The Japanese gaming giant a new feather in its cap with the recent announcement of a mini NES hardware.
As every seasoned Pokémon Go player came to realize last week, the game is a major drain on your phone’s battery. DIY website Sparkfun members are already on the trail to solve the problem by building a custom 3D printed case that lets users convert their smartphone into a replica of the original Pokédex — an in game handheld device first talked about in 1998 that lets users get all details about their Pokémon.
Pokédex (Japanese: ポケモン図鑑 Pokemon Zukan, lit. “Pokémon Encyclopaedia”), an electronic device designed to catalogue and provide information regarding the various species of Pokémon.
Wearables too?
The Pokémon Go Plus is also available — a wearable device that interacts with Pokémon Go. The Plus resembles a Pokéball mixed with a Google Maps pin, which speaks to the game’s combination of Pokémon and real world travel. It uses Bluetooth to connect to your smart device, and you can clip it to your lapel or wear like a bracelet to stay connected to your game at all times.What does it do?The Plus lets you know when you’re near a PokeStop, the specially marked locations on the game’s map that come with items, Pokémon eggs and, if you’re lucky, Pokémon to catch. The peripheral will vibrate when you’ve approached a PokéStop in the real world.
How do you make it?
He’s outlined his process on how he made his incredible replica here. You can use a 3D printer, and use printing files from GitHub to wire up the whole shebang.
Poole is also currently testing out models for different phone cases so that us normals can benefit from his hard work and maybe even purchase finished pokédexes.
Japan is enjoying a great position in tech right now — the world’s most used hardware originates from Japan-owned ARM, while the most played game originates from Japan-owned Nintendo. What next — Apple?
