Gaming handhelds are portable (awesome) but easy to forget behind when you’re on the go (less awesome). The Arduboy—a small arduino-based gaming handheld the size of a credit card—could solve that.
For Kickstarter backers, the unit only runs $29 and will be $39 once it’s available for the general public. The Arduboy will come with a slew of open source games based on some popular franchises including Ardumon (a take on Pokémon), Alien Attack (a version of Space Invaders), and Maruino, a take on Super Mario Bros.
In a bid to leverage the dedicated Arduino community to help keep Arduboy alive, the project is thoroughly open source. Given its size and price, it’s easy to see how the Arduboy could be used as an educational platform to encourage kids to code too.
Unsurprisingly, the specs are incredibly modest, sporting the same processor as in a Arduino Micro, 32kb of flash memory, 2.5 kb of RAM, a 128×64 1-bit black and white OLED display and a 2 channel Piezo speaker.
Having well exceeded its Kickstarter goal, the Arduboy is expected to start shipping in October of this year.
Screengrab via Arduboy/Kickstarter