Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Hackvision DIY Retro Game Console
By James Grahame
Hackvision is a tiny 8-bit video game console based on an Atmega 328 microcontroller (of Arduino fame) capable of driving an NTSC or PAL TV at 136 x 96 pixels in glorious monochrome. The entire system is the size of control pad and comes preloaded with Space Invaders and Pong. There's even an online guide to writing your own games using the Arduino TVout library.
The platform supports Wii nunchuk, Super NES and paddle controllers and all unused microcontroller pins are available for expansion. It's even configured to save high scores in the microcontroller's eeprom when powered off. To top everything off, it's an open source project with Eagle PC board layout files and source code available for download and modding.
My only complaint is the lack of color output. It wouldn't take much to add an R2R DAC. Still, it's definitely worth $37.95 ($47.95 fully assembled).
Hackvision: The tiny, hackable, Arduino-based video game system
