Hacking Convention Uses Fully-Working Game Boy Emulators as Badge

This year, Def Con attendees were taken aback when they discovered that their badges were functioning as fully operational Gameboy emulators.

Mar Williams constructed the badge using the latest Raspberry Pi microcontroller chip, the RP2350. The circuit design was completed by Entropic, Raspberry Pi’s engineering collaborator. The badge was created by Mar Williams, as seen on their blog post about the project for DEF CON 32.

Williams had previously built last year’s Def Con badge, on which they gave a full talk.

The badge is accompanied by an adorable plastic case in the shape of a cat. Additionally, it contains an SD card with various “goodies”for your computer.

now officially my favorite badge (previous fav was DC 27) pic.twitter.com/hasv0yrEZC

— Helen (of Tor) @ DEF CON (@h313n_0f_t0r) August 9, 2024

Def Con involves collaboration, with some parts of it relying on the RP 2350 emulator. This emulator, which is a “bare-metal”port of uGB, has not been released previously. It was developed by Dmitry.GR and has a unique operation compared to modern handheld emulators.

Initially designed for the unsuccessful Palm smartphone series, uGB has recently been adapted for use on a smaller chip, as mentioned in Dmitry’s blog.

The upgraded Raspberry Pi chip is utilized for playing Gameboy games, with one core dedicated to upscaling and the other for gameplay. Currently, uGB is not officially available for download, except for its initial release on PalmOS.

In addition, Dmitry mentions that the RP 2350 is able to operate PalmOS as well.

The badge’s game is created using GB Studio, a free app designed to replicate the nostalgic Gameboy experience and empower aspiring developers with the necessary resources.

It is only natural that the game has been hacked, considering Def Con is the convention for hackers.

I created https://t.co/MRpdB1tYvt which make’s it easier for #DEFCON32 attendees to flash their badge with custom GB ROMs, as well as provide a way to revert to original firmware.We also have a patched copy of the DEF CON game that is 100% completed with some fun cheats. https://t.co/D5zENKP348

— Jaku 🐀 (@Jaku) August 9, 2024

On X/Twitter, Jaku successfully transferred the ROM to an official Gameboy Color. They were also able to make it functional on an original Gameboy, but discovered it had too many glitches.

The game available on the device is based on Def Con and can also be downloaded from Jaku. However, it has been altered to allow players to access all features from the beginning.

Additionally, Jaku has previously developed a website that enables users to flash the badge using their own software and ROMs.

Later today, on Friday, August 9, Creator Mar Williams will be speaking. We will make sure to include the talk in this post once it has aired.