Smartphone Case For The Retro Gamer

A well-designed phone case will protect your phone from everyday bumps with only as much style flair as you’d like. While protection is usually the only real function of a case, some designs — like [Gabbelago]’s Emucase — add specific utility that you might not have known you needed.

Contrary to most cases, the Emucase fits over your phone’s screen, and the resulting facelift emulates the appearance of a Game Boy for easier — you guessed it — Game Boy emulation play on your smartphone.

Cannibalizing a USB SNES gamepad for its buttons and rubber contact pads, Gabbelago then threaded some wire through the contacts, securing it with copper tape and glue; this provides a measurable level of capacitance to register on the touchscreen. Using heat to bend the sides of the 3D printed case so it can attach to the phone is probably the trickiest part of this cool project. Check out his build instructions for any pointers you need.

Gabbelago notes that you don’t need to 3D print the case, as something as common as a cardboard template will mimic the Emucase. If you want to make one for your own phone, some clever design work to account for any side buttons and ports would allow you to reverse the Emucase to be used as a regular case when you aren’t gaming.

Feel like you need some tactile feedback when texting or browsing? This QWERTY keyboard is another classically functional and excellent case.

[via /r/3Dprinting]

Filed under: 3d Printer hacks, phone hacks