Gallery: NES Toaster, Duck Hunt Laser Gun and Other DIY Gift Ideas for Gamers
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No gift means as much as one that is handmade, and with today's accessible array of advanced tools, DIY presents no longer mean just wooden dolls or knitted caps. With Arduinos and 3-D printers, it's possible — even easy — to make and modify electronics and gadgets, and create high-tech gift ideas. These following DIY gift ideas have a retro videogame influence. (Because who doesn't love videogame gifts?) Ranging from re-purposed game controllers to laser-beam-shooting Nintendo guns, they might just stoke your creative fires and get you into your workshop so you can spread some high-tech holiday cheer. __Above:__ 8-Bit *Space Invaders* Ornaments -------------------------------- *Space Invaders* has managed to stay part of the design lexicon since its release in 1978. The blocky aliens that step their way toward the surface row by row used to be a source of terror, but nowadays their friendly, familiar look works perfectly as a gift to spice up the Christmas tree of your favorite gamer. A variety of downloadable patterns for the ornaments are [available on Thingiverse](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5080); print and cut, output to your laser printer, or modify slightly and send to your 3-D printer to incorporate additional depth. *Photo: [4volt via thingiverse](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5080)*
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*Duck Hunt* Laser Gun --------------------- On certain setups of the original NES, this gun controller was offered as a bundle. The accompanying game *Duck Hunt* had you build up points by clicking the plastic trigger toward a CRT television. Very arcane by today's standards, and especially hard to enjoy nowadays if you don't have access to an outdated TV. North Street Labs have fixed that problem with an upgrade that anyone and everyone would love to own. [Their version uses a laser](http://www.northstreetlabs.org/Zapper.html) strong enough to require protective goggles. We strongly recommend you don't fire this at your expensive plasma TV, either. Bonus points if you build a *Duck Hunt*-themed shooting range for laser fun. [#iframe: http://www.youtube.com/embed/hxvEyYTQHC4](660x371)|||||| *Photo: North Street Labs*
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Arduino N64 Game Controller --------------------------- Share the greatness of classic videogames by giving the gift of the proper controller. There's something about N64 controllers that other manufacturers' designs were never able to get close to, so it was inevitable that someone would [create a hack to use it](http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-an-Arduino-with-an-N64-controller/) for their homebrew games. The project incorporates an Arduino and a bit of processing code to create an interface between the N64 controller and [Project64](http://www.pj64-emu.com/), an online Nintendo 64 emulator. Now you and your kids can try to beat [*Ocarina of Time*](http://zeldawiki.org/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time) all over again, just like you did in high school.
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Cocktail-Style IKEA Arcade Cabinet Hack --------------------------------------- Everyone knows that no household is complete without a table-top arcade game. However, buying an original is usually outside the budget for most. Thankfully, there's a DIY solution that can bring the sit-down fun of these machines to your kitchen or den with a little bit of work and a few not-too-expensive components. Built around a $49 IKEA Malm cabinet, [the setup created by casper36](http://imgur.com/a/oMbnO) replaces the top with a flat-screen LCD monitor, and puts a retracting controller into the space for the top drawer.  *Photo by casper36*
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NES Toaster ----------- Taking inspiration from the case mod community, Mathijs Sterrenburg built himself a kitchen appliance based on an unlikely platform. Sterrenburg, a 21-year-old graphic designer from the Netherlands, [hacked together an original NES and a toaster](http://myburningeyes.deviantart.com/art/NES-Toaster-323659080) to make a fully functional machine with a decidedly retro-gamer look. The DIY setup would look good on the counter of any NES fan, although we would suggest being careful with working on its electrical components or when toasting massive amounts of bread in its plastic casing. [#iframe: http://www.youtube.com/embed/GlenhFwzmwU](660x495)|||||| *Photo: Mathijs Sterrenburg.*
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Super Mario Holiday Decor ------------------------- Instructables collected [10 Super Mario-themed Christmas projects](http://www.instructables.com/id/Super-Mario-Christmas/), from 1-up cakes to an invincibility star tree topper. 'Tis the season for 8-bit gingerbread and quilted Italian plumbers, so saddle up your [Yoshi hoodie](http://www.instructables.com/id/YOSHI-HOODI/) and grab a hundred chocolate coins. Gift giving is getting powered up.
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WM + Arduino = Cool Controller ------------------------------ The Wii Motion Plus is a cool device. But it'd be even cooler if your kids could somehow make use of its great design form and use it for controlling their homemade robot or flying sharks. Thankfully, [makeprojects.com](http://makeprojects.com/Project/Hacking+the+Wii+MotionPlus+to+Talk+to+the+Arduino/593/1#.UKlOYoXo8nV) has a DIY project that lets you do just that. It utilizes an Arduino to talk to the inter-integrated circuits of the WM+, and take advantage of its gyroscope to manipulate various devices. And best of all, it only requires a couple of components and takes about 30 to 60 minutes. *Photo: Riley Porter via [makeprojects.com](http://makeprojects.com/Project/Hacking+the+Wii+MotionPlus+to+Talk+to+the+Arduino/593/1#.UKlOYoXo8nV)*
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*Super Mario Bros.* Aquarium ---------------------------- While the first level of *Super Mario Bros.* doesn't have Mario or Luigi swimming over mushrooms or head-butting the question-mark blocks underwater, the layout of the classic videogame works well as decor in an aquarium as evidenced by [jennyleighb's *Super Mario Bros.* aquarium.](http://imgur.com/a/wuaMk#p6fuD) The project uses painted Lego bricks to create the structures, and plastic renditions of all the familiar characters. It even incorporates the blue sky background with the score displayed, although we suspect that you'd have more points if you made it to the end of the first round. The setup is static, but crafty DIYers might rig up a way to make Mario jump and the flag move up and down. *Photo by jennyleighb*
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Homemade Portable NES Console ----------------------------- And finally, to round out all the possible uses of the original NES console in building holiday homebrew gifts, is this project that would have been so very cool if it had originally existed. This is a homemade portable NES player by longhornengineer. You can make us this one as a gift. *Photo longhornengineer.com*
