The NES Flash Drive

by vmathur3 in Circuits > USB

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The NES Flash Drive

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Ever thought your pen drive was dreadfully boring? Wish you could add some sweet nostalgia to everyday computer use? Look no further!

Using this fun (and super simple) method, you can turn any USB Drive into your own working 'NES Drive'. And that too, without having to open up a real controller!

Bring out the good ol' cartridges and put on your Nintendo caps- we're going RETRO!

Note: I won't stress too much on dimensions, as this project is meant to be a general framework for all usb drives. So feel free to IMPROVISE.

Clay Base

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The first step is to take some modelling clay and shape it up into little rectangles. Make sure you have a basic idea about the final dimensions, and the size required for your pen drive to fit comfortably.

You can take the help of an art knife to precisely shape your pieces, although this isn't really necessary.

Buttons

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For the A and B buttons, roll pieces of clay into 2 spheres. Flatten them out a little using a ruler, and shape them into cylinders.

For Start and Select, roll very small pieces into cylindrical shapes. Then round them off at the edges.

The D-Pad was a little trickier. For that, I just flattened out a relatively larger piece of clay, and then used the knife to carve out the desired shape.

The last step is to paint the buttons, and you should end up with 5 buttons as shown.

The Sandwich

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Use a knife to carve out the shape of your flash drive into one of the base rectangles. This will allow it to sit snugly between them.

Next, take a piece of cardboard (mine was from a toothpaste box :P ), and wrap it around the clay 'sandwich'. You should end up with a neat little box as shown.

Preparing the Graphic

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Once you have measured the box, open Adobe Photoshop and create a new document with the appropriate dimensions. Mine was about 7.3 cm x 3.2 cm. Add the attached NES controller vector (or take one from the internet) to the Photoshop document and re-size it as required. Print it out.

If your dimensions match mine, you can use the attached PDF which contains 3 slightly different- sized images.

Once that's done, just cut it out and wrap it around the box.

Downloads

Done! (pretty Much)

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Just stick the buttons onto the box, and YOU'RE DONE! A working NES Drive!!

Go ahead and plug that bad boy in. You deserve it.

If you liked this instructable, don't forget to vote for it on the Gaming Contest!