It never ceases to amaze me how modders, hackers and homebrew enthusiasts continue to push the envelope when it comes to retro gaming tech.
Take the incredibly talented YveltalGriffin, for example; not only are they part of the team which gave us the "Wii-on-a-keychain" Kawaii, but they're also behind the αSNES project – described as "a modern handheld Super Nintendo with ALL the bells and whistles."
This is a venture which is really gathering speed now, as YveltalGriffin has just revealed the mainboard of the system, which packs in an impressive amount of tech:
The project began life in 2022 and has come on leaps and bounds since then. The catch? It will only accept Japanese and European SNES carts. "When I started this project I intended to support both US and Japanese/PAL carts, but the US ones are so much larger and more angular that I just couldn't justify it," says YveltalGriffin. "Most of my own carts are NTSC-J anyway so it works out."
As was the case with the Kawaii, I wouldn't expect this to become a finished product you can order; instead, it's likely that YveltalGriffin will offer the parts for sale (or production via third parties), and end users will need to build the device themselves, based on the design spec.
Still, should this exciting piece of hardware reach its logistical conclusion (and, at this advanced stage, I can't see why it wouldn't), you can expect to see small batches of αSNES systems appear over time, presumably with high price tags.