The best offerings from the Frankenstein of gaming hardware

With the launch of game console modder Ben Heck’s new show, we thought now would be a good time to look back at some of his best creations. Whether it’s turning a game console into a laptop or a portable device, or even building an arcade machine from scratch, Heck has a knack for taking technology that’s already pretty great, and making it even better. Here are some of his coolest projects to date.

NES Micro

One of Heck’s trademarks seems to be taking something and making it smaller. In this project, he attempted to turn an NES into a portable handheld around the same size as the impossibly small GameBoy Micro. The result wasn’t quite as tiny as the Micro, but it’s still pretty damn small, especially considering that Heck’s project managed to play full-size NES cartridges.

Original Xbox 360 laptop

The only time you’ll see *Dead Rising* running on a laptop

Though far from his first project, the original Xbox 360 laptop was the creation that skyrocketed Heck to Internet superstardom. What started as a simple request from a friend quickly turned into an incredibly complex and popular project. The result was a tiny little laptop-shaped device that featured the innards of a 360, a monitor, and even a laser engraved keyboard.

Neo Geo Arcade Cabinet

A side view of the homebuilt arcade unit

For gamers that cut their teeth during the 1980s, arcade machines hold a certain nostalgia. And the dream of having a cabinet at home is not at all uncommon. Naturally, Heck turned this dream into a reality by creating his own custom Neo Geo cabinet. With custom graphics, brushed aluminum panels, and even coin slots, the cabinet is a thing of beauty, not to mention of one the few projects Heck actually built and kept for himself.

Halo 3 360 laptop

In an attempt to improve on the design that made him famous, Heck decided to create a Halo 3 inspired laptop as well. The new and improved laptop featured the guts from a 120GB 360 Elite, a very Halo-esque design, and an Xbox Live Vision Camera so that you could still watch your friends while playing online bouts of Uno.

Jaguar portable

Maybe this will make people want to play a Jaguar

With its tiny library and bizarre controller, the Atari Jaguar was far from the most popular game console. But when you cram all of that onto a custom handheld, it becomes much more interesting. Heck’s portable Jaguar featured a cartridge slot and even a rechargable battery, so you can play extended sessions of Alien vs. Predator while on the go.

Atari 2600 portable

It may not have a joystick, but it still works

Of course, the console Atari is best known for is the 2600, which gave us the likes of Pitfall! and E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Affectionately referred to as the “pancake,” this portable creation merged a 2600 with a 5″ LCD screen originally designed for a PSOne. Of course, sacrifices had to be made and the project eschewed the 2600’s trademark joystick for a much more feasible d-pad.

Sega Genesis “exodus”

OK, so Sega may have already released a “portable Genesis” in the form of the Nomad, but that handheld was fraught with issues. Namely its cumbersome size and poor battery life. Heck’s portable Genesis, called the Exodus, requires less batteries, weighs less, and has an improved display. Surprisingly, it wasn’t actually built from the guts of an old Genesis, but instead a Radica Genesis 6-in-1, one of those department store gamepads with games built-in.

All images courtesy BenHeck.com.