A new demo running on a Pi Pico turns the RP2350’s limitations into spectacle—drawing attention to clever RISC-V and peripheral tricks. The maker also released an hour-long breakdown explaining how the video-out and 3D acceleration were pulled off.
A Pi Pico is supposed to be small, modest, and limited. So when a video demo starts looking like “magic” to anyone who hasn’t wrestled with the RP2350, the reaction isn’t confusion—it’s disbelief.
That’s the feeling wrapped around a pair of new uploads: a demo video showing what the chip can do, and a separate technical video where the creator—Linus Akesson—spends about an hour walking through exactly how the effect was achieved. Both are embedded below.
The impressive part is that the demo runs on a Pi Pico with only the extra passives required for video-out. For people who don’t know the RP2350’s constraints, the finished result can look like it breaks the rules. But for anyone who has spent time with the chip. the wonder comes from the workarounds: a series of “tricks” that don’t hide the limitations so much as exploit them.
Akesson’s explanation video is where the details live. The write-up points to “a couple of bleeding-edge tricks” on the RISC-V core and peripherals. including a clever hack using the interpolator for 3D acceleration. The point isn’t just that the graphics look good—it’s that the performance is being squeezed out through specific hardware behavior.
The reaction is sharpened by what came before. The source notes it feels familiar because Akesson previously impressed viewers with a Kaleidoscopico demo last year. And the broader context is that this kind of ingenuity isn’t confined to one platform: it’s compared to 3D engines on the ESP32. where creators also push microcontrollers hard once they learn where the hardware ends.
The tip for the whole thing is credited to Stephen Walters. If you want to see the “magic” first, start with the demo video. If you want to understand why it still counts as real engineering—watch the hour-long technical breakdown and listen to Akesson explain how it was done in his own words.
Pi Pico RP2350 Linus Akesson RISC-V video-out interpolator hack 3D acceleration embedded demo
So like… is this actually magic or just marketing? My brain can’t tell the difference lol.
I don’t get how a “Pico” can do 3D acceleration. Don’t they usually need a whole GPU or whatever? Sounds like they’re stretching the word magic.
Okay but if it’s only possible with “workarounds,” doesn’t that mean the chip can’t really do it? Like video-out and 3D, but only because of a hack with some interpolator thing. Still cool though, just confusing.
I watched the first video headline and figured it was fake, like they used a Raspberry Pi or something off screen. Then I read it’s on a Pi Pico… which is insane because my Pi can barely run a browser tab. Also ESP32 3D engines?? feels like everyone’s just overclocking and calling it engineering. But the hour breakdown makes me wanna believe it, I guess.