Nintendo launched the Nintendo Leisure System (NES) to North America in 1986 and later to Europe. On the underside of the wildly profitable sport system was a mysterious “enlargement port.” That port would have gone unused if it hadn’t been for a German-based {hardware} engineer referred to as Time2Retro. Their venture, the NES HUB, (lastly) makes use of the port to attach as much as 4 wi-fi controllers, present entry to enlargement audio channels, help Famicom peripherals, and extra.

In 1983, Nintendo launched the Household Pc, or Famicom, to its home market in Japan. It had two controllers connected to the console, a 15-pin port for equipment, and help for a disk system that plugged into the cartridge slot. When Nintendo launched the NES to the remainder of the world, electronics just like the CPU and movie processing unit (PPU) remained the identical. Nevertheless, there have been different modifications.

The NES sported a brand new case design, removable sport controllers, and a connector on the underside labeled “enlargement port.” There are rumors about how Nintendo deliberate to make use of the connector. Nevertheless, Nintendo by no means launched it or licensed a 3rd social gathering to make use of it. The retro {hardware} neighborhood has identified the pinout for the enlargement port for years, due to reverse engineering efforts and restore schematics. Nevertheless, the connector’s non-standard nature slowed down add-on {hardware} growth.

Time2Retro seems to have solved the connector problem. The result’s a plug-and-play resolution that requires no soldering. You possibly can join as much as 4 Bluetooth sport controllers when you join NES HUB to the underside of an NES — Time2Retro based mostly wi-fi help on the prevailing BlueRetro package. You possibly can join an SNES controller or a Famicom peripheral through bodily adapters. The good information is that controllers added by way of the NES HUB work concurrently with wired controllers connected to the entrance of the system.

Cartridges for the Famicom and NES differ in bodily dimension and pinout. Whereas many of the alerts exist on each, the audio is totally different. The Famicom had two pins to enter and output audio. Some video games and peripherals made use of this connection. The NES lacks these pins. Nevertheless, the alerts can be found on the Enlargement Port. So, a number of mods exist to revive Famicom audio. NES HUB supplies entry to those alerts with out requiring soldering or different bodily modifications!

Pricing for the NES HUB is presently unknown. Time2Retro desires to finalize the price of the connector earlier than setting a worth. The NES HUB continues to be present process testing, however it seems will probably be out there quickly. Take a look at this thread on X for extra particulars.