2025-12-06 14:00:49
The Amiga was a great game system in its day, but there were some titles it was just never going to get. Sonic the Hedgehog was one of them– SEGA would never in a million years been willing to port its flagship platformer to another system. Well, SEGA might not in a million years, but [reassembler] has started that process after only thirty four.
Both the SEGA Mega Drive (that’s the Genesis for North Americans) and Amiga have Motorola 68k processors, but that doesn’t mean you can run code from one on the other: the memory maps don’t match, and the way graphics are handled is completely different. The SEGA console uses so-called “chunky” graphics, which is how we do it today. Amiga, on the other hand, is all about the bitplanes; that’s why it didn’t get a DOOM port back in the day, which may-or-may not be what killed the platform.
In this first video of what promises to be a series, [reassembler] takes us through his process of migrating code from the Mega Drive to Amiga, starting specifically with the SEGA loading screen animation, with a preview of the rest of the work to come. While watching someone wrestle with 68k assembler is always interesting, the automation he’s building up to do it with python is the real star here. Once this port is done, that toolkit should really grease the wheels of bringing other Mega Drive titles over.
It should be noted that since the Mega Drive was a 64 colour machine, [reassembler] is targeting the A1200 for his Sonic port, at least to start. He plans to reprocess the graphics for a smaller-palette A500 version once that’s done. That’s good, because it would be a bit odd to have a DOOM-clone for the A500 while being told a platformer like Sonic is too much to ask. If anyone can be trusted to pull this project off, it’s [reassembler], whose OutRun: Amiga Edition is legendary in the retro world, even if we seem to have missed covering it.
If only someone had given us a tip off, hint hint.
2025-12-06 11:00:07
Like many classic board games, Ludo offers its players numerous opportunities to inflict frustration on other players. Despite this, [Viktor Takacs] apparently enjoys it, which motivated him to build a thoroughly modernized, LED-based, WiFi-enabled game board for it (GitHub repository).
The new game board is built inside a stylish 3D-printed enclosure with a thin white front face, under which the 115 LEDs sit. Seven LEDs in the center represent a die, and the rest mark out the track around the board and each user’s home row. Up to six people can play on the board, and different colors of the LEDs along the track represent their tokens’ positions. To prevent light leaks, a black plastic barrier surrounds each LED. Each player has one button to control their pieces, with a combination of long and short presses serving to select one of the possible actions.
The electronics themselves are mounted on seven circuit boards, which were divided into sections to reduce their size and therefore their manufacturing cost. For component placement reasons, [Viktor] used a barrel connector instead of USB, but for more general compatibility also created an adapter from USB-C to a barrel plug. The board is controlled by an ESP32-S3, which hosts a server that can be used to set game rules, configure player colors, save and load games, and view statistics for the game (who rolled the most sixes, who sent other players home most often, etc.).
If you prefer your games a bit more complex, we’ve also seen electronics added to Settlers of Catan. On a rather larger scale, there is also this LED-based board game which invites humans onto the board itself.
Thanks to [Victoria Bei] for the tip!
2025-12-06 08:00:15
One of the most influential inventions of the 20th century was Big Mouth Billy Bass. A celebrity bigger than the biggest politicians or richest movie stars, there’s almost nothing that could beat Billy. That is, until [Kiara] from Kiara’s Workshop built a Magikarp version of Big Mouth Billy Bass.
Sizing in at over 2 entire feet, the orange k-carp is able to dance, it is able to sing, and it is able to stun the crowd. Magikarp functions the same way as its predecessor; a small button underneath allows the show to commence. Of course, this did not come without its challenges.
Starting the project was easy, just a model found online and some Blender fun to create a basic mold. Dissecting Big Mouth Billy Bass gave direct inspiration for how to construct the new idol in terms of servos and joints. Programming wasn’t even all that much with the use of Bottango for animations. Filling the mold with the silicone filling proved to be a bit more of a challenge.
After multiple attempts with some minor variations in procedure, [Kirara] got the fish star’s skin just right. All it took was a paint job and some foam filling to get the final touches. While this wasn’t the most mechanically challenging animatronic project, we have seen our fair share of more advanced mechanics. For example, check out this animatronic that sees through its own eyes!
2025-12-06 05:00:31
[Rick] had a problem. His garage refrigerator was tasked with a critical duty—keeping refreshing beverages at low temperature. Unfortunately, it had failed—the condenser was forever running, or not running at all. The beverages were either frozen, or lukewarm, regardless of the thermostat setting. There was nothing for it—the controller had to be rebuilt from scratch.
Thankfully, [Rick]’s junk drawer was obliging. He was able to find an Arduino Uno R4, complete with WiFi connectivity courtesy of the ESP32 microcontroller onboard. This was paired with a DHT11 sensor, which provided temperature and humidity measurements. [Rick] began testing the hardware by spitting out temperature readings on the Uno’s LED matrix.
Once that was working, the microcontroller had to be given control over the fridge itself. This was achieved by programming it to activate a Kasa brand smart plug, which could switch mains power to the fridge as needed. The Uno simply emulated the action of the Kasa phone app to switch the smart plug on and off to control the fridge’s temperature, with the fridge essentially running flat out whenever it was switched on. The Uno also logs temperature to a server so [Rick] can make sure temperatures remain in the proper range.
We’ve seen some great beverage-cooling hacks over the years. If you’ve mastered your own hacky methods of keeping the colas chilled, don’t hesitate to let us know on the tipsline.
2025-12-06 03:30:22
We have probably all been there: digging through boxes full of old boards for projects and related parts. Often it’s not because we’re interested in the contents of said box, but because we found ourselves wondering why in the name of project management we have so many boxes of various descriptions kicking about. This is the topic of [Joe Barnard]’s recent video on his BPS.shorts YouTube channel, as he goes through box after box of stuff.
For some of the ‘trash’ the answer is pretty simple; such as the old rocket that’s not too complex and can have its electronics removed and the basic tube tossed, which at least will reduce the volume of ‘stuff’. Then there are the boxes with old projects, each of which are tangible reminders of milestones, setbacks, friendships, and so on. Sentimental stuff, basically.
Some rules exist for safety that make at least one part obvious, and that is that every single Li-ion battery gets removed when it’s not in use, with said battery stored in its own fire-resistant box. That then still leaves box after box full of parts and components that were ordered for projects once, but not fully used up. Do you keep all of it, just in case it will be needed again Some Day
? The same issue with boxes full of expensive cut-off cable, rare and less rare connectors, etc.
One escape clause is of course that you can always sell things rather than just tossing it, assuming it’s valuable enough. In the case of [Joe] many have watched his videos and would love to own a piece of said history, but this is not an option open to most. Leaving the question of whether gritting one’s teeth and simply tossing the ‘value-less’ sentimental stuff and cheap components is the way to go.
Although there is always the option of renting storage somewhere, this feels like a cheat, and will likely only result in the volume of ‘stuff’ expanding to fill the void. Ultimately [Joe] is basically begging his viewers to help him to solve this conundrum, even as many of them and our own captive audience are likely struggling with a similar problem. Where is the path to enlightenment here?
2025-12-06 01:00:40
Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they go over their picks for the best stories and hacks from the previous week. Things start off with a warning about the long-term viability of SSD backups, after which the discussion moves onto the limits of 3D printed PLA, the return of the Pebble smart watch, some unconventional aircraft, and an online KiCad schematic repository that has plenty of potential. You’ll also hear about a remarkable conference badge made from e-waste electronic shelf labels, filling 3D prints with foam, and a tiny TV powered by the ESP32. The episode wraps up with our wish for hacker-friendly repair manuals, and an interesting tale of underwater engineering from D-Day.
Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
As always, this episode is available in DRM-free MP3.
