Modding my Gameboy Pocket (kind of tutorial-ish)

GameBoy Macro? Interesting!

So is that re-using any of the internals of the DS Lite or is it just using the case as a new shell for the GBA parts? What do you do with the extra buttons on the DS?

Jenuall wrote:GameBoy Macro? Interesting!

So is that re-using any of the internals of the DS Lite or is it just using the case as a new shell for the GBA parts? What do you do with the extra buttons on the DS?

You use the entire bottom half of the DS, and remover the upper part, putting a resistor in place to trick the DS in to thinking the screen is still there

https://www.boxypixel.com/pages/assembl ... lite-macro

I'll only do it if I can find a plastic top shell, as I don't want to be paying for a machined metal one.

Ah sounds cool, I'd love to have a go at this kind of project at some point - it's just finding the time for it!

Swapped out the buttons to the classic dmg colours this evening.

Big brother little brother

Victor Mildew wrote:Swapped out the buttons to the classic dmg colours this evening.

Oh my. Please mark that NSFW :datass:

Man that looks so good - cheers for posting. Maybe one day I will do that.

Victor Mildew wrote:...Big brother little brother

The Pocket model is a lot smaller than I'd realised

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It has been great seeing this project, Victor - I'm looking forward to the next one!

Thanks everyone.

The machine really is dinky, and is say it's one of the prettiest Nintendo handhelds. It's still very modern looking and everything is in proportion, whereas the tiny screen on the original GBA gives away it's age more than anything it think.

Was playing warioland 2 last night, a game I got with my gbc but didn't really get on with for some reason. Yet last night, I was loving the game, very playable, classic Nintendo and of course it looks brilliant on the screen (playing in black and white with the pixel effect on).

I've got a few parts already, so I could go on and make another one in clear red next :shifty:

I'm sure I've said it before but I still think the Pocket design is my favourite of all Nintendo's handhelds over the years. It's incredibly sleek, and as you say still very modern feeling, compared to the original model.

Battery life it used to get out of just a pair of AAA's was insane as well :datass:

Nice build.

I'm looking at all these CNC machined parts for GameBoy and DS mods and realising I have a CNC mill. The cost of endmills would exceed whatever I could order but I need more anyway. Maybe I could just get a cheap set of endmills off Amazon or whatever in lots of small sizes but the idea of them breaking constantly annoys me.

I do have a laser now btw if you want any custom parts and I'm not especially queued up on work so it would help me out.

Of course plastic works fine too. The mill does aluminium, brass etc.

This thread has got me itching to mod my GBC and GBA, but I'm cack-handed when it comes to soldering. GameCube, PS3, DS- you name it, I've knackered it. I'll definitely some practice before I take another swing at it.

Victor Mildew wrote:...I've got a few parts already, so I could go on and make another one in clear red next

Yes! I'm looking forward to hearing about the next Game Boy project! :toot:

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Jenuall wrote:I'm sure I've said it before but I still think the Pocket design is my favourite of all Nintendo's handhelds over the years. It's incredibly sleek, and as you say still very modern feeling, compared to the original model.

Battery life it used to get out of just a pair of AAA's was insane as well

Looking at the pocket earlier, and I think it's the perfect form for a theoretical Gameboy Classic mini. The innards could be so simple, with 500mb of memory, you could have the entire GB library on it. The most expensive bit would be the battery and screen, and even then they could just include a simple backlit low res one. Could easily retail for the same as a snes mini.

I've also never seen the circuit board before - it's really well laid out and a pretty dense fabrication for back then! Especially considering the cost of the device.

Although perhaps back then a GB was considered expensive compared to what some of the competition was offering (colour screen etc), it's clear those are high quality boards, wonderfully annotated and with proper Japanese style low profile capacitors too (not the electrolytic kind that leak).

I must have unwittingly got really lucky buying that gb as I can find anything comparable now for under £30 and I'm not paying that when I'm going to replace nearly everything anyway.

Bidding on another pocket - not going to go beyond my initial bid, but if I get it I'll turn it in to a clear one with the ips screen.

Also thinking about modding both my colour and GBA now, with a view to the GBA becoming my main machine as it can handle gameboy/colour/gba games and I already have a cartridge based flash card that I used to use in my ds, so I should be able to have the complete library of all those systems on it!

I'll probably then sell one of the pockets and the colour.

I just bought a new IPS screen and DMG-coloured shell/buttons for my Gameboy Color, and I'm holding you personally responsible, Victor. :capnscotty:

We've hit our first snag

I can't remember where I left the bloody thing :lol:

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Modding my Gameboy Pocket (kind of tutorial-ish)

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