Hardware modders love a good project. Even if it is a bit silly. Actually, especially if it is a bit silly. One modder has crafted a tribute to the 8-bit arcades of the past using a Raspberry Pi Pico and a simple matrix display.

Previously, modder Arnov Sharma and his small team of tech enthusiasts created a tribute to the classic cellphone game Snake using a Raspberry Pi Pico, a matrix display, and a few simple buttons. This new project builds on that foundation to create a more complicated and engaging game, which has been dubbed ‘PICO Blasters'.

PICO BLASTER project with Raspberry Pi

Like the previous Snake game, PICO Blasters is powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico, using a Custom Pico Driver board provided by PCB Way. A basic D-pad made of microswitches provides the controls. The unit is battery-powered, using a single 3.7V 2600mAh lithium-ion cell. As you can see on Raspberry Pi’s website, Pico boards are available for as cheap as $4.

The colorful matrix display is the same one used in the Snake game build. It has quite a bit more to do in PICO Blasters, as the gameplay is more sophisticated than the extremely simple premise of Snake. Instead, the player controls a small spaceship depicted in blue, which fires small green projectiles in order to destroy large red, yellow, and orange round blobs.

This has been dubbed “a Space Invaders-like game,” though you’ll notice some stark differences to the original arcade title right away. First off, enemies approach from the right side of the screen, rather than slowly making their way down from the top. Plus, there’s no cover to hide behind. But we digress; it’s a neat little game either way.

The spaceship even comes equipped with two types of weapons – a rapid-fire projectile and a high-impact blaster. Enemies are color-coded to show how tough they are, with small orange blobs being the easiest to destroy, while large red blobs take three hits to fully destroy.

Sharma and his team have provided full instructions on the build over at Hackster, so anyone wanting to try their hand at creating a tribute to a retro classic can give it a go. Just make sure you know your way around a soldering iron if you want to try it.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.