r/CheapYellowDisplay

Hi r/esp32,

Following up on our retro-go port for the NM-CYD-C5 — we've now added BLE-HID gamepad support. That means you can pair a Bluetooth controller and play without touching the screen. No wires, no mods, just pair and play.

We tested with the Shan Wan Q36 — a compact Bluetooth gamepad that maps cleanly to retro-go's input system — but any BLE-HID keyboard/controller should work.

Quick recap for context:

the NM-CYD-C5 is an ESP32-C5 board with 8 MB PSRAM, 16 MB flash, and a 2.8" 240×320 ST7789 display. Our retro-go port runs on it out of the box — no PSRAM soldering needed. Now it talks Bluetooth too.

What's new in this release:

• BLE-HID host mode: scanning for BLE HID keyboard devices at boot

• Auto-pair: picks up the first advertising BLE-HID keyboard in range and

connects automatically — you can also manually pair via the launcher menu

• Gamepad mapping: Shan Wan Q36 (D-pad + ABXY + shoulder buttons) mapped to

retro-go's standard input layout:

- D-pad → directional input

- A / B → retro-go A / B

- Start / Select → menu / select

A few technical notes:

• ESP32-C5's BLE 5.0 stack is handled via NimBLE in ESP-IDF 5.5+; we use the

standard esp_hid component with a thin HID→retro-go input bridge

• The Shan Wan Q36 advertises as a BLE-HID keyboard (mode: HID for Android), which is why the HID report parsing treats a subset of keycodes as gamepad buttons

• Pairing is stateless per session — no bonding or persistent storage needed; just turn on the controller before booting the board

Getting started:

1. Flash the latest retro-go .img to 0x0

2. Power on your Shan Wan Q36 (or any BLE-HID keyboard) — put it in pairing mode

3. Power on the NM-CYD-C5 — it auto-scans and connects

4. Launch a ROM and play with the gamepad

Software tag: https://github.com/RockBase-iot/retro-go/releases/tag/Retro-Go_1.46_NM_CYD_C5

(Updated .img includes BLE-HID support)

Would love to hear what controllers you test with — drop a comment if you try

something other than the Q36.

Happy gaming 🕹️

Hi r/esp32,

We added support for the NM-CYD-C5 board to retro-go (the ESP32 retro emulator launcher/frontend).

If you haven't seen it, this excellent Instructables guide shows how to turn an ESP32-CYD into a RetroGo handheld:
https://www.instructables.com/Retro-Handheld-Based-on-the-ESP32-CYD-and-RetroGo/

The main difference with the NM-CYD-C5 is that the board already ships with 8 MB PSRAM, plus an ESP32-C5 (RISC-V @ 240 MHz), 16 MB flash, and a 2.8" 240×320 ST7789 display. That let me skip the external PSRAM mod/wiring that the original CYD build requires — it mostly works out of the box once the SPI display, SD card, and touch pins are mapped.

A few technical notes:

• New target: nm-cyd-c5
• Requires ESP-IDF 5.5+ (needed for ESP32-C5 support)
• The XPT2046 touch controller is mapped to a virtual gamepad for launcher nav and basic testing
• Audio defaults to the dummy sink because the board docs don't list an onboard DAC or speaker
• The CPU is single-core RISC-V, so it has less headroom than dual-core ESP32/S3 targets — start with launcher + retro-core before trying heavier emulators

If you want the full handheld build (case, physical buttons, controls), the Instructables guide linked above is still the best reference; this board just saves you the PSRAM soldering step.

Hardware ref: https://github.com/RockBase-iot/NM-CYD-C5 Software tag: https://github.com/RockBase-iot/retro-go/releases/tag/Retro-Go_1.46_NM_CYD_C5

you can just flash the .img file to 0x0 to run retro-go on your NM-CYD-C5.

I made an open source touchscreen remote for WLED based on capacitive CYD (cheap yellow displays).

- It works wirelessly over WLED’s default ESP-NOW (no router required)
- Flash straight from the browser

* Basic functions (supported by WLED’s basic remote protocol):
- Power on/off
- Control brightness
- Select presets 1-7 by default

* Extended mode opens up a lot of features by just uploading a simple remote.json file via wled.local/edit

Extended mode offers:
- Presets 1-20
- Basic solid colors
- Selecting 163 of the built-in WLED effects
- Modifying selected effect parameters
- Peek/preview of selected effect

3D printed case files included for both a wired and battery-powered (18650 cell) versions.

Please feel free to check it out. Hope it is useful to some of you!

Installer: https://figamore.github.io/wled-touch-remote

GitHub repo: https://github.com/figamore/wled-touch-remote

🚀 A premium OTA firmware launcher and application manager for ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display (CYD). Browse, download, rate, and boot apps over-the-air or via SD card!

QuadEver Launcher is a highly optimized, feature-rich resident firmware launcher and app manager designed for the Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) ESP32-2432S028R development board. It allows users to store, browse, flash, and boot multiple application binaries (.bin files) from an SD card or wirelessly via a Web User Interface, transforming your CYD display into a versatile multi-tool.

GitHub:- https://github.com/samiralam5755/QuadEver-Launcher