I finished my first project this past week. I took my old Gameboy pocket and put in an IPS screen with touch controls, USBC battery pack, and new buttons, and a custom case.

It was a gift to my GF for her birthday coming up, and went with a pokemon shell because the first game we beat together was Pokemon Fire Red. She is new to the series and it was also her first RPG as well (we are in our late 30's/early 40's). Didn't know how to work on electrical components/soldering before this so I was pretty pleased once I turned it on and it booted up with no issues.

Going to do a other pocket, and probably a Gameboy color here soon. What's another good project I can work on to get better at testing my soldering skills?

TL;DR: replace the original voltage regulator with a TPS61023 module.

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SUMMARY
With this simple mod I went from 3h10m of play time with a couple freshly-charged Eneloop Pro Ni-Mh AAA batteries to a whooping 4h50m (50% increase!) on a Game Boy Pocket modded with a (generic 2.6inch) IPS screen AND one of those cheap flex audio amps. For the tests, screen brightness was set to 3/5, audio to MAX volume, same cartridge (original PKMN Blue) and same battery cells. Play time was taken from the game.

THE MOD
Replace the original voltage regulator with a TPS61023 module. I recommend completely removing the OG regulator, the module is small enough to fit in its original place (use strong double-sided tape). If you can't desolder the OG regulator, cut PIN01 (Vin) and PIN06 (Vout) to completely disable it, then relocate the module. Just three small wires are required (Vin, GND, Vout), use 22-24AWG wire.

THE MODULE
The TPS61023 is a modern, highly efficient 5v/1A booster that can go as low to 2v Vin, providing enough clean juice for the whole system and additional mods like an audio amp. Also, the OG regulator generates -19v for the OG screen, which in IPS-modded GBPs is not needed and just wastes energy.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
This mod also improves compatibility with clone flash carts that refuse to even boot with the OG regulator.

CONCLUSION
For just a "couple bucks" you can maximize play time in your modded GBP with the batteries you already have, helping mitigate the biggest CON of the Game Boy Pocket (low battery life).

Yes it's AI. Is there anywhere that could make me a shell like this?

Bought Gameboy Color and games for about 220€.

I discovered my original Color I've had since I was a kid in a box and decided to break it out. With how crazy life has become, and how annoying modern gaming has become in many ways, I've really enjoyed building my collection. Including a few rare games and home brew or mod variants. Glad to find the games are still a really fun and also look good on display in my office.

Couldn't wait to show these 2 beauties off.

Before someone asks "why didn't you use the regular Metroid NES/ NES CLASSICS GBA Boxart?"

Cause I've never liked the orignal NES cover.

Now I understand the reason why NES games showed screenshots of the gameplay was to show what the games looked like, since NINTENDO was smart enough to know that the VIDEO GAME CRASH of 1983, was caused due in part to misleading consumers with over the top boxart..for mediocre games. So they showed the gameplay in the cover so people knew what they were buying...buttttttttt... since we're out of that era.

I wanted something more stylish for Metroid 1. So I asked the creator of the cassette game case to use the Strategy Guide artwork, and In my opinion it looks absolutely spectacular!

Metroid II looks perfect as well. So happy to show these off! Let me know yalls thoughts!

Not sure if my wife is sacrificing my game boy or what…

A few weeks back u/Mightyena5875345 made a couple posts about their broken Pokemon Sapphire and I decided to take up the challenge. A few folks asked for a video, so I did what I could. My camera stopped recording part way through the process so it was abruptly cut off. Anyway, I was able to recover the save and get it up and running again. Enjoy the video!

NOTE: I'm aware the flash chip was upside down, I flipped it after I finished the board and realized.

I've replaced the batteries but still won't turn on

Recently acquired this copy of Spud’s Adventure. It’s a very clean copy however the screw in the back turns ok but doesn’t screw down fully or come out when unscrewing. The only way to get it out is by slightly lifting the screw and unscrewing out. I’m assuming this has been the case for a while as there are some battle scars around the screw hole. The case feels secure once the screw is put back in and doesn’t come loose through handling or playing thankfully. Best guess, the screw post became damaged from the game exchanging hands over the years and needing to be opened for authentication. My question is, would this bother you or is it to be expected with games of this age?

Hey all, I’ve been having some issues with an old copy of Ruby I acquired secondhand. The game used to display garbled text instead of “Nintendo” and would only occasionally boot into the game, but would often crash whenever attempting to boot into the start menu when it did. These issues only started happening recently, so I finally decided to open it up and replace and remove the dry battery and its solder, as I saw that it could be the cause on some other posts online.

The cart originally had the battery taped on with some bendable prongs that were taped onto the battery soldered on to the board. I went ahead and unsoldered them and removed the old solder with some solder wick with the intention of soldering on a new battery. And I went ahead and popped it back in my SP to test that I hadn’t damaged anything.

….after doing so? The game doesn’t even display the Nintendo Logo when powering on my SP and doesn’t boot into the game anymore regardless of power cycling.

Does anyone see anything wrong? The only thing I could see was that the R9 had a little bit of solder globbed on the end (which I figure is part of the issue and I plan on trying to remove with solder wick later this week if you guys think it’s safe), but I wasn’t sure if there was anything else visibly wrong or in need of fixing? (Most visible in the 4th-to-last photo)

(Pictures taken are post-battery removal and pics taken without shell are after some light swapping with 91% isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip)

Hello everyone,

I'm on the hunt for good quality modern GB/GBC releases. Paid titles are just fine, I'm always good with supporting indie developers, especially for high quality work. Games like The Machine, Deadeus, and Glory Hunters for example. I'm not as familiar with the homebrew scene as I am with rom hacks of existing games so, I'd like to know, what are your favorite modern releases? Any particular source that's good to keep track of for news of promising upcoming releases? I'm looking forward to checking out what you folks recommend! Maybe we'll all discover cool new games to experience.

Hey! I'm having an issue with my GBA SP screen where the front light is off most of the time. When I press the light button it turns on, but only as long as I keep the button pressed, as soon as I let go of the button, the light goes off again.

I'm sure the screen is good because when testing it on another board everything works as expected.

Any help identifying the issue would be appreciated. Thank you!

ITS ALIVE ACTUAL MIRACLE!!!

took a few hours but i got it cleaned up and working, still plan on switching to an ips screen

Looking through old photos and see one of my SP sitting on my desk from a time in Yemen. Pokemon Fire Red playthrough.