Here’s how you can turn a Raspberry Pi Pico into a tiny portable console

Did you know that SBCs can make really good retro consoles? It’s true – just ask our Jeff Butts who turned a Raspberry Pi 5 into a retro console. If you’re looking for something a little more portable, one tinkerer has just the projeect for you. It’s called the Picopocket, and it’s running off of a Pi Pico in a tiny case that’s bound to be a hit for retro console lovers.

The Picopocket is a handheld console made with a Raspberry Pi Pico

This cool project was the idea of Megazoid on Hackster.io. In case you get too excited, you’re going to want to read the components needed for this project first:

Before diving in, take a look at the bill of materials and asks yourself if you
really
want to get involved? You need to be adept at 3d printing and finishing, and soldering 0603 sized SMD components. If all of this looks like a doddle – crack on.

Megazoid has a good point; the list of materials is pretty big, and it does require you to be pretty good with the skills they listed above. However, if you’re feeling brave and fancy making this cool project yourself, Megazoid has written out everything they did on the Hackster page.

If the project seems a bit too daunting for your liking, but you still like the idea of making your own console, Megazoid used PicoLibSDK as the software, so you can at least re-create that bit and go your own way with the hardware. And if you’re still a bit worried, you can instead follow our guide on how to emulate games on your Raspberry Pi for a simpler project.