Last Updated on May 9, 2023 by Amber Heard
Arduboy Mini – A Tiny 8-Bit Hackable Gaming Platform That’s About As Big As Two Qs
Arduboy Mini is a tiny, 8-bit, hackable game console. It’s available for preorder on Kickstarter and is expected to arrive next year.
The original Arduboy was a credit card-sized portable game platform. It was designed to encourage younger students to start learning software programming. The device was made on an Arduino platform and is supported by over 300 open source games.
The Arduboy Mini is a more affordable version of the original. The hardware is identical and the same microcontroller is used. But the Mini has several features that make it easier to play.
There are no batteries and no speakers, but the Arduboy Mini is still compatible with audio devices. You can also use the USB-C port to charge a portable battery. Rather than using a speaker, the Mini features a small monochrome OLED screen.
The mini’s PCB has all of the hardware that was previously on the original device, including the battery charging circuitry. It also has the same core OLED display and the same flash chip. This allows you to use the same games that you loved on the original Arduboy.
The Arduboy Mini comes with 300 games installed. Most of these games are free. If you’d like to create your own, there are a number of projects on the Arduboy Mini website.
There’s also a community of awesome people who are making fun games for the device. The site contains tutorials for coding and writing your own Arduboy games.
