Part of a balanced NESfast!
Back in the mid 1980’s, Nintendo was hard at work redesigning their Famicom console for a Western Release, trying to make it look more like a home appliance instead of a videogame system in hope of avoiding the same mistakes of the video game crash of just a few years prior. The boxy design was that we all know and love was created, and after their more videogame-ish redesign in 1993, it affectionately became known as the “Toaster” model, even though it looked more like a VCR. Fast forward to 2008, where modder Vomitsaw had a spare toaster and a spare NES, so what else to do than to make good on the nickname and re-case an NES into an actual toaster?
SPECIFICATIONS:
-Original NES-001 Model
-Generic White Toaster
-Relocated Cart Slot
-Games inserted into Toast Slot 1
-Toast slot 2 for Controller Ports & Reset
-Toaster Plunger Pushed down for Power
-Orange Power LEDs for toaster glow
-Toaster Plunger Flipped up to Power Off
-Uses Original Toaster Power Cord
The case used is of course from a normal everyday toaster, gutted of all bread related electronics to make room for the NES and it’s components. The lever mechanism and the temperature gauge knob were kept for the stock toaster look. The push lever was reused as a power switch, pushing down to turn the Nintoaster on, and flipping it up to turn it off. Unfortunately, the temperature knob is unused.
Placed into one of the toaster slots holds the Player 1 and Player 2 ports, and a reset button. The parts were secured to a piece of clear plastic for the power LEDs to shine through the plastic and on both toaster slots when the unit is on.
The bane of all NES projects, relocating the cart slot. 72 pins, both sides for 144 wire connections of hell doom fun. The cart slot was relocated to be able to insert the carts on into a toaster slot, and the NES motherboard itself sits vertically on the side of the toaster to fit inside. Lots of structure supports on the cart slot to keep it in place from the force of inserting and taking out the carts.
Orange LEDs were added to both sides of the unit to simulate the cooking toaster coils when the Nintoaster is powered on. Tying the Power LED to the Lever Mechanism creates a nice effect, shining through both toaster slots.
A custom power board was made to use the power cord from the toaster itself instead of having to add in a plug and use the giant and clunky NES Wall wart AC Adapter. Much more streamlined design this way keeping the normal toaster illusion in tact. The 7805 was cleverly attached to the metal toaster frame to dissipate any heat.
Besides another Nintoaster (version 2), a Super Nintoaster, and even a youtube instructional video on how to make your own, Vomitsaw has made other creations that don’t involve kitchen appliances; such as the Super Genintari 4-in-1 console and was even on an episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd, trying to fix a Jaguar CD for the review. You can see more of Vomitsaw’s work on his website or on his Youtube Channel.