GameBoy Advance IPS v2 Custom Mod Project

[Mavrick]

I've recently been going through some old boxes of stuff I had when I was a kid and came across my old GameBoy collection.



I forgot how hard it was to actually see what was going on on these screens. Especially the GBA.

This lead me down the retro moding rabbit hole and now I'm waiting on delivery of some mods to hopefully make a decent looking GBA.

The main upgrade is the IPS v2 LED display,



The IPS screens are too big for the OEM shell, so you can either cut out the space or opt for custom shells, I went with a clear black shell from Retrosix who supply Handheld Legend in the USA.





The screen uses some extra juice, so I picked up their USB-C Battery Pack, it adds 6.3 watts of power which should be good for about for about 10 hours of playtime with the IPS mod.

I also ordered an upgraded speaker/amp along with the dehum/dehiss mod to really clean up the noisy audio the GBA has.





Got a few other things I might add if it all works out I'll post some pictures when it's done. It's going to be a lot of soldering, so fingers crossed it all goes to plan and hopefully I'll end up with something like this

[oddbox83]

Cool.

I don't know how we ever used to be able to see the screens. No wonder I have glasses now after years of squinting at the unlit green screen of the original GB.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Cool.

I don't know how we ever used to be able to see the screens. No wonder I have glasses now after years of squinting at the unlit green screen of the original GB.

I know right, it was a case if trying to sit at the most awkward angles to try and get the sunlight or lamp to git the screen just right to see what was happening.

The biggest thing for me is that we missed out on a lot of beautiful looking games because of it. Seeing them in an LCD display vs the old one they looke like completely new games. They're so bright and vivid.

You can buy pre built consoles from Retrosix but they are about £240 vs £140 doing it yourself.

If you have a GBA already then you could just buy the shell screen and buttons for about £90. Cheapest way would be to just buy the screen which is about £70 but youd have to cut some plastic out of the OEM GBA shell to get everything to fit.

[Mavrick]

Stuff came in today.



For some reason they sent two shells, only ordered the black one. Decided to mix and match to see what it was like but decided to go with the black shell and the OG grey sides.









Got the PCB out easy enough, and managed to solder on the three wires for the brightness adjust, was my first time soldering so I had no idea what I was doing but it turned out OK in the end









I attempted to add some LED lights but I just didn't have the time to get them done, they are so small and fiddly.



I also have the new amp and speaker to solder but I'm not sure it's really needed.

[Mavrick]

Been playing Pokemon TCG.

Forgotten just how broken the TCG game mechanics were back in the day. The Raindance deck pretty much guarantees a win every time.