Since Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 arrived in late 2020, we’ve heard rumors from retro gaming fans eager to have the power of Raspberry Pi 4 in portable retro gaming gear. Experimental Pi, known for its PiBoy DMG, a “homage” to the classic Nintendo Gameboy, has been seen working on Compute Module 4 powered handhelds on leaked images and videos from YouTube by ETA Prime, who gave “leaked” images from “DarkPi.”
The PiBoy CM4x features a 3.5-inch 640 x 480 IPS display protected by a tempered glass cover and has a full Gameboy Advance-style design including buttons and controls. Digital and dual analog inputs are on either side of the screen. At the top, four shoulder buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) emulating Playstation games. If that wasn’t enough an HDMI output brings the games to a TV, the boot media is a micro SD card on the side of the case.
The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is the processor of the kit We can see the main protuberance where two grills are located for air intake and output. The Compute Module 4 will most likely be placed there with active cooling to keep the CPU cool and to access the hardware you need to remove six screws.
The PiBoy SRX is a Raspberry Pi 4-based handheld, physically will be ticker than the CM4X mimicking the l Nintendo Gameboy, the PiBoy SRX has a range of buttons and dual analog sticks. The shoulder buttons are a little different looking much more comfortable than the CM4X. PiBoy SRX comes with the same 3.5-inch IPS display with tempered glass protection.
Other than the physical differences between the CM4X and the SRX, the real hardware difference is the choice of board powering the kit.
We observe something different in the renders, the orientation of the Raspberry Pi 4 in the SRX render shows the Ethernet port to the left and the LEDs to the front. This would mean the GPIO pins, which would be used to power the Raspberry Pi 4 and provide connections for the screen and controls, face the rear of the case. This means that the Raspberry Pi 4 does not directly interface with SRX; rather, there is some form of relay connection/board present or a mistake in the render.
The pricing or release date for the PiBoy CM4x or SRX is unknown. We don’t expect these to be cheap, as the PiBoy DMG often retails for $150, however, is a lot of fun and power gaming in your pocket.
