When it comes to keyboards and what people ultimately want on their own, it boils down to sometimes ultra-specific wants and needs. Red, blue, brown, clear switches to alter how a keyboard feels when pressing a key? Wired versus wireless for pure aesthetic wire-free or latency-free gaming? What about something styled entirely after one of the most iconic handhelds in modern gaming history?
Like the Retro 87 from 8BitDo we gave out in our most recent episode of the Retro Handhelds podcast, keyboards have a placement in many desktop setups as the main eye-catcher, but some manage to evoke a sense of subtlety and mystique still. Some take peculiar steps in order to remind us of retro tech’s blocky design while simultaneously merging it with the minimalistic styles of today like the Fantech Maxfit Air 83 (which we’ve covered extensively)
A modder wanting to see a different kind of keyboard join the fray had three things to work with: a love for the original DMG Game Boy, a wireless Logitech K380, and a 3D printer.
Over on The Lesser is Besser YouTube channel, they have managed to create a 3D printed shell of sorts for the Logitech K380 to make it resemble the style of the original DMG’s buttons and body. The video details the process from start to finish while the prefacing two videos in the three-part series detail the thought process, and some hurdles that needed clearing before the design could meet paper.
The overall design does, in my opinion, an excellent job of resting between two different eras of design and gaming. It keeps the slim yet functional design of the K380 with its pill-like button layout and lack of frills. All while still injecting the late 80s nostalgia of the maroon and beige color pairing that was on display for the original Game Boy and, to some extent, the Famicom.
The needed 3D printing files aren’t available for download anywhere, but that may be a good thing. The Lesser the Besser goes over a few design challenges that have yet to be squashed. They state that they’re pleased with the overall final product, though. The design results in smaller buttons than they’d like, but the space between them is also too small, resulting in a cramped layout. It’s also probably not all too great having to shroud an already minimally built keyboard with yet another layer of hard plastic.
That being said, it’s still amazing to see what a little magic can create when paired with some nostalgia-tinted glasses.
If you’d like to check out the video, you can check out the three-part series on the Lesser is Besser YouTube channel. If you’d like to take a crack at building one yourself, you can order a Logitech K380 as your deceptively straightforward step one.
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