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Community Showcase #7

· 10 min read
wizzo
wizzo
Lead Developer

Hey! It’s been a while since the last community showcase, and there’s a lot to catch up on from our Discord members. This time we’ve got printed cartridges, a custom Cuphead disc, a reader built into an arcade cabinet, holographic cards, and a few ways to keep growing collections organized.

prestocube​

Featured pick

prestocube designed and printed a box for their card collection, fitting 72 sleeved cards and four dividers inside. They’ve shared the print files if you want to make your own.

Anime0t4ku​

Anime0t4ku made CollectionLauncher, letting an NFC scan open a custom game collection on MiSTer rather than launch one game. They also shared their physical collection in a red 3D-printed rack, with each game’s title along the spine.

Liz​

Liz’s Cuphead steelbook came with a download code but no disc, so they made their own. They printed matching artwork onto a DVD, burned the GOG installer onto it, and set it up to launch the game through Zaparoo.

NickNack​

NickNack made a card holder to match their SS1, using the Super dock’s fourth USB port to keep it aligned. They’ve also been designing playing-card-sized game cards, with controller icons on the fronts and space for an NFC sticker on the backs.

Modhack​

Modhack showed their Day of the Tentacle big box launching the game through Zaparoo on Batocera. Scan the box and you’re back in the mansion.

thomasbell81​

Featured pick

thomasbell81 has been 3D printing replica cartridges with NFC tags hidden inside, then finishing them with UV-printed labels and matching printed sleeves. The gold Zelda cartridge even gets its own Nintendo sleeve.

conehead​

conehead released Zap-Studio, a design tool for building batches of game and movie cards with shared templates. It can find cover art and export sheets for printing and Cricut cutting.

ArielAces​

ArielAces has been expanding their card designs across Xbox, GameCube, PS2, PC, and the Neo Geo family. The galleries go from digital layouts to finished holographic prints.

Fredum​

Fredum shared their first batch of Steam NFC cards, with a holographic finish that catches the light as they turn each card.

grego2d​

grego2d followed up their SNES cards with a first batch of PlayStation games, keeping the controller outlines and gold-pin design. They’ve also been trying a small card binder to store and browse the collection.

Jose (MEX)​

Featured pick

Jose (MEX) shared their colorful LEGO-built setup, with custom cards and a few familiar characters joining the games on screen. They also talked about why physical interaction matters to them in their FPGA video.

Sneaky Memer​

Sneaky Memer made a row of card holders with matching system logos, using TheTrain’s NFC Card Case as the starting point. Each stack gets its own spot beneath the TV.

inubis​

inubis brought their favorite Japanese GBA box art onto holographic cards, covering the Mega Man Zero and Castlevania games. The HuCard-style back finishes the set.

fracture​

Featured pick

fracture made token holders to suit the artwork, including square covers for GBA, PC Engine, PlayStation games, and albums. Clever way to keep the original proportions instead of squeezing everything into a standard card.

Mr Mussi​

Mr Mussi tried a lighter version of the card layout, framing Super Mario Bros. 3’s yellow cover with a pale border and gold pins.

MadMax​

MadMax tried two Super Mario Bros. 3 label layouts for floppy-shaped tokens, then shared a yellow 3D-printed floppy with a Golden Axe label.

HDnope​

HDnope fitted an NFC reader beneath their New Net City cabinet’s screen, with a matching white faceplate. A tidy way to make scanning part of the cabinet itself.

iAno​

iAno shared a Dragon Ball movie-collection card design.

wizzo​

I finally organized the cards I actually play with into a binder. Some are years old now, so there’s a mix of designs from different stages of Zaparoo. I also got Zaparoo Frontend running as a standalone Android app on my handheld.

Morgan​

Morgan shared a print of BedroomNinja’s Famicom Disk System-style reader case, complete with the red shell and yellow eject button. The design is linked in our community projects list.

Thanks to everyone who shared their builds and designs. If you’ve made something with Zaparoo, post it in the Discord showcase channel. I’d like to share it in a future roundup.

Creators selected as featured picks will receive a free one-year subscription to Zaparoo Warp. This showcase’s picks are prestocube, thomasbell81, Jose (MEX), and fracture.