Retro gaming goes with the Raspberry Pi like peanut butter and jelly, and today, we've got a delicious sandwich of a project to share that highlights this pair in a totally unique and versatile fashion. Maker and developer ZeroShifter, as they're known over at Reddit, is using not one but two Raspberry Pi Pico microcontrollers to spruce up his old Agetex arcade stick with some serious compatibility upgrades.
This controller was initially designed for the Sega Dreamcast, but some people enjoy the user experience, like ZeroShifter. Wanting to use it on more than just this classic console, he sought a way to modify the arcade stick so that it could be used with various other consoles. The result is two Picos crammed inside the case for a range of support from PlayStations and XBoxes to PCs and even the Nintendo Switch. According to ZeroShifter, it also supports VMU saves.
ZeroShifter started with an Agetec HKT-7300 model known as the Green Goblin. The original PCB has been replaced with MaplePad, an open—source tool that runs on the Raspberry Pi Pico for the Dreamcast and adds the aforementioned VMU support. This was paired with another mod known as GP2040-CE and an upgraded OLED display on the front.
The MaplePad addition is mainly used to upgrade the Dreamcast side of the project with VMU support. If you're not familiar with VMUs, these are saves and minigames that can be saved locally to controllers like this Agetec arcade stick or other portable Dreamcast devices. It runs on the Raspberry Pi Pico and is open source, with code available at GitHub.
The GP2040-CE update is firmware for the arcade stick on the RP2040-based Raspberry Pi Pico. This expands compatibility beyond the Dreamcast and allows the controller to work with a wide selection of consoles and systems. It's also open source and available for anyone to tinker with.
Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
