Game Console Modifications and Hacking

Here are some pictures of my most recent soldering bench (2020) and a Japanese 3DO that I bought from Japan for $20, because it needed new caps and some trace repair.

In one of my weirdest and most shady feeling transactions, I managed to source an ODE from MNEMO. It paired nicely with the console.

One of the biggest physical design flaws with the 3DO is the hardwired power cord. So, I bought some parts online and modded in my own removable cable.

Picture dump below...

Old, bulging and leaking caps:

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New caps and cleanup:

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Removable cord mod:

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All cleaned up and pretty:

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ODE UI:

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This seems to be one of the few communities focused on console hacking in general, and I'd love to see it get some more traction, but I'm not sure how best to help.

I'm a pretty casual console hacking enjoyer, so I don't have much new I can bring to the table, but I figured the next best way to improve the health of this community would be just reposting some relevant and interesting videos and blogs I've seen. I wasn't able to find more detailed rules for this community though, so I wanted to make sure that kind of posting wasn't against the community rules.

Was wondering if anyone had experience with Frankensteining together different parts from different controllers, and how I could go about it cleanly.

I'm looking to have some kind of modern controller (preferably a DualSense), but with an actually good DPad, specifically the Sega Saturn Mk2 controller. Wondering if I should bother with trying to modify the shell, or if I should just custom design a new shell to fit the DPad. I feel like 3D printing would result in much lower quality compared to injection molded plastic, so not 100% sure about that idea.