This ESP32 project couples a simple clock with some iconic retro gaming references

Published Sep 7, 2026, 12:52 AM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Summary This retro ESP32-S3 pixel clock has a 128×64 display built from two 64×64 P2.5 HUB75E panels. DMA-driven matrix driver keeps refresh off the main loop, enabling Wi-Fi, web UI, OTA, and smooth animations. It comes with 12 clock faces (Mario, Pac-Man, Tetris, Space Invaders, Snake, Matrix Rain, more) plus a Windows app. Once you start making your own gadgets, it's quite hard to get back into store-bought stuff. Sure, it's far easier to buy a device than to make one, but if you really want something that fits your style, then DIY is the way to go. Such is the case of this unique ESP32 animated pixel clock, which delivers a special retro-gaming flair that regular products can't replicate. The ESP32 Animated Pixel Clock tells the time in style You can make your own, if you like Over on the ESP32 subreddit, AdvertisingFormal746 is making waves with their new retro-themed clock. It combines the simple process of telling the time with some classic retro gaming references to make the perfect project for the gaming aficionado. To get the job done, they took an ESP32-S3 and paired it with 64x64 P2.5 HUB75E panels that work together to form a 128x64 display. As for why they chose that hardware specifically, the creator describes their rationale like this: "I chose the S3 mainly because HUB75E needs quite a few GPIOs, while I also wanted WiFi, a web interface, OTA updates and enough headroom to keep animations running smoothly. The display is driven with ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA. I went with a DMA-based library because I didn't want panel refresh timing to take over the main application loop, especially once WiFi, networking and animations were running at the same time." Right now, there are 12 clock faces: Mario, Pac-Man, Tetris, Space Invaders, Snake, Asteroids, Dino, Matrix Rain, plus "a few others." You can see them cycle through in the video above; it's sped up by 4x, so AdvertisingFormal746 could get through all the animations in a short enough video. The creator says they even made a Windows companion app for showing hardware usage and audio spectrum data on the display, because you can't have enough cool features. If you'd like to make your own, head over to the Animated Pixel Clock GitHub repo for all the details.