Apartment Therapy Unplugged | DIY: Turn Your NES System Into Something Spectacular

DIY: Turn Your NES System Into Something Spectacular

Since we're going full-speed into our DIY month here at Unplggd and the rest of Apartment Therapy, I wanted to highlight one of my all time favorite DIY guides ever made, courtesy of the folks over at Instructables, the NES System Repurposing Guide. From turning your dust collecting Contra box into a PC, a lunchbox, or converting your NES controllers into belt buckles, there's definitely something for everyone in this awesome roundup of NES DIY projects. A few of our personal favorites can be had after the jump.

Build a Nintendo NES PC: My favorite by far. You can essentially turn your old NES system into an dedicated emulator powerhouse, DVD player, and DivX player, all in one little box. I'm still working out a few kinks, but I should be finished with my own NES PC by the end of the week.

Apple NES Remote: Here are a set of instructions to turn your old NES controllers into a dedicated media center remote for Mac laptops. We can't say we're not sucked in by its retro charm!

NES Zapper: If your kids really like playing those First Person Shooters, why not introduce them to something we were a little more familiar with in our day. By integrating a laser into a NES Zapper, you can essentially set up your own Nintendo-inspired game of laser tag in your back yard (given you have enough Zappers to go around).

Remember to submit your own DIY projects and win big! Big prizes await!

Comments (4)

what's wrong with leaving a NES as a NES and freakin playing it.

Love my NES and if someone turned it into a computer i would slap them. I even replaced the connector in the inside so that it would work good again.

posted by jmorey on February 5th 2009 at 12:44pm
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I would agree with above, but my NES doesn't even read anything anymore. So turning it into a PC would be kinda cool..

posted by ekoshyun on February 5th 2009 at 2:17pm
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you can get the 72 pin connector part online, it cost me around $10 shipped. Many guides online on how to take it all apart, doesn't take that long. I have had mine apart a few times tryign to clean it before i gave up and just replaced the connector. It played better then it did when it was new.

On the other side though. I want to donate your games to e if you don't want them. Seriously...

posted by jmorey on February 5th 2009 at 3:36pm
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I saved my NES in a cool dry place for years until recently when I tried to fire it up. It's just too old -- no matter how well I stored it.

I would love to try some of these hacks...!

posted by Darrin on February 5th 2009 at 10:48pm
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