HVT Lab and Huy Vector built a working retro gaming console from an ESP32-S3 and soldered brass, with no enclosure. The frame is structural metal and solder, with a 2 mm strip of clear acrylic stabilizing the buttons, held by cyanoacrylate. Everything else, including the power bus, is exposed.
The software runs Retro-Go, an open source firmware that targets the ESP32-S3 specifically for emulation. The platform supports NES at 60 fps and has been pushed as far as IBM PC emulation. The microcontroller was never marketed for this, but the community has made it the default chip for handheld emulation builds.
Read the full piece to understand the structural tradeoffs: why brass and solder carry the load, where the acrylic actually matters, and why carrying this near metal keys is a real short-circuit risk the builders accepted anyway. The hardware choices are the argument.
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