It Holds 300 Games. It Was Built for One.

👉 Sign up for the Game Boy Color Refresh Workshop at Retro World Expo 2026 - https://retroworldexpo.com/gbc-refres... ⭐️ Please note that Seeed Studio, the manufacturing partner for the FX-C, provided the review unit in this video. This video is not sponsored and I was not paid for it - my analysis and opinions are my own. ❤️ Support me on Patreon:   / whatskenmaking   If you want to purchase an FX-C, use the promotional code T95IJFPT for 10% off! In 2014, a hardware tinkerer named Kevin Bates built himself a business card that played Tetris. He emailed it to Hackaday, woke up on the front page of Yahoo and TechCrunch, and a year later it was a Kickstarter. That's how the Arduboy started. The current model is the FX-C. It fits in your wallet, it holds over 300 games, and if a friend has one too, a regular USB-C cable turns it into a two-player console. But the original could only hold one game at a time. So how did it get from there to here? In this video, I'll build an Arduboy on a breadboard so you can see every piece of it, then crack open the FX-C to find those same pieces in surface-mount form - all packed into something 5mm thick. I also sat down with Kevin at Teardown 2026 to hear the story firsthand. A special thanks 🙏 to Kevin Bates for sitting down with me in Portland and walking me through how the Arduboy came to be. You can find Kevin and the Arduboy project at https://www.arduboy.com. 🎤 I talked with Kevin for about an hour and a half, and only a few minutes of it made this video. The extended cut of our full conversation - what it was really like when the Arduboy went viral, the time he spent in China, and a trip to the White House - is posted for channel members and Patreon supporters. Support me on Patreon at   / whatskenmaking   Please note that the Amazon listings are affiliate links; by using them, you pay the same price, but I earn a small commission, which helps support the channel. Thank you! 💸 Products Referenced Arduboy FX-C: https://amzn.to/4zxBFGN USB-C Cable (for two-player link): https://amzn.to/3U8ckDb 🔩 Build Your Own Arduboy on a Breadboard DIY Arduboy Guide: https://community.arduboy.com/t/diy-a... Arduino Micro: https://amzn.to/4xiNkru Arduino Leonardo: https://amzn.to/4c4PaDQ Arduino Uno: https://amzn.to/4qvze3h Arduino Nano: https://amzn.to/4zArcuo 128x64 SPI OLED Display (2.42"): https://amzn.to/4gaDDFs 128x64 SPI OLED Display (1.3"): https://amzn.to/4xUehlc 128x64 SPI OLED Display (0.96"): https://amzn.to/4qvvTkY Tact Switches: https://amzn.to/4hMWFD6 Piezo Buzzer: https://amzn.to/4xghKL2 Breadboard and Jumper Wires: https://amzn.to/4gnvLiR Winbond W25Q128 Flash Chip: https://amzn.to/45BD15J Logic Level Shifter: https://amzn.to/46emViv 👾 Arduboy Software and Tools Arduino IDE: https://www.arduino.cc/en/software Arduboy Quick Start Guide: https://www.arduboy.com/quick-start/ Arduboy2 Library: https://github.com/MLXXXp/Arduboy2 ArduboyFX Library (Mr. Blinky): https://github.com/MrBlinky/ArduboyFX Arduboy Python Utilities (Mr. Blinky): https://github.com/MrBlinky/Arduboy-P... Arduboy Web Flasher: https://bateske.github.io/ArduboyWebF... Arduboy Toolset: https://github.com/randomouscrap98/ar... Online Cart Builder: https://www.bloggingadeadhorse.com/ca... 🧠 Additional Resources Referenced Arduboy Community Forum: https://community.arduboy.com Introducing the Arduboy FX-C: https://community.arduboy.com/t/intro... Arduboy Kickstarter (2015): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/... Hackaday - The Credit Card Sized GameBoy (2014): https://hackaday.com/2014/03/01/the-c... IEEE Spectrum - The Making of Arduino: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-making-... Arduboy Hardware Design Files: https://github.com/Arduboy/Kit Erwin's Arduboy Collection: https://arduboy.ried.cl/ Arduboy Collection Repository: https://github.com/eried/ArduboyColle... Prince of Arabia: https://github.com/Press-Play-On-Tape... Atmel ATmega32U4: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/produ... Winbond W25Q128JV: https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/co... Microchip MCP73831: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/produ... Teardown 2026: https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/... 🪛 Tools Used in this Video iFixit Manta Screwdriver Set: https://amzn.to/4gat9WF Digital Calipers: https://amzn.to/4gJsHPc Soldering Iron (Hakko FX-951 w/ FM-2027): https://amzn.to/4pLfaIF Attributions: Arduboy game title screens from the Online Cart Builder library at bloggingadeadhorse.com; games by their respective community developers. Prince of Arabia sprites by Press Play On Tape: https://github.com/Press-Play-On-Tape...