Make. Play. Code.
Your own game console!
Introducing the
A DIY educational gaming kit.
The 8BitCADE XL is an educational, DIY Game Console that you create to learn in a fun and rewarding way – learn electronics & programming while playing your favorite retro games!
- Use code "FREESHIP" for free shipping on your order!
- Use code "FREESHIP" for free shipping on your order!
Use code "FREESHIP" for free shipping on your order!
[Offer ends September 16th]
$84.99
$89.99
Best part? No previous experience is needed!
The 8BitCADE XL is an educational, DIY Game Console that you create to learn in a fun and rewarding way – learn electronics & programming while playing your favourite retro games!
Best part? No previous experience needed!
The 8BitCADE XL is an educational, DIY Game Console that you create to learn in a fun and rewarding way.
Learn electronics & programming while playing your favourite retro games!
Learn soldering & electronics.
Learn to code Arduino! (C/C++)
Play over 200+ preloaded games.
The 8BitCADE XL is more then just a Game Console, its a DIY kit! So you'll be needing some tools!
Beginners deal! Use code "NEWTOOLS" for 20% off your tool kit when you buy an XL + Tool Kit!
A Game Console that YOU make while learning about electronics and coding.
Turning consumers into inventors by empowering learning and exploration of core STEM skills!
A Game Console that YOU make while learning about electronics and coding.
Turning consumers into creatives by empowering learning and exploration of core STEM skills
Here's what other makers think!
I recently received and built the excellent 8BitCadeXL project. It’s a very nice piece of kit, and I hope to get a lot of use out of it.
Derek
Kickstarter backer
Just put mine together with the kids, using the video mostly. Their first experience at soldering. All in all, it went together well! A nice little project, great that the games are preloaded!
Ivan
Kickstarter backer
Console works and my kids have just spent the past few hours on Castle Boy, so all good 🙂
Peter
8BitCADER
Building our 8BitCADE XL was great for me and my 11 year old son. We highly recommend it! The company’s support was helpful & quick and the instructions are clear! It’s a great project we can keep growing with in the future! There are some really good games included…
Read the FULL review on Trust Pilot here! We couldn’t fit it all here!
Matt
8BitCADER
I purchased 2 8BitCADE XL’s and the toolkit box for my 13-year son and I to build together. It was an absolute blast! We both have learned a ton from this process and it is a great and fun way to get introduced to electronic components, soldering and programming.
Sadly, we both had issues with our completed kits (due to our own mistakes). Not to fear! We have received amazing support from the creator of this project Jack Daly. He handled our situation with a lot of grace and has been incredibly helpful and informative not to mention he was very quick to respond (typically within the day).
I highly recommend the 8BitCADE XL to anyone and I hope the creator obtains his deserved success!
Matt
8BitCADER
Building our 8BitCADE XL was great for me and my 11 year old son. We highly recommend it! The company’s support was helpful & quick and the instructions are clear! It’s a great project we can keep growing with in the future! There are some really good games included…
Read the FULL review on Trust Pilot here! We couldn’t fit it all here!
Derek
Kickstarter backer
“The process of building our 8BitCADE XL was great for me and my 11-year-old son, and we highly recommend it for anyone who’s interested in building a game console, either with a child or on their own.
The instructions are clear and available in PDF and video format. As long as you’re comfortable with soldering, the project is completely doable.
The company’s support was helpful and quick wrt identifying issues and troubleshooting. For example, after building our project and charging its battery, the screen wasn’t working. We sent photos to 8BitCADE and they were able to help diagnose the situation, and what we should try to get the console’s screen to display. We followed that guidance and now the unit is working flawlessly (we had a bad solder joint connecting the screen to the board).
The process of building, troubleshooting and now playing with the console we constructed has been really enjoyable.
There are some really good games included. The ones we’ve spent the most time with so far are Virus, Castle Boy and Adventure.
We really like that the console allows us to upload additional Arduboy games, and while we haven’t tried the game-building guides yet but knowing that they’re available and an option for the console in the future is really great – it’s a project we can keep building with.”
Matthew Summers-Sparks
8BitCADER
As seen on…
8BitCADE XL - What people have said!
Average rating: 0 based on 0 reviews
So whats this all about?
everything about the 8bitcade XL
We divided the whole process into 3 stages - Make, Game & Learn. Each stage will educate you about varies different aspects - from soldering to game development! Learn about it all in our introductory video below!
Explore the full package!
Learn more about what it's like to build your very own game console and see it work in front of your own eyes! Explore what you will learn along the way, what resources are available and what you will get in the kit!
Check out the latest make video for the 8BitCADE XL that shows you how to build your console, step by step. Oh, and don't forget we have the PDF Make guide! The Make Guide also includes the part dictionary which goes over all of the electronics used in the console and how they work – to teach you the basics of electronics!
Play over 200+ (and still counting) Arduboy & Retro themed games organised in an easy to use menu system that comes preinstalled on your console! Need more games? Head on over to our game section to discover our ever-expanding game library or Arduboy.com to play new compatible community-created games! Solder the last joint and get gaming!
Find out what it's like to game on the 8BitCADE XL - a retro game console with 200+ preinstalled games with a large 2.42inch display!
The Learn section begins with the Arduino Introductory booklet that covers the basics of Arduino using the console. After that, we advise beginners to head on over and explore the other foundation tutorials (this covers some basic principles of coding such as arrays, functions and even classes). After that, you learn to code a calculator, Pong or even Tetris.
Find out more about how the 8BitCADE platform can turn you into a C/C++ (Arduino) coder creating projects such as Tetris & Space Invaders!
Learn more about the 8BitCADE XL
Check out each individual section, by clicking on the below buttons, to learn more about how the console can be used in the 3 various ways!
Overview
Who is the 8BitCADE XL for?
- For makers who love building and want to assemble the 8BitCADE XL.
- For gamers who want to hold a relic of our past and play over +200 retro games, experiencing them on the large 2.42 inch OLED screen with fast access via a memory chip with a customisable menu system.
- For programmers who want to utilize the 8BitCADE XL's features to create fun and interesting programs & games - utilizing the 6 buttons, memory chip, RGB LED and so much more.
- For designers who want to customize the casing, adding their own personal design.
- For artists who want to express their inner creativity through the design of characters, splash screens, animations and more.
- For hackers who want to modify the open-source design, building on the product's capabilities, adding their own personality and innovating their ideas.
A project for everyone - from beginners to the experienced.
All of our consoles are packed to the max with STEM educational content! We break it into 3 sections: Make, Game, Learn
Best part? No previous experience needed!
It doesn’t matter who you are, what background you have or how old you are! We will teach and guide you through the whole process, from soldering your first joint to coding and playing your very own game!
Justin Crane - Proud 8BitCADER, maker and 11 Year old as of March 6th!
Solder the last joint and game on over 200+ preinstalled games
whats inside the console
Solder the last joint and game on over 200+ preinstalled games
Let’s take a deeper look:
A 16Mb onboard memory chip allows you to store the 8BitCADE XL games using a menu system. This allows you to have multiple games loaded at once, meaning you can upload, select and play hundreds of games (compatible with Arduboy developed games) which you can play whenever you want! You can also develop your own games using Arduino IDE (a free programming software), upload them to the chip and show your friends what you can do!
Why else would we call it the XL! The 8BitCADE XL packs the largest screen of all the 8BitCADE consoles, sized at 2.42 inches. If your looking to game on a large screen, this is the console for you.
Packed with an ATmega32U4, this little board runs at 16MHz and packs 2.5Kb of ram. Being an Arduino based board it’s so easy to add your own programmes (called sketches) and upload existing ones. Learn with us or use the wealth of information available on the web!
Its slim and thin design allows it to slip into your pocket – allowing you to program and play on the go! Combine this with the 500 mili amp battery and you have a super portable, super-powerful, game console to play as you go!
