This tiny Nintendo Switch Christmas ornament features a working display

In brief: Collecting Christmas tree ornaments is one of many holiday traditions that people participate in this time of year. But for one YouTuber, acquiring an ornament this year became a bit of a project.

The software engineer and self-professed hardware hobbyist said he was inspired to create his own electronic ornament after seeing Tom Archer’s electronic fireplace ornament back in 2018. He started with a small LCD screen and an even smaller micro controller module, and before long, found himself designing a miniature Nintendo Switch.

Tinkering around with some designing software, the YouTuber came up with a 1/5 scale replica that uses tiny buttons to make the Joy-Con thumbsticks clickable. Even more impressive is the custom electronics and assembly, which involved the use of solder paste, custom PCBs and lots of capacitors and resistors. There’s also a microSD card assembly and of course, the control module.

The Switch chassis was 3D printed using an online service and after a bit of painting, programming and final assembly, the tiny Switch ornament was complete.

It uses integrated Wi-Fi to load small GIF files and play them on the screen, simulating gameplay. The whole thing looks great, although the backside of the ornament is exposed and could probably use a covering of some sort to complete the aesthetic.

If you’re interested in building something similar, you can grab all of the requisite design files over on GitHub.

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