The NES game console has an unused expansion port, this NES Hub project could put it to use

Nintendo’s first home game console to launch in North America was an 8-bit system with support for up to two removable controllers and a 15-pin expansion port on the bottom. But Nintendo never actually released any accessories for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that use the expansion port.

Over the years, some hardware hackers have decided to make put that port to use though. In 2015 Trapper McFerron used it to send tweets from an NES console. And a few years ago Perkka2 created an NES Expansion Port Sound Generator. Now hardware hacker RetroTime has designed the most versatile NES Expansion Port accessory to date. It’s called the NES Hub.

In a nutshell, the NES Hub is a custom printed circuit board that plugs directly into the NES Expansion Port and brings support for:

Theoretically the NES Hub could also support third-party add-ons in the future, like Murasama’s work-in-progress Famicom Disk System Expansion Adapter, which could theoretically allow you to use the Famicom Disk System with an NES.

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