A stock NES cartridge running software by [k6lcm] can display live air traffic on your television. No ESP32, no Wi-Fi module, no radio. The trick is the controller port: wired as a serial interface at 9600 baud, it receives flight position data from a Python script running on a nearby computer, which pulls from ADS-B APIs.
The NES renders up to 8 aircraft sprites on a radar-style scope. You input an ICAO airport code, like KATL or KJFK, and get a real-time traffic picture. The ROM is open-source under GPL on GitHub. The architecture mirrors [k6lcm]'s earlier c64u-radar project, which used the Commodore 64 Ultimate's LAN port instead of a serial hack.
Read the full piece for the controller port wiring details and how the Python server bridges the live data feed to a 1983 console. The constraint-driven engineering here, 8 sprites, a repurposed gamepad port, zero added hardware, is the actual story.
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