Giant Lego NES controller really works

Combining Nintendo with Lego, Baron von Brunk has out-geeked everyone.

We've seen the giant, working Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controller coffee table, and we didn't think it could really get much geekier.

But Baron von Brunk has proven us wrong. The Lego and Nintendo fan (mostly Lego) has built a fully operational 1.5-metre retro NES controller entirely out of our favourite little plastic bricks. Well, plus some electronics.

The controller is built of light-grey Lego brick walls with removable tiled plates for the ceiling. Like previous works, I've used custom glossy stickers for the labels. The innards are mainly hollowed with some trusses and support for the buttons; the buttons are spring-loaded modules using Lego Technic pieces to make the large buttons reciprocate when pressed. Below the large Lego buttons are small momentary pushbuttons soldered to the actual circuitry board of an original NES controller, which is then linked to a USB converter to play Nintendo ROMs on my computer. When the large LEGO buttons are pressed, the bottoms make contact with the pushbuttons, which then send the electrical signal back to the controller's circuit "brain"; the Lego Technic spring suspension system prevents the large buttons from getting stuck in place.

It took von Brunk from July to December 2012 to build the controller, fitting it in around his work schedule. The most fiddly part, unsurprisingly, was the top: the ceiling plates had to be adjusted several times to fit, and reinforced so it didn't warp. Tiling the actual face of the controller also took quite a while.

While von Brunk didn't say how many pieces went into his creation, he did mention that Lego happily sell bulk lots of colours if you ask — and, of course, there's Bricklink for all your custom Lego purchasing needs.

Head over to Baron von Brunk's Tumblr to check out the progress pictures he took of the controller, as well as more images of the finished project. You can also see it in action in the video below. And for more Lego awesomeness, head on over to our gallery of the most mind-blowing Lego creations we've seen to date.

Via kotaku.com