A talented creator named Hairo Satoh showcased an impressive project where he transformed a rare Japanese PlayStation controller made for The Game of Life into a handheld gaming device that looked like something Sony might have designed themselves.
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Inspired by his idea, I wanted to make one too—but knowing my limitations, I enlisted my friend Kyle, who has extensive experience in PCB design and 3D modeling.
One challenge was immediately clear: the limited internal space of the controller. So, we decided to turn it into a Raspberry Pi-powered gaming device, using RetroPie as the front end. Initially, we considered repurposing an existing emulation handheld, like an ANBERNIC device, but given the space constraints, we opted to go fully custom.
Kyle designed a custom motherboard tailored for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2. To keep things simple, he used readily available components, including a USB-C charging circuit to power the internal lithium-ion battery.
While this was a fun project, it’s far from practical. Due to the cramped space, we had to use a small 300mAh battery, giving just 15 minutes of gameplay. With more time, Kyle could likely have optimized the internal layout or even created a custom rear shell to add space.
Despite the limitations, Kyle did an amazing job within the tight time frame. Plus, we’ve made this project entirely open source, so if you’d like to improve it, all the files are available on Kyle’s GitHub.
