Devlog -02

A Curiously Minty Gameboy

This is probably one of my favorite builds so far—a tiny, Altoids powered “Gameboy” that somehow turned into a full-on mini gaming system.

What started as a simple project with an Arduino Nano quickly got an upgrade. I switched over to the Arduino Nano ESP32, and that change honestly unlocked everything. With more power, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, and way more flexibility, the project went from “cool gadget” to something that actually feels like a real handheld console.

On the software side, I’ve packed in a bunch of classic games:

2048 (which took forever to get smooth and responsive)
Tetris (definitely the most satisfying one to play)
Pong (simple, but it just feels right on this device)

But the part I’m most proud of isn’t even the games—it’s the settings system. I built out a full menu where you can actually customize the device like a real piece of tech. Inside settings, you can:

Connect to WiFi

Use Bluetooth

Switch between light and dark mode

And even clear all saved data if you want a fresh start

That’s something I didn’t originally plan, but once I started adding features, it just made sense to treat it like a real OS instead of just a game launcher.

Hardware-wise, everything is crammed into an Altoids tin, which makes it feel super compact and kind of ridiculous in the best way. There’s still some tweaking left—mainly refining controls and polishing the UI—but it’s at the point where it’s fully usable and actually fun.

Overall, this project taught me a ton—not just about Arduino and ESP32, but about designing systems, managing features, and turning a small idea into something way bigger than I expected.