You make terrific videos. Very interesting topics. If only I knew about this modification when I was a heavy game boy player. This would have saved a lot of frustration with lighting issues. This makes me want to dig out my gameboy and play it again. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I've been watching your videos for a while now and I usually very much enjoy them. I was listening to this one in the background this morning while getting dressed and happened to look down and catch out of the corner of my eye a brain of morbius! Nice prop!
I have not see this jewel of video and not even suspect that you have work with portable consoles in the past. I'm a portable consoles freak and a video of you and consoles are just great. I'm so glad youtube suggest this video to me. Thanks a lot to you for made it.
Great vid! I had a Gameboy Pocket, and remember how I though the none backlit display stood back from mobile phones for example (in the late 90's). The batteries went out so quick on that thing. - I got a power adaptor for it, and my spot for gaming became this one spot in the living room, under a lamp. Crazy how the Gameboy Color weren't backlit either. They took their time in that aspect.
This video inspired me. I ordered a AGS-101 Gameboy advance SP from the ebay equivalent in my country. There were only 2 AGS-101 listed and tons of AGS-001. I got it for the equivalent of $36. I'll receive it tomorrow. Regarding the lack of any sort of illumination of the screen was mainly because of the cost. The gameboy was accessible to everybody back in the day and the light was an addition failure point and production cost.
yet the Sega Gamegear had a backlight screen in 1990... one note about playing gameboy games on a Gameboy advanced the l and R or trigger buttons will make the screen wide or normal gameboy size. So it's still emulation to a degree
@@sheilaolfieway1885 its not actually emulation, its running totally in gameboy color mode, as theres a switch inside the cartridge slot, but there are a few cpu registers that affect the screen rotation / other stuff, which is what is going on when it widens or not
Your techniques worked really great. I scraped mine with a credit card, also. I used lighter fluid to get the rest of the adhesive. Rubbing alcohol to clean off all residue and fingerprints. All applied with Q-Tips.
I miss my "Gameboy Light" it was a Japanese import and really only a pocket with an El backlight and took AA rather than AAA batteries. I have only seen them in gold or silver and all the instructions were in Japanese. My favourite UK computer trade in store CEX were threatened with legal action by Nintendo and had to stop importing them! Keep up the good work, as a musician and computer nerd I find all your channels fantastic.
Such a fine channel, David.Because of you I've learned how to properly cleaned my SNES cartridges and the console itself with its yellowed plastic.Woohoo!!
I modded my original GBA last year and added a backlight to it. I used the screen of a spare AGS 101 Game Boy Advance SP and used a special ribbon cable, along with a couple solder points to connect the screen. The brightness is amazing and is fun to play at night.
David, what I'd really like to see your skills applied to, would be the Dreamcast portable memory VMU backlit. I've seen videos of those who have their VMUs LED backlit, but none of whom post any videos on how to do it. Might make for a really good video from you, showing the way to do it properly and with that we get your inside knowledge about the VMU. Thanks again for your videos.
The most amazing thing about this video is that you got a GB Pocket for $25 in 2014 and the average price (per PriceCharting) is still about $25. Glad to see some prices stabilized.
I really like how it was like sooo easy for you to pull out the polarizer and the reflective film that's always the hardest part of this upgrade.... you shouldn't of edited all that hard work.. lol thanks for sharing you always have awesome content.
The WB-40!!! Genius! I ruined a couple of GBP screens trying to get the polarizer and reflective backlayer off. Thanks for the tip; made the job so much easier. But really, this mod is a pain, haha.
Secret for the ribbon cables, and people generally don't realize this. There's something i do called "Ghetto Lamination" You use clear packing tape, pre-cut it to the right length to cover the cable, but not the connector ends. Slide it under the cable, and press it down to smooth it out and attach it. Then do the same on the top side. At this point you can leave it, or trim away some of the excess tape, this is the most dangerous part, but a plastic card to protect the screen and an X-Acto knife, and you can trim it. Leaving only a few mm on each side. This will greatly strengthen the ribbon cable if you're often opening your system. If this is a 1 time deal, then it's not really necessary. But i do it to all my film ribbon cables like that, since they really are very fragile (like paper)
perfect way to play old gameboy games and gbc is with a psp, bottons are really confy and the emulation is perfect, gba emulation is maybe 95% so not every game runs perfect on the psp (mainly pseudo 3d gba games). great mod anyways, love your videos!!!
Nice job with this one. We didn't have backlights way back when for 2 reasons. LED technology was not where it is today, and as such an existing backlight solution would just EAT those batteries alive. Early screen such as the PalmPilots used an electroluminescent backlight, which gave a greenish glow, they worked great especially when the device had a contrast control; you could dial it right in to where it looked best. EL was the least current draw available at the time. Also it appears in the video that the leftmost LED at the bottom seems to be a different shade of white. Is that correct or is it a camera/UA-cam compression artifact?
jaykay18 - Yeah, I had wondered about that. I remember my palm-pilot as well as other "indiglo" type backlights from the time. Honestly anything would have been preferable than nothing. Like the Palm Pilot, Nintento could have allowed the backlight to be switched on only when needed to conserve battery power. Also keep in mind you could run it from an external power source. They should have had a low-end and high end version of the gameboy so that people who wanted to spend the extra money would get the backlit version.
No.. This, unfortunately, was on the screen when I got it from ebay. The first screen I ruined didn't have it, but the second one did. However, it doesn't interfere with any of the actual pixels so I figure it is just an annoyance.
Ok, thanks I want to do an conversion on my GB advanced and also go for this method. The color screen will look beautiful I think.good luck with your next project.
The 8-Bit Guy hey the first screen you broke is repairable. The vertical lines are fixable by running a soldering iron along the bottom cable. You have to remove the little foam first.
Awesome! I want to try this mod now. I have an original GB, 7 GB pockets, 2 GB colors, a clam shell, and a DS lite. I still have a few more to collect. :] The 3DS XL and New 3DS XL are still sky high in pricing for some reason.
I ended up getting a gameboy advance and advance SP from a garage sale for $15 IIRC, and a few months ago I got around to installing the SP screen in the normal advance. Bit of a tight fit, but it works near perfectly. When I eventually get older gameboys I'll probably just leave them non lit just to preserve the authenticity, and also because I suspect I would mess it up like you did to your first one. =P
This is a bit late. Just wanted to give you a heads up on the tri-wing screwdrivers. You can pick up the tri-wings from any worthwhile hardware store, Fastenal, Snap-On dealer, MAC tools, Brown Tool and many other aviation supply companies carry them and you can get them quickly from a state side supplier.
Hey iBook Guy, I have a question... YouView, the program I currently use with my eMac was working just fine with my previous ISP connected through Wi-Fi, but I just switched to a new one and Ethernet and now it times out...I know this isnt your program but maybe you have had this experience and may know a fix? Thanks. (If nothing I'll just try to track down a way to communicate with the creator again)
You can indeed get more contrast with the "bivert" mod. You put in the pol-filter the other way, so the screen gets inverted. Then there's a little IC that again inverts the screen on the electronics' side. The result is as twice inverted screen with more contrast. Look up "bivert" on the web for more details.
Mostly we used those bendy lights that plugged into the data port and was essentially a reading light. For a while for my GameBoy Color I also had a magnifier-light, which was a big magnifying glass that fit over top the gameboy screen and included a light with its own batteries.
I remember playing my ganeboy advance and color. I also remember playing on one of the early models of the DS. I am an early 2000's kid but thankfully I was exposed to vintage game systems.
If I ever get the chance to get one for really cheap, I'd go for a Gameboy Light. It's essentially a Gameboy Pocket, but with a built-in backlight. It was only released in Japan, and didn't sell as well, so they're rather more expensive nowadays, rivaling the Gameboy Micro's pricerange.
Hey Adric, I discovered a web browser that you may or may not have have heard of, and surely haven't pointed it out in your videos. This is an old project, apparently of NeXT OS origins. It's called 'Omniweb' and is a browser for MacOSX. The current version 5.11.2, which I believe was released in 2012. While it may be around as old as the last Camino release, nothing seems to be outdated on it. In fact, I am sure they are planning to work on it for years to come; I am using it now and nothing on UA-cam is distorted or broken. It is definitely full-featured, with built-in pop-up/ad blocking, and runs pretty well. On faster Macs like my PowerMac G5, it does not perform as well as Leopard Webkit, which I use regularly, but it's definitely a good alternative to poor Camino and sluggish TenFourFox. The cool thing about this browser is that the current version is compatible with Tiger or later, so no having to sift through some 'legacy downloads' page for an older, dated version. If you haven't used it before, I would recommend trying it out on an older Mac, preferably a PPC Mac, and see how it compares to TenFourFox and default Safari 4. It would be a good thing to mention in a video in case people are looking for a good alternative browser. -maccollectorZ
I have one of these gameboy pockets and my main issue with it is that I also have that line going down the centre of my screen, even though I've never opened it up or tried to alter it internally in any way. I've heard that this is a common issue and that it can actually be fixed sometimes by finding a way of keeping the ribbon more securely inside the socket.
There was a backlighted game boy pocket made called the Game Boy Light. It has a similar Link Cable port to what ended up in the Game Boy Color. As far as I know it was never released in the US.
I'd like to do this the other way around with a modern LCD to make it sunlight-readable. Do you think it's possible to substitute the backlight by a reflective layer e.g. in a laptop's screen?
Hi! A little feedback, maybe someone else already pointed it out but I think there is a strange kind of audio echo resonating un the video (around 5:00). Thanks for your great videos !
There was a backlit version of the Pocket released in japan. At the time the EL backlight tech used too much power which is also one of the reasons it was never used in the GBA until they stuck a lithium rechargeable into the GBA SP. The main selling point of the GB line was the battery life. I have a game gear and Lynx, both colour backlit screens. 6 hours max from 6 AA's. Using rechargables may have not worked and at the time they used to need charging overnight as they were less tolerant of fast charging. Plus they were too expensive. If you really want the classic look to using a gameboy pocket, then you can pick up a magnifier as they usually have front lights. These were using bulbs, but it would be great to replace those with super bright white LED's.
I really liked my Gameboy pocket, but it suddenly felt like junk after I got a second one and did the backlight mod to it. But in turn, my backlit one suddenly felt like junk after I got another and fitted an IPS screen in it (well, "robbed it of it's motherboard and fitted all new stuff around it" is a more accurate description of what I did. :) ). The IPS screen upgrade is just so much better than the original. The original screen has horendiously motion blur, and even with the backlight and bivert mods they still really show their age. The IPS screen's night and day better. I've currently got 8 GB Pockets, 2 have IPS screens, 5 are backlit, and one is completely original. Both the IPS one's have the "Alberto Gil Tesa" USB-C Charging Kits and 1000mAh Li-Po's fitted (A great mod to go with the power hungry screen), 3 of the backlit one's have Li-Po mods as well, using generic TP4056 charging module. Once the USB socket's removed it fits almost perfectly in the top shell between the D pad and B button to shine it's charge status LED's through the thin plastic of the top shell (It looks especially good on a transparent blue case I've got on one). 2 of those have the bivert mod, One of the others has a drop in Li-Po and charger kit that all fits in the (Modified) battery compartment, and the last backlit and the totally standard one have the normal 2x AAA arrangement......... As you can see, I have a bit of a thing for Gameboy Pockets. :D The trouble is, my standard one, and all the backlit ones don't get used anymore. I cleaned them right up with isopropyl alcohol, removed the batteries, and they're all now in Ziploc bags with a few silica gel sachets in each. Once you've experienced the crystal clear sharpness of an IPS screen on one of these, the stock screen (Backlit or not) feels barely fit for purpose ! All I can say is, if you still get that happy nostalgic feeling from playing on your stock or backlit stock Gameboy Pocket, don't even LOOK at one kitted out with an IPS screen, let alone play on it if offered. It'll ruin the whole original experience for you ! It would be like continuing to bang your clothes against a rock in the river to wash them while knowing full well that automatic and reasonably affordable cloths washing machines exist ! :D
Hi! You can repair that damaged screen. Did it yesterday. You have to use flux on there where the connectors are, and than flow solder on it to connect the ribbon cable with that contacts again.
If you had a Super Nintendo, you could get a Super GameBoy off of eBay, I dunno how much they sell for these days, but that is another option if you wanna avoid having to do any sort of modifications.
As a kid I never wanted a GameBoy (Classic, Pocket, Color, Advanced) because it lacked backlighting :) My brother had a Game Gear but I only played at home, with the AC adaptor because it uses so many batteries. And now we want our phones to have more runtime.
Fantastic tutorial! May we link to this at our shop? By the way, at 2:31 you mention not being able to remove the ribbon cable. Some people choose to desolder the cable at the bottom for the reflective film removable, and then resolder it afterwards.
I was never willing to deal with a lack of backlight. My first Game Boy was the Advance SP even though I'm old enough to have owned the original when it was still the newest.
I got a Gameboy advance sp back in 2005 and I still have it. It's backlit as well and to anyone who may ask: No. It's not for sale and nor are the cartridges.
I have an original gameboy (its is in a clear casing if you are wondering). But from the last 6 years of using PC's and PlayStation, I can't seem to get used to the horribly lit screen of my gameboy. I heard that original game boys are going up in value, and are at about 100 for the gameboy alone. So would it be possible? Would it go up or down in price due to the upgrade, but not being original? And would it even be worth it, just to play things like Mario, Dr.Mario, Yoshi, breakout, or monopoly? Please help
You make terrific videos. Very interesting topics. If only I knew about this modification when I was a heavy game boy player. This would have saved a lot of frustration with lighting issues. This makes me want to dig out my gameboy and play it again. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I've been watching your videos for a while now and I usually very much enjoy them. I was listening to this one in the background this morning while getting dressed and happened to look down and catch out of the corner of my eye a brain of morbius! Nice prop!
I have not see this jewel of video and not even suspect that you have work with portable consoles in the past. I'm a portable consoles freak and a video of you and consoles are just great. I'm so glad youtube suggest this video to me. Thanks a lot to you for made it.
Great vid!
I had a Gameboy Pocket, and remember how I though the none backlit display stood back from mobile phones for example (in the late 90's).
The batteries went out so quick on that thing. - I got a power adaptor for it, and my spot for gaming became this one spot in the living room, under a lamp.
Crazy how the Gameboy Color weren't backlit either. They took their time in that aspect.
Your channel is absolutely great, I love it! I've been following you for quite a while. :)
I really like your place man. Its so clean, wires organized, wall looks painted well and over all your tools and stuffs looks organized.☺
This video inspired me. I ordered a AGS-101 Gameboy advance SP from the ebay equivalent in my country. There were only 2 AGS-101 listed and tons of AGS-001. I got it for the equivalent of $36. I'll receive it tomorrow.
Regarding the lack of any sort of illumination of the screen was mainly because of the cost. The gameboy was accessible to everybody back in the day and the light was an addition failure point and production cost.
yet the Sega Gamegear had a backlight screen in 1990... one note about playing gameboy games on a Gameboy advanced the l and R or trigger buttons will make the screen wide or normal gameboy size. So it's still emulation to a degree
@@sheilaolfieway1885 its not actually emulation, its running totally in gameboy color mode, as theres a switch inside the cartridge slot, but there are a few cpu registers that affect the screen rotation / other stuff, which is what is going on when it widens or not
Your techniques worked really great. I scraped mine with a credit card, also. I used lighter fluid to get the rest of the adhesive. Rubbing alcohol to clean off all residue and fingerprints. All applied with Q-Tips.
Glad to see people are still making stuff about this!
ive been searching for this for a while on youtube. Beautifully explained.
I miss my "Gameboy Light" it was a Japanese import and really only a pocket with an El backlight and took AA rather than AAA batteries. I have only seen them in gold or silver and all the instructions were in Japanese. My favourite UK computer trade in store CEX were threatened with legal action by Nintendo and had to stop importing them! Keep up the good work, as a musician and computer nerd I find all your channels fantastic.
Such a fine channel, David.Because of you I've learned how to properly cleaned my SNES cartridges and the console itself with its yellowed plastic.Woohoo!!
I modded my original GBA last year and added a backlight to it. I used the screen of a spare AGS 101 Game Boy Advance SP and used a special ribbon cable, along with a couple solder points to connect the screen. The brightness is amazing and is fun to play at night.
keep spending most our lives living in an electron's paradise, this guy's cable management and devices are an electron's paradise
Great vid! Pretty funny that your shirt fits the room - even with the cables running on the wall and your shirt ;)
Nice video as usual. Visiting some old ones I haven't seen.
I love this guys videos. I don't even know why. Very personable.
Been watching every video in reverse order. How far youve come
You are doing a good job and not making crappy videos.
I really enjoy your Videos, David!!!!
Never knew this was possible! Can't wait for the game boy advance video, since I don't have a pocket!
Cool videos man! Well done.
I have no real interest in doing retro tech stuff myself. However, I really enjoy your videos and the way you present your content.
I was thinking about doing this to one of my gameboys. GBA next cant wait... good video thanks for the warnings
I saw your video too late I made the same mistake as you!😂 But now I know how to do it thanks to you👍
I've been waiting for the gameboy Advance video
David, what I'd really like to see your skills applied to, would be the Dreamcast portable memory VMU backlit.
I've seen videos of those who have their VMUs LED backlit, but none of whom post any videos on how to do it.
Might make for a really good video from you, showing the way to do it properly and with that we get your inside knowledge about the VMU.
Thanks again for your videos.
The most amazing thing about this video is that you got a GB Pocket for $25 in 2014 and the average price (per PriceCharting) is still about $25. Glad to see some prices stabilized.
I really like your channel, congratulation!
great video! waiting for the GBA one since I still have one that would like to mod
Nice work!
nice work! very good video
I really like how it was like sooo easy for you to pull out the polarizer and the reflective film that's always the hardest part of this upgrade.... you shouldn't of edited all that hard work.. lol thanks for sharing you always have awesome content.
The WB-40!!! Genius! I ruined a couple of GBP screens trying to get the polarizer and reflective backlayer off. Thanks for the tip; made the job so much easier. But really, this mod is a pain, haha.
That brain on the desk is EXTRAMLY COOL!
SO EXTRAM
Sasszem maybe it's yours
:D
Nah
Secret for the ribbon cables, and people generally don't realize this. There's something i do called "Ghetto Lamination" You use clear packing tape, pre-cut it to the right length to cover the cable, but not the connector ends. Slide it under the cable, and press it down to smooth it out and attach it. Then do the same on the top side. At this point you can leave it, or trim away some of the excess tape, this is the most dangerous part, but a plastic card to protect the screen and an X-Acto knife, and you can trim it. Leaving only a few mm on each side.
This will greatly strengthen the ribbon cable if you're often opening your system. If this is a 1 time deal, then it's not really necessary. But i do it to all my film ribbon cables like that, since they really are very fragile (like paper)
what you said at this end of this video made me subscribe
IM YOUR 14,400th sub bro!
Cool,I like your videos
Hey man just want to say keep up the videos, I really enjoy your content!
Nice job!
perfect way to play old gameboy games and gbc is with a psp, bottons are really confy and the emulation is perfect, gba emulation is maybe 95% so not every game runs perfect on the psp (mainly pseudo 3d gba games). great mod anyways, love your videos!!!
Nice job with this one. We didn't have backlights way back when for 2 reasons. LED technology was not where it is today, and as such an existing backlight solution would just EAT those batteries alive.
Early screen such as the PalmPilots used an electroluminescent backlight, which gave a greenish glow, they worked great especially when the device had a contrast control; you could dial it right in to where it looked best. EL was the least current draw available at the time.
Also it appears in the video that the leftmost LED at the bottom seems to be a different shade of white. Is that correct or is it a camera/UA-cam compression artifact?
jaykay18 - Yeah, I had wondered about that. I remember my palm-pilot as well as other "indiglo" type backlights from the time. Honestly anything would have been preferable than nothing. Like the Palm Pilot, Nintento could have allowed the backlight to be switched on only when needed to conserve battery power. Also keep in mind you could run it from an external power source. They should have had a low-end and high end version of the gameboy so that people who wanted to spend the extra money would get the backlit version.
***** Maybe if you give him some money lol
***** Well, that is what he does for a living. He sells and repairs Apple products.
*****
k
+Macadamia Nut actually he stopped about 3 years ago.
Where are the blue pixels in the upper left corner coming from? Did WD40 or glass cleaner got between the layers?
No.. This, unfortunately, was on the screen when I got it from ebay. The first screen I ruined didn't have it, but the second one did. However, it doesn't interfere with any of the actual pixels so I figure it is just an annoyance.
Ok, thanks I want to do an conversion on my GB advanced and also go for this method. The color screen will look beautiful I think.good luck with your next project.
The 8-Bit Guy hey the first screen you broke is repairable. The vertical lines are fixable by running a soldering iron along the bottom cable. You have to remove the little foam first.
8Bitrabbitech that’s what I call screen cancer, it only gets worse.
great job, keep it up! :)
I thank you for this video back in the day but the drop in IPS is a much better option now
i actually sub'd for the Nintendo stuff nice job 👍
Very cool video, thanks.
So does the GBA also have a reflective layer? (by that i mean the original gba, of course.)
i dont like any thing with an "i" in front of it but i do like your videos
Awesome! I want to try this mod now. I have an original GB, 7 GB pockets, 2 GB colors, a clam shell, and a DS lite. I still have a few more to collect. :] The 3DS XL and New 3DS XL are still sky high in pricing for some reason.
I ended up getting a gameboy advance and advance SP from a garage sale for $15 IIRC, and a few months ago I got around to installing the SP screen in the normal advance. Bit of a tight fit, but it works near perfectly. When I eventually get older gameboys I'll probably just leave them non lit just to preserve the authenticity, and also because I suspect I would mess it up like you did to your first one. =P
This is a bit late. Just wanted to give you a heads up on the tri-wing screwdrivers. You can pick up the tri-wings from any worthwhile hardware store, Fastenal, Snap-On dealer, MAC tools, Brown Tool and many other aviation supply companies carry them and you can get them quickly from a state side supplier.
I love watching your D.I.Y videos!
Very interesting !
I LOVE Gameboys
the first system i got is a gameboy advance sp! it still works!
Hey iBook Guy, I have a question...
YouView, the program I currently use with my eMac was working just fine with my previous ISP connected through Wi-Fi, but I just switched to a new one and Ethernet and now it times out...I know this isnt your program but maybe you have had this experience and may know a fix?
Thanks. (If nothing I'll just try to track down a way to communicate with the creator again)
i love watching your vids any topic even ones i didnt know i was interested in
Brilliant!!
I'm just glad i own a Game boy Light. You can also use a Game boy Pocket display to replace the Game boy Lights or vice versa.
You can indeed get more contrast with the "bivert" mod. You put in the pol-filter the other way, so the screen gets inverted. Then there's a little IC that again inverts the screen on the electronics' side. The result is as twice inverted screen with more contrast. Look up "bivert" on the web for more details.
This Video is So Blue! I like it XD
Mostly we used those bendy lights that plugged into the data port and was essentially a reading light. For a while for my GameBoy Color I also had a magnifier-light, which was a big magnifying glass that fit over top the gameboy screen and included a light with its own batteries.
I remember playing my ganeboy advance and color. I also remember playing on one of the early models of the DS. I am an early 2000's kid but thankfully I was exposed to vintage game systems.
If I ever get the chance to get one for really cheap, I'd go for a Gameboy Light. It's essentially a Gameboy Pocket, but with a built-in backlight. It was only released in Japan, and didn't sell as well, so they're rather more expensive nowadays, rivaling the Gameboy Micro's pricerange.
Hey Adric,
I discovered a web browser that you may or may not have have heard of, and surely haven't pointed it out in your videos. This is an old project, apparently of NeXT OS origins. It's called 'Omniweb' and is a browser for MacOSX. The current version 5.11.2, which I believe was released in 2012. While it may be around as old as the last Camino release, nothing seems to be outdated on it. In fact, I am sure they are planning to work on it for years to come; I am using it now and nothing on UA-cam is distorted or broken. It is definitely full-featured, with built-in pop-up/ad blocking, and runs pretty well. On faster Macs like my PowerMac G5, it does not perform as well as Leopard Webkit, which I use regularly, but it's definitely a good alternative to poor Camino and sluggish TenFourFox. The cool thing about this browser is that the current version is compatible with Tiger or later, so no having to sift through some 'legacy downloads' page for an older, dated version. If you haven't used it before, I would recommend trying it out on an older Mac, preferably a PPC Mac, and see how it compares to TenFourFox and default Safari 4. It would be a good thing to mention in a video in case people are looking for a good alternative browser.
-maccollectorZ
Out of curiosity does this mod work for the Gameboy Color as well or would that require a different mod for adding in a backlight.
I have one of these gameboy pockets and my main issue with it is that I also have that line going down the centre of my screen, even though I've never opened it up or tried to alter it internally in any way. I've heard that this is a common issue and that it can actually be fixed sometimes by finding a way of keeping the ribbon more securely inside the socket.
I've still got my SP! :D
Time to dig that out and see if the battery still works.
There was a backlighted game boy pocket made called the Game Boy Light. It has a similar Link Cable port to what ended up in the Game Boy Color. As far as I know it was never released in the US.
Could you somehow sandwich some white LED lights between the outer shell and the screen?
I'd like to do this the other way around with a modern LCD to make it sunlight-readable. Do you think it's possible to substitute the backlight by a reflective layer e.g. in a laptop's screen?
You probably could
Would this work with the gameboy colour? or can do you get any idea of how to get a gameboy colour with backlit?
I like how you can see the fart cloud animations pretty clearly with the new screen.
I'm really sad you don't have many subs or likes, you deserve more ;(
Well, he nearly has half a million now.
Travis Moss 524k now
1 million now ^^
Hi! A little feedback, maybe someone else already pointed it out but I think there is a strange kind of audio echo resonating un the video (around 5:00).
Thanks for your great videos !
Do you think you could turn a ti-84 or 83 into a gameboy sp or color?
There was a backlit version of the Pocket released in japan. At the time the EL backlight tech used too much power which is also one of the reasons it was never used in the GBA until they stuck a lithium rechargeable into the GBA SP.
The main selling point of the GB line was the battery life. I have a game gear and Lynx, both colour backlit screens. 6 hours max from 6 AA's. Using rechargables may have not worked and at the time they used to need charging overnight as they were less tolerant of fast charging. Plus they were too expensive.
If you really want the classic look to using a gameboy pocket, then you can pick up a magnifier as they usually have front lights. These were using bulbs, but it would be great to replace those with super bright white LED's.
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I really liked my Gameboy pocket, but it suddenly felt like junk after I got a second one and did the backlight mod to it. But in turn, my backlit one suddenly felt like junk after I got another and fitted an IPS screen in it (well, "robbed it of it's motherboard and fitted all new stuff around it" is a more accurate description of what I did. :) ). The IPS screen upgrade is just so much better than the original. The original screen has horendiously motion blur, and even with the backlight and bivert mods they still really show their age. The IPS screen's night and day better.
I've currently got 8 GB Pockets, 2 have IPS screens, 5 are backlit, and one is completely original. Both the IPS one's have the "Alberto Gil Tesa" USB-C Charging Kits and 1000mAh Li-Po's fitted (A great mod to go with the power hungry screen), 3 of the backlit one's have Li-Po mods as well, using generic TP4056 charging module. Once the USB socket's removed it fits almost perfectly in the top shell between the D pad and B button to shine it's charge status LED's through the thin plastic of the top shell (It looks especially good on a transparent blue case I've got on one). 2 of those have the bivert mod, One of the others has a drop in Li-Po and charger kit that all fits in the (Modified) battery compartment, and the last backlit and the totally standard one have the normal 2x AAA arrangement......... As you can see, I have a bit of a thing for Gameboy Pockets. :D
The trouble is, my standard one, and all the backlit ones don't get used anymore. I cleaned them right up with isopropyl alcohol, removed the batteries, and they're all now in Ziploc bags with a few silica gel sachets in each. Once you've experienced the crystal clear sharpness of an IPS screen on one of these, the stock screen (Backlit or not) feels barely fit for purpose !
All I can say is, if you still get that happy nostalgic feeling from playing on your stock or backlit stock Gameboy Pocket, don't even LOOK at one kitted out with an IPS screen, let alone play on it if offered. It'll ruin the whole original experience for you ! It would be like continuing to bang your clothes against a rock in the river to wash them while knowing full well that automatic and reasonably affordable cloths washing machines exist ! :D
Hi!
You can repair that damaged screen.
Did it yesterday.
You have to use flux on there where the connectors are, and than flow solder on it to connect the ribbon cable with that contacts again.
Specifically where do I solder for the power on the board ?
If you had a Super Nintendo, you could get a Super GameBoy off of eBay, I dunno how much they sell for these days, but that is another option if you wanna avoid having to do any sort of modifications.
What are the blue spots on the top left of the screen?
probably some damage hat happened to the Gameboy with the previous owner. most likely the reason why he got it dirt cheap.
Damage caused by the wd40 more than likely.
Bad seal between the glass panels, the LCD fluid is leaking out. Air pockets will have the same color as the activated pixels.
My guess is left over adhesive
The scene term for that is "screen cancer"... it's just some damage in the crystals.
What is the solution you use on the retro brite ? What's the white bottle?
I really want to get a game boy pocket now just to back light it and play the classic games.
Make a Video abaut how usable PowerPC is in 2014!
I'd also add an 18650, and one of those charging circuits that come with a buck/boost converter as well
can you try this method with a front lit screen? i see online a lot of people recommend using a front lit screen as it is easier
What are the blue spots on the left side and left top corner
As a kid I never wanted a GameBoy (Classic, Pocket, Color, Advanced) because it lacked backlighting :) My brother had a Game Gear but I only played at home, with the AC adaptor because it uses so many batteries. And now we want our phones to have more runtime.
Can't get my GB to power back on. What did I do wrong ? I put in fresh batteries . Not sure
You effectively modded a US Gameboy Pocket and turned it into a Gameboy Light, which was exclusive in Japan. Which is pretty cool.
Fantastic tutorial! May we link to this at our shop?
By the way, at 2:31 you mention not being able to remove the ribbon cable. Some people choose to desolder the cable at the bottom for the reflective film removable, and then resolder it afterwards.
I was never willing to deal with a lack of backlight. My first Game Boy was the Advance SP even though I'm old enough to have owned the original when it was still the newest.
Will this mod work ,for a old school monochrome neo geo pocket console ?.
I got a Gameboy advance sp back in 2005 and I still have it. It's backlit as well and to anyone who may ask: No. It's not for sale and nor are the cartridges.
Does it work with a gameboy color as well?
I have an original gameboy (its is in a clear casing if you are wondering). But from the last 6 years of using PC's and PlayStation, I can't seem to get used to the horribly lit screen of my gameboy. I heard that original game boys are going up in value, and are at about 100 for the gameboy alone. So would it be possible? Would it go up or down in price due to the upgrade, but not being original? And would it even be worth it, just to play things like Mario, Dr.Mario, Yoshi, breakout, or monopoly? Please help
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