Arnov Sharma is back with another oversized gaming device, and this time, he’s built it around Raspberry Pi 5. Gameboy XL is powerful enough to run NES and PS2 emulators and, yes, you can play Doom on it.

Arnov sketched out the device in Fusion 360 with one eye on an original Game Boy for inspiration. He 3D printed the design in more than 30 individual pieces, all of which he then glued or screwed together — you can download them all from Arnov’s Instructables page. Extra points if you copy the retro colourway of marble with orange buttons. We also like the transparent fluorescent yellow backplate, which lets you get a look at the electronics inside.

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 5
• Audio board
• 3ohm laptop speaker
• 12V battery pack
• Tactile switches
• 7-inch LCD display

Trio of custom PCBs

Arnov created three custom PCBs in Seeed Studio’s Fusion to support this build. A GPIO breakout board carries the button inputs and audio signals to and from the Raspberry Pi. The A and B buttons and the D pad are controlled by their own separate PCBs.

Tabletop game play

Gameboy XL has a simpler layout than Arnov’s previous invention, PALPi, which featured a bajillion tiny buttons. This is because, unlike the original Game Boy, Gameboy XL was designed primarily as a tabletop device with a regular-sized controller plugged in and games running on the seven-inch display. No squinting to follow Mario down the pipe on this bigger, better screen, which itself is larger than an entire Game Boy.

The 3D printed design even features a kickstand on the back to switch it from a handheld gadget to one that sits up by itself.

Do it yourself

Arnov painstakingly compiled a 24-step Instructables post explaining how each fiddly little 3D printed part fits together, how each custom PCB works, and how to load Recalbox game emulator software.

If you fancy something a bit different, have a look at the maker’s SNES controller for giants or the aforementioned PALPi for some inspiration ahead of your next retro gaming project.