Play color games on this simple portable console based on Arduino Nano ESP32

Play color games on this simple portable console based on Arduino Nano ESP32

Arduino Team — August 26, 2023

There is a thriving Arduino gaming community, with many homebrew video games being developed to run on Arduino development boards. Arduboy, for example, produces custom handheld consoles with games that can also run on Arduino hardware. However, many boards have microcontrollers with limited processing power and memory, which means graphics should be kept simple. But Volos Projects took advantage of the new Nano ESP32 to create a portable gaming device with full color graphics.

As the name suggests, the Nano ESP32 uses the popular Espressif ESP32. It offers more processing power and memory than most other MCUs, plus built-in Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® adapters. In this case, the impressive power of the ESP32 was enough to generate colorful video game graphics at a respectable resolution.

As a demonstration, Volos Projects set up a simple portable system on a breadboard. Besides the Arduino, it only required a round 1.28 inch TFT LCD screen driven by GC9A01, jumper cables and a few buttons. They are two-pin momentary push buttons, which is great because they eliminate any wiring confusion. Volos Projects then programmed a basic side-scrolling space shooter to run on this hardware.

This game looks fun and it's a great way to demonstrate what you can achieve with the Nano ESP32!