you don't want to shell out more money, then here is a Do It Yourself idea.

30 snes android

All you need is an Android phone, an SNES controller, an Arduino processor, a Bluetooth radio and a custom driver. The whole setup is nothing but a Rube Goldberg-esque system to connect an actual SNES controller to your phone.

Bruno Soares, a hobbyist, wanted to play classic super Nintendo games on his mobile (HTC Desire HD), so he rigged up his SNES controller to an Arduino so that he could read out the state of each button. Next, he transmitted each button press out of the Arduino’s serial port and into a BlueSMIRF Bluteooth radio, which then relayed the commands wirelessly to his phone. Finally, he wrote a custom keyboard driver for Android that converted the serial Bluetooth data into keystrokes that he could use to control an SNES emulator.

With this setup you can play your favorite SNES games, of course with the help of an emulator the way they were meant to be played.

Via: Make/Ubergizmo