Nitron Arcade DIY 3D Printed Arcade + Chiptune Synth

Imagine if your childhood NES and a synth lab had a baby, and you could 3D print it yourself. That’s basically the Ntron Arcade, a DIY open-source project that mashes up retro gaming, chiptune music, and maker geekery into one glorious piece of nostalgia-powered hardware. It’s the brainchild of Artifextron, who clearly decided that emulators and apps just don’t scratch the same itch as building the damn thing from scratch. So they designed a complete system you can 3D print, wire, paint, and tweak—a hybrid retro game console and chiptune synthesizer that feels like it time-traveled straight from 1987.

The Build

At its core sits a Raspberry Pi, pulling double duty as both game engine and synth brain. Around it, you 3D print your own shell, gamepad, and keyboard, each piece looking and feeling like authentic vintage gear. It’s part electronics lab, part art project. You’ll be sanding keys, rewiring power boards, and carefully filtering audio signals so your synth doesn’t hum like a fridge.

This isn’t plug-and-play. It’s build-and-swear-and-grin-and-repeat, and that’s the point.

The Dual Personality

• Game Mode: load up classic 8-bit titles, plug in an original NES controller, and disappear into pixel land.

• Synth Mode: flip the switch and suddenly you’re composing NES-era soundtracks with authentic four-voice sound, two squares, one triangle, and one drum channel, thanks to the Twisted Electrons “Happiness” module, a chiptune engine that perfectly recreates old-school console tones.

It’s half nostalgia machine, half creative tool. You’re not just playing the past—you’re making new music out of it.

Why It’s Brilliant

Because it captures everything the maker movement stands for: curiosity, craftsmanship, and control. You learn electronics, 3D printing, audio wiring, and design thinking, all while ending up with something that actually works. It’s art you can play, an instrument you can game on, and a hands-on reminder that innovation isn’t always about faster chips, it’s about people who still love building.

The Ntron Arcade is more than a gadget. It’s a statement:
If you miss the magic of old-school fun, build your own damn time machine.