Adafruit Color TFT Bonnet: A versatile expansion board that can turn a Raspberry Pi into a handheld games console

The Raspberry Pi ecosystem is extremely versatile, with developers finding endless uses for the popular single-board computers (SBCs). One popular use for the Raspberry Pi is turning it into a retro games console, which is where something like the Adafruit Color TFT Bonnet comes in.

The Adafruit 1.3 " Color TFT Bonnet for Raspberry Pi to give it its full name, the extension board feature more than just a 1.3-inch colour IPS display. Adafruit has included a joystick and two pushbuttons too, with latter arranged like those in the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. The Adafruit does not include buttons that could be configured for Start and Select, though. 

The IPS panel operates at 240 x 240 and can be controlled over SPI. According to the manufacturer, the board is compatible with all common Raspberry Pi variants, including the Pi Zero. There is also a Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector on the bottom of the board. Adafruit provides a kernel driver and Python library for the ST7789 chipset powering the board too.

The Adafruit 1.3 " Color TFT Bonnet costs US$17.50, with Adafruit offering bulk-buy discounts. The unit is out of stock for the time being, but the company will contact prospective buyers when it has produced another batch.