Sega Genesis MICRON

[Metallica Man X]

A new projekt to have some fun with \

At MGC this year, I came into owning yet another Radica device (courtesy of wallydawg)



Well, it was just collecting dust, so I decided to put the sucker to use The goal? To make what could very well be the smallest genesis portable evar!

SO, I picked me up a couple of 2.5" LCDs off of ebay....and the gutting began...



It was a good thing I picked up two of those screens, as I figured something like this would happen...cracked the LCD when I removed it from the casing (dang they had alotta hot glue holding that in!)


Good thing I found my bottle of alcohol and my q-tips for the 2nd one...got it removed without a hitch and soldered the connections were they needed to go.


The next step...Controller! In the past, I'd just leave it as intact as possible to make for easier soldering and stuff.

Not this time.

I cut that sucker down to the bare minimum.


Next step came the controller portion creation.

I dug out a stack of SMD size tact switches for the buttons. Yeah, they lack the nice squish feeling, but they're about 1/3 as thick 1/2 as long/wide as the regular squish tacts. Keep in mind, we're going for tinyness here lol.
I decided to roll with only a 3 button setup for this controller instead of 6. Why? cause 99% of the genesis library uses only 3 buttons anyway, and also because 3 buttons takes up less space (again, smallness!).


Since I cut the controller's Glop top down to next to nothing, it was an easy fit right behind the ABC/Start buttons board.



For the power source, I'm going with an internal battery supply in the form of a pair of rechargeable 3.6v battery packs. They're basically AAA batteries, so the total supply will be 7.2v and 800mAh. 800 may not be much, but the total draw of the Radica+screen+audio amp is only about 140-50 mAh (depending on game and volume). so even with the small supply it should be good for around 5 hours of operating time

So after about 4 and a half hours of work and a quick battery charge, BENCHTEEEEEEEST!

Success! Was quite surprised it all actually worked on the first try



And that brings us up to date.....with the guts working, I'm now just waiting on additional parts, namely plastic for the case, and a cart connector. However, i'm not 100% on weather or not I wan to do the cart slot attachment considering how much of a hassle it was for me on the Neutron (7 dead Radicas can attest to that fact lol) and also cause the best cart slot I can find for the job isn't cheap either (12 bucks for a compatable card edge connector on digikey is a bit much )

So if anyone has a cheap, preferably broken, genesis for sale, let me know lol.

That's it for now. More to come when I get my case plastic sometime (hopefully early) next week.

EDIT: Just got a cart connector for the job........so I guess i'll be doing the danger mod after all lol.

[TSX420J]

I have a couple of genesis cart slots if you need one. They are not oem but they are the exact match for genny carts. Pm me if you need more details.

[Metallica Man X]

OK, finally made some progress on this beasty.

Got the case portions made finally....pain in the rumpus they were. Darn plastic molded to tight to the mold itself that I had to use some serious brute force to get them out. Broke 2 possible case parts in the process.


Nothing like lining up the parts for placement....notice the 3 button arrangement...


and of course, it wouldn't be a portable without a cart slot, even if that slot isn't actually attached to anything yet
The scale of the cart slot to the case should be a good indicator of how small this thing is gonna be hehe.


Holes carved...


Wuzzat?! ...well the small size of the unit dictated the need for a small D-pad. Since I don't have any old controller d-pads that small (bout the size of a nickel) I went ahead and made one. Hopefully it'll work out fine.


Last thing for the moment, placed some holder deals in the case front to center the screen. This way, when I assemble it or disassemble it, the screen will be automatically lined up when it's reassembled


That's all for now. Next thing is to make some short screw posts to hold the buttons down, as well as hold the case together...then paint...and all that jazz. Looking for completion sometime this week

[Sun-Wukong]

Looking swell, can't wait to see it finished.

[TSX420J]

Nice!! Its tiny!!

[Metallica Man X]

OK, it's been a month now..figure it's time to get back to work on this little guy lol.

So first things first....created the holding tabs for the case. The plan is to have one side bolted, the other side will be seriously glued into place. This should totally eliminate any risk of the dreaded poof



Had to relocate a capacitor....it was hitting mah batteries!



Also Attached in the screwposts delees for the buttons (d-pad too)...



Here's a fun one...I severed the +3.3v connection to the ROM chip in such a way that I can make the ROM chip optional


And of course, the hole for the charger plug...


...and for the dual switches on the top...



Currently waiting for paint to dry...gonna hook up all the cart mod wires after work tonight...stay tuned!

[lexxion83]

Awesome work so Far. I like the case.

[Metallica Man X]

And some more update!

The beasty is done! ...well sorta

SO here we go for the final portions!

With the paint dried it was time to get the parts fitted.

First, my totally jawesome internal battery setup...


Once all attached and stuff..onto charging the little buggers! (Yes, I know my desk is a mess...)


A quick test to make sure it's still working...


....aaaaand this mess....



There you have it right there....finished for the most part, with a cart attached for size!


For the halibut, there's one with it next to the Neutron!


It at least looks complete...

Too bad I ran into one big fat problem. The thing won't boot a cart. I've come to the conclusion that only certain revisions of Radica board actually work with the cart mod. I went back and checked all my destroyed radica boards (what was left of them anyway), and compared them with my one that worked that's in the Neutron. The two that actually booted up a genny cart shared the same serial number (the first one that booted was a bad board tho--the controller didn't work at all with that board). The rest obviously all had different numbers.

Fortunately, the ROM chip on this portable is still intact, so while I may have wasted a few hours doing the soul-numbing cart mod, it still works for the games that are on it which aren't bad anyway. And, since it's pocket sized, I can rock some sega action during breaks at work now

Oh well. Maybe someday I'll find a radica with the right serial number again and finish finish this little device...

parting shot!